Architectural Design Competition | Great Fen Visitor Centre | Cambridgeshire | England | De Matos Ryan

Responding to the competition brief for a new visitor centre at Great Fen in Cambridgeshire, our proposed scheme is phased for practicality and uses existing resources wisely. An existing portal frame shed is adapted as a low cost, sustainable and quick starting point that can be extended in the future. Woven willow cladding sourced locally by community groups provides a natural habitat. Using elevation to understand and connect with the landscape, the visitor centre features an elevated open plan first floor that offers breathtaking views; ‘land-bridges’ to enter and exit the building provide a raised path through the landscape; and a tethered observation balloon provides 360 degree views of an evolving landscape......more

Architectural Design Competition | Jesselton Quay | Kota Kinabalu | Sabah | Malaysia | Design Engine Architects

The development site is situated on a flat piece of land bordering the South China Sea. The historic Jesselton Point is adjacent to the city’s edge and marks the point at which built up urban fabric turns into a much more industrial landscape with working ports, ferry terminals and expanses of land suited to storage of containers and freight. The close proximity to the city centre, with superb infrastructure links, both on land and to the neighbouring island attractions makes the site well suited to development, with development ‘knitting’ into the fabric of the existing city of Kota Kinabalu.

Using the site context and analogy with the land, a concept diagram looks to rationalise and distill these ideas to inform the basis of the rules for planning and to start to give a sense of architecture on the site. The site and the wider area have a strong topography, and is home to Mount Kinabalu. The development site is flanked on its perimeter by a large escarpment where, the rolling hills from inland come down to meet the sea.

As a diagram, this geological process has been used analogously to generate reference and concepts within the proposals, including fractured floor plates and elevations, and a strong sense of flow through the scheme in reference to geological valleys, culminating at the sea. The concept diagram can be used simultaneously to generate three dimensional studies and tests on the site, to explore how the mass and scale may impact the site, and start to influence the architectural language as concepts move into a real scale. Site factors also suggest and guide the design with important views, traffic and road infrastructure and conflicts with public realm space. .....more