As it is the case of many post-industrial towns, the condition of Stoke-on-Trent in the UK is defined by its backwater location, with its own logic of urbanisation and economy, quite different to those of the metropolitan areas. In the 1960’s architect Cedric Price proposed a project called “Potteries Thinkbelt” for Stoke and its circumjacent towns. Operating in a network, the project injected education into the territory, trying to facilitate the shift from the former industrial economy of ceramic production to one of tertiary focus. The project was never realised. At the same time as Price proposed his project, the “Stoke-on-Trent Greenbelt” was installed as a planning policy: a large encircling landscape, defining a border to the Stoke-on-Trent agglomeration.

Landscape

The project is situated in a specific location on the greenbelt. This situation is interesting because this last piece of green belt, which is still preserved, separates two cities and prevents them from merging and thus keeps a green space between the two cities. Today, this park has lost a lot of value and the project, from a landscape point of view, seeks to refound its imaginary.
For this first phase of the project, we therefore worked on the park's entrances and the link that the park could create with the university hospital on the opposite road towords Stoke-On-Trent. We are enhancing the structure of the park by recreating 4 fluid loops, but also meeting around a central water body in the park.

Our landscaping intervention allows the park to have a new meaning, thanks to its new entrances, a better connection with the hospital and finally by giving the river a landscaped character, thanks to the central pond.

Site and Building

In the continuity of willing to link the university hospital to the park, we want to do a gesture in the linearity of the park which extends towards Newcastle by merging into the park little by little. This gesture takes place in 4 stages, with 4 folded bars. This fold is important, because it allows the first half of the building parallel to the road to have a direct access, and a link to the park, and the other half of the building slowly disappears into the park from the angle of the fold. This allows the building to have different affections and therefore different atmospheres.
The height and orientation of the buildings allow a view of the wooded hill and the distant landscape. Every passer-by, whether pedestrian, by car or in the distance, will have a different reading of the series of 4 folded bars.

Architecture

Buildings 1 and 2 are connected to the university hospital with student housing, research center, cafeteria, auditorium, stationery shop and others. So we have a public ground floor and in the higher floors a gram varies between labs, offices and housing.
Building 3 has a more intimate link with the park, a more secluded building. So new programs, an outside parking lot, but still a public ground floor more connected to the park, which hosts a public program.
The fourth building is set back and therefore mostly housing, but access to the park through it is still possible.
The façades of the buildings react to the programme in the form of horizontal strata, which gives each building its own expression. Based on the height of the trees, the different levels in the buildings have been able to accommodate different programmes, such as the labs, which remain low so as not to heat in the sun, while the offices are higher up, to maximise the amount of sunlight.

Constructive details

Following the structure, the building can be detached from the ground, allowing a better integration into the park.
In the offices, we have fixed vertical shutters, the sunbreaker type, these are placed against the facade and allow to vary the contribution of light with the addition of darkening blinds. In the plan of the student housing, the office and loggia elements are subtly integrated into the façade, with sandblasted side windows that allow a better light contribution. The combination of offices on the façade and railing generates a slight vibration in the façade.