
Joseph Bass
P 1 – Paraglider’s Refuge
Blacka Moor, Sheffield
A joint project with Lucie Iredale, we were tasked with designing a small building within a landscape, with our brief being a paragliding centre located at Blacka Moor in the Peak District. Our response centred on the concept of the journey a paraglider would make throughout the day, from the early start and breakfast to drying and storing kit after a day’s flying. Our refuge incorporates a meandering timber structure, creating defined thresholds and intermediary spaces for the activities undertaken by the users, and nestles within the hillside, providing warmth, shelter and framed views of the surrounding landscape.
Site Analysis
Ecology Study
Paragliding Process
Initial Ideas
Refuge Programme
Model
Final Design
Section AA
Section BB
Preliminary Drawing – Lucie Iredale
External View – Lucie Iredale

P2 – OFFLINE Library
Ropewalks, Liverpool
In an over stimulated techno-centric society, the OFFLINE library offers a refuge. A chance to escape social media notifications and misinformation and discover a book in an honest and physical environment. Located in the vibrant Ropewalks district of Liverpool, the library responds to the axial shift of libraries away from physical media and becomes a champion of the real book, offering nooks to explore the collection and read with a view. A Faraday cage encases the structures, switching off device signals and making the user offline and free to learn and enjoy without distractions.
Site Analysis
“I suspect that the human species — the unique species — is about to be extinguished, but the Library will endure: illuminated, solitary, infinite, perfectly motionless, equipped with precious volumes, useless, incorruptible, secret.”
Library of Babel, Jorge Luis Borges
Conceptual Precedents
Brief
Visual Brief
Facade Study
Initial Designs
Materiality and Seat Exploration
Final Design
North Elevation
Journeys to the OFFLINE Library
P3 – Makers’ Court
Burngreave, Sheffield
A creative-led housing scheme in the post industrious district of Burngreave in Sheffield, Makers’ Court explores the typology of contemporary vernacular design, incorporating arched workshops into the ground floors of dwellings to form an arcade reminiscent of the steel factories that once populated much of the area. The scheme aims to reignite the creative heritage of Sheffield as a City of Makers, concentrated in the courtyard of the three housing units to create a hub of activity, with sunken workshop gardens spilling onto the communal interface and wider surroundings.
Site Analysis
Sequential Drawings of Key Moments
Manifesto
Anatomy of the Sheffield Terrace
Design Precedents
Brief
Final Design

Court Perspective
Final Model
Internal Views
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