Mediatheque

Student: Archontia Konstantinou
Tutor: Tom Muirhead
De Montfort University, Leicester, United Kingdom
Presentation Date: 24/05/2012

The site's shape is long and narrow, enjoying wonderful sea views. At the present, half of the site is a car parking - open space parking, and the remaining half is the underused and badly preserved "Mini Golf Oasis". Due to its central and focal position, the site has much more to offer rather that mini golf and parking facilities.

Combining two major social problems of the city, the idea is to build a Media Library - Media Centre, providing knowledge, education to young inhabitants and generally the people of Margate, and visitors, but also to provide working places for educated people, and spread their knowledge to others. The building-buildings will provide lecture theatres, exhibition spaces, IT rooms, research workshops, several libraries - media spaces, private study rooms, public study space, auditorium etc. The building will help the socio-economical insertion of young and educated people and will contribute to the community and its education level.

The Media Library - Media Centre in Margate is a building to be used by the local community and visitors of Margate. It is a building that is integrated in its design context that is meant for everyday use but also for special occasions such as conferences, shows, events, activities or exhibitions. Its pure, sophisticated geometry situates it as a public building. The deliberate areas of transparency will reveal its content. The building will be presented to the town in the manner of an invitation.

The building is set in such way, following an environmental concept. The key was to have concrete, many large windows and glazed areas. The location of the site and the sea, was also a direction for the layout of the project. The building is set to follow the pattern of the buildings of the site, as an extension of them. Newgate Gap was taken as an example, as I created a new Gap for my site that connects the city with the sea level, starting the downwarding path from Dalby Square. The road level remains as it is, while the walking path at the Gap goes under the Ethelbert Crescent.

The maximum height of the project is 4 stories high but only the ground floor is above 0 level, as the rest 3 floors are inside the earth. The new "Gap" is a corridor from the street to the sea. This also creates a connection between Dalby Square and the sea, and also between Dalby Square and the building. The project is extended in terms of plan to the site and there is a dialogue with surrounding buildings in terms of heights and orientation. The building does not exceed the height of the surrounding area and context and is in harmony with the area.