BEN HANSEN OUTLINE PORTFOLIO

ben.hansen87@gmail.com+44 (0)75 065 915 11

p.2THESIS PROJECTDegrees of Permanence - UCL Research Centre for the Emerging Sciences. Camden, London

p.4WORK EXPERIENCEPollard Thomas Edwards Architects, Angel Islington, London

p.6DEGREE PROJECTMaternity Unit and Respite Care for the Elderly, Murano, Venice

M.Arch DESIGN THESIS: DEGREES OF PERMANENCE_UCL RESEARCH CENTRE FOR EMERGING SCIENCESCOMMENDATION, PUBLISHED IN ‘BEST OF THE STUDENT SHOWS 2011’ BLUEPRINT MAGAZINE, SEPTEMBER 2011 (UK)

The project is a UCL research centre for emerging sciences situated in Camden, London. The brief requires a variety of high quality, highly serviced laboratory spaces capable of quick and frequent adaptation to respond to the latest technological advances. The building must also respond to the human requirement for place and identity by providing quality spaces capable of supporting and encouraging communication and cross-fertilisation between research disciplines. The thesis attempts to resolve the apparent contradiction between the flexible but essentially place-less functionality of an ‘Archigram’ plug-in system and the civic need for place and accumulated memory within the city.

The building consists of a heavy, permanent, concrete plinth embedded in the site. This servant zone responds to the existing urban fabric and contains the service spine and circulation as well as workshops, support spaces and static accommodation.

The flexible laboratory spaces above consist of lightweight steel frame pavilions. The volumetric pods are pre-fabricated and then transported to site and assembled before being craned into place and connected to the infrastructural network. This ‘plug-and-play’ system optimises the quality of the factory-finished laboratory units, minimises disruption and down-time for the facility and allows for rapid expansion, contraction and modification as required.

While the laboratory spaces are designed to be transient and short-term, the polyvalent plinth element is designed to outlast the functional life of the building, supporting evolving functions while retaining a continuous accumulated memory of inhabitation embedded within the urban fabric.

CAMDENPOPULATION: 235,700DENSITY: 10,811.9/km2

OS GRID REFERENCE: TQ295845PRINCIPAL AREA: GREATER LONDONCOUNTRY: ENGLAND

LAB DLightweight, transient steel pavilions housing cutting edge laboratory and workshop spaces. Capacity for between 1 and 12 modules and up to four floors high.

SOUTH COREDepartmental cores housing offices and administrative functions. Also houses large-scale, permanent facilities such as a library and auditorium, and communal roof gardens.

NORTH CORE

GREAT HALL

LAB A

LAB B

LAB C

AUXILIARY OFFICE SPACEThis small office cluster is semi-autonomous from the departmental cores and is an ideal place for collaboration between teams from different disciplines on neutral territory.

LAB 1-4Small 2 to 3 unit labs designed to respond very rapidly to changing demands and being re-fitted potentially every 1-2 years.

INFRASTRUCTURAL PLINTHPermanent, heavyweight concrete facilitating, servant structure housing circulation and services. This robust, polyvalent architecture is designed to outlive every other element of the project.

DEEP GEOTHERMAL GROUND-SOURCE HEAT PUMP AND INFRASTRUCTURAL SPINE

CIRCULATION SHAFT

SERVICE SHAFTContaining lift and fire stairs.

SERVICE FINCarrying vertical services and circulation, both a combination of lifts and stairs.

PERM

ANEN

TEM

BEDD

EDTR

ANSI

ENT

Above: Temporal diagram exploring the growth, adaptation and eventual appropriation of the infrastructure.

Above: sectional perspective through the north core.Right: Tectonic site massing diagram.

Above: short section through two departmental cores and the underground railway lines running underneath.

Left: Detail section and elevation and early conceptual sketches exploring the plug-and-play concept and internalised, defensible space.

Right: A series of models models in plywood, card and copper.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCEPOLLARD THOMAS EDWARDS ARCHITECTS, ANGEL ISLINGTON, LONDON

Sep 2011 - Current: Part II Architectural AssistantAug 2009 - Jun 2010: Part I Architectural Assistant

PTEa is an award winning London practice with approx 80 employees specialising in schools, residential developments, urban masterplanning and ‘Third Age’ elderly housing.

