Masterplan options

Three options for the mini masterplan. All three have a couple of ideas in common - retaining the Royal Mail sorting office to provide a long term source of employment and economic activity, giving the site a "reason to be." There is also the creation of a small "dock" area where the canal occupies the same level as the site. In all cases the drop-in centre occupies a central position adjoining the existing Lock Keeper's cottage.

Option A "Bookends"
Here the commercial development occupies either end of the site, bookending a long ribbon residential block. The are small service pavillions next to the "dock"



Option B "Wharf"
This design drives the dock straight across the site, dividing it into an Eastern "public" zone and a Western "Private" Zone. There are links to the adjacent retail park on Kirkstall Road via a footbridge



Option C "Lakeside"
This design builds on the dock idea, turning it into a "lakeside" with accompanying commercial and services. A snakelike block of residential developments creates a spine along the rest of the site.

Project Proposal Updates

Lots of updates this week. Although I've been working on the Briggate project for the last month, the thesis has been going on in the background.

Above is the site sketchup model of the existing site, which will come in handy for massing studies and masterplanning.



And here's the strategic programme of accommodation (the bubble diagram!)

Welcome!

This blog follows the development of my Design Thesis as part of my RIBA Part II Postgraduate Diploma in Architecture at Leeds Metropolitan University.

Hopefully this blog will represent a comprehensive diary of design development from beginning to end. So let's begin with the design narrative which will underpin the entire procress:

Canals in the UK are an anachronistic museum piece from a previous age of economic and industrial development. This project demands Canals be brought up to date in the 21^st century encompassing a range of issues including energy, transport, social and economic.