Old Aberdeen, 1957

Old Aberdeen 2021

 
 

Conservation Appraisal

St Marys Church is categorised into Old Aberdeen's High Street Conservation Area. The area has numerous listed buildings, the majority falling into the B Category except for some of the more significant buildings, such as the King's College, which falls under the A Category. Thus it is critical to understand the history and character of the area when proposing a new development for the site. The conservation report purposefully excludes the modern developments to the east and west as they are deemed inappropriate. The reason for this is that they don’t suitably follow the vernacular. Old Aberdeen is organised into many Burgage plots, which are thin and deep plots that line a central high street. Traditionally, the building fronts the road with a long back garden behind that would open onto a back lane, as seen in Old Aberdeen. Old Aberdeen has many lanes that run in-between certain plots, such as Church Walk parallel to St Marys, so a lane analysis was conducted to discover how the plot was used before the inappropriate extensions were constructed. The conservation report is aware of these vernacular features and their importance hence its outline of potential threats from future developments that need to be addressed, such as;

  • Inappropriate development of burgage plots

  • Lack of vibrancy outside of term time

  • Weak views and transition between the central high street and historic lanes

  • Lack of disabled access across campus

Protected Features

Lane Analysis

 

The Majority of buildings in Old Aberdeen use granite stonework, punctured with wooden sash and case windows. St Marys Free Church was designed in 1845 by Archibald Simpson, who designed many other buildings in Aberdeen. However, the design was altered in 1846 by William Henderson, who added the front three Lancets and Baroque doorway, listed in the building's conservation status. So even before the extension, alterations have been made to the church, which the proposal aims to highlight.

 

Identified Site Problems

One of the first qualities noticed of the site is the lack of light, especially after experiencing the interior of St Marys. The cause is large trees and the existing buildings along the south elevation that block most southern light (Fig. 9). This only improves when the trees shed their leaves during the autumn and winter months. Although there is unobstructed light from the north, leaving the significant potential for work/studio spaces.

Two main entrances to the site are identified, from the west along Elphinstone Road and the East along the high street (Fig. 10). Connecting these two entrances east to west is Church walk, which spills out onto a small square in front of the church along the high street. Key views are also identified along Church walk and towards the high street roofscape from the top floor of St Marys Extension.

 

  • Unused and unwelcoming square has potential for spill out

  • Unused back lane is awkward and uninviting, potential for new retail street

  • Existing western square is awkwardly navigated and any potential use is blocked by level changes, potential for new square that links with student union

Brief

Market

Old Aberdeen Town Hall, 1923

 

Re-establishing Trade & Craftsmanship

Old Aberdeen's trading and crafting culture dates back to the 11th century. Its entire high street was built to house the many stores and craftsmen that once populated Old Aberdeen. The street widened to the north to allow weekly markets. This culture was ultimately lost during the mid-20th century expansion of Aberdeen University and the emergence of the car, which led to the high street accommodating cars rather than people. Many retail units were lost during this expansion, resulting in a significant loss of activity outside of term time. Even during term time, the street becomes a corridor rather than a destination. The community fulfilment centre hopes to address this by introducing a community-based market that once again encourages local craft and trade. There is an opportunity for this as the population of Old Aberdeen has increased by 3000, yet retail space has decreased. The conservation report also states that further loss of retail space threatens the character of Old Aberdeen.

Old Aberdeen high street then and now

 

Parcel Journey

The Fulfilment Centre

Establishing a market in current times provides an additional challenge. The UK high street is currently in a crisis which the Covid-19 pandemic has only exacerbated. Retail stores have slowly been forced to close doors and move online since the introduction of online shopping as society has begun to prefer its convenience and affordability. This is why the proposal is not a simple market where goods are traded on the spot. The proposal is a hybrid of a traditional market and online shopping, focusing on the experience rather than the purchasing aspect of trading. This kind of strategy has survived the decline of the high street, with many stores setting up a try before you buy area and using design to create a memorable experience of visiting the store to draw in customers, which cannot be replicated online.

Analysis was carried out on Amazon's Fulfilment Centres, where the biggest online retailer stores and ships its products, to see how this strategy could be implemented as the proposal wants to explore how the cause of the high street's decline can actually be the solution to its survival. Currently, Amazon's Fulfilment Centres are vast warehouses out in the countryside locked away from the public, so the parcel journey was tracked to see where there is an opportunity for the community to be involved and use this to bring the community back to the high street. Two areas were identified, when the parcels are stored and when they are picked to be packaged and sent away. Thus, the proposal creates a new space on site that can deal with online orders while also allowing the option for the user to view their parcel's entire journey first-hand and receive the product in person. However, the proposal understands it cannot just be an online pickup store; it has to offer more.

The Three Markets

To create a new, unique retail experience for Old Aberdeen, the proposal creates three new markets, inspired by Amazon's Fulfilment Centres and the needs of Old Aberdeen. Each market has its own function, yet they all link to provide one fulfilling experience hence the name of The Community Fulfilment Centre. Based on the requirements set out in the brief and what the community (the client) requires, the markets are a traditional goods market, a 'services' market and an 'online' market. The historical analysis conducted earlier is used to decide where each market should be placed on site. St Mary's is located on a burgage plot, and typically with this kind of plot, the business or community space is placed at the front of the plot facing out onto the high street. To the rear is usually a garden with another building or shed used for utilities or crafting.

So starting with St Mary's, its positioning on the high street makes it ideal for the traditional market hall and event space which will take full advantage of the interior triple-height space. Behind St Mary's, towards the back of the plot, the services market is placed where crafting and the trading of knowledge will occur in the studios and cooking school. Finally, to the north is the 'online' market which is split into three sections as it spans across three burgage plots. However, this helps the internal organisation of spaces as at the north next to the existing car park, an area for imports and exports is designated. Then a storage facility below and offices and admin below that.

The idea behind these three markets is that they will hopefully fulfil the community's retail needs by interconnecting with each other. For example, in the market hall, local artists and others can sell their goods in a temporary retail unit and in the evening, with enough demand, they can offer classes in the studios teaching how exactly they created their art. The same idea can be applied to a local chef who, in the evenings, can offer classes in the cooking school. The 'online' market is there to bring these local crafts online whenever the community cannot visit the centre, whether that be due to a pandemic or for convenience. Its sizeable storage facilities also allow bigger or more expensive goods that cannot be displayed in the market hall to be stored and picked up. These goods would still be sold in the market hall, allowing the opportunity for a try-before-you-buy experience.