underground EARTH museum
Being one of the most ancient construction materials, I became very intrigued in the use of earth in architecture. As sustainability issues have become more and more challenging in the world, I believe it is important to consider this material in contemporary buildings at an urban level. This is the reason behind my exploration of rammed earth and the design of the subterranean historical museum in the heart of the city of Manchester. Marrying earth with other contemporary materials may enable us to use this eco-friendly element in today's architecture and I was able to successfully prove this throughout my project.
In this project, I decided to explore the Piccadilly Gardens plaza in the city of Manchester. As this plaza became subject to neglect, the Mancunians stopped seeing this place as a family friendly place where to relax. My goal is to bring this place back to its original purpose. After thoroughly researching the history of the place, I noticed that a lot of it happened below ground level from the 16th century daub holes to the 20th century air raid shelters. This is the reason why I decided to design this underground museum that has a covered street market on the ground floor. The project would then be completed with green areas and a water element that visitors could enjoy as well as a sunken food plaza (referring to the 20th century sunken gardens). The design includes steel reinforced rammed earth walls in the lower levels that support the concrete ground floor. The marriage of different materials with earth made this project have a unique charm.
