CU Jan-Feb 2020

CASEstudy
Listotektura
The winning UK entry in the architecture category of the Vectorworks Student Design Scholarship for
2019 combined a design concept influenced by nature supported by solid structural design, writes
David Chadwick, who helped judge this year's entrants
The winning UK entry in the
Vectorworks Student Design
Scholarship for 2019 was by Marina
Georgieva from Birmingham City University.
Marina was a winner in the Architecture
category for her Listotektura project, while
the 2019 Richard Diehl Award grand prize
was won by Kris Clemson's The Octagon.
Every year I have the honour and the
pleasure of judging the UK entries to the
competition, and I am invariably amazed at
the quality and the creativity of many of the
entries. Despite the fact that most of them
will never become actual building projects,
the effort that is put into them, and the fact
that they address many of the issues
prevalent in the industry, points to a wealth
of talent coming through our universities.
This year's UK winner, Marina Georgieva,
presented a project that appeared at first
glance to be more a work of art than a
carefully laid out architectural proposal, but
she described the development of the
project beautifully, and how it followed the
ethos of the local town and its surrounding
natural habitat. Marina then followed that
up with more concrete proposals about the
sustainability of the project and the
structural requirements of the separate
elements, carefully researched with
reference to similar projects worldwide.
BEWDLEY ART GALLERY
The location of the project is in Bewdley,
UK, next to the River Severn, in the West
Midlands. Bewdley, Marina describes, is a
quiet town which, being set in a natural
environment, creates a feeling of
contentment and happiness for both
visitors and citizens.
The aim of the project was to provide an
art gallery, a space for public celebration of
local craftsmanship, studios for art visitors,
and public workshops. The design was
influenced by its natural surroundings,
including the gallery spaces. From the
initial concept to final design the building
was designed to be sustainable while
creating social areas - an all-year round
usable landscape space, views, attractions
and excitement.
To develop the concept it was separated
into two stages. The first stage was the
design, which focused on exploring the
influence of nature on the human mind and
body, providing an open landscape space
for social and interactive meeting. The
second stage of the project was presented
in her portfolio where the design brief and
conceptual ideas of the building were
explored and more fully defined.
BEWDLEY AND NATURE
The potential Bewdley Art Gallery site is
situated on the banks of the River Severn
and is surrounded by a lot of trees, whilst
still being close to the centre of the town.
To imbue the town's nature in the design,
Marina photographed and observed
nature's movement through the seasons.
Trees, leaves and the river were all
documented by short videos which
allowed her to focus on the bridge
between architecture and nature.
This went into some detail, and a single
tree was framed in a photograph from
Bewdley and the leaves explored as single
components - encouraging Marina to use
a single leaf as the basic concept of the
design, and then to create a patterned
web of such components.
The leaf was then drawn and dissected
into smaller components, getting to its
essential nature, so that its structure could
influence the pattern of the façade, the
building's shape and its delicate structure.
Using it as a base, pushing and pulling
the sides helped create the shape of the
roof, and then the corners of the building
to establish its height and where the roof
became embedded into the building. The
various shapes created in the structure by
the dissection provided places where
decorative patterns could be placed as
solid infills. The building evolved to create
a beautiful and delicate structure.
ABSTRACT CONCEPTS
The design process was started by simply
drawing lines, exploring where the
decorative patterns would best be placed.
Abstract sections, spaces and the
abstract façade of the project were built as
a model to exist further exploration of the
concept. The delicate structure of the
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January/February 2020