Throughout my time studying BA (Hons) Architecture, I have developed an interest for both sustainable design and placemaking to create high quality architecture. Within my final thesis, passivhaus principles were incorporated to optimise sustainability with a focus on passive first design. I also have a strong interest in place-making and how the collective and urban memories of a local community contribute towards a sense of identity.
Heirs of Time is a community hub designed to encourage the archive and restoration of heirlooms to store and recollect their respective memories of Balsall Heath. The proposal developed following initial investigation into the high street and the contrast between modern shop fronts, that express a cyclic nature and the static historic buildings. This thesis explores themes of time, depth, memory, and transformation. The tectonic contrast in the overground and underground expresses physical depth as a representation of depth of memory. The overground represents short term memory with its programmatic design encompassing spaces that are more regularly visited such as the retail outlets, projection room and workshops. The underground represents long term memory, housing programmatic elements of archiving and memory recollection to help store memories that are not to regularly recollected.
