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Landscape, Culture, Energy

Part 1 Project 2021
Pu Zhang
Mackintosh School of Architecture | UK
Plug-in/capsule architecture usually delivers the idea and its visual expression rather than the practicality it visually implies. Nowadays, the potential of the plug-in concept is being neglected and rarely further explored due to excessive concerns for making shapes, material science not being fully used to the extent it should be, and many other factors.

Investigating the evolution and critically examining the relevant figures and movements, key areas are identified and rethought, such as material, manufacture, transportation, and structural design. The project aims to reinvent the plug-in typology for the practicality, affordability, and much greater sustainability by developing a theoretical programme and detailed design that enables pods to be unplugged, recycled, or relocated efficiently. The project also studies the use of carbon fibre as a structural material, exploring its possibilities and impracticalities.

The programme, in this case, is applied to Sistema Scotland, a music charity for underprivileged children, and the site in Balloch on the shores of Loch Lomond is used as a testing ground for the programme. The design of a residential music retreat and performance hall creates a valley to represent the site’s historical significance and architectural spaces to nurture children based on Sistema’s values.

Pu Zhang

Tutor(s)



2021
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