Waterside Arts Centre
The brief was to develop a vacant site in Cardiff Bay, to provide a new waterside Arts Centre on Britannia Quay. Part of our task was to develop the design brief, deciding on the spaces and facilities to be provided, whilst ensuring our designs don’t conflict with statutory constraints. The key objectives of the brief were to:
- Make maximum use of the site, reflecting the scale of buildings around it
- Demonstrate best practice in sustainable and ecological design
- Include elements of technical innovation such as in choice of materials, environmental servicing, structural solution etc.
My proposed concept, is an Arts Centre intended for the creative community of Cardiff and to showcase independent artists. The centre will provide a hub for like-minded people to come together. The centre also aims to integrate the people of Butetown and surrounding areas into the development known as ‘Cardiff Bay’ by offering a creative space to the community. Consisting of 3 storeys, the internal space is created from stacked, up-cycled shipping containers, reclaimed railway sleepers for flooring and pallet furniture.
The ethos for the design is to reduce waste and re-use materials. By doing so we can help reduce construction waste, as well as a reduction of material manufacture associated emissions. By sourcing materials from local reclamation yards, transportation emissions will also be reduced.
The inspiration for my design comes from a desire to create environmentally friendly solutions, along with a love of shipping container architecture, up-cycling and industrial buildings.
