My site is Margate House and the owner is Lana the artist. She was given the building for a far lower price than her competitors due to her intentions for it to be a place for the community. The building currently has four storeys and a roof with pretty spectacular views (but currently the only access to this level is by a step ladder.)

Light is limited due to the surrounding buildings on the first and ground floor, however the third floor has a tent like light-well which allows light to flood into the space.

I wanted design something that would:

(A) Allow the public to appreciate the 360 view of Margate town and sea below

(B) Maximise light into the building

When reading Greame’s book he describes the Tate as a light-well by day and beacon by night. I really liked this concept and thought that it could work well for this building which is not too dissimilar from the Tate, both being industrial brick buildings with similar usage.

The building would become a beacon that would draw the community to it. Like the Tate is a beacon on the river, Margate house would become a beacon by the sea.

I would create this by punching a hole the size of the original glass light-well through the other existing floors and incorporate a stair-well into the atrium which takes you from the second floor to the roof. The Spiral stairwell would fit snug into this cut out and I would make it out of glass so that the light will not be blocked out.

I was concerned that the roof would act like a green house if the sun was to be on it all day, so I decided to add these fins that would prevent this space from heating up too much and would not disrupt the view.

These fins are only to be on two sides of the staircase to allow each access onto the staircase and can also slid across on the second floor to create more space for entry or to allow more light to enter the room.

The staircase is needed to get to the roof,  however there are two other sets of stairwells that can be used to access the other floors.

This is a sectional model of my design.