ABOUT

In the build up to the design project in East Tilbury, Essex, a lot of steps had to be made to get there. Issues of social, political, health and design were looked at by RC11 in London and East Tilbury while other inspirations were found in India.

The journey starts off in London, visiting several council estates to look for an issue of interest. In this case, the interest was inactive spaces found in estates such as the Trellick Tower, North Kensington, South Thamesmead Estates, Bexley and ultimately St Silas and Southfleet Estates, Camden. Lots of inactive spaces were found which had functions in the past, but are now in disrepair. This has negative social and health issues for the local residents.

It continues in East Tilbury, Essex. The factory town history and its current state are compared, as the site used to be very active with work and post-work social activities. Since the factory closed, the town has been in disrepair, and the factory buildings are unused while the activity spaces are all derelict.Many elements of the town, such as the wellveing of the people have been affected as a result.

This led to to the Negotiated City model, which RC11 collectively built models on one table based on their interests and investigations from both London and East Tilbury. This conceptual model created abstract representations of the students’ interests and all combined into a table where space was negotiated with one another. In this case, ‘Animating Landscapes’ was the theme, as it relates to the inactive or ‘inanimate’ spaces in London and East Tilbury, where nothing is happening.

The design itself is to recreate one of The Blue Zones. The Blue Zones are the healthiest places in the world, according to National Geographic author Dan Buettner. This is based on their high average longevity and low rates of disease. They are located in Sardinia in Italy, Loma Linda in California, Ikaria in Greece, Okinawa in Japan and Nicoya in costa Rica. The design project aims to use elements of these ranging from water activity to nature to agriculture and diet to come up with a healthy lifesetyle which vastly improves the wellbeing of its inhabitants and increase longevity.