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Sailing Centre and Theatre Project

Part 1 Project 2001
James Daykin
Newcastle University | UK
The Northern Stage Theatre + Centre for Urban Arts Research

Set in the grain of the urban north this project personified human celebration through public interaction. It was an expression of how mans collective identities, brought together in one place form a vibrant active focus to urban space. The form of that urban space was based on the idea that human identity both affects and is affected by architecture. We shape and are shaped by architecture.
The whole notion of theatre is inextricably linked with the extrovert. The exaggerated lives and personalities played out on the stage. The scene setting and drama of the theatre feeds the imagination of the theatregoer and thus the foyer becomes a scene for the seen to see…

University Sailing Centre – Kielder Water

The act of sailing: harnessing the power of the wind and water to move you, brings you as close to the untouchable as is possible. On the water you are given focus, thoughts that occupy when on land are removed and the act of sailing channels your mind.

This being true, the act of learning to sail follows the same route. Focus must be given to a space within which you may be taught. A move away from land to a volume bound by water gives that separation, whilst the main building aligns to a focal axis that provokes a procession: from ignorant arrival through theory and practice, to celebration of the act. This is a project generated from site forces, forces that affect perception and focus thought.

James Daykin


This student has a very sensitive and creative approach to architectural design. This has proved to be true throughout his 2nd and 3rd year. The tectonic quality of his first project, The Sailing Centre, has addressed the challenge of setting a structure within an ecologically sensitive context. His Theatre Project, in the second semester, has also shown a very mature and reflective approach to an urban design strategy for this brown field site with strong cultural links between the University and the city fabric.

This project demonstrates the ability to create responsive architecture to the physical and cultural context, and yet presents understanding of the construction details and the engineering of the building. Overall, this student has demonstrated a sophisticated ability in the form-giving process coupled with a genuine professional delivery of the whole design project, in its complete entirety.

2001
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