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Ecology of Building - live:work

Part 1 Project 2007
Gary Boyle
University of Edinburgh Edinburgh | UK
At the edge of Dunbar, an exposed virgin grassland site is neighbour to an abandoned open air swimming pool; a constant reminder of a vibrant history as a popular holiday resort. It is mutating rapidly to a commuter satellite-city for Edinburgh: ecologically and socially unstable. The hydroponic metaphor intrinsically links the proposal to its 'feeder city'. Re-centralising economic and community responsibility to Dunbar through my live:work proposal re-introduces local employment opportunities in an ecological and socially stimulated environment. The development is transient in nature; utilizing Design for Deconstruction principles to anticipate and execute future site demands sustainably.
Gary Boyle


The project engages with sustainability in its widest sense through the regeneration of peripheral coastal towns in the Lothians. The live-work agendas of the programme have been transformed by the student from a stereotypical home working template. It is a vehicle engaging with facets of sustainable development far removed from a counter-cultural response. His choice of hydroponics as a commercial core suggests a singular, not entirely comfortable reading of the future, whilst the flexibility of space and construction speak of sound contemporary sustainable principles. The integration of living accommodation is an optimistic note adding another dimension to this confident proposition.

2007
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