AJ Student Prize 2023: University of Kent

About the Kent School of Architecture and Planning

Undergraduate

Hui Wen Tan

Course BA (Hons) Architecture
Studio/unit brief Architecture is a Public Service (Stage 3 ARCH5580)
Project title Chatham Intra Culinary Village

Project description The proposal is for a community-led culinary school that aims to reskill veterans and people recovering from substance-use disorder. The school provides classes and practical training, as well as job opportunities at the school-affiliated restaurant on site. The design highlights the ‘alley-to-river’ typology of Chatham Intra, which creates linear paths from the high street to the river, linking the site to the waterfront walk. Parts of the protruding land are chipped away and reused in the form of rubble gabions that create small jetties. Four buildings are created, each serving a different purpose, including an oyster farm-to-table restaurant. A three-storey building contains most of the classrooms as well as a rooftop community garden. The central kitchen building, however, is where the main activities are centred, with prefabricated units that can be rented out as start-up food stalls.

Tutor citation A quality of this project is to capitalise on the local human resources that offer cultural diversity and traditions to propose a place where national identities are expressed through food while at the same time offering job opportunities in a diversified assemblage of architectural types. It cleverly intertwines socio-economic analysis, creative urban regeneration and architectural inventiveness. Silvio Caputo

Postgraduate

Mohammed Alsafi

Course MArch
Studio/unit brief Hybrid Futures (Unit 2)
Project title Deptford Health and Wellness

Project description Deptford is a micro-metropolis within Lewisham, with its lively high street network, a tri-weekly market and growing multicultural demographic. Located near the train station and the Albany Theatre, this project has disability inclusion at its heart, catering for able-bodied users and people with physical/learning disabilities, complex needs and palliative care patients. It caters to the ‘hybrid future’ school of thought by having spaces that consider unforeseeable or inevitable generational occurrences: injury and aging. The proposal includes a gym, special-needs-equipped training hall, physiotherapy spaces, chiropractic units, spa floor and market hall to further nurture Deptford’s social culture. The dichotomous nature of the scheme is reflected in its materials of rammed earth and timber. The roof’s complex geometry allows for diffused light penetration and acts as a structural celebration of Deptford’s market tradition.

Tutor citation Mohammed’s project is a thoughtful and creative design which engages with a challenging site and diverse building programme, exploring the subjects of ageing and mobility with great care. Georgios Loizos

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