APL Design Yearbook 2010-11 - Newcastle University

010 BA / stage 1 / project 1 011
Project 1
The Language
of Architecture
The first projects introduce the students to
different ways of reading architecture by
asking them to choose a 20th or 21st century
building that excited them and getting them
to communicate that building to others in
their group. Over the course of three weeks
the students swap buildings with one another
and use different ways of understanding their
buildings from diagrams to 3D models.
Dr Martyn Dade-Robertson
Project Leader
David Boyd
Maggie Centre
Zaha Hadid
Site Plan
Main Forming Line
Central
Triangular Form
Secondary
Triangular Form
Shifting Form
The compositional diagrams for this building focus mainly
on the triangular forms from which the building appears
to have been developed. The outer walls are a series of
overlapping triangles, some of which are completed, some
incomplete and some only suggested by fractured lines
and corners. The relationship of the triangles cause a
visual tension and dynamism, resisting any axial centre or
symmetry. These diagrams attempt to portray the sense
of shifting shapes and perspective, which is arguably the
main component in the form of the building. These shifting
shapes are apparent in the plan on the left, stopping any
static patterns and causing a much more dynamic form.
The J-Graph of this Maggie Centre shows a clear distinction
between public and private areas, reflecting the function of
the building. The lobby is the only semi public area of the
building, providing a clear distinction between what is for
visitors and what is for patients. All the private areas, such
as the counselling rooms, are accessed via the kitchen
area, making the kitchen an access hub for the centre. The
terrace is located at the deepest threshold point, supplying
a private outside environment to which patients at the
centre may retreat.
BA