Some time back in 2005/06 I made this sketch. From time to time I look again at this initial concept and material experiment for my final BA thesis project: A Town Hall for Spitalfields. This image grew out of an experiment with a London brick placed in a tupperware container and the surrounding space filled with water and frozen. I was happy with the result,the imperfection of the the brick and the way it produced the bubbles in the ice.
After taking photos, various sketch options overlaid to investigate possible programming and circulation roots. Rough and smooth, transparent and murky, the variations in the material lent well to a form the had blurry edges against the skyline, but could also provide rocky areas to structure activities around.
It is frustrating to revisit this image, as somewhere along the design process the immediacy of this material intention got lost in the final design.But as an experiment successful, the details of the reclaim brick had rugged moss fulled crevices as a consequence of time and environment, that in turn allowed for a mini ecosystem and landscape to occur.