Table of Content
- Ground Floor Plan Analysis
- Second Floor Plan Analysis
- Section Drawing
- Glimpse of Presence
- Infinity Room
- Feedback:
- Self Reflection:
- Implementation:
- References
Ground Floor Plan Analysis
The Ground Floor has different-sized rooms for various uses. The diagram shows how visitors move around the building—the central part gets the most traffic as it connects all rooms. It also displays views outside and helps understand how much sunlight each room gets throughout the year, useful for deciding their uses and adding shading.
The main entrance is designed to be inviting for visitors to explore and create their own stories inside, while other entrances are mainly for staff.
The Foyer is the first area a visitor will encounter, it should include a navigation signage , information disk for inquiries and a reception desk for reservations and hospitality.
The Lobby is centered between all rooms,works as a meeting point and makes a great first impression for visitors.
It’s the starting point for a variety of journeys and activities that visitors will encounter.
As shown, the pink side is the main kitchen for the restaurant/cafe, as it is already a kitchen in Wymering House now. This will save time and cost in the construction process. The purple side is the seating area for serving visitors, it can be accessed from the inside/outside of the building.
Both rooms face the opposite of a parking area, making it easier for supply vehicle to access the site and staff to transfer supply easily through the back end.
The Hallway is the connector between the lobby and the performance/exhibition/events room. Includes bathrooms for visitors, as well as ads for upcoming events.
The Performance/Exhibition/Events room is the largest room in the property, making it a great space to be let by the trust for events. It will serve as a performance space for light and sound shows, wedding ceremonies, art exhibitions and plays.
The Dressing/Equipment storage room is only accessed to staff for management purposes in support for the performance room. Such as a dressing room and a place to store equipment.
The Educational/Meeting space can be let for educational purposes and can also work as a meeting room. It can be accessed from the inside/outside.
The Administrative Office is the managing office by Wymering Manor Trust, intentionally controls everything in the building. Also satisfy the visitors and the building needs .
Second Floor Plan Analysis
The second floor can be used to accommodate users to stay within the area for personal,educational reasons or for campfire activities in Wymering Manor. Rooms will be divided into a hostel,lobby and a communal space for users to let and connect.
According to Simon Davis’ Heritage Statement for Wymering Manor, the house was sold to Portsmouth City Council in 1959. It was then leased to the Youth Hostel Association, which managed the site until 2006, when a ceiling collapse led to their evacuation.
The Hostel occupies a room with three windows, maximizing natural light. It can accommodate 6 single beds or 12 beds if arranged in two levels. The bay window area serves as seating space for socializing and relaxation.
The lobby and reception area is centered to welcome and serve residents during their stay. We’ll set up seating areas here, transforming it into a vibrant social hub with various youth activities.
The bathrooms will stay in their current planned positions. This choice ease the construction process and works with the overall design. Their location to the lobby and the Hostel room works well with the circulation.
The Hallway is visible from both floors, which make the relation possible with the design concept as a curtain will be installed for users to choose if they want to be seen as shadows or clear.
The Kitchen is designed to serve residents during their stay, offering meals through out the day that can be bought.
Section Drawing
Having changed ownership over 100 years, Wymering Manor witnessed stories that remain unseen today. The sectional drawing is not only to demonstrate the design concept, but also to reveal layers of history.
The Red Room
This room is a performing space for users to express their emotions through light and shadows, to value their presence by dancing with absence.
Ghost 1: The Lady in the Violet Dress
Mr. Thomas Parr saw his cousin’s ghost one night at Wymering Manor. She wore a long purple dress and chatted casually about religious experiences and family who had passed away(Wagner,n.d).
The Great Hall Design Concept
The Great Hall serves as the main entrance, symbolizing the cycle of life and death. Inside, an installation resembling a graveyard showcases time’s scars with rustic materials. Mirrors represent personal growth, while a tall one-way mirror projects emotions and stories written on it, signifying enlightenment and rebirth.
