This is the first scheme, as presented on Monday. It is very uptight and charmless but a lot of the organisation has a lot of sense to it and will be furthered. Taking two uniform grids coming at each other from different angles, as opinions might in an ethical dilemma, produces a mixed up disputed region where they overlap. This, the in-between, is the area of interest and will be where the focus of the programme, the studio, is placed. The other programmatic elements will claim this territory in different ways, hopefully producing the architectural equivalent of an argument.
This image was titled ‘Voids and Suggested Fluctuations’ and shows the placement of programmatic divisions as three-dimensional, volumetric vertices. To the left are the production offices (aligned with a quiet, shaded street); at the top is the high-ceiling scene dock (to match the tall, faceless back end of the Picadilly Theatre across the narrow alleyway); to the right is the public lobby area in which the audience will gather (sat opposite two corner pubs and on a well-walked street); at the bottom is the backstage area for artists to prepare and the slab-like volume between the scene dock and the public areas houses the technical areas (appropriately dark places beneath the studio).

.

.

The plans below, on four floors, show the current arrangement of spaces. The TV Studio plan is, albeit modelled in 3D, is Studio 1 from the London Studios and is effectively collaged onto the scheme to show size. As the region that is disputed and/or shared there will be much more play in it’s arrangement and form than such a simple, box-like shape suggests.

Below is an axonometric image of the first scheme, with the TV studio lifted up.

These are the field diagrams for exploring the immediate surrounding to the site. I found them to be very useful in setting out the massing which, in keeping with the ethics theme, would accommodate with the nearby buildings externally but have a contrasting element on the inside. The scales for the fields are bound at either end by the same blue colour, accentuating the idea of the in-between. The amplification of the fields is appropriate to the relationships within the twin phenomena discovered on the site.

The title ‘Unknown Pleasures’ is a reference to the album cover for Joy Division’s album of the same name, designed by Peter Saville and originally from the Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Astronomy.

These are abstract studies of the building’s form and materiality. There is still a long way to go, particularly with the eastern elevation (right) which is looking awkward.

This is my updated city dynamics sheet. A work in progress, it needs additional data as well as annotation to explain the various urban scenarios.

This is a “push” / “nudge” to register for structural consultancies on Friday. I received a message from Adam Sharr that not everyone has signed up and he would like everyone to sign up as it is the engineer’s first visit to the WSA. Let’s make a good first impression! Thank you.