Environment

The Bike Store is surrounded by a net of paths. Pedestrians and cars are moving around day and night. Dealers from Antiquity Market, residents of the buildings nearby, users of the Bike Store, passing-byers - all are constantly moving around

Pedestrians and cars paths around the Bike Store

Car flow near the Bike Store in the night

  

Car flow 2



Car flow 3



Pedestrian flow


The Bike Store is actually one of the reasons why Bermondsey Square is an enclosed space. The building stands in the way in and out of the square



The building site boundaries map



The Bike store, standing on the way in and out the Bermondsey Square

 
In terms of volumes and heights the Bermondsey Bike Store is probably the least dominant object in its surroundings





Domination map of the building site

Relative volumes, view 1

Relative volumes, view 2

  
The Bike Store’s interior is a kind of a mirror reflection of the exterior view. Since panels of reinforced plastic are semitransparent, all elements of the building’s structure are seen from both sides

Exterior-interior relationships

During the day time the Bike Store absorbs and benefits from the natural sunlight, at night the situation changes and the Bike Store becomes a light donor for surroundings, being both a source of light and a mirror reflection of other sources of light



Lighting during the day and night day times

Due to the plastics transparency light is subtlety able to pass through it, contributing to its atmospheric quality when lit at night. During the day, sunlight is optimized to provide sufficient lighting inside.

Game of light on the plastic

 



Lighting of the Bermondsey Square in the night

  

The Bike Store might be called an environment friendly building

Glass-reinforced plastic is non-recyclable as it contains a thermosetting resin. During the production of glass reinforced plastic harmful gasses are let off. By using glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) as an interior shell, bikes stored inside benefit from the material’s weather resistant properties. The properties of GRP can be manipulated to suite its purpose. Due to the woven glass fiber structure, GRP is extremely hard to break, as it does not shatter. Wire mesh has also been combined with the thermosetting resin to provide additional strength.

Stainless steel is corrosion resistant therefore doesn’t need to be maintained and is 100% recyclable.

Wood (Douglas fir) is a sustainable building material.

http://www.ecomii.com/building/wood

Taking into account the lifecycle of materials, we may assume that in the next 20 years the building is likely to lose its current attraction and after 60 years is likely to be demolished or totally restored

Material lifecycle

The Bike Store's relationships with the public: interviewing people around
In the middle of November we conducted a survey of people near the building, trying to find out…

• What is the function of the building in their opinion?
• Do they like the building?
• Is the “bicycle issue” sensitive to them (are they bicycle users)?
• How close is the “bike issue” to them (frequency of usage)?
• May a bike store affect their lives (enforce to buy a bicycle or start using it more frequently)?

The sample consists of 32 respondents of different gender, age and professions



Sample


Many interviewed respondents knew or guessed that the building is actually a bike store, but there were also some unpredicted assumptions



Respondents' associations with the building



In general, the survey has shown that the percentage of the public interviewed on whether they like the building is even. The idea of a bike store may effect people’s behavior and lifestyle in 1 case out of 2. It must be mentioned that the major part of the effect figure has been built by bike owners’ responses

However, closer analysis of the data totally destroys the 50%/50% impression, highlighting the sample structure, which is presented by passing by strangers and people involved into Antiquity Market activity

Passing-byers which were in favour of the Bike Store stressed mainly its features as a building, but there were those who believed that the strongest point of the building is the way it contributes to surroundings.

Sellers from Antiquity Market could hardly restrain themselves in expressions. They strongly believe that Bike Store ‘killed’ the market because now it can not be seen from the road. In addition, they consider the Store as an expensive, excessive and useless fancy box which promotes dangerous nowadays activity – ridding a bicycle on busy London’s roads.

Undoubtedly, both opinions have the right to exist. But paradoxical relationships between the initial idea of the Bike Store as a part of the Bermondsey Square project and the extremely negative attitude of actual inhabitants of the Square could not be mentioned.

Demographical factors like age and gender also influence the way of experiencing the building. Women and people in the age before 50 tend to have more positive perception of the bike store, while elder respondents are more critical to the piece of modern architecture

Sources for pictures:

Sample
http://www.ehow.com/about_4685610_role-business-administrator.html
http://www.ifanc.org.uk/page.php?page=9&lang=1
http://keywordsblogger.com/become-a-%E2%80%9Cniche-journalist%E2%80%9D-why-you-
don%E2%80%99t-need-to-be-an-expert-to-start-an-online-business/
http://www.marriedtothesea.com/archives/2008/Jun/
http://604pr.com/tag/social-media/
http://studentmiu.org/holiday/
http://www.aperfectworld.org/healthcare.html
http://www.acimt.com/surveying.html
http://www.whitewatervalleyartsfusion.com/contact/index.html
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.akirarabelais.com/v/witchbefooled/
historyof/images/image_044.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.akirarabelais.com/v/
witchbefooled/historyof/painting.html&usg=__hqkAdU3VGMxGEmu-iUWRB2tfy-
s=&h=422&w=500&sz=52&hl=ru&start=68&zoom=1&tbnid=EqwK
5fhymWB4WM:&tbnh=133&tbnw=158&prev=/
images%3Fq%3DAntiquities%2Bmarket%26um%3D1%26hl%3Dru%26client%3Dfirefox%26s
a%3DX%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:ru:official%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D610%26tbs%3Disch:1,
itp:lineart0%2C1368&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=798&vpy=304&dur=364&hovh=199&hov
w=236&tx=133&ty=101&ei=ijvsTMqtGdWJ4QaTvOycAQ&oei=TzvsTMqdEcGDhQfQz6jPD
A&esq=18&page=4&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:13,s:68&biw=1280&bih=610

Respondents' associations with the building
web.wits.ac.za
http://londonist.com/2008/04/monday_miscella_100.php
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/gallery/2009/apr/08/london-automotive-industry
mothersdayflowersredhill.co.uk
sharjahcity.olx.ae
sitemaker.umich.edu