During my time at PTEa I have contributed to a wide range of projects of varying scale and building type in the residential, commercial and educational sectors:

• Market Road - Residential / Commercial, Stage E, £24m• Packington Estate Phase I & II - Residential / Commercial / Civic, Stage D, E, F,

£132m• Mill Farm Close - Residential, Stage C, £20m• Grahame Park - Residential, Stage B, £450m• Grey Court School - Education, Stage C, £1.4m• Waldegrave School - Education, Stage C, £1.4m• Heathfield Primary School - Education, Stage D, £0.3m

An outline summary of skills and experience gained includes:

• Excellent working knowledge of AutoCAD, Sketchup, InDesgin and Photoshop• Production and coordination of construction and detail drawings• Document controller for large £132m mixed use residential scheme• Production of planning drawings, perspectives and early stage 3D visualisations• Fire strategy, site logistics and legal conveyance drawings• Collaboration and coordination with service engineers, structural engineers,

landscape architects and product suppliers• Product and material research, including obtaining material samples, technical

information and working with specialist on bespoke solutions• Consultation and architectural design workshop with secondary school students

and teachers at Grey Court Secondary School • Mentored students at part of PTEa’s educational outreach program through the

London Junior Open House• Coordinate and organise work experience placements at PTEa

www.ptea.co.ukAll images © Pollard Thomas Edwards, all rights reserved.

Market Road, Residential, Stage E detail design GA

Grey Court Secondary School, stage C pre-planning proposal for a new sceince and technology building

Left: Packington Estate Phase II CGI.

Below left to right: section, detail drawing and plan for Market Road, stage E. Grey Court Secondary School stage C proposals for library extension and interior remodelling. Sectional elevation and masterplan for Packington Estate Phase II

Right: A series of images from Packingotn Estate Phase I completed 2010.

BSc DESIGN PROJECTMATERNITY UNIT AND RESPITE CARE FOR THE ELDERLY, MURANO, VENICE

Murano is a small island situated in the Laguna Veneto in the north-east of Italy. The island is a 40 minute boat ride from Venice to the south.

The brief presented a range of challenges, both in terms of scale and complexity as well as questioning how to respond to the powerful character of the local urban fabric. The site itself is located right in the heart of Murano in a prominent position on the Grand Canal. The existing structures consist of two vast, semi-derelict warehouses and an assortment of smaller ancillary buildings. The entire complex was an industrial facility and is fortress-like in configuration, forming a massive industrial island within the fine medieval tissue.

The scale of the site necessitated planning on an urban scale, and my initial design moves involved opening up and re-establishing routes with the intention of knitting the site back into the urban fabric. The large warehouses are iconic structures which provide identity to the local area. Maintaining and re-appropriating them became a crucial part of my intervention.

At the building scale key concepts evolved, acting as rules which helped to tie the many disparate aspects of the site and brief together into a coherent whole. There is a clear definition of zones of privacy, and a well-defined tectonic strategy. New accommodation is housed in linear buildings made from reclaimed brick while key spaces such as the chapel and swimming pool are housed in steel shells, echoing the importance of the sea to this community. The plinth was used as an organisational element and the existing warehouse walls were retained where possible, acting almost as a second skin for the new build.

The scale and complexity of the brief made it necessary to work at several different scales. While a coherent whole was required, the elements within this whole were treated as almost self-contained design problems. Each area has its own specific function and character, and the building is designed as a series of distinct ‘Places’ which come together to form a harmonious whole.

Cutaway overview of the design proposal weaving between and inhabiting the existing massive warehouse walls. The two factory chimneys are retained to form a gateway to the site and act as a identity marker to assist elderly patients with declining cognicent ability with place recognition and orientation BEN HANSEN ben.hansen87@gmail.com +44 (0)75 065 915 11

http://benhansen87.wordpress.com/

Early conceptual model of Murano exploring the idea of an entire town suspended above the water of the Laguna Veneto on hundreds of thousands of piled timber tree-trunks.