I began my detailed 3D model on Monday – these images show some of my progress to date. The design is by no means finalised; working at this detail is in fact beginning to pose more and more questions… This is an aerial shot taken just above the tower looking down onto the beginnings of the first storey with auditorium etc. There are three levels beneath – it is difficult to understand but I will post a section shortly.

This is an early shot of the street facade showing the cobbled street leading into the ground floor reception area. The two stairs in the distance lead the visitor up to the auditorium and second storey rooftop platform where the formal programme and viewing galleries begin. The upturned panel that resembles a canopy (repeated along the length) hints at a ‘shop-front’ that can be reconfigured to manipulate the boundary with the street. Openness is key: depending on the event, the public would be encouraged to wander in. This would obviously need to incorporate some glazed elements which is something I am currently brainstorming.

First floor sketch plan showing basic features.

And finally… a quick test (hence the poor quality) to check the ambient lighting above the entrance foyer. It is looking a little bleak as the model is nothing more than a fair-faced concrete structural shell. However it gives me a better idea in terms of internal finishes. The wall to the right is solid (it spans the foyer as a fin) which makes this front balcony rather gloomy although there may be an opportunity to introduce some translucency. In the distance and off to the left is the principal auditorium with a bar to the front and WCs around to the left; the ascending stair leads to the rooftop level, which is the first view of the city.

Here are some shots of the massing model I added to the slate 1:1250 etching to enable an understanding of the site. Unfortunately it was a little more fiddly than expected due to the scale but very useful in terms of urban context.Now on to the 3D computer model…

Here are a few images from a 1:1000 model which I have been working on. The initial response is to concentrate the massing to the north and to inhabit the existing piers with a pedestrian link across the Thames which will run through part of the proposal. The third part, as I like to think of it (part one being mass, part 2- pedestrian link) , is the external atrium which will run through the heart of the mass, providing a visual link between the various floors and functions.
At this stage I envisage the floors from each level being the most prominent aspect of the design, hence the reason behind modelling the mass though only planes which represent each floor. The floors could be separated using a truss or through the more conventional column. The reason for this is to maintain a maximum level of transparency and 'honesty' into the goings on within the building. The very last image is one I found of a germinating chamber under examination; the repetition and grid formation have been highly influential so far in terms of both structure and form of the building.

Blackfriars Bridge is the only bridge in London to have a direct north south axis. The axial model explores this notion further by depicting the relationships between the differing axis which surround the site. Over the coming few days I will look to investigate axial lines against isovist grids, both of which will heavily influence the parameters I have to work between. Both were recently outlined by Lydia Heard on the city walker website;

‘Axial lines should be used for intelligibility, global properties and movement; isovists for static local uses of space. Isovist grids, or visibility graphs, provide output that looks similar to that of axial line maps, but they really are measuring different things. Axial lines predict movement, or movement choices, which require some conscious thought. Isovists measure and predict behaviours which are more dependent upon environmental qualities, or perception and awareness’.