materiality is important in architecture. the trees surrounding the site are ash trees, so i have decided to use ash for the wooden elements. this includes the wooden volumes as well as the louvred divides. this respects and integrates into the site on a material level as well as enhancing my vision of the wooden elements imitating a forest from the outside.
materiality: a concept or the applied use of various materials or substances in the medium of building.
i also plan to use exhaust purifying cement concrete for the majority of the exterior. employing titanium dioxide, the building will mimic the trees of the forest purifying the area, absorbing airborne pollutants (mainly from the a27 to the north and the industrial estate to the south) rendering them to salts which can be washed away by rain fall.
i think it would be interesting to cover the courtyard with a safety net. this would fill the gap in a safe manner and also mean that some plants which were planted within it (i intend for it to act as an indoor garden - the below render is conceptual) to grow up and wrap around it to then come back down. i think that this would create a really interesting and somewhat enchanting green area for the children especially.
