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Kensington's Hanging Gardens

Part 2 Project 2014
Natalie Gall
University of Greenwich | UK
The Le Corbusier Foundation devotes all its resources to the preservation, knowledge and dissemination of the work of Le Corbusier. The members board of directors 2014 have consequently decided upon commissioning another gallery within the heart of London in an effort to increase awareness of the foundation and the works of Le Corbusier.

The project therefore imagines a new museum space driven by the environmental experience of the space, as well as the artworks themselves. The artworks in question are Le Corbusiers early wooden sculptures.

The proposed architecture experiments with the stretching and distortion of shadow using the sculptures as a source of form. The sculptures are therefore experienced and viewed only through their shadows and not the objects themselves. This allows the artworks to become part of a time based system, using the path of the sun to project shadows into the building onto glass screens throughout the day. The distorted shadows which trace over the bespoke interiors of the museum are therefore read as a time based system against the existing architecture.

The decreasing variety of bird and wildlife species within Kensington is also of growing concern to the local council, alongside the preservation and
maintenance of the few remaining parks in Kensington. The scheme therefore also proposes new micro agricultures on its roof and hanging façade to promote the growth of new species and provide nesting opportunities for birds and bats. This comes in the form of a hanging clay jar façade with associated heating and irrigation systems. Heat recycled from waste energy emitted from the Virgin bar at roof level, and water reused from an existing artesian well, are both integrated into a bespoke wall cladding system to promote the growth of a green wall. While the recycled heat sets soft clay jars within a biodegradable scaffolding, water pipes built within these containers provide an irrigation system to water plants deposited by the visiting public. Both the setting of clay jars down the façade and the growth of specialised plant species act as a bespoke time based system dependent on internal and external environmental factors.

Natalie Gall

Tutor(s)

Mr Phil Watson

2014
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