John Raymond Hall Ray Hall FRSA, AA Diploma

405 Pages·2017·33.5 MB·English

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Hall, Ray (2017) Building a sense of belonging: exploring the design relationship between
people and places. [Doctorate by Public Works]
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D.PROF. BY PUBLIC WORKS
Middlesex University
Student Number: M00516453: John Raymond Hall
Ray Hall FRSA, AA Diploma (Architecture), AA Diploma (Planning), Architect rtd, RIBA
11.10.2017

Building a sense of belonging. Exploring the design relationship between people and places

A thesis submitted to Middlesex University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of
D.Prof. by Public Works.

Institute for Work Based Learning
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CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................... 15

SUMMARY + REFLECTIONS ................................................................................................................... 28
Scientific belonging ............................................................................................................................... 29
Three words .......................................................................................................................................... 30
Please be ready ..................................................................................................................................... 31
Key conclusions ..................................................................................................................................... 32

SCENE SETTING: SUCCESS AND FAILURE ............................................................................................... 33
Lord Heseltine + the public domain ...................................................................................................... 34
The Quad ............................................................................................................................................... 34
Minimal belonging ................................................................................................................................ 35
Why am I mentioning these two experiences? ..................................................................................... 36

HEADING 1: THE GROUND .................................................................................................................... 38
Foundations .......................................................................................................................................... 39
Always in a context................................................................................................................................ 40
Transdisciplinary .................................................................................................................................... 43
Transformative ...................................................................................................................................... 45
Places as clothing .................................................................................................................................. 46
Deadly serious ....................................................................................................................................... 47

HEADING 2: ROOTS ............................................................................................................................... 49
I am a person ......................................................................................................................................... 50
People can make a difference ............................................................................................................... 54
My own roots in belonging ................................................................................................................... 56
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Belonging in a place .............................................................................................................................. 60
Geometries in life .................................................................................................................................. 67
Consistent in life .................................................................................................................................... 73
Theory into commercial practice .......................................................................................................... 80
The original generic meeting place ....................................................................................................... 84
More brick walls .................................................................................................................................... 89

HEADING 3: A TRUNK WITH BRANCHES............................................................................................... 93
The trunk: Matthew’s Meeting Place .................................................................................................... 94
Some branches in people and in places .............................................................................................. 107
Was belonging possible in a new family home? ................................................................................. 111
Was belonging possible in a new residential scheme for a larger number of people i had not met? 112
Was belonging possible in a building that was designed to enable the societal opposite? ............... 114
Was belonging even possible in what might be the biggest divide of all?.......................................... 118
How did the Royal Institute of British Architects view the work of ‘People and Places’? .................. 123
Finally: can belonging be facilitated by other forms of design? ......................................................... 125
Identity is key ...................................................................................................................................... 125
Belonging when lost hurts .................................................................................................................. 128

HEADING 4: REACHING FOR THE SKY ................................................................................................. 133
Several major strategies ...................................................................................................................... 134
Some observations by others .............................................................................................................. 146

HEADING 5: MY VIVA AMPLIFIED ....................................................................................................... 158
Prop. 1: a cardboard box ..................................................................................................................... 159
Prop 2: a travel case ............................................................................................................................ 165
HEADING 6: MY PROFESSIONAL CONTEXT ......................................................................................... 171
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The responses of others ...................................................................................................................... 181
Rejection ............................................................................................................................................. 186

HEADING 7: A TOOL KIT TO ENABLE BELONGING ............................................................................... 191
Tool 1: Being aware and ready ............................................................................................................ 192
Tool 2: A culture of care ...................................................................................................................... 192
Tool 3: Places as clothing ..................................................................................................................... 193
Tool 4: A place can only enable ........................................................................................................... 193
Tool 5: A sequence of diagrams .......................................................................................................... 193
Tool 6: A way of seeing and a way of living life ................................................................................... 195
Tool 7: Spiral or helical journeys ......................................................................................................... 200
Tool 8: Appropriate language .............................................................................................................. 201

MY CLOSING REFLECTIONS ................................................................................................................. 205
As I conclude ....................................................................................................................................... 211

