Complex material assembly

BLACKPOOL CINEMA & WOMEN’S REFUGE Emma Wood

INTRODUCTION

Early urban analysis of Blackpool and South Shore revealed the main activity, living and work, taking place in the centre of urban blocks. The stripped back nature of these areas, built from rough materials are removed from the ‘glitzy’ layers applied to the street frontages aimed at tourists. This study focuses on the most important space in the scheme, the point where cinema goers enter the cinema screens and the entrance to the refuge. The space aims to have a austere materiality responding to this condition, yet also a solid quality, giving a sense of permanence to

the cinema and safety to the refuge entrance. Fluctuations in heat due to varying levels of occupation before and after film screenings require regulation. Concrete provides thermal mass to assist in this regulation.

Material investigation

REMOVING FORM WORK

A 1:1 exploration of in situ concrete and how the surface effects of form work.

The concrete took approx 3 days to fully set (in warmer weather this would be reduced to 1 day). After this time the form work was removed.

A plywood box was constructed with 60mm wide timber strips screwed to one internal surface. A square hole through the centre allowed 10mm Perspex to be slid inside to create a smooth cut into the wall.

Some damage was occurred in removing the textured side as a chisel was needed to prise the plywood off, this could have been avoided by coating the form work with soap.

At this size (600x600x20mm) the form work did not need supporting, on a larger scale timber supports and cross bracing would be required to prevent the plywood from buckling under the pressure of the wet concrete.

Alpine Cabin AFF architekten, Berlin form work of existing cabin is used to give an austere textured surface to in situ concrete.

Herning contemporary art gallery. Steven Holl,

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Membrane used to cast ‘crumpled’ texture.

1 &2 Timber strips screwed to one side to achieve rough form work effect. 3 Square holes cut into both sheets. 4 & 5 Box is screwed together, top middle and bottom. 6 & 7 Perspex inserted into box, sealed using hot melt glue and gaffa tape. 8 concrete mixture poured into box, an electric sander is used to vibrate air from the mixture at regular intervals. 9 Some leakage occurs from bottom left corner, this should be prevented to ensure structural stability and consistency.

1. Set concrete in form work. 2. Screws removed from plywood. 3. Untextured sides are removed easily. 5. A hammer and flat chisel are required to remove textured form work. 7. Concrete with form work removed. 8. Stanley knife used to remove hot melt glue sealing Perspex. 9. Perspex proves to be difficult to remove, a hammer is used. 10. One piece of Perspex breaks during removal.

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RESULTS Some air bubbles were left in the surface, due to the consistency of the mixture (a greater proportion of smaller aggregate particles should have been used) and the absence of a concrete vibrator (a hand sander was used instead).

rough texture leads up staircase

Apart from this the textured surface was successful despite crude methods, the plain plywood also left a wood texture in the concrete.

Cinema Paradiso (1989) - The projectionist box looks over the cinema and town square.

was achieved on the upper face due to the pressure from above, however the other surfaces, particularly the bottom edge had significant air bubbles. This could be rectified by subjecting the form work to stronger vibrations or inserting the Perspex after filling partially with concrete. A polished surface could be achieved by using a mechanical rotary polisher.

The Perspex opening was less successful, the desired smooth surface Limestone aggregate used.

Light study