Nadine Burke

Legacies and Opportunities: Resilient Communities

Nadine Burke is a final year Architecture student. Her project focuses on the area of Duddeston, Birmingham, and aims to bring new life to the area.

Architecture - BA (Hons)

Give us a brief overview of your project

The key theme of my final project was bringing a new image to the high-street of Duddeston. The project focuses on a community and arts centre located in the epicentre of regeneration. Focusing on waste of the community to create 'paper' to plant within the communities large green spaces. Public space from the masterplan scale to the interiors drive the project - blurring the edges between spaces.

Within the masterplan connections are created linking two sites - the train station and high-street through the existing green spaces that currently have no activity within. Pavilions, parks, gym equipment, seating arrangements and allotments where seed paper can be planted to produce food within the community will bring life to these lifeless areas. Regenerating the high-streets existing buildings on the north side alongside the placement of the community arts centre will bring new life to Duddeston.

In my first semester, I worked on a project regarding the production of paper to end food poverty, which was also based in Duddeston. The two injustices I focused on were food poverty and access to quality green-space. This semester resulted in producing a model as a production space for paper (alongside producing seed paper by hand). During this semester no new material was used, all material used was waste from myself or other students- resulting in the production of paper.

Why did you choose this concept?

The reasoning for this choice stems from taking the method of producing paper on a much larger scale from my first semester as this would act as a form of income for the area. Connecting over the site through a master plan linking the train station and the main high street taking users of a journey through the once empty green spaces. Delving into the use of public space through varying different scales to ensure the building would bring a new image to the site.

What processes have you been using?

Throughout my time at university I have found a hybrid process works best. From starting with physical; whether that is model making or simple diagrams this is always the starting point, to follow through into a digital approach to refine ideas and designs for efficiently.

Throughout this year I have produced a series of sizes of seed paper, through collecting waste and turning it into a new piece of paper. For one of my final outputs I have started to produce an A1 piece of seed paper as the base of one of my drawings.

What do you hope to achieve with your project?

The goal is to achieve food security within the area of Duddeston, through creating a strong link between and within the community from the epicentre of the site. This mentality and method should break through the boundary of the ring road, resulting in a spread right across Birmingham city centre. With the building to bring life back to the high street for the local and wider community, regenerating through reflections of use and movement.

How has your course helped you to prepare for working on your project?

Help and guidance has been given throughout my whole time at university to prepare me for my final project. Especially through weekly tutorials with different tutors across the school to help and solidify my ideas and designs. Other students also offer feedback and advice through different reviews/pin ups.