CLIENT: TEES VALLEY REGENERATION
TYPE: MASTERPLANNING
COMPANY: +3 ARCHITECTURE
LOCATION: MIDDLESBROUGH
VALUE: N/A
‘Miniature masterplanning in Middlesbrough’
Minihaven is Middlesbrough’s newest mini-mixed use
development.
Forming part of the epic Middlehaven
development, Minihaven will provide an intimate
oasis in the ‘Land of the Giants’. The proposed
development will adopt best-practice, macro, urban
design principles but apply them at a micro level to
create a place that is cosy, intimate and welcoming
but simultaneously in keeping with the attitude and
principles
of the wider masterplan. Meptahorical,
floors, rugs, coffee tables, lamps and a TV will
combine with the existing clocktower to create a
place with a unique identity and a special character
all of its own.
‘Using the metaphor of the domestic living room,
Minihaven seeks to explore concepts of context,
place-making, scale, adaptability and permanence.
The proposed development uses the existing
clocktower as a visual landmark and organisational
device to create a unique, mini-mixed-use development
and public space that is in stark contrast to the
metropolitan
scale of much of Middlehaven.
Elements of fitted and loose furniture populate and
animate the ‘living room’ and can be reconfigured on
a regular basis but are ‘anchored’ in the landscape
by fixed walls, a floor and ceiling to imbue Minihaven
with an appropriate balance of the temporary and
permanent condition. The ‘urban living room’ concept
provides a platform for other, new ‘rooms’ within the
Middlehaven masterplan in the future’.
From working on this project in my year in Industry
I then developed this into a Masters Thesis (MA
obtained from Edinburgh University)