Conservatory

CONSERVATORY

This exemplar mixed-use project demonstrates the opportunity for London of integrating the economy and ecology on above-ground infrastructural developments. At Farringdon Crossrail East and Barbican stations, the site’s valuable heat resources are reused to power a combined market and housing scheme, presenting a new model of environmental and social sustainability.

Section through typical housing unit.

Section through proposal.

The proposal is envisioned as a hybridization of open plan market infrastructure and a self-sustaining, off-grid neighbourhood of bio-climatically enclosed housing, fostering a truly economical and sustainable building typology that is otherwise impossible within the climatic conditions of London. Heat remains the single biggest reason we use energy in our society. We use more energy for heating than for transport or the generation of electricity. The vast majority of our heat is produced by burning fossil fuels and as a result heat is responsible for around a third of the UK’s carbon dioxide emissions.

With energy at the heart of our major cities’ transformation to sustainable, resilient low carbon communities, the delivery of new energy infrastructure will be critical to securing our energy future. It is in this context that the proposal has been envisioned. The design of which is the combination of a series of complex systems of relationships both in a programmatic and functional way and in an experiential, emotive and social way all based around a new form of heat and energy utilization.

The Housing and Market place are heated by the underground trains of Crossrail and Barbican. This heating combined with the greenhouse effect of the enclosed space is more than adequate to provide the thermal range of 18-13 degrees necessary for comfortable habitation. Any excess heat once passed through the individual housing is expelled into the shared garden spaces. Keeping the entire building a steady 10-15 degrees higher than the outside temperature in winter, and 5 degrees lower than the highest summer temperature.

Energy Overview

Biota Overview

Transport Overview

The site contains a number of buildings, mixed in use and character. They ranged in height from one to five storeys and range from a mixture of Victorian industrial structures to a mid-20th century concrete and brick hotel. The taller buildings were prevalent on the south end of the site, along Long Lane, whilst a series of single-storey structures were present to the north, their height being constrained by having foundations on a decking structure over the railway lines below. A few of these buildings have been demolished as part of the Crossrail enabling works.

The site is presently a construction work site with the existing buildings removed and basements exposed. This provides a clear view of the surrounding built environment. The tallest neighboring structure adjacent to the site is found to the north at 23-28 Charterhouse Street. At six-storeys, it features a mix of Portland Stone to the ground floor and homogeneous brown brick above. To the south east of this and directly adjacent to development site are mid 20th century curtain walled structures made of dappled brown and purple bricks with strong horizontal emphasis afforded by long, subdivided elevations and fenestration patterns. These buildings respected the previous structures on the development site in terms of their scale and massing.

Ground Floor Market Plan

The proposal offers a rare opportunity to enhance the Smithfield Market area as well as improve transportation links. The proposal aims to achieve this by meeting the key design objectives, a combination of Crossrail and site-specific driven objectives: Provide World Class Customer Experience, Provide a Positive Contribution to the Special Character of the Area, Provide Enhanced Amenity Value, Provide Efficient Function

The market will provide an inspirational, functional, inclusive and enjoyable environment that is safe to construct, use and maintain. It will become a benchmark for a well-designed and environmentally sustainable infrastructure, delivering the best value for money. This will be achieved by: Providing an inclusive, enjoyable and inspirational market environment that is responsive to its local environment and ‘says something about its destination’ in its expression of structure, materiality, and detailing; Providing a safe facility for visitors through its design as a simple and clear volume with penetration of daylight. It will also be safe to construct and maintain in its detailing and selection of materials.

The goal of the design is to make a positive contribution to the surrounding urban fabric whilst achieving the wide array of functional requirements and overcoming technically challenging obstacles this will be achieved by: Being respectful of the setting of the Grade II* listed Smithfield Market in response to Lindsey Street frontage and station entrance massing; Minimizing adverse impacts from construction on the historic fabric of the Grade II* listed Smithfield Market; Minimizing impacts on Smithfield Market operations during Crossrail works; Focusing on sensitive placement of station ventilation and emergency egress/ access to reduce land-take requirements and impacts on neighboring buildings.

Market Interior Render

First Floor Housing Plan

Housing Clusters

Housing Overview

Each individual household is envisioned as a part of a much larger whole, the inputs and outputs of which connecting to a much larger system within the proposal. This type of thinking and design helps to significantly reduce and re-use energy requirements and waste. Utilizing a combination of passive and active energy conserving and generating materials, and employing built environment methodologies, energy positive and zero-carbon homes can be erected rapidly and at a lower construction cost with less waste. The nature of the materials used and ethos within which the Households are designed allows for them to be quickly assembled and disassembled. All brownwater waste is collected and processed on-site, the outputs of which are re-introduced into the overall system. Rainwater is harvested from the large enclosing roof, stored above each household and utilized for toilets and washing. Excess water is filtered down through a series of planting arrangements and then temporarily stored in the evaporative cooling ponds at the ground floor entrances.

In order to reduce the carbon offset of the building the entire roofscape immediately above the households will be covered in solar arrays. Given the total roof space above the households equates to 2500m2, and the sites geographic location and orientation, it was calculated that the proposal could harvest 302,500kwh per year. 33% of that energy is used to supply the households and 67% is utilized to offset the requirements of the market/retail space below. Due to the open nature and low energy requirements of the proposal it is estimated that the required energy demands for the households could be reduced even further. The Housing is heated by the underground system of Crossrail and Barbican. The current crossrail system has been built with the heat exchanger but currently expels this heat to the outside, Barbican will be retrofitted with heat exchangers once it has been built over.