M.Arch Thesis Project | Part II

 

The Urban Beach Corridor is a manifesto that employs urban densification as a tactic to revert controlled spaces. It is an architecture of resistance that emulates the liminal quality of the beach to challenge Coventry’s City Council’s waterpark ambition.

 

Blurring the natural and man-made, the Urban Beach Corridor diverts and de-culverts the city’s hidden river. By managing water above the surface, the Urban Beach Corridor generates oppositional public realm for leisure while acting as a critical water control apparatus for the city. 

 

Abstracting from iconic seaside typologies and the roman aqueduct, the project aspire to develop a new form of architectural language and aesthetic that does not lapse into a vernacular style. The project adopts a holistic design approach through the exploration of double curvature form active structures to satisfy the increasingly complex demands of sustainability criteria. Concurrently, this addresses the integration of the upper deck with the structural viaduct for a more coherent architectural expression and structural integrity.

​

Offering visitors the opportunity to temporarily invert the codes of conduct that govern their everyday lives, the Urban Beach Corridor is a necessary piece of green infrastructure that symbolises liminality, exoticism and pleasure.