ID:339 | Open in NocoDB | Type:Map | Themes:6 | Attachments:1 | Finding:103 chars | Connections:0→0 | Location:52.50977078295966, -2.0839788079788333 | Weather:3 tags | Date:Thursday 20 July 2023 | Press 'D' to close

Dudley Time Portal

It’s difficult to see green from plants although then noticed the weeds in the pavement and buildings - 230720 Erica.JPG
It’s difficult to see green from plants although then noticed the weeds in the pavement and buildings
Added to Archive Thursday 17 August 2023
Experienced Thursday 20 July 2023
Last Updated Tuesday 25 November 2025
Location 52.50977078295966, -2.0839788079788333
Season Summer
Type Map
Weather 18C Cloudy Slight breeze
Themes Colour Surprise Hiding Plantlife Nature Growing
What was/is/if What is
More tagged with type Map
Stepping Stone 4 adds layers to the High Street. Like the other visions, we wanted to use CoLab Dudley’s principles ‘use nature as a guidebook’ and ‘create conditions for curiosity and experimentation’. The main way we proposed to do this was adding a green canopy to provide shelter, create a hybrid indoor outdoor space welcoming to families and a more communal open space, and support ecosystems. - 1_LproE6m65nkUvUNOhgvtwg.png
High Street Building Occupancy The majority of the shop fronts are general retail units with many other building occupancies relating to services, clothing, healthcare. The section of high street has 160 stores/buildings. The majority of the building use are assigned as retail units with many also accommodating to services, banks and cafe’s. The high street does however contain 24 vacant units, 15% of the studied building usage. - Matthew Hewitt 1.png
Localising Material Accessibility During my initial walk through the High Street of Dudley, I noticed an inevitable decline in the area. There were vacant shops, but those open had apparent facade damage. For the area to thrive, there needs to be an aesthetical uplift. Here I began to question how to make the repairs. On the one hand, one could complete a like for like repair with a deep clean to provide a new lease of life to achieve an aesthetical value. Alternatively, the repairs could be a status of where the street aims to be in the future. To achieve a statement, the implementation of repair work needs to stand out. It needs to be futuristic, a bold contrast to the existing. At this point, I decided that after being informed of the damage the built environment has on the climate crisis, only carbon zero/ carbon sequestering materials would be present during repairs. This does not aim to destroy existing buildings but instead carefully implement repairs creating a patchwork effect across the street. This would then grow over time as more repair work is required. Over time, the high street would transform into a zero-carbon environment. The manufacturing and growth of these materials need to be local, so consideration is vital. This provides an opportunity for the site to be a material producer itself. - Ryan Cooksey Ban Materials.png
Water Collection With this information I can begin to map out 1038m2 of miyawaki forests. It is crucial that the forests do not use more water than stored as then the project isn’t zero carbon as it would require fresh water. It is important that the water collected is sufficient for this project to work. This data also provides the information to how much storage is required on the site. - Ryan Cooksey Water 1.png
High Street existing green spaces - Matthew Hewitt Existing Green Spaces.png
More tagged with theme Surprise
Motif / sign above G.P. Footwear not seen before - 210730 1515 Tiny Things.png
The top edge on the Duncan Edwards Memorial statue in the market square. What you're looking at is fossilised sea life of a good million + years ago. - IMG_7264.jpeg
[Drawing - trident] - 210731 1335 Big Things 2.png
Surprising survival Little Barrel Pub - 210731 1403 Identity.jpg
Great sculpture - 210731 1335 Old 2.png
More tagged with theme Colour
Ramsey's.docx
The third Stepping Stone project attempted to design the community kitchen in one of the empty shops on Dudley High Street. We all know that food is an essential factor in our life and eating and cooking the food is not an abstract activity we do, it is part of our everyday routine. In our initial research, we found that many people live alone in compact housing on the High Street. We thought the kitchen connect the residents with society. We decided to make the process of preparing food more enjoyable. As our aim was to grow food on the street wherever possible, we can use these vegetables for the community kitchen. This will encourage residents to come down onto the street and engage with it. This could also be a new experience for the visitors of the High Street. - 1_hvQXOY39qWZ19g07wz8ung.png
A sketch showing workshops utilising the empty spaces, street furniture, canopies on the side, and street art to brighten and liven the current High Street. - 1_lZXcIupYLTB5bBnb5G-adg.png
Lichen as bioindicators Lichen Vs Carbon. These concept models look to document both the current state of Dudley Highstreet and the vision looking towards the future within this thesis project. The lichen covered model looks towards a future in Dudley that is rich in texture, colour, nature and oxygen. Natural materials promote natural growth, and textures such as rough sawn timber and stone are the prefect hosts for lichen. All new buildings in Dudley would benefit massively from following a fabric first approach and adopt the use of sustainable and recycled building materials along with systems that use minimal energy. The lichen model represents a vision for this thesis, buildings that are covered in natural materials and lichens that help sequester carbon and promote a healthier Highstreet. Suggestions of raised buildings also proposes less disruption to the ground and natural landscape, giving plants and animals the opportunity to thrive in an otherwise hostile concrete environment. Raised buildings also look towards a future planet with rising sea levels, future factors that will drastically affect the way we carry out daily lives and futureproofing all buildings for generations to come. This second model uses the Shou Sugi Ban method of charring timber to waterproof it. In this case however it represents the embodied carbon and pollution within the highstreet as it exists now. The simplicity and repetition is also used to symbolise the plain nature of the highstreet with only a few materials exhibited, mainly brick & concrete. Once burnt the timber forms were brushed with wire wool to reveal the natural grain of the wood, a visual representation of degradation of layers of buildings that are built poorly or not constructed to last longer than a generation. - Michelle Gartside Model 5.png
The meaning behind this gift is composed of three main foundations which are biodiversity, social and enclosure. The box represents the enclosed feeling of the surrounding buildings that you receive when walking down Dudley High Street. The ‘High Street’ gives the impression that the buildings are closing in on you, with very little open space around. The open element of the box is to create an airy space which is what Co-LAB Dudley is trying to achieve and make the atmosphere more sociable for the local people/ community. Therefore, attracting more people to the high street. Conducting research it is evident that the ‘High Street’ severely suffers from a lack of green space resulting in a lack of biodiversity across Dudley. Centrally, located within the box is a rose which resembles the biodiversity and the need for growth amongst the ‘High Street’. The white rose connotes the purity for the future of Dudley High Street and what it could become. - 1_sMdZMZUJNldAWFC5__XccQ.png