Course: Unit 02 The Frontier Island

Barry Island is a peninsula which forms part of the town of Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales. In the 1960s the island thrived economically as UK’s number one coal exporter and as one of the most famous seaside resorts for tourism. However, after the closure of the famous Butlins tourist resort and the coal exporting dock in the 1990s the island has been facing decline.

The unit was initially tasked with a primer project, advised to research the islands ‘’frontstage’’ and ‘’backstage’’ in order to design an intervention to be placed at the islands iconic Eastern Shelter.

The unit was lucky enough to be able to visit Barry Island in December, allowing them to experience the character of the island and physically take dimensions of the Eastern Shelter. With the data collected a comprehensive document of information was formed and shared between the unit.
With the completion of the primer project in early January the unit was tasked with writing their individual briefs for the main project.

The main project was similarly to the primer, mirrored the frontstage and backstage duality through connecting 2 distinct programme parts. The first being a small-scale form of creative or industrial production to the island, independently productive in its own right, and the second, one which caters to the tourism of the island. The introduction of a new industry was purposefully seeking to alter Barry Islands sole dependence on tourism and pleasure, and the choice of industry needed to be supported by research outlining the potential of such an industry on the island. This allowed students to write their own briefs according to the programme which derived from their research.

Unit 02 challenged the students to design projects which aimed towards the regeneration of a declined town, allowing them to tackle into social, cultural, economic and environmental issues and develop solutions through their architectural schemes.