Indeterminate Specificity

The site of the project is located in central Cardiff. The unit’s overarching theme is Indeterminate Specificity - a building with no particular use that is adaptable to different uses over time. Both of these are the main design drivers for the project due to the fact that it is to be a building that stays for a very long time and is close to the Cardiff City Centre, therefore, it is really important to take into account how it can give back to the public no matter what the current use might be.

After studying the context of the project, the thesis of Urban Picturesque had been created. Urban stands for city/town and picturesque for out-of-the-ordinary. Providing a slight juxtaposition to its surrounding context with the purpose of giving back to the public and the city. The footprint of the building has a pentagonal shape, designed in that way, to maximize the floor area used of the site while creating those large spaces next to the building to accommodate public usage.

Within the scenario testing of the project, it has been concluded that the use scenarios are to strictly follow the geometry of the footprint in order to create efficient and atmospherically aesthetic spaces. The building is, therefore, able to accommodate multiple usages – hotel, residential, and office uses, which all follow the geometry of the building itself. This has also been reflected in the shape of the stiff core in the middle which after precedent studies has been concluded to replicate the building shape in order to provide the most spatial efficiency. Regarding the façade, it is to be one of the things that remain the same all-though-out the building’s life, and the inner walls are to be changed in such a way that they accommodate the different usages. Following the thesis of Urban Picturesque, the building shape is to provide a slight contrast to its adjacent neighbours by ‘breaking’ the interrupted verticality that they all have.

That part of the building is to symbolise to the people of Cardiff that this building is a slight contrast, not only with the building shape but also how accessible to the public the building is. Within that interrupted verticality of the building volume, a public space (a restaurant or a bar) is to be situated, contrasting to the surrounding context, in which all of the buildings are so nearby to the city centre however they do not give back to the public in any way.