Jack Berrett

My project is an effort to oppose the current condition of the contemporary city, as an ordered yet directionless state, ordered to the needs of the individual rather than the collective.

Using 'Barking Riverside' housing development as a canvas, my project proposes an alternative design for the currently proposed 'civic heart' of the development, using an arrangement of Archetypal forms to do so. Each Archetype facilitates a specific ritual (or set of rituals) which offer opportunities for people to gather and have meaningful interactions with one another. An example of this is the application of the Forum Archetype; an enclosed square, capable of holding a market – such as the on-site Dagenham Sunday Market – as well as many other communal/political events.

As Barking-Riverside is an on-going development, my project and each of its built elements exist differently at two crucial stages. First in a preliminary 'ruin' stage where the foundation elements of each building are constructed and implemented on site, providing space that caters to the immediate needs of the on-site community. This stage is followed by a 'completed' stage, where all buildings are fully realised alongside the realisation of the housing development, catering to the projected needs of a large community.

Overall, the project makes statements about built-form and the city, offering an example of how we should consider the design of Civic Spaces at both architectural and urban-design scales.