Organ

Drawing Workshop Model Explorations

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A Possible Client

http://museumofbritishfolklore.com/

Clown Capitol

Guardian Article 

Tidal Pier

Part of my design proposition will be a pier that harnesses energy from the tidal rhythms. This post looks to explain the simple physics involved. By trapping the water within a container the height difference created between high and low tides allows a 'head' to be created. On average this difference is around 4metres. But depending on the alignment of the sun and moon it can exceed 5.5 metres. The form needs to maximise the stored volume of water. I have searched for precedents but to no avail. The quick calculation indicates that the pier could provide energy for 400-500 homes per year. If the project looks to solve the energy needs for the entire town Tidal kites could be used to boost the energy generation.

The project looks to masterplan the Regis centre carpark. Three building currently make up the emsemble. Library and learning centre, Electrical Substation and Water front restaurant and pier.

A Car Dominated Town

Mapped cars at high season in town centre. 

Designated car parks highlighted in red.

A Carnival of Books and Learning

On arrival you are greeted by the Station Bookstall. Learning facilitation should be a crucial part of the town's carnival. John Wiley publishers a global company has their european printing and distribution centre in the town. I propose that the town creates a relationship with the business and a 'Wiley Wing' of donated books become part of the library. The Carnival for survival looks to create a proposal that engages the public through learning activities. Re situating the library on the beach would place emphasis on a dying institution. the local place for reference and learning. The library is the best possible representation of a piece of civic urban fabric.

Wiley printing and distribution centre

Sandcastles

Entering 'Copaca' - Bognor

A new arrival through forests that supply the town construction and furniture needs. Planning of the agricultural space around the periphery of the town has helped understand what supplies and support the town needs.

Organs of the town

1. Bognor Lodge. The Dome House was built by Sir Richard Hotham in 1828 as the centre peice of the town in an attempt to attract King George III. Currently the central building for the University of Chichester, Bognor Campus.

2. Hotham House

3.Royal Norfolk Hotel. Bognor Largest hotel outside of Butlin’s

4. Bognor Pier

5.Train Station

6. Shopping Arcade links the town to the sea.

7. Bognor Cinema

8. Splash World water park Butln’s

9. Fitzleet Tower, Focal point to the town. Can be seen from the South Downs

10. Brutalist Health centre

11. The crowning of Butlin’s, the all weather tent, which has become their trade mark icon.

A town currency!

A currency can be used to support small local businesses. Many transition towns and communities have adopted this approach such as Brixton and Totnes. The currency in Bognor could help to open up Butlin's to the wider town community and not just for the visitors. 

“All that lives, lives not alone, nor for itself” 

William Blake, 1789

LOCALISM BILL

‘Eric Pickles’s bill is a farrago’

This cant about localism is a cover for eroding the local state and cutting from its soft underbelly.

Eric Pickles had an easy ride yesterday when he unveiled his localism bill. Most of the media dutifully allowed themselves to be deflected from the main event – the funding settlement for councils. Local government is the state’s soft underbelly: home helps, swimming pools, street cleaning and libraries are more vulnerable, because they tend to benefit those without the loudest voices. Cuts are easier to engineer here, and blam e can always be heaped on hapless councillors.

As for localism, this government is no different from its predecessor. It will keep central control of what it cares most about – spending. It is happy to let go of things it considers irrelevant or, in the case of the Tories, that will help them cut the state down to size. As soon as the vaunted new community activists start asking for more or the right to raise revenue, they will be squashed.

A true localist would extend councils’ financial autonomy. Last week Pickles said councils would be allowed to raise taxes over his dead body. High up in the localism bill is a measure designed to intimidate councillors by threatening referendums on plans to raise tax above some centrally specified threshold. The Treasury is vetoing any move to give councils control of the money they collect from business – in case they choose to increase it.

All this is determinedly anti-localist. At this stage in the financial cycle, councils should be looking for other sources of revenue, perhaps from tourist or sales taxes, increased fees for dog licences and so on – just what is happening in Germany, for instance. But from the government there is not a word about freedom of fiscal action in England.

David Walker

guardian.co.uk,  Monday 13 December 2010 22.00 GMT

Postcards from 'Copaca' - Bognor

Carnival for Suvival

Isle of Bognor_ Aerial Image

+3 metre rise in Sea level,  2100

Visit 'Copaca' - Bognor!

Alternative advertisement to British Airways 

Historical Fact Sheets

Time to return to BOGNOR

A symbol of Bognor's dislocation with the sea can be seen by the state of the pier. The 'Bognor Birdman' is an annual human flying contest. Contestants try to fly off the end of the pier as far as possible. But in  recent years it has been cancelled due to insufficient water depth. It is time for Bognor to overcome these infrastructural issues.

100 Words

My thesis looks to re-connect urban communities with their natural water systems. Through analysis of their beach infrastructures a rehabilitating design strategy will be used to help forge a new identity and help create a cohesive community. The benifits of tourism and the neccessity localism will shape a design approach that looks to sustain a vibrant sustainable community. The powerful rhythms of our natural contexts can be used to generate an appropriate architectural language to suite this ambition.

Bognor by the Sea

Bognor is situated on the south coast of England. A town of 65,000 people it is a place with a number of dislocated communities. Self contained systems exist creating towns within a town. Exploring Bognor as an organism will help my understanding of what flows in and out of the town and activates the communities. As mentioned earlier on this blog Butlin's holiday camp will be a focal point for my continued research into possible future scenarios for the town. Like the Vatican or the Kremlin it has distinct boundaries and a number of separation devices are utilised to maintain autonomy. Walls, money, tickets, windows and gates are some examples that should be understood when thinking about the towns relationship with Butlin's.

Two photographs show the frontage the holiday resort has with the town. A car park lines the beach front and public promenade.

Blending the Beach Boundary

Bognor Regis town centre. A photo collage that plays with the idea of blending the boundaries between the beach and the urban fabric.