Site Eight

Project details

Programme

Unit Year 1

Tutors Frosso Pimenides and Max Dewdney

Site eight is a small, triangular plot close to the busy western end of Ridley Road Market. Facing the entrance to the market and sitting at the bend of the street an interesting dynamic is created between this site and its surroundings. Currently occupied by a low building housing a small grocer, the site encloses a courtyard accessed by a small service alleyway that opens to the backyards of apartments fronting Kingsland Road. The site is abutted to the west by a large butcher and to the east by an apartment building housing food stalls on the ground floor. During the day, the site becomes hidden behind the dense cluster of mobile market stalls erected along Ridley Road.

Students working with site eight have developed a range of approaches to respond to its small size and awkward geometry: replacing the existing building, building above it, and spilling out onto adjacent rooftops. But one thing common to every students’ project is the endeavour to construct upwards and rise above the rest of the street; to create a contemporary landmark for the Ridley Road Market.

Group Students

Pui (Benson) Chan
Chantelle Chong
Esme Dowle Public Engagement Prize
Maxwell Hubbard
Sally Kemp
Kai McKim Craft, Technology & Invention Prize
Jacob Meyers Collaborating with Community Prize
Mufeng Shi
Henry Williams

Kai McKim, Y1, 'Community Cinema'

This building provides an indoor cinema for Dalston as well as an outdoor screen. A projector is housed in a cupola on the roof so that it may project onto surrounding buildings. Inside is also the home and studio of the filmmaker/animator who produces the projections and manages the building.

Jacob Meyers, Y1, 'Ridley Road Market Workshop'

This building seeks to celebrate and strengthen the existing market community. Housing workshop facilities that mimic the structure of market stalls, as well as a craftsman-in-residence, the workshop allows the Ridley Road community to undertake DIY projects in order to reclaim agency in their neighbourhood, which is currently threatened by gentrification.

Mufeng Shi, Y1, 'Pharmacist’s Ginkgo Bar'

As the neighbouring buildings are so crowded, there is only a narrow pathway into the building. The ginkgo tree links the ground floor and an open area, below which is the basement for making alcohol, and above is a night time bar. The pharmacist lives above the medicine production studio.

Pui (Benson) Chan, Y1, 'Dalston Herbal House'

Taking advantage of the location of this site, 'Dalston Herbal House' aims to attract visitors from the market to this new and unfamiliar culture in the neighbourhood through the use of materials which create visual connections and aromatic sensations. Visitors gain first hand experience of planting and consuming the herbal products.

Esme Dowle, Y1, 'Dalston Spice Bazaar'

The spice bazaar facilitates and exaggerates the spice production process by allowing one to inhabit the oversized machinery and experience the oscillating conditions of the journey that both the produce and the viewers simultaneously go through. The ETFE greenhouse contains a hydroponic farm that grows spice crops such as herbs and peppers.

Sally Kemp, Y1, 'Mushroom Farm'

The building programme for a mushroom farm was developed through a 1:20 model. The final design emerged through personal investigations and readings of site eight, with the purpose of creating a building that recycles coffee waste that can be used to grow mushrooms.