Fah Rodloytuk

Fragments Recast: Transforming an Urban Block in Leith

Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (ESALA)

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Project description

Building structures have a limited lifespan and require adaptations when they can no longer meet new needs. Buildings that cannot undergo these changes lose their value and are considered as ‘waste’. The holistic approach to materials, site and clients' observations highlighted the issue of carbon flow, emphasising adaptation and preserving the site's history. This inspired the idea of Fragments Recast : to re-purpose the existing ‘heavy’ elements for a ‘lightweight’ food processing hub, as required by the clients, Empty Kitchen Full Hearts and Earth in Common, rethinking food processing as a transparent and interactive operation for the public with regards to food sovereignty.

Fragments Recast extends the building's lifespan through material optimisation and promotes 'designing out waste' for a more sustainable architecture and construction industry. The project aims to minimise the carbon footprint and energy consumption by designing around existing structures, using durable stone and versatile timber as the primary construction materials and tectonic strategies that ease assembly, maintenance, and potential dismantling. Complementary and energy-efficient materials such as timber and cork, conventional joints and junctions, and structural interface strategies that aid in carbon reduction were carefully selected to achieve these goals.

Material Literacies

Our Timber Studio unit group analysis revolves around the knowledge of timber under the concepts of 'flows' and 'layers.' This includes forestry investigations, activities, the flow of materials, labour, and tools in James Jones' Lockerbie sawmill, and carbon flow during wood processing. We examined the material's journey from forest to timber processing and its background, presenting both investigations in plan drawings of comparable scale to create a reciprocal interpretation.

Cardrona Forest

Lockerbie Sawmill

Investigating Timber Industry

Carbon and Timber Flows

Boundaries and Ownership

Reading Forest

Flow of Labour

Commercially Sensitive

Close-in Timber Tectonic Studies

Precedent building: The Steilneset Memorial in Vardø, Norway by architect Peter Zumthor and artist Louise Bourgeois

Timber, as a construction material with various structural and construction expressions, was observed on a micro-scale. This study entails the examination of the precedent, with particular emphasis on its tectonics and timber connection strategies. The timber structure of the Memorial, elevated from the ground, employs a repetitive frame system to achieve an intricately delicate design. Each frame comprises members of comparable dimensions, joined through patterned resting and exposed bolts. Throughout the course of my research and the making of a 1:50 physical model, careful attention was paid to how the timber structure meets the ground and roof, as well as the intricate connections between the timber members themselves.

Group 1's Collection of Precedent Studies

Drying Shed

The strategies employed in the study of the Memorial served as the foundation for the proposal concerning the design of a drying shed for Earth in Common. This facility is intended to be temporarily situated on the Common Land of Leith Links. In order to meet the client's requirements, the primary objective of this proposal was to prioritise simplicity in construction. Drawing inspiration from the Steilneset memorial structure, the proposal incorporated the concept of an elevated platform for drying purposes, ensuring ample ventilation. An additional secondary raised floor was also introduced to provide space for lingering and sitting. The precedent also influenced the decision to create a separate internal volume for a more conditioned drying rack. In terms of the structure itself, it similarly employs repetitive frames and exposed bolt joinery, enabling straightforward construction and disassembly by local craftsmen. The materials chosen for this project include localised C16 timber members of consistent dimensions, standardised bolts, and corrugated metal roof sheets.

(above) : 1:50 plan | (below) : 1:50 section and exploded isometric drawing

Designing With Fragments

In a similar manner to the timber industry investigations, the micro-layer research focuses on the food cycle studied in Leith Link and the temporal overlay of the site's built landscape over time. Although Leith’s expansive greenspace, the Leith Community Croft, is located just two buildings away from John’s Lane, the site’s permeability is limited due to the densely packed row houses in the area. The presence of industrial residues, cobblestone textures that run in different directions, and material contrasts in older buildings suggest a sense of permanence and heaviness. This catalyses the attempt to maximise the use of the existing ‘heavy’ elements, avoiding unnecessary demolition and converting them into an interactive food processing hub.

Investigating Leith Urban Blocks

Life Cycle of Food

Roof Plan of Leith Block

Nolli + and Roof Plan

Layering Time

1:500 fragmented site model

A Recast of Food Flow

The proposal acts as a meeting point for the maker and consumer. Attempting to extend the life cycle of food across the site from Earth in Common (to the left of the proposed long section), the project draws in passersby through a small plant/produce shop at the frontage of the residential row, leading them towards the double-height cafe, out to John's Lane which link to the Mews Building where the restaurant is apparent in the section. The cafe then contains two connected volumes where the one under the main gabled roof is designed with frequent windows - high transparency where customers could look at the maker of the food behind the existing wall, foregrounded by a small courtyard. On the right of the kitchen space is an outdoor space for community crops where the public and existing residents are able to crop/harvest organic produce. Finally, the project extends out to Constitution Street to the right, providing access where volumetric deliveries flow in and out of the site.

Longitudinal Section at 1:200

Floor Plans at 1:200

Flows and Thresholds

Access and Circulation

Flow of Food

Zoomed in Plan of Kitchen and Restaurant at 1:100

Zoomed in Ground Floor Plan of Cooking Classroom at 1:50

Zoomed in First Floor Plan of Drying Space at 1:50

Detail Section at 1:50

Light(carbon)weight Materials

For this proposal, material selection has become the dominating factor that influences the overall design. With the attempt to work out the design with respect to the integration of timber and the existing structural stone walls of the Mews building, the other materials were chosen as complementary materials, focusing on their minimal embodied carbon.