Yun Cheng

For nearly two centuries, thousands of hundreds of traders migrated into the East End of London to seek a better life and hopefully make their fortune. Through the activity of importing and exporting goods, their customs and cultural activities integrated into the local indigenous communities making the East End a center for multiculturalism even now in the 21^st century.

 My project tracks the journey of raw material arriving to the distinctive manufacturing process that is ultimately converted into the final product.

Local research determined the four themes of furniture, cloth, alcohol and tobacco.

These themes are organized into four vertical interconnected stacks within two Victorian warehouse buildings that are visually and physically connected to a volumetric courtyard space.

 For the ‘GOODS IN’ at lower ground floor and the manufacturing process on the next level I have created museum style environments using historic objects and interpretation media. The top level ‘GOODS OUT’ is treated as contemporary retail/ product display. For a focal feature I have defined the large volumetric courtyard space as a notional dock and consequentially created a stylized suspended vessel that provides a café ‘on deck’ and a museum shop retail space in ‘the hold’.