Construction Week

Group 6 - Community Room

Presented with an oddly shaped site of approx. 30m2, our brief was to design and build a community room, minimum size of 3x4m.

The context of the site is within nearly 70 allotement sites, but currently has no facility for 'allotters' and their friends + family to meet/take shelter or have a tea-break. The Community Room is to act as a social hub for all the allotment holders and will be paid for by a grant from Haringey Borough of up to £1500. Access to be allowed for the plot behind and to the fence off the sides and back of the site as well as 'car' barrier to the south/front to be provided.

The key considerations for the group were:

• Community room to be low maintenance
• Clear boundaries
• Prevention of parking on site (spaced low level posts?)
• No decking or voids (the risk of vermin nesting under is too great)
• The shed is to have a solid base (e.g. Concrete pavers + hard core)
• Double doors out onto patio, ideally paved
• Interior light (windows) - this can be provided by polycarbonate sheeting rather than glass
• Multi-functional interior (adaptable)-for example window shutters become bench/table
• Sloping roof to allow for rainwater collection (water butt)
• Exterior/weather resistant table/bench (if finances allow)

The site also required clearing of weeds and grass, also levelling the site was key. Root barriers also requires to be used under the room/patio areas.

Design

Our design was to keep it fairly simple due to time and money constraints. We proposed to build a 'box' shape, constructed out of timber pallets. The roof is to slope in one direction into a simple guttering system and to be collected in a large barrel to be used by the 'allotters'. Wood was our main material as it was relatively easy to source and very workable in short spaces of time. Our main expenditure was the wooden structure, in which was treated and ensured a secure and robust frame for us to build upon.

Prefab

Due to weather conditions, it wasn't practical for the group to construct the walls on site, therefore after some negotiating with a local car garage owner we managed to secure a place to work under shelter. Here we laid out drawings of how the timber was to be marked out and cut, followed on by the actual construction of the walls. The walls, windows and doors were all constructed off site, which was only a 2 minute walk, then transported (carried, requiring entire group effort) to the site. The walls etc were then erected into place.

Wall, Floor + Roof

The walls, roof and floor were the next stages. The roof structure was incorporated into the main shelter, this was boarded with ply, then covered with old 'for sale' or 'to let' signs. The materiality offered a durability as well as an aesthetic value. The floor was then assembled from old and varied pieces of timber, which had to be measured and cut down to co-ordinate with each other in order to achieve a suitable floor finish. The walls were to be clad internally with treated plywood. This is an element that is yet to be completed due to difficulties in sourcing plywood.

To be continued...