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APPENDICES 1-29: a separate document
1. Lord Heseltine’s letter of 08.11.2016
2. A Blue Print for Survival
3. Raymond Hall qualifications and involvements
4. Some schemes with Marshman Warren Taylor
5. Extract from ‘A Policy for MWT’ by John Taylor
6. A sample bibliography
7. 10 Memories of Matthew’s Meeting Place
8. Matt’s Place CD of Thames TV programme
9. Article + Appraisal of Matthew’s Meeting Place
10. Other residential projects
11. ‘A revolution in stone’ by Peter Scott
12. A way forward for the Waverley Abbey House Campus
13. Other church/community projects
14. RIBA Architects Review in London 2007
15. Team Belongings
16. ‘A Water City Powerhouse’
17. A book entitled ‘Crystal Pallets’ by Sue Nagle
18. A second book by Sue Nagle entitled ‘A New Eco Crystal Palace’
19. Crystal Palace & Norwood Chamber of Commerce magazine: autumn 2009
20. Background to a New Eco Crystal Palace
21. ‘An even more United Kingdom’
22. ‘Towards a new future for the world’
23. A Witney discussion and Cotswolds’ vision
24. The Queen’s Speech 2016
25. Responses to the draft D.Prof. submission
26. My D.Prof. journey as a series of spirals
27. Pages not included
28. My Father of the Bride speech
29. Final very special images

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IMAGES IN THE TEXT

INTRODUCTION
1. I am the boy in short trousers
2. The same boy with longer trousers
3. A sequence of diagrams
4. With my sister’s son
5. A stark headline
6. The Critic’s Choice summary

HEADING 1. SCENE SETTING
7. The Quad at Middlesex University
8. My tree of life
9. The Matthew’s Meeting Place poster
10. An inhabited bridge in London East
11. A well-known clock face
12. The New Eco Crystal Palace
13. Three separate circles
14. Overlapping as one

HEADING 2: ROOTS
15. Ray by a bridge and a river
16. Zaha Hadid
17. London 2012 Aquatics Centre
18. A helpful postcard
19. The People and Places logo
20. Family
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21. Friends
22. Mentors
23. Local communities
24. The ‘arts’
25. Professional friendships
26. Personal partnership
27. Belonging and loss
28. Shared by anyone
29. Belonging in time
30. Community action + partnership
31. Inspiration + envisioning
32. Staff team
33. The former J&N Stores
34. A painting in my early teens
35. The Architectural Association
36. Archigram’s walking city
37. Leicester Square: October 1966
38. The US pavilion at Expo 67
39. Falling Water
40. The MI5 building
41. Three ping pong balls with all touching
42. Three ping pong balls with 1 above, making 4
43. Six ping pong balls around 1
44. Six + one + 3 above
45. Twelve ping pong balls around one central ball 1 in 3-D
46. Keith Critchlow
47. ‘Order in Space’
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48. Three separate circles
49. Two circles overlapping as one
50. Two circles overlapping as one + giving to a 3rd
51. Three circles overlapping as one
52. Three circles overlapping as one within one circle
53. Humanity and ecology share the same diagram
54. Circles within circles
55. A total system
56. A trefoil window
57. York Minster’s East Window
58. Marshman Warren Taylor
59. A model of Arundel Towers
60. The logo of The Company of Designers
61. John and Christianne
62. My onion diagrams
63. The Pompidou Centre
64. The outside of the original Meeting Place model
65. Inside the model
66. The gantry
67. An internal section
68. Circles breaking apart
69. The Sunday Times magazine: February 26th, 1989
70. Deaconess Lister’s porch

HEADING 3: A TRUNK WITH BRANCHES
71. A man who loved Brixton with Bridget
72. Bob’s burdensome building outside
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73. Bob’s burden inside
74. The original drawings of the ground and first floors
75. Sectional drawing of the crypt
76. The palm tree
77. Ray presents the model of the original Meeting Place
78. The poster and badge for Matthew’s Meeting Place
79. Plans of each level + a section of Matthew’s Meeting Place
80. A model of the final scheme
81. The farewell event
82. The first phase under construction
83. The crypt when finished
84. The central staircase
85. When complete
86. Storage ‘cages’ in the roof
87. The 1977 riots
88. Nelson Mandela visits Brixton
89. An extract from the website of The Brix: about us
90. Another extract
91. Deaconess Lister’s porch
92. Inside the Raymond Hall Architects brochure
93. A sense of belonging
94. Small belongings by design
95. 58 Breakspears Road before with Jayne
96. After the work was done
97. A new home for the Jeavons’ family
98. Prince Charles speaking
99. Signing the visitors’ book
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