Northenden Community Hearth
My name is Sion and I am part of the SKN Atelier. I am a designer who likes to take inspiration from past cultural and social practices and implement them into my work.
My BA3 Project is Located in the suburb of Northenden, Manchester, the scheme is centred around the concept of a Community oven. Inspired by the historical tradition of village bakehouses, the scheme aims to reinvigorate the past cultural practice of communal cooking and baking, bringing it into the modern world and, in turn, creating a more environmentally and socially sustainable future. The space is designed to be a place of warmth where all the people of Northenden can come together to celebrate their Community.
The central oven design is a homage to traditional industrial chimneys, its conventional appearance of environmental harm standing in contrast to the scheme's core ideals. It does not exist solely for aesthetics but actually houses a heat recovery system that recaptures any excess heat produced by the oven and redistributes it into the building's services, most notably through pipes that heat the outdoor seating.
The remainder of the building is constructed primarily of timber and rammed earth. The construction aims to be low-carbon and community-centred. By inviting members of the Northenden community to help construct the rammed earth blocks, a sense of stewardship will be instilled in the space's end users. They will have a self-perpetuating duty to maintain and repair the space as time passes.
The scheme aims to create a space of celebration and contemplation that can act as an archetype of future architectural social and development. A future the will work to reduce the impact humans have on the planet and allow for local communities to have independence from wider global systems and infrastructure.
