The Architectural Craft / Warkworth Cement works - Heritage site – 79-133 Wilson Rd S, Warkworth 0981

 

The functional brief was to design a place of public consumption; for knowledge, craft and also accommodate fellow craftspeople – Jewellers, lace makers and Kintsugi (Kintsukuroi); using responses from the given site to "discover" my own creative process and develop my architecture. The following amenities are included within this project:

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• Public craft workshops; with smaller singular artist studios that double as their residences during the time they spend working on site, these are all similar dimension to create balance and so as to not favour one craft over the other.

• New restrooms within the facility, rather than the existing block further away.

• Outdoor space for pop-up events like markets or performances.

• A small café that would display work from each craft workshop – doubling as a gallery/shop space.

• Removal of the safety fence and the current toilets. However, the fence boundary has been used to inform the site extent.

  

Atmospheres within the interior and exterior spaces focus on texture, layering and experimentation with gradation/variation and contrast. The aspects of the site which I was drawn to informed some of my responses that in turn informed me of the atmospheric conditions created.

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Throughout the design process I became interested in the layering of materials and the layering of spaces – part of my process was to layer the textures I was intrigued by from the site and flesh out the pieces/areas that make sense – or, appear to –into an architectural form. 

 

“The intent of my project is to produce contrast the existing through the layering of old and new elements (materials, shapes, textures etc.) – highlighting them – and highlighting the effect of time with the contrast of the two.” By doing this, the difference between the controlled and uncontrolled aspects of my craft/the site have become clear. These controlled and uncontrolled moments are be captured through a series of pre-existences and newly built components that link the ruins. This establishes a dialogue between the two and reinforces my architectural intent.