The Architects’ Journal Architecture News & Buildings
About the School of Civil Engineering
Location Leeds • Courses MEng, BEng Architecture • Head of school Carlo Prato • Full-time tutors 6 • Part-time tutors 8 • Students 130 • Staff to student ratio 1:16
Undergraduate
Lauren George
Course MEng, BEng Architecture
Studio/unit brief N/A
Project title Dock St Community Library
Project description The proposal uses the historic former dock of the Leeds-Liverpool Canal as a starting point for exploring ideas of trade, exchange and knowledge. Modern containerisation – a contemporary equivalent of goods exchange – forms the inspiration for the arrangement of spaces, construction and modular aesthetic, suggesting information and knowledge as metaphorical items of exchange within the community library. The scheme is influenced by colours and forms derived from container systems but doesn’t use the containers themselves as, although they are a good analogy for spatial arrangement, they aren’t appropriate for the needs of users. The repetition of form and colours contrasts with the dense, historic street network.
Tutor citation With this project, Lauren has shown understanding of the characteristics as well as limitations of modular construction approaches, developing a unique and sophisticated design which provides a rich and varied response within the constraints of a language of repeated elements. Justin Lunn
