Sentinels

Four architectural follies representing the ghosts of Butetown/Tiger Bay.

Gabion walls form the primary structural system. A gabion is a cage of stone, visibly unfinished, its fill exposed, the wire frame leaving its contents on view.

Gabion wall study — Fig. 07 — Gabion: a wall read through what it holds

The fill is ballast stone, rock carried in the hulls of ships returning to Cardiff Bay from West Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and South and Southeast Asia, offloaded on arrival and largely forgotten.

This parallels the history of Tiger Bay. Communities arrived through the same maritime routes as the ballast itself. Both supported Cardiff structurally and culturally, yet both were excluded from dominant narratives.

Each stone retains its own irregularity. The wall gains strength through collective difference rather than uniformity.

Fabric and concrete tests — Fig. 08 — Concrete cast onto fabric: arrested motion

Fabric is defined by movement, yet architecture demands permanence. Early tests cast concrete onto fabric, preserving drape geometry in load-bearing form.

The final system shifts the question. A chainmail and slate envelope achieves fluidity through accumulation of discrete rigid units: slate that holds its form, suspended in a chain matrix that moves.

Chainmail and slate facade — Fig. 09 — Chainmail and slate: fluidity through accumulation

The result is fluidity through collective behaviour, many fixed parts moving as one.

An accompanying installation interprets Constructivism in built form, drawing from Tatlin's Corner Counter-Relief (1914–15). The assembled figure reads as a body in forward lunge.

Two registers of movement operate at once. The first is representational: diagonal force and kinetic implication. The second is participatory: a timber weight pulls red strings taut across the room.

The space is left open as an invitation. Visitors become the architects of their own arrangement.