Completion: 2015 - Second Year of BSc at Cardiff University

Gross floor area: 2850m2

Themes of permanence and impermanence, expansion and contraction, adaptability and mobility will be explored through the design process. Your client, the institute of art and ideas (iai), requires a permanent home - the ideas farm - which has the ability to expand temporarily to host its annual festival, How the Light Gets In (http://howthelightgetsin.iai.tv).

The ideas farm will serve as the base for mobile cultural events travelling along the river Wye, as a central artery for communication. The design sits between the river and the town, and slightly overhangs the bank so the building ‘floats’ on top of the river. This is so that users can be drawn into the building and not realize they are being pulled so far over the river. The design provides an interior performing space and also an exterior performance space with a ramp that acts as exterior seating. Ultimately, the design intends to create lots of informal multi-purpose spaces internally and externally, all available to the public.