Caoilin O'Meara

Making in the Meanwhile: Edinburgh's Construction Futures Hub

Architecture - BA/MA (Hons)

Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (ESALA)

caoilinomeara@gmail.com

Part 1 Academic Portfolio

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Light Earth Workshop, Constructed Amphitheatre

Amphitheatre in Use: Light Earth Showcase

Project description

This adaptive re-use project centres around contesting the proposed demolition of the Grade A listed Scottish Widows Centre. Engaging rapidly evolving discourse surrounding ethical construction, the hub aims to contribute by teaching and sharing knowledge of sustainable building practices through physical working and making. The centre therefore holds a pivotal position within Scotland’s education circle, closing gaps between architects and the trades.

Unfolding in two phases of development; pre-occupancy, performance adaptations (Phase 1) support secondary structures of temporality and learning (Phase 2). Scaffolding from facade deconstruction will remain on-site, acting as a framework for users to construct new infrastructure. The plan unfolds from processes of component assembly, accounting for material storage, workshops and integrated studios. Production revolves around the construction of straw dividing walls and insulating panels from repurposed, on-site office materials (suspended ceiling panels, roller blinds, glazing systems), along with teaching regenerative emerging practices such as lime rendering and light-earth insulating.

1:50 Key Technical Section

Frameworks of Learning

The scheme unfolds around a central point of learning, an existing double height concrete shell looking onto the northern garden. The space is gradually built by its occupants, after Phase 1 structural changes which perforate the existing concrete coffers within the floor and roof above. As seen in the model deconstruction below, the design is such that it can be assembled in layers as part of the centre’s material learning. Light earth panels clad a reclaimed scaffolding frame, lining the viewing gallery. The gallery is the final destination for these panels within this project, previously being assembled and moving sequentially through the workshops above. Documentation of these processes and temporary installations within the exhibition gallery carry memory of these processes, encasing the space where further workshops and demonstrations take place.