Hosn Houssami
Master of Architecture
RIBA Part 2 Diploma in Architecture
A brief overview of projects produced in my Master of Architecture Part 2 Studies.
Feast on Samba
Stage 5 - Main Project
In Sierra Leone 64% of householder income is spent on food, with limited markets in the area an opportunity arises to harness existing communal cooking practices from a domestic to a commercial entity.
Assembling a range of local sustainable building materials and skills, men focus on a range of timber building, furniture and carpentry enterprises, whilst women focus on catering and entrepreneurship. The collaborative engagement is achieved through a series of domestic-scale, timber-framed market structures, and more civic blockwork kitchens and community halls. The simple, yet robust, architectural arrangement of each structure adapts the local vernacular and existing construction techniques.
The Kirkwood Expansion
Stage 5 - Preliminary Project
The Kirkwood Expansion is a restoration of a local park and nature reserve in Peckham, incorporating the Peckham Highline government proposal. The proposal aims to extend the Kirkwood Nature Reserve to the south of the Rail Line, adding new pedestrian and cycle routes. In addition to this, the creation of a bunker within the rail line as a hide away space for the community and light weight sustainable timber cabins to use by the locals and businesses, without damaging the nature within the reserve.
Welcome Square
Stage 4 - Main Project
Every immigrant and refugee which seek residence in the Attica region of Athens must unfortunately deal with being processed by the local Immigration Centre in the south of Eleonas. It is a bureaucratic nightmare, and with no amenities in the area, applicants are forced to wait for hours, only to be told to return another day.
The proposal aims to occur in 4 primary stages, which seek to change the fabric of Eleonas, shifting it from a derelict shed town, to a bright and welcoming neighbourhood for refugees.
The Hall
Stage 4 - Preliminary Project
Within the four quarters created by the cross-roads of Hatcham Road and Penarth Street, several types of occupiers can be found, but with rarely any interaction between them.
Using an existing structure the proposal seeks to create a multi-use space that can be occupied by any of the four different groups. The chosen site was the north-western shed at The Penarth Centre, which is currently being used as a car park. The proposal seeks to turn the shed into a community centre with a theatre hall, restaurant, and rooms that can be used for study or creation. The restaurant and theatre would have large floor-to-ceiling glazing allowing for a framed backdrop. Beyond the adaptation of the shed into a centre, the proposal includes a rewilding of that quarter of the wider site.
The Window
Stage 4 - Applied Technology in Architecture
In a group-based design charette the aims were to explore the design process and fabrication methods necessary to design and build a ‘bespoke window’.
This collaborative project, the brief required an imagining of a domestic-scaled living room, with its own set of unique conditions ranging from a particular climate to spatial situations.
Who Cares?
Lecture Series
Who Cares? is a talk series hosted at the London Metropolitan School of Art, Architecture and Design, exploring the connections between ‘Architecture’ and ‘Humanitarianism’. The talks involved presentations of the speakers’ body of work in relationship to humanitarian architecture, and an informal debate between speakers assessing the state of humanitarian architecture.
