This weeks celebration of students work is from Trixie, a female architecture student studying her Part II degree at the University of Westminster. Trixie completed her Part I undergrad degree at the University of Brighton, after this she gained experience in the industry at Clear Architects, a practice focused on high end residential and commercial design. Trixie currently works for Clear Architects in the summer break, continuing her knowledge within the working field. Of recent Trixie was nominated for RIBA West London Architects Group Prize for MArch I best portfolio, a great achievement.
As side from working in practice and studying the Part II degree, Trixie is the founder of The Young Architects Society (Instagram - @youngarchitects.society) -
"The Young Architects Society is a hub for individuals looking for answers on how to enter, navigate and/or thrive within the architecture industry. It aims to provide a safe space for questions to be asked and answered, inspiration to be gained ...and to overall make the industry look a little less intimidating!"
Trixie has taken her personal interests into her dissertation topic for her 5th year written piece. This entails the topic of dual-identity, with a specific focus on ethnocultural backgrounds in West Africa, more specifically Ghana, and growing up/residing in the Western world. How does identity impact the idea of self-reflective architecture and as a result the urban fabric of Ghana in terms of sustainability. Trixie is keen to have people who are interested in the topic to become involved with her dissertation, if so: tfbedwei@gmail.com
Please enjoy Trixie's first project of her MArch degree below, with her own words to narrate.
| Project Overview
The project based in Hanoi, Vietnam serves as an interrogation into the notion of an oasis within a fractured landscape in an attempt to create a new architectural narrative.
The street vendors act as active agents who respond to change leading to the creation of a soft edge to the city juxtaposing the harder edge of the city’s tube housing which was an initial response to the governmental control over Hanoi. The lines between the hard and soft edge become blurred.
The conceptual device represents the aforementioned explored components- a variety of restricted and free motions (using support form ardhuino) and the resulting markings on the landscape, as well as displaying the developing soft city in action i.e. the dancing display of resilience from the active agents of Hanoi through light play and shadows.
| Project Aim
The project aims to unpack the old layers which once existed within the urban fabric of Hanoi. The old lakes, which have now been taken over by tube buildings and created a ‘hard city’ as a result, will be brought back and turned into new hubs of oases in order to add to the softer edge to the city by using the national flower of Vietnam- the Lotus, which will invade the lakes.
The main hub will house the processes involved in Lotus tea making and a series of floating tea houses will bleed into the existing city as an extension and further celebration of the resilience which exists in the everyday practices of buying, selling and socialising. The architecture of the proposal aims to seamlessly merge the existing and the proposed.
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