Exploring Parkour and Storage Elements

Our tutor advised us to begin looking at our project as a large system, where elements perform more than one singular function.

Daven and I decided to transform the amphitheatre into a more multifunctional space architecturally by developing it using one of my ‘excitement’ moment ideas: parkour elements bringing physical excitation and livening the entire space.

A series of elevation studies of existing storage units

While Daven did research into parkour architecture, I conducted a brief drawing study into storage units. With the content removed, they appear almost like scaffolding, and quite suitable to integrate with the parkour elements.

Collages

Exploring possible interconnections between storage elements that could be integrated into parkour elements:

It became too difficult within the time we had to properly design this idea. While it certainly did increase the variety of functions that the parkour blocks had across the site, and reevaluated the established relationship between the underground storage and the skylights in the parkour elements for more ‘boring’ passageways where inspiration needs to be more tangible, this idea ultimately had to be shelved.

Parkour Elements

After Daven conducted research into parkour architecture and came up with the basic volumes we will use to create our amphitheatre, I began developing these into a variety of modules and placing these into our design. The idea is to maintain the tiered language of an amphitheatre and ensure this could function as an outdoor theatre practically and acoustically, but also allow this to be used by clusters of friends and peers as a social space, too.

Daven and I chose a 400x400x400 block to be our base module, as this is ergonomically suitable for a seat.

These were then arranged into clusters of elements – this took longer than I anticipated, as I consistently imagined myself and groups of people interacting with these. It was vital that these are not simply decorative and actually encourage interactions between others.

I paid particular attention to how the amphitheatre language could still be maintained, while purposefully creating smaller pockets of partially-enclosed space for clusters of people to utilise at any time of day.

All created in Rhino.