Callum Birchall

Cycle Vault is a unique multi-storey piece of architecture that has been developed and tested to its final form. The design sits harmoniously within its site, ensuring flexible motion in and around the building. It projects ideas of what is technically possible and what is emotionally engaging for the brand and brief. The typology of a parking structure played a key part in the design, and pushed me to prove that function plays a bigger part in the form of the building. It is inevitable that there are dimensional restraints and guidelines, however, these can be pushed and proved not to be absolute through simple efficiencies that the bicycle conveys, which can then be narratively linked back to the design process. Geometry and proportion were imperative to this approach, as well as the environmental performance and direct user experience, which typical parking structures don’t emphasise on. Ultimately this building tells a story of fluidity and movement, it demonstrates structure and the capabilities of materials, enriching the space and the overall programme for the museological building, housing the history and the future of the bicycle.