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Clementine Blakemore
Inter 13
The estate is re-imagined as a walled citadel within London. Rather than remove the high perimeter buildings, these are maintained and extended to create a clear edge around the site. The material harvested from the dismantled buildings is reconstructed using a system which allow for ongoing transformation and alteration - according to the needs of the new occupants. Each plot has a serviced domestic core which can be expanded incrementally over time by the 'resident-workers'. Rather than determining the final form of the architecture, the design sets up a framework to be completed by occupation and use.The strategy hijacks the demolition process, transforming the site into a ship-breaking yard where the estate's buildings are dismantled and recycled. This is an ongoing process throughout the interim period, so that occupation and use occurs side by side with deconstruction and re-assembly.The estate is accessed through a double-story finned arcade at the base of the perimeter building. Like the railway arches in the area, these spaces are available for occupation by small businesses. The buildings in the center of the estate are one and two story structures that can be easily built by the new occupants. The residential cores are expanded over time to house productive spaces: workshops, garages, storage and shops.bird's eye viewThe central low-rise buildings are all dismantled, apart from the houses of the three remaining occupants (who are resisting the council's relocation offers and still living in the otherwise vacant estate). These remain as occupied memorials on the site. The perimeter buildings are then harvested for material, which is reconfigured in the central space. A study of the void spaces (courtyards, passages, squares) in St James.A study of the void space between the built mass in the Economist Building.