SETTING

The world we live in today has become extremely saturated with technology. From the work place to our homes, we are surrounded and immersed into a world where we no longer are conscious of using technology. It has become so integrated within our lives that it has become natural to us. This makes it harder for people to distinguish between the public and private parts of their life. It can often make us question whether technology has evolved with the intention to improve the quality of our lives or whether it has become so invasive that it consumes our lives and compromises our privacy. People can often become lost and too invested in the technology they use on a day to day basis, often without realising. Whether it is physical devices they interact with, or the virtual profile they portray of themselves online through social networking, people forget what it is like to live an analogue life. A life where times were simpler and had less distractions, a time where people had human interactions when communicating and were able to create meaningful relationships.

UTOPIA

The organisation Utopia offers people an experience of escapism from the reality they live in. Allowing people to remove themselves from society to begin a detoxifying experience, cleansing themselves from the technology polluted world they live in, giving one a sense of complete isolation, seclusion and separation. Utopia offers this experience through urban retreats located throughout major cities across the world. Utopia are looking to expand their organisation, to cover a larger demographic and so are looking to open a new urban retreat in Glasgow. Utopia are open to various sites for the project, however the chosen site should be in a prominent area of the city to raise awareness of the organisation, to intrigue people of the city and allure them to the Utopian way of life.

DESIGN

In this world created by Utopia, various conventional and unconventional therapy treatments are offered to achieve a complete sense of isolation, separation and seclusion from the technology polluted world. These therapy treatments include: water therapy, meditation therapy, sensory therapy, social therapy and transcendence therapy. Water Therapy aids in helping Utopians detoxify, cleanse, relax and physical rehabilitation of the body. Meditation Therapy aids in helping Utopians self reflect and contemplate their lives on the outside world and whether or not they have fallen victim to the technology polluted society. Sensory Therapy aids in helping Utopians have a sense of the natural world that can become lost and forgotten about on the outside world. Social Therapy aids in helping Utopians have physical human interaction with each other rather than communicating through technology. Transcendence Therapy aids in helping Utopians reach a euphoric state of mind to allow a deeper sense of meditation. The design should reflect the ideas of isolation, seclusion and separation that are at the core of the concept. The design of the structure should be able to create a high level of seclusion from the outside world. The design should have a sense of controlled living with monitoring of the Utopians during their stay and should have emphasis on health and wellbeing to ensure a complete sense of separation from the outside world so that the optimum experience for cleansing and self reflection can be achieved. Entry into the building should be designed to accommodate the entry process of cleansing and purification in order for a person to become a Utopian. This process should be incorporated into the main navigation graphical language of the environment. When a person becomes a Utopian, they will live in their own living unit, which should consist of a bedroom, bathroom and small living area. The aesthetic of the environment should be representative of the Utopian way of life manifesting the core values of minimalism, natural life and self reflection. Living units should have a minimal design and have ambient qualities to allow residents to synchronise to a natural circadian rhythm. Circulation should be a key element of the design and so the space should be designed to allow residents to wander and seamlessly flow into leisure and recreational spaces. Indoor and outdoor environments should be incorporated into the design and should be contained within the structure to allow Utopians to not feel enclosed yet give the seclusion to remove themselves from the outside world. To help with isolation Utopians are given clothing to wear during their stay to remove any attachment to material items from the outside world they may have. Utopians live on liquid diet during their stay that is designed to remove toxins from their body created by the polluted outside world. Storage for these facilities should be incorporated into the design along with laundry facilities and storage for Utopian’s belongs from the outside world that they arrive with for the duration of their stay. Other facilities that should be considered are areas for staff, space allocation for treatment facility maintenance and daily deliveries to the structure. Consideration should also be given to how these areas are kept separate from the Utopians to not interfere with their cleansing process.

SITE

SITE / Multi Storey Car Park - NCP Car Park Oswald Street, Glasgow, G1 4PA , United Kingdom. 

When researching various site locations I wanted to use a site that would have a connection with my project. Since my project deals with the ideas of technology consuming our lives and being invasive on our privacy I thought it would be fitting to work with a structure type that potentially could become obsolete due to technology. I identified the city centre multi-storey car park as a structure to be at risk. Technology has recently been developing the transport sector with the development of driver-less vehicles and introduction of technology into private cab services such as Uber, thus car ownership is decreasing due to the ease and economy of new transportation solutions. I was intrigued by many aspects of the multi-storey car park, particularly the simplicity of the materiality and form of the structure. The facade of many multi-storey car parks tend to have a degree of transparency as they are not structures designed for people to live in but are to store vehicles, thus meaning that often the structures are left open to the elements which I found interesting, looking at how the materiality of the space is impacted by weathering. I was intrigued by the way the multi-storey car park is formed through the use of repetitive slab like forms of concrete to create the floors of the structure, and how these have an effect on the travel of natural light into the structure. I was also interested in the form of the multi storey car park as it offers wide scope for redevelopment working with different volumes in the space. I was also intrigued by the ramps used within a multi-storey car park and how they could be used in my design when creating circulation spaces, looking at the effects of only using ramps as circulation for people to navigate through a space. I also became aware of how a car park can be a very controlled environment through the use of graphics, colour and texture which intrigued me, again like the use of ramps, I thought it would be interesting to look at the ways of how the language of graphics can be used within the environment to not control vehicles but control people within the space.