MSA Stage 4 School of Architecture

Frances Grant

Contact
F.Grant1@student.gsa.ac.uk
Works
Streets that Serve
Dining to Densify

Streets that Serve

“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody” Jane Jacobs.

 

Streets that Serve explores how the introduction of labour within a district can transform the street into a catalyst for creating safer domestic spheres for single occupancy dwellers.  Streets that serve draw on Jacob’s understanding of street-side surveillance.  By integrating cross-use labour typologies, the animation of the street edge, and directional circulation devices, you can create a safer street and subsequent domestic realm.

This intermediacy is felt but not seen—exploring how architecture can liberate through implied protective boundaries that protect the user.  This intermediacy ranges from macro district-scale activating street corners to the domestic realm of considering entrance placement and definition of thresholds.

The proposal leans heavily into Jacob’s principles applying them from the macro to the domestic.  Underpinning that design for a safer street ultimately designs safer homes and access.

Historic Analysis of Gender and Domesticity

Shared Conditions of Domesticity and Labour analysis-01

1.2500 Location Plan

1.200 1F Plan

Axonometric

1.200 GF Plan

Interior Courtyard Illustration

Stevenson Street Entrance

1.200 Sections

Dining to Densify

“Intricate minglings of different uses in cities are not a form of chaos. On the contrary, they represent a complex and highly developed form of order.” Jane Jacobs

Jane Jacob’s idea is that well-functioning neighbourhoods have public centres responsible for facilitating the transfer of resources from the city to the street.  The proposal seeks to stabilise the district of Calton by reinstating its civic centre.

Dining to Densify explores how a hybrid program of civic activities centred around dining can facilitate opportunities for exchange that can help strengthen cultural identity within the district.  The program draws on the shared eating experience to create a typology that addresses the exchange of knowledge, resources, and production.

The proposal draws on the historical typology of courtyards as central exchange spaces.  The use of the courtyard further provides direction to the internal and external circulation.  The archway transition spaces into the courtyard differentiate between the public and private exterior areas while still visually connecting the vistas.  Each proposal program has its front door from the courtyard, promoting cross-exchange between users.  The forecourt and reception along London Road help to reanimate and engage the closed street edge.

Civic Culture Typology Analysis

civic + culture typology analysis-03

Courtyard Analysis

The Shared Conditions of Civic Exchanges-04

Plan diagrams

Dining Ritual

1.200 Facades

Urban Diagrams

Architectural Technology Solution

1.200 Section A.A

Section B.B

Axonometric of Scheme

1.200 GF Plan

1.200 1F Plan