Potential Scenarios / The Angled Slab

Locating the building bridging over the London Underground, in the form of a slab not to block direct view of the hotel for the river, also connecting the route from the National Rail to the Tower Bridge effectively.

Here are some of the first massing studies in terms of the urban strategy for the Tower Gardens Hotel.I've been trying to make notes about every single scenario what would be the advantages or disadvantages for each strategy.
The scenarios are modelled on the new site model I've made, out of museumboard; the proposals are not surprisingly -again- blue foam!

Movement in Hotels

This study is an observation on how people move around hotels. Chosen case studies are the Love Hotel in Shibuya, the Metropolitan Hotel, London (United Designers), Hotel al Naoshima, Japan (Tadao Ando), Miramar Hotel, Egypt (Michael Graves), Grand Hyatt, Indonesia (Geoffrey Bawa) and the Hotel Puerta America, Madrid (various designers). These hotels were selected because of their different nature and concepts. From these study on movement, I will make series of options for my intervention and see the possibility on how people move around at the ground level and through the hotel.  

Shifting and Slanting

The first image is describing the possibility of shifting and twisting the massing of the hotel in order to capture specific views around the site. This technique is 'borrowed' from MVRDV's Gyre Building in Tokyo, and will be tested against different techniques and processes to refine the potential of manipulating hierarchy, layering and surfaces in the design. The second image is an exploration by slanting the building mass, which is a continuation from the shifting and twisting process. This operation is also speculating the effect of the intervention based on earlier ideas of my design statement. This process will create a visual and physical phenomena for the site and allow the ground level to still function as a garden. 

Design Strategies Statement

Noise Level, Speed and Traffic Flow

Before formulating my design and urban strategies statement, I think it is good if I take a step back to analyze these site-specific condition of the area. Noise level, speed and traffic flow were mapped to help in the understanding and revealing other potentials and constraints of the site. The noise level mapping is speculative and not precise, but will be revised for better and consistent readings. Hopefully, these mappings would help in generating better design solutions for the proposal.

Graphic Techniques

Movements between isolated territories



Trajectories of rail infrastructure (Corner)



Overlays in white ink



Repetitive journeys mapped out (Situationists)



movements in plan and section (Maki)



topography and section overlaid (James Corner)






Spatial adjacencies revealed (CVA)

Study Model-Views and Extensions

This is a study on strategic positioning of views in relation to the site, surrounding areas and building types. 'Extension' of the city into the site would be the main interest in framing those important views, and also suggest types and configurations of rooms that will enjoy those views. The typology study is investigating potential parti diagrams for the building form. Four main strategic operations were also selected to be studied to manipulate potentials and see the scale of influences generated from the future intervention.

Urban Strategy / Responding to the Tide

Representing urban changes

These are some examples of urban change mapped by David Bellasi, UEL unit E 2004-5. These studies and techniques may be useful for Aine and Artemis especially- to show the layers of change. These were taken from a 61 page group site research document the unit produced for a site in Old Street.

Urban Study Model

This massing model will be used to study conditions of the site, expanding thoughts from the urban strategies diagrams and to explore impacts and influences of the future intervention to the site and its surrounding.

Diagrammatic codes and materials will be inserted onto the model for these studies. I will upload the study progress images soon.

Urban Strategies

These studies are trying to exploit the potential and opportunities found around the site. Important elements to be manipulated are like extensions of the public realm from human's movement and activities around the site, slipping of the site with historical elements and circulation programmes, connecting the proposed hotel with any possible potentials with the existing surrounding hotels (programmes, infrastructure, etc.), and the issues of framing views.

These issues are extensions from my previous mapping as well as my interest in previous projects (i.e. unfolding the cube, views and spaces that are concealed and revealed, etc.) that I hope would help in generating ideas for the design development.

Urban Strategy / Introduction

MAA (Maria Brewster + Aras Burak + Aine O'Dwyer)
The Urban Tide

We are interested in a small change which will effect the flow of people and will help the use of the space around the station more efficently when we locate the hotel programme on the site.

The strategy will respond to the different hours of the day by allowing and encouraging the shift of uses. The density, user types and speed of flow change during the day just like the tide changes on River Thames.

We are aiming to connect the routes for Tower Bridge, Tower of London, Fenchurch Street Station and Tower Gateway DLR Station by focusing around the Tower Hill Tube exit, where we believe is the most strategically important point on the site.

In order to connect the southern side of the street with the north, instead of physically building horizontal bridge and changing everything, as if this was a dumb 2 dimensional part of any city, we're trying to highlight the importance and potential of a vertical bridging on a very 3 dimensional organisation.

We are producing replacable configurations of different options using our 1:1000 site model base until the next tutorial.

Hotel Design Strategies

From the previous mapping studies, which characterized walking activities as an important spatial and physical repertoire of the site, I developed series of sketches to help in the understanding of the site, within the idea of walking and connections.

My emphasis is on the idea of the site as a town square, which civic engagement is a priority. My massing design strategies are explained through the options and keywords in the sketches. Hopefully these studies would help in my programmatic and schematic diagram ideas.