Student Work: Year 3: Installation Art/Intimate Theatrical Venue (Adaptive Reuse)
Project Title: The Wilding Effect: Embracing Nature and Preserving History in the Trowse Pumping Station Engine Room
Year: 2026
The aim is to rebuild connection through the act of placemaking in design by leveraging communal and narrative possibilities in the neglected Trowse Pumping Station 1909 Engine Room. The broken and decay, the growth and the overgrowth represent a new opportunity to reinvent the continuous interior through adaptive reuse and repurposing/recycling materials on-site, highlighting the impact of rejoining the imperfect, reflecting the human condition and allowing for moments of empathy. This non-place becomes transformed into the embodiment of the story of East Norwich, the wider Norwich community and how the future can be realised through exposure to the arts, reflecting the changes to the city’s story. The design then becomes a precedent for combating homogeneous design through the use of lived experience, intentionality, and opposite interiors to create a venue for presenting installation art and intimate theatrical performances. Thus, satisfying SDGs for the well-being of communities and individuals by engaging families with children interested in cultural activities through tactile and immersive experiences instead of screens; and creating a hub for emerging artists to share their work and network with like-minded artists and visitors. With recent research, the arts are shown to be a health intervention that acts as a resource essential to the functioning of communities, making this project a powerful institution for the target audience.
Materials: Aluminium, Mesh, repurposed/recycled from site
The original, narrow entrance remains intact. This allows the drama of the voluminous ceiling height to build to a crescendo.
The workspaces and meeting rooms are set up to be a flexible space that can accommodate a variety of discussions.
The retractable seating is influenced by kinetic art and architecture, moving by seat or section instead of row.
Storage exhibition alcoves use ideas from kinetic art and architecture because they move along a track to exhibit materials.
The merchandise stand can stock items from the artists and performers, act as an information point, or exhibition area.
The pendant light was conceived as a community engagement fixture where people can add their own pieces.
Modular Alcove Storage Unit 1:20
Stool Retractable Seating 1:20
Seating Pattern 1:10 with roots reference image
Seating Pattern 1:10 created using CAD Embroidery
Roots reference image from site and Seating Pattern 1:10 created using CAD Embroidery and Hand Embroidery
Floor Pattern 1:100 created using jesmonite to mimic terrazzo
View of Seating, Stage, Alcoves, and Merchandise Stand
View of Immersive Installation and Engagement Space