Sketch 3D Visual - Cardiff Market
The architecture firm that I worked for in Cardiff was asked by Cardiff City Council to generate ideas towards how the city's Cardiff Market could be improved.
Cardiff Market is a tourist attraction in Cardiff, as well as facilitating a regular market atmosphere for residents of the city. The market has fish mongers selling seafood, butchers selling meat, grocers selling fresh fruit and veggies, and various vendors selling nick-nacks, clothes, and specialty items. There are also a lot of food vendors, my favourite of which is the one selling hot chips with curry!
In preparation for the in-house firm design discussion, I used Google Reviews and TripAdvisor to identify the good points and challenges of the market. They were:
Good points:
- great array of stuff to buy and eat
- good atmosphere inside the market
- beautiful balcony section above the main area
- beautiful exposed roof trusses
Bad points:
- no common sitting area after buying food in the market
- balcony is not very connected to main ground floor area of market
- view from balcony nice apart from ugly tops of stalls
- difficult to get holistic idea of what market offers
- view of roof not prominent when visiting market
My wife and I visit the market often, and a lot of points I could resonate with too. Particularly the balcony issue - there are private vendors up on the balcony, however generally ⅒ of the amount of people are up there. I believe this is due to access and knowledge of what's up there.
To address these issues, I created the following visuals:
CARDIFF MARKET EXISTING:
CARDIFF MARKET PROPOSED:
The aim of this scheme is to:
- connect the ground floor with the balcony, using an easy to locate central staircase which rises from the main entrances to the market
- provides more vendor space for casual stalls (e.g. the hugely popular Christmas markets)
- builds over the top of the existing stalls, subtly covering a percentage of these from view.
- gives a 'birds eye view' to the market, allowing tourists to rise up above the hustle and bustle in order to see what the market has on offer
- provides a sitting area to eat food and enjoy the market's architecture
Very 'rough and ready' of a scheme, but I found using a 3D sketch a useful tool to communicate a wide array of ideas, as well as the feeling of a space in comparison to what currently exists.
