Rujamas Suchato

London has undergone tremendous pressure over the last 20 years to expand and provide new buildings for its growing population. Today the population is 8 million people and it is predicted to reach 10 million people by 2037.

The most common way to increase density has been to demolish old buildings and replace them with new, taller or larger ones. However there is a strong historic architectural legacy to preserve which often limits the space available for new building.

But what if there is another way to increase density without demolishing what is there already?

The Commensalist City is a way to extend upon the existing city, and references certain biological relationships where species interact with each other and nature. It also develops from an interest in the growth of tin crystallization during electrolysis.

To develop this project Farringdon was chosen as a site, for its complex urban conditions and variety of building type and quality. The form of the project was derived from a personal classification of the buildings on the site (effecting whether these buildings should be interacted with, or avoided), as well as an analysis of daylight and sunlight to prevent over shadowing of the existing city.

A interest in bubble structures lead to the form of tetrakaidecahedron. This repeating unit allows the structure to span large distances between ‘insignificant’ buildings and expand into the sky providing public surfaces and platforms for further development. This system has the potential to expand continuously to accommodate the future growth of London.