RSA: Flourishing places

Introduction

Hello, welcome to my design project set alongside the 2023 RSA Briefs (See appendix 3). Within this project I have been asked to choose one of the RSA briefs in order to work on myself aiming to fit the chosen brief through my design specialism this being Computer Aided Design. After reading through all the presented design briefs I decided to go for the RSA brief 2: Flourishing places as I saw this would be most applicable for my specialism and additionally I had the most interest within this topic.

Brief

As stated my chosen RSA brief was the flourishing spaces brief in which it asked designers “How might we collectively reimagine a regenerative future of the built environment to enable all life to flourish?”. The background to this is as follows, that as a species we do not positively impact the earths ecosystem, however how can this be changed through design? (Theclimategroup, 2023) The climate group states that 40% of greenhouse emissions come from the build environment therefore influencing this area, should have a positive environmental impact on those emissions being produced.

Why I chose this brief?

I decided to choose this brief as I saw it was best suited for my specialism and interests within that, as I started with an interest in interior design and I wanted to expand my skills where possible using the appropriate software in addition to this I believed it to be one of the most applicable design briefs that was to offer, with the addition of positive impacts for the environment.  

Design drivers

When approaching this brief was to break it down into 2 main goals that were to be achieved, these being social and environmental design drivers. For the social brief it was key to produce a social space that looked at bringing people together and promoting social cohesion in order to help humanity to coincide with each other, therefore I wanted to look at the social space as a whole delving deeper into what works for social spaces and bringing people together but additionally looking into small scale local farming and vertical farming as I thought this would provide the capabilities to bring the community together to farm within my site additionally showing people that it is possible from home therefore leading to an increased positive environmental impact. The main environmental design drivers were biophilic architecture and regenerative design as the project aims to produce a positive environmental impact rather than net zero which is often preferred using aspects of sustainability as well.

(Yilong,Y. ,2023) ( Doug and wolf. ,2021) (Hufton and Crow. ,2020)

What is biophilic architecture Sage glass’ (Sageglass, 2026) seven principles of biophilic design state that it is an approach which aims to connect the environment with buildings and design, this is done by incorporating, natural lighting, ventilation, natural features and other elements that aim to promote a healthier build environment for its users. Therefore to incorporate this I wanted to look into maximising the natural light available within my site, additionally using plant coverage in the idea of planters, living nature walls, a water feature and a sensory garden.

Regenerative design is described as a process that mimics nature by restoring and producing environmental benefits going past simply being sustainable rather taking a cradle to cradle response striving for a net positive ecological impact, maximising the effects nature can have on design and minimalizing the effects designers have on nature (Gattupalli, A. 2023). An example of this is Milan’s Bosco Verticale apartment block (Stefano Boeri Architetti, n.d.) in which it uses trees and shrubs to build a ‘vertical oasis’ within the city but also reducing the energy usage and carbon offsetting. Therefore the input of greenery through environmental features as mentioned in the biophilic architecture seemed appropriate for this project.

My chosen site

The location I have chosen is the Brooks shopping centre, As I found there is a small social space within the shopping centre that I wish to take advantage of and update to a more regenerative design. In order to understand the site I felt it was necessary to do appropriate analysis to understand and influence my design process where possible. I began with frequent visits to the site at various times of the day and various days of the week, with these I found in my experience that it was not frequently used by the public for its intended purpose. However I believe that it has a greater potential. Due to factors such as  its proximity to the Winchester market that attracts a greater number of people into town and it being situated within a shopping centre. I noticed with my visits that the large and open space used monotone colours and usage of space creates a dull atmosphere. Leading on from this I noticed there wasn’t many environmental aspects other than a large skylight that spans the roof of the shopping centre, this provides a great amount of natural light. This in which I though had the possibility of allowing environmental features to grow and be maintained leading to a more flourishing space.

In order to help with my research into the site I believed it to be necessary to gain the publics opinion on the space and their vision’s for it as they would be the ones to use it. This therefore backs up my statements surrounding the location being not frequently used and requiring an update to be more ecological additionally this benefits my design development as any features or implications mentioned by the public can be used in my design thinking leading to a more user centred experience. To see the questionnaire created for the public on google forms (see appendix 4).

Initial sketches

In order to compose a design for my project initial sketches were necessary in order to understand the shape and purpose my project was going to take, within this I looked at composing different methods of how I would join the first floor of my structure to the floor of the shopping centre such as walk ways or filling in the space for more design space. However I decided on the walk ways as I wanted to maximise the natural light coming from the centres skylight, in addition to this I thought to maximise this further using glass walk ways rather than timber.

