Week 2_27/01/2012

Today I managed to pop back to the site with a clear and focused mind to what the programme brief was. Our previous visit to this particular area was quite brief that it was hard to notice all of the entry points, the way the public move through the site and understand the sheer scale of the space.  I have put together some quick panoramic views from the images I took of the space they are below : 

SiteMap

Image a

The main and most obvious entrance into the site would be from London Wall, where there are two levels of entry street level and podium level.  The podium walkway features in the site again in the image below, which is a connection between the Barbican accommodation buildings.  The walkway in the image below is also a direct cut through the centre of the site, and must be maintained or developed through the progress of the project. I like the way the walkways are bold, simple and solid, something about them reads well on the site and I would like to look into carrying the idea of walkways through the project. 

Image b

Image c

The square in front of the church and school is a very large space, I would like to integrate this into the main entrance for the site, where the school children can come and interact with the elements of the project.  

Image d

The water takes up a large percentage of the site is covered with water.  I think that it will take up too much of the site for all of the water to remain but I have been thinking of some words which have connections between the water and some of the buildings in the brief.  I began by thinking how I would describe water.... reflective, soothing, dark, cool..... and this began to make me think of the memorial space for the subjects of the ancient anatomies which were once buried at St. Olave's Churchyard.  I also think that the water can be used for cooling spaces within the development.  I am going to look into some precedents and research of memorial spaces such as that in the Jewish Museum in Berlin, the tall dark space is meant to make you feel how the Jews did when they were in the chambers.