COURTYARD OF DELIGHTS : PHANTASMAGORIC TRANSFORMATION

The three-level courtyard of the School of Architecture and Planning, designed over 50 years ago around an oak tree had been, for most of its life, ‘the open heart’ of the School. Unfortunately, in the last decade, the oaks have been chopped down, the café and shop banished, the best architecture library in the country and the bridge to it from the studios closed, and the lecture rooms lobby transformed into workspaces. The courtyard terraces and walls remain largely unchanged, but the enclosure is devoid of programming, use and beauty. It is no longer the site of all school events be they joyful or sad: it has been de-programmed and consequently more or less barren. Of this now impoverished space, I propose a single coherent phantasmagoric space in order to make a joyous, rich courtyard life accommodating a range of semi-public, academic and individual activities.

Initially, I approached the problem of form and the senses through food, ceramics and photography as a binding of elements delighting in delirious textures, colours, scents and form. The final work, part open-air classroom, part student hub, part public amenity is a catalyst for pleasure infecting the current environment and imbuing positive energy throughout the space. To achieve the level of freedom required for a fantastical space, the lines and curves of the work are not seen as literal representations of anything; instead, they are unrestrained intuitive bodies of work that render expressive forms.