Reassembling the forgotten playground

The site is in Redcliffe, Bristol and is riddled with antisocial behaviour and crime. There is evidently a lack of play in the surrounding area with a great socio-economic divide between the North and the South of the site. After the Blitz, the buildings that were present on the site of Freeling House were levelled and the community created a playground there.

This is quite poignant as it describes what happens when land is given back to the community. In 1954 a Social Housing block called ‘Freeling House’ was constructed on top of this playground, becoming a symbol of childhood disappointment. I wanted to explore the forgotten memory of ‘play’ on the site and reintegrate play into the area. The site has a fragmented memory like a jigsaw with missing

This project aims to find the missing piece which contains Freeling House. Drastic remodelling of Freeling House is needed due to the lack of natural light, high rates of crime, high surface flood risk, no access to the outdoors, no thresholds or welcoming entranceways, and the building not reaching space standards and is reaching end-of-life. I took the decision to ‘disassemble’ most of the building, create a kit-of-parts and reuse the materials, like a jigsaw, to create a new building. Different layers of reuse will be implemented throughout the design. For example, the existing substructure, concrete columns, concrete slab floors and some brick cavity walls will be maintained. Poetically, the original structure of the building will remain and preserve the memory of the old building. Different layers of reuse will be shown through the façade through the relationship of reclaimed brick with a composite material made from the waste brick. Different typologies of Social Housing units will be integrated into the design. The design increases the number of residents and the space standards which were not met previously.

The memory of the ancient playground has been restored through common moments of play throughout the building. These include playful bookshelves made from recycled cupboards and internal doors from the original building, deep bay windows, changes in level in maisonette units, access to the outdoors for every unit through recessed and protruding balconies, colourful shutters, large glazing to increase natural light and enhance interaction with nature, and multiple courtyards for more natural light and ventilation.