Qian Wang

FROM

Nanyang, Henan, China

EDUCATIONS

BA Environment Design, Nanyang Institute of Technology, 2012-2016

MA Interior Design, Hebei Normal University, 2016-2019

MA Interior Design, Royal Collage of Art, 2019-2021

AWARDS

SECOND PRIZE - The 8th China International Space Design Competition, 11/2016

FIRST PRIZE - ZIPPO 85 Anniversary Design Competition, 07/2016

THIRD PRIZE - The 11th National Digital Art Design Competition, 10/2016

EXCELLENT PRIZE - The 6th National College Student Design Competition, 07/2016

SECOND PRIZE – Final exhibition for Hebei Normal University , 06/2019

The ‘Thesis Design Project’ is concerned with the creation of an industrial heritage park that will celebrate the architectural folly which is the displaced ‘St Pancras Waterpoint’

In 2001, the development of the new channel tunnel rail link terminus at St Pancras Station meant the Waterpoint was threatened with demolition, Due to the building’s listed status English Heritage intervened and moved it to its current location.

The relocation of the St Pancras Waterpoint to an unfamiliar site asks many questions about attitudes towards heritage and how we treat buildings of historic interest. Due to structural reasons it was only possible to move the top section of the original building and this was placed upon a replica of the original base asking further questions about authenticity and fakery.

The building now sits rather oddly in its new canal-side location, divorced from its original purpose, and has the quality of a ‘folly’. From this observation, a new proposal has been developed to create a small urban landscape that will enable visitors to better appreciate the building and the industrial heritage of its site.

The scheme creates a new footbridge to form a direct connection across the canal to the new landscaping at Coal Drops Yard. The new industrial heritage park acts as a museum where the Waterpoint is the principal exhibit. The ‘fake’ base has been removed and its fragments have been scattered around the site and arranged to set up vistas that enable visitors to appreciate the ‘folly’ as they wander round the landscape.

— Overview Axonometric: A new bridge connects Waterpoint Park to the adjacent Coal Drops Yard. The Waterpoint’s ‘fake’ base has been removed and a new excavated space becomes the visitor’s arrival point from where they can gaze up at the ‘floating’ building that has lost its original base.

— The excavated space beneath the Waterpoint and the raised level of the Coal Drops Yard landscape allow the new bridge to form a horizontal link between the two spaces currently separated by the canal.

— The park is arranged across different levels that are connected by ramped bridges.

— Visual showing the entrance from Coal Drops Yard: the existing landscape has been sympathetically modified to create a ramped approach to the new bridge.

— Visual showing the journey on the bridge.

— Visual showing the view from the excavated space beneath the Waterpoint: visitors can appreciate the historic building.

— Visual showing the view from the original floor level into the newly excavated space.

— Visual showing the view from the lower level of the park: the ramped bridge connects to the space above.

— Visuals showing views from the ‘ruins’: set-piece views are framed for visitors to enjoy.

— Visual showing the view from a passing train.

— The new bridge protrudes into the newly excavated space and requires visitors to step down in order to arrive in the park.

— The ‘fake’ base has been removed and replaced by a simple, elegant , understated concrete structure that allows visitors to focus on the interior of the original historic building.

— The newly excavated space is lined with precisely engineered aluminium panels sitting within a black marble wall.

— An angled concrete plinth supports the sculptural ramped bridge that lands on the steps ‘growing’ out of the engineering brick floor.

— A simple black metal handrail is fixed to a concrete balustrade wall.

— The building’s ‘fake’ base fragments are recreated in an abstracted form in jesmonite with pivoting precision engineered aluminium frames.

— This proposal animation explains the key ideas behind the scheme. The Waterpoint is seen as a ‘folly’ that asks questions about how we treat our industrial heritage. A proposed park would make connections across the canal with the adjacent Coal Drops Yard and allow visitors to learn about the building’s historical importance.

— This concept diagram explains the sequence of the design; 1) the ‘fake’ base is removed, 2) the ‘fake’ base fragments are exploded around the park, 3) new frames are added to the aperture of the scattered ‘ruins’, 4) through the frames visitors can look back at and enjoy the original Waterpoint building.