ARCH511
Y lle Gwenyn (Place of the Bee)
A sustainable apicultural town; a polemic against
the ineffective regeneration of a South Wales Valley
Architecture
students
taking
the
module
ARCH511:Design Thesis
work in self-selecting
groups to generate their
own thesis topic - and
compile their own brief.
These group design
projects give students
the chance to develop
team-working skills that
mirror
architectural
practice. Four students:
Jonathan Evans, Jack
Ford, Tom Ford, and
Rebecca Platt, worked
together to plan a more
effective regeneration
scheme for south Wales
that also addresses
environmental concerns.
This thesis deals with two drawing problems: the future
of communities and the memory associated with their
industrial heritage after the death of the coal industry, and
the systemic decline in the bee population. Preservation
and evolution are essential to both issues and, surprisingly,
could prove a solution to one another.
Coal, a mono-industry in south Wales, has proven finite.
However, addressing the honeybee’s issues and using
it as a catalyst for sustainable development provides the
possibility of an infinite industry and so a dependable,
ecologically aware and sustainable local economy.
The project will aim to create a new urban settlement in
the Rhondda Valley, stitching existing satellite semi-urban
areas into a cohesive whole. By layering the honeybee
industry over an existing disused site, the project will
address the poor economic and socioeconomic situation
of the immediate area and tackle the real environmental
and economic threat the loss of the honeybee could cause
to the UK - whilst also ensuring that industrial sites of
architectural merit can be retained for future generations.
Our scheme therefore becomes a polemic against the
unimaginative and ineffective regeneration of sites such
as these, and aims to create a sustainable pluralist
environment with an infinite industry at its heart.
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