Ghost 2:The Choir of nuns
Before he passed in 1958, Mr. Leonard Metcalf said he saw a group of nuns walking through the manor at midnight, chanting to music. His family didn’t believe him because they didn’t know that nuns from the Sisterhood of Saint Mary the Virgin had been to the house in the 1800s – something Mr. Metcalf didn’t know either(Wagner,n.d).
Ghost 3: The Legend of Reckless Roddy
Long ago at Wymering Manor, there’s a story about Reckless Roddy. He tried to charm a married woman but got caught and killed while fleeing on his horse. Legend says whenever newlyweds visit, they hear his horse galloping. Leonard Metcalf, after getting married in WWII, heard it too. Mr. E. Jones heard the horse too, even though he wasn’t newly married(Wagner,n.d).
Ghost 4: King William the Conqueror
King William the Conqueror owned the house until 1084(Wagner,n.d).
Orange Room Design Concept
This room is crafted to evoke a campfire experience, inspired by my journey through Towailat Mountain in Dahab, Egypt. It’s a place for users to sing, celebrate, and share stories, moving from darkness to light.
Ghost 5: Sir Francis Austen
Sir Francis William Austen, a respected Naval officer and Jane Austen’s brother, is buried in the nearby churchyard of Wymering Parish Church. He might have visited Wymering when it was a vicarage. Some say his ghost haunts Wymering Manor(Wagner,n.d).
Yellow Chromatic light Room
Inspired by Olafur Elliasson’s ‘Room for one color,’ yellow lights will blend visitors’ colors into black and white. It’s meant to create a feeling of unity and transport people into an old story, to create a new one.
Glimpse of Presence
Inspired by mountain adventures in Dahab, Wymering Manor’s design plan includes using frosted glass panels and colorful lighting. The frosted glass will create shadows, making visitors feel others’ presence, while the lighting will make them feel like performers in the space.
Infinity Room
Inspired by James Turrell, this small room on the top floor will have bright, colorful lights that make its size and dimensions feel infinite. It’s a private spot for individual that works as a solitary room.
It’s interesting how we can perceive architecture space through our body.
Victoria Hunter in her book ‘Site,Dance and Body’
Exhibition/Exhibition of the work in the studio – formative review of the projects.
( 8th December 2023)
Feedback:
- Develop a narrative that goes with the sense of an infinite and bathed in life,Grieving and communing.
- Have some rooms as solitary
- Have more detailed drawing showing the final space and a connection with the infinities.
- Clarify the narrative of grieving
- Script the experience.
Self Reflection:
While presenting, the design concept lacks a narrative that starts but didnt have an ending. Therefore, I need to represent my design concept as a my journey through the mountains of Dahab and end it like when I reached the mountain top for celebration.
Also the idea of remembrance wasn’t clear through my section I explained it.
I liked the ideas given by my tutor to lead the ghostly legends of the house representation as projections within the interiors.
Implementation:
Done research on memorials that inspired me to add an installation within the great hall that makes contrast with the graveyard in representation of death, and works with the great hall’s window to represent enlightenment and possibilities. This is the missing piece of my narrative puzzle that will help me clarify the users journey with Wymering Manor
More info in Light and Shadows: Inspired Concepts For Wymering Manor
I chose to express the experience within the house through a poem instead of a script. This way, I could capture both the experience and emotions in a more poetic form.
Echos of Wymering Manor: WHISPERS OF UNSEEN STORIES
Wymering Manor, where echoes thrive
Memories whisper to come alive
Death and rebirth unite as layers of time
We all become one, your grief is mine
Our shadows will dance with souls we feel inside
Their names are written in our hearts to shine
Their buried stories will breath again, to witness our stories we will leave behind- Ismail El zahed
References
Wagner, S. (n.d.). Wymering Manor: Britain’s Most Haunted House. LiveAbout. Retrieved December 7, 2023, from https://www.liveabout.com/wymering-manor-british-haunted-house-2594192
Hunter, V. (2021b). Site, Dance and Body. Springer Nature.
Ismail Elzahed 