Hypothetical Scenarios

In studio we did an exercise to develop our minds and begin thinking about hypothetical situations for commercial road using different prompts we created. Under the context of a location (Portsmouth, Commercial road, the high street) and a theme (lifestyle, society, politics/economics, urban vs suburban, technology, communications, public realm, nature) we created several different scenarios which we could sketch out, model and find ways to represent the scenario given.

What if Portsmouth could 3D print buildings?

This scenario was taken from the idea of 3D printing buildings, and I was inspired by the idea of the Bridge crane system seen in some styles of 3D printers and harbour side cranes often seen in Portsmouth.

The idea behind this is a uniform form that could be printed over and over again, and then moved into a larger volume that can become a multi-use structure using the pre existing, smaller volumes.

What if Portsmouth was a Merchant republic?

A merchant republic is a type of city state from the Italian middle ages, referring to a city state that had a large focus on maritime trade as well as political independence.

This sketch gives a modern impression of what a merchant republic could be today. With the high street a high value market filled with arcades (based on arcades from Italy in which merchants sold goods. It also would have cranes, trains and planes to allow constant trade to the rest of the world and create an efficient centre to move goods and sell them.

With more profit coming in from trade, the area would become more valuable and therefore having new renovations to continue to grow the city centre.