Retrosound // Walkman
A chapel, research centre and production centre built around a found Walkman, set among the ruined mills of Lumsdale Valley.
- Year
- 2023
- Type
- Graduation project
- Role
- Individual project
- Scope
- Chapel, research and production centre
Background
The site and the object
Lumsdale is a water-powered industrial valley near Matlock, scheduled by Historic England in 2014 as Lumsdale Mills and associated water management features. Industry here dates from at least the early 17th century, when water power smelted lead, and peaked in the mid 19th century. Over time the same brook, Bentley Brook, drove mills for corn, fulling, bone grinding, paint pigments, cotton spinning and finally bleaching; the bleaching vats are believed to be the last of their kind in the country. The Bone Mill at the head of the valley was abandoned in the 1920s. The Arkwright Society has cared for the valley since leasing it in 1976.
The object at the centre of the project is Sony’s first Walkman, the TPS-L2, which went on sale in Japan on 1 July 1979. By Sony’s own account it began as a request from co-founder Masaru Ibuka for a way to listen to stereo recordings on a long flight; the idea of a new relic, an everyday machine made sacred, grows from how quickly that machine became part of daily life.
Sources
Material palette
What it feels like.
Gritstone is photographed on site by Wentao Zhang; the other swatches are texture samples from Architextures used in the renders.
Materials and specification
What it is made of.
Drawn from the Lumsdale site study and the sustainability and detail tasks that were written for this scheme.
| Element | Material | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Existing walls | Birchover gritstone, random facing stone | Retained; recorded on site and studied in Task 1 |
| Palette | Zinc, limestone, oak, timber, raw metal | Chosen for durability, recyclability and low embodied energy |
| Wall build-up | 300 mm insulation with a timber façade inside the retained limestone | Detailed at 1:20 and 1:5 with a waterproof membrane and insulation frame |
| Reused structure | Brick veneer, mortar break, flashing, concrete foundation, below-grade waterproofing | Section at 1:16 with 1:5 details |
| Roof | Timber roof construction under a rotating roof disc | Shown in the exploded axonometric |
01 The Relic
The concept: in a collapsed future a cassette Walkman is dug out of the rubble and, over generations, becomes sacred. These AI-generated images set the mood and the brief for everything that follows.
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02 The Site
Lumsdale Valley in Matlock, Derbyshire Dales: a former textile-milling valley where ruined mills, ponds and waterfalls now sit in woodland. The existing walls and the water decide where the new buildings can attach.
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Context
Lumsdale in context.
A figure-ground map of the valley and the town of Matlock around it: buildings in black, woodland and fields in green, roads and water as lines. The site is marked in red. Below, the site model shows the existing buildings sitting in the landscape.
03 The Object
I took the Walkman apart before drawing anything. Its housing, tape mechanism, gears and circuit board gave the architecture its vocabulary: rotation, drive and layered parts.
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04 The Ritual
If the Walkman is sacred, its followers need a dress code, imagery and a ceremony. Cloaked disciples and a tapestry in the manner of Egyptian relief turn the device into liturgy.
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05 Development
I tested ideas in clay and plaster casts, turned wooden forms and quick massing renders. Rotation, a stair void and layered stone and black volumes came out of that, and tape-production machinery shaped the fabrication area.
Physical models
Concept models.
The Walkman’s own parts were taken out of the device and set against a plaster ground: mechanism and circuit board floating above terrain, tested from the front, from the side and up close.
- Plaster ground with Walkman parts
- Mechanism and circuit board
- Gear train, close up
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Final idea
Final idea model.
The final concept model: the Walkman’s tape mechanism above its circuit board, held on clear acrylic over a block of timber. It carries the whole project in one object: the machine opened up and made into something to stand in front of.
- Mechanism and circuit board on acrylic
- Timber block base
- Side view and detail
06 Final Plans
The altar and research centre sit inside the retained walls, with the production centre on the other side of the chapel. Plans are drawn white on black so the old walls and the new structure read at a glance.
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07 Final Space
Sections, a long section, an exploded axonometric and visuals show how the new structure, the old stone and the Walkman tapestry fit together, followed by the final model.
Signature drawing
Exploded axonometric.
The whole building pulled apart along one vertical axis, so structure, circulation and the retained stone can be read in a single drawing. Dashed lines keep every part registered to its place.
- Rotating roof disc
- New black volume with patterned screen and stair
- Floor plates for altar and research
- Stair core
- Circular Walkman display room
- Retained stone walls