Symbiotic space

Park of the everyday

"Can buildings and urban spaces also be seen in terms of pleasure, comfort, humour and emotion? Are there 'other' architectures to explore - ones that are less hermetic and more engaged in individuals' emotional and physical lives?"

(May McLeod, Everyday and 'Other' spaces).

Situated within an existing roundabout/subway on the inner ring road of Nottingham the transitional space forms a popular pedestrian route into the city centre.

The intention of the project was to convert the noisy and heavily polluted space into a park of the everyday.

Symbiotic space site location plan 1:5000 @ A3

A series of microphones continuously feed everyday sounds into the space from across Nottingham creating a 24 hour acoustic landscape, a landscape where the city is both the spectator and the performer.

The space is constructed from a semi-translucent concrete (crushed-glass aggregate, plastic binder, GRP reinforcement as currently in development by Bill Price) shell structure.

Symbiotic space coronal section 1:100 @ A3

Entrance to the space is gained through one of four existing subway entrance tunnels which lead to an outer circulation chamber, the inner chamber is staggered to provide additional acoustic shielding from traffic noise and to inhibit the cross ventilation of traffic fumes.

Sagittal section through entrance tunnels, ventilation pipe, ISDN cable, outer circulation space, inner symbiotic space, inner processing nerve centre, service voids, speaker pores, light pipes and rooflights 1:100 @ A3

Litter bins are housed within the cavities of the wall

Axial section 1:100 @ A3

Polycarbonate rooflights and translucent concrete lightpipes reflect diffused light and reverberate sound around the cavities of the space.

Lightpipe detail 1:20 @ A3

Each speaker pore is illuminated by its own light pipe

The speaker pores provide flexible seating areas for different activities from inward facing social exchange to outward facing solitary contemplation and people watching.

Speaker pore detail 1:20 @ A3