Drawing Workshop Model Explorations

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Groynes: A Defensive Beach Boundary

Beach Shingle Gabions

SSSI area along the west beach of Aldwick

Possible use for the beach shingle, Gabions 

Sandcastles

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.

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.

Butlin's An Abrupt Dislocation

As I explained before I will be using my final weeks here in Seoul to test reconnecting strategies through a gift project. Bognor Regis has many issues, but I hope to apply a strategy that looks to forge a better physical and psychological connection with the Sea. A masterplanning exercise that looks to bring the 'Beach' to the town will form the first part of my work when I arrive back. Butlin's holiday resort will be also be a area I will focus on. As explained in an earlier post...

Butlin's has long been an isolated 'city' within the town, a self contained community. Permeating Butlins' hard barrier will create a connection with the town. The potential of the southern boundary shared with the promenade has been neglected by the resort. Its metal spiked fence implies a negative relationship with the beach and the town. 

The resort is located in the centre of the town and form stronger connections with its context. The map shows the resorts location and size within the town. It is a small self sufficient city. A key strategy is to explore the blurring of the boundary the resort has with the town and the promenade. Blending the urban with the natural can allow economic, spatial and healthy reconnections.

Butlin's bleeds with the town

Beaches+Cities+Dislocations 해변 + 도시 + 전위

The time has come for me to distill my research allowing a clear strategic direction to emerge. I have discovered the Jimjilbang, which are to me purifying spaces embeded in the culture and urban fabric of Seoul. What I am currently concentrating on  in preparation for my gift project is a strategy of looking for physical dislocations within the city. 


The Cheonggycheon stream project is an example where the city has rediscovered a natural, historical enitity deep within the city centre. This infrastructural beach provides connections between pure and unpure parts of the city. Similary the Han was cruelly disconnected from the city and I will return to the Park to search out a site that illustrates an abrupt dislocation. Butlin's has long been an isolated 'city' within the town, a self contained community. Permeating Butlins' hard barrier will create a connection with the town. The potential of the southern boundary shared with the promenade has been neglected by the resort. Its metal spiked fence implies a negative relationship with the beach and the town. An interesting way of dealing with Butlins' dislocation could be to treat it as a city.

Photomontage of the Cheonggycheon Stream project. The urban dislocation is now a memory.

Seoul has reconnected with its Rivers through physical connections such as bridges, lifts and tunnels. The park is the length of the river, which in turn becomes the length of the city. The same spatial relationship happens in Bognor where the promenade is a public space the length of the town.  My goal is to discover a dislocated site that informs a method of reforming a connection. Possible strategies may become paths, physical interventions or the framing of views. In Bognor my strategy is to reveal the beach to the town, a method of enacting a flow that blends the two extremes.

The Pleasure Beach 기쁨 비치

The second 'beach' like area of Seoul, after the Han River is Wolmido, a pleasure beach. A liberating place unfound in central Seoul, offering cheap tacky fun. The promenade resembles a prison like space, where street furniture clutters and restricts views out to the sea. A ride on the monorail would offer a better elevated vantage point, but what about the pedestrian?

In high season the small island is over run with people and cars, the second image looks to visualise this automobile bombardment.