When designing the structure I experimented with several different shapes that I could use to compose this, as a result of the biophilic influences I wanted to go for the hexagon of a honeycomb shape though this was not symmetrical and led to some design difficulties I believed it would be better suited as a octagon as it allowed the walkways to be connected with more ease. As my design is multi-layered I had to figure out what I was going to do with the walls and its layout therefore experimented with different wall heights as I needed a safety precaution though wanted to use this natural light leading me to follow along with the idea of using the railings as they provide both safety and light additionally these are already in place within the shopping centre though I believed that updating these to glass would be nicer aesthetically and using regenerative design with the lighting.  While sketching I found it was important to consider the space and function of my structure therefore I was thinking about different seating design, the use of space for planters and chairs but additionally the use of children’s play as it was found that there is occasionally a children’s soft play space within the site therefore I did not want to take this play away from the children and gives a reason for families to visit my site.

2D floor plan and 3D model

After coming to an understanding of the site and its measurements I began to produce my architectural model using Revit allowing me to place my design within the site and produce visualisations later on. The benefits to using Revit was that it produced both a basic 3d model and 2d plans, with my floor plan sketches and measurements of the site being 60sqmt I produced an accurate Revit model as shown above. This allowed me to input my design and calculate dimensions and create a greater feel of the space and how it would be best used.

Revit produced an excellent 3d model to gain a basic understanding of my site and design idea however I wanted to visualise this further and found it difficult to produce smaller products I wanted to include such as planters and seating. This therefore was produced within fusion 360 as I had a better understanding of this software to produce products to fill the scene and create an improved visualisation.

3D models and iterations

In order to show my influences I have presented some of my 3D elements next to their appropriate influences with a description of their iterations and reason for implementation, as stated the goal of this design is to be regenerative for both society and the environment therefore a large amount of environmental features have been added. Leading on from this the sketches below show design development of some key features used within my design to maximise social-ecological cohesion.

Fountain

While researching biophilic architecture I came across the Jewel Changi Airport (Jewelchangiairport, n.d.) with an indoor forest accompanied with a fountain piece that I took reference from in my fountain design.

Vertical farm

In order to meet the brief I chose to include vertical farming in my design in order to promote small scale local farming within the community in order to bring them together therefore applying towards the social and environmental requirements of the brief.

Planter

When designing my planters to introduce the environment to my design and regenerative design I looked at biophilic architecture of the natural shapes of honeycomb to influence my planter designs, using natural materials to sustain my design.

Children’s play

Due to the fact my site is occasionally used as a soft play location I wanted to incorporate children’s play into my design in order to still allow parents and children to visit the location therefore I have looked at children’s busy boards to create a basic toy for the site that could be used.

Stepping stone path

To add another layer to my site I thought it would be beneficial to update the ground floor in order to make users feel like they are entering a new space. And I believed that this stepping stone path would provide this and create the feel I wanted for the user being relevant to the site.

Sensory garden

In order to add an environmental impact and increase user comfort, I thought to include a small scale sensory garden within my site this will allow for smaller wildlife to live within this garden and provides a more natural patch within the site for the public to visit.

Living wall

In order to further the environmental features of the site and improve the aesthetic rather than simple timber walls I believed that living nature walls would provide a regenerative and biophilic aspect to my design improving its aesthetic also.

Algae cells

While researching regenerative design I came across a new technique of gathering electricity and becoming sustainable through algae cells that act as solar panels producing electricity therefore I though this would be beneficial to make my project environmentally net-positive.

Interactive display

While developing my children’s play board further there were difficulties with its size and functionality for children trying to include as many features as possible, leading to the idea of making it a digital display that can display games for children to play and develop on. Additionally can be used to display other features such as a map of the shopping centre, the weather and useful information for the user.

Timber screening walls

While developing my design further on in my project I found that the light levels at the ground floor of my structure were low and therefore aimed to increase these other than the implementation of a ceiling light, therefore I believed that screening walls would be able to allow light through and uses less timber for construction leading to a greater user comfort and regenerative design.

Site photos and renders

With these photos I have taken from the site it clearly shows how the space is used and how the public respond to this space with addition to light levels throughout various times in the day, I believe these to be beneficial in order to help portray my design within the site. I have provided before and after photos of my renders against the photos taken at the site to show a comparison of the work I have completed and how much it has changed going from a more dull surrounding to this flourishing space full of colour life and people.

Additional renders