Over the course of this piece I will write about a building of my choice that has had little or no major work done on it in the last 10 years and I will write about it in two separate views: one perspective of democratic architecture and through the social life of architecture. I have chosen a building currently called the watchmen, it is located at the end of Burlington Road, New Malden in Surrey, the town which was probably founded in 1846 when the first direct railway line from Waterloo, the "Watchman", opened 46 years later in 1892 with the aim of becoming the "guard house" of the area. With the idea that it would become a meeting point for all the local sentries to help control and maintain the rapid population growth of the area, it was deemed a good idea as the nearest headquarters was about 3 miles away, in the larger city of Kingston upon Thames. where its first station was closed 50 years earlier in 1840, when the area became part of the Metropolitan Police District, all due to the need for expansion. The purpose of the new guard house would be to contain all the necessary equipment and facilities such as cells for prisoners and a large covered parade ground to allow officers to carry out all their routine practice sessions becoming one of the largest stations in the area . . The station managed to stay open until 1998 after the building had a "refurbishment estimate of £750,000" and the decision was made to close it as it was deemed not "economical". But despite this still considered a “local landmark”. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay After a couple of years of campaigning and having "gained widespread public support", the decision was made to reopen the station and staff it with volunteers to become an information center and subsequently joined the police and to a dog unit, but unfortunately this did not last long due to further cuts within the force. The lead campaigner said: "he would campaign vigorously to keep the station open but fears that Police Estates Services may be determined to sell." His predictions were correct when the building was later sold to JD Wetherspoons, a famous pub and hotel chain who are well known for purchasing buildings with a great deal of history and then turning them into their pubs by decorating them with the building's history and of the surrounding area creating a rich atmosphere. JD Wetherspoons founder Tim Martin made a quote on the Wetherspoons website saying: “We take immense pride in the restoration and refurbishment of wonderful buildings in Wetherspoon pubs. We believe it is right to celebrate the history of the buildings." An idea that makes customers feel like they're in their local pub rather than the generic look you associate with a 'chain'. The architect who carried out this renovation, Lawrence Beckingham Field, who worked alongside Wetherspoons on many of its projects across London, carried on the tradition by decorating the walls with a history of New Malden along with an extension and a memorial garden for a 23- year officer who was shot dead in 1881, this became a huge tragedy for the community with over 1500 officers coming to pay their respects at his funeral. “What is demographic architecture” “Architecture could be called demographic if it could encourage or help the people who live or work in them to engage in democratic politics, but buildings cannot influence political behavior.” I would agree agreement with part of Ockman's statement about democratic architecture, but when yesis "The Watchman" we see on countless occasions that it doesn't matter if you don't live or work in that building, it could simply be that the building itself has generated such a great amount of history that it can still have a major impact in helping the people to want to get involved in politics. A perfect example of this is before the Watchman became a pub, the original application was for part of the police station to be demolished to make room for an extension to house a pub and 2 flats on the upper floors, one with a bed and one with two beds, but from 137 neighbours, a site consultation and press notices, the planning department received 4 petitions with 672 signatures and 9 letters of objection together with 13 points of concern including 'Harmful to the area and to the street environment, Increased litter and graffiti, Noise and nuisance and that the proposal would encourage increases in anti-social behavior and crime.” Whether it's the history of the building or even just the location of the building, I think everything falls within Ockman's claim to encourage a person to engage in democratic politics, even if in this sense the politics are not the same as he intended.Being one of only two pubs within 500 metres, the other is his across the road, a pub called "the fountain", a local pub that has been part of the "Greene King", the "main operator of the chain" ( Karina Dsouza, 2019 since 1998 another building that has grown to become one of the faces of New Malden) that is until 2018 when Greene King's 20-year lease with the building was about to expire and ended later that year in June after the decision not to renew of the rental contract. I'm sure many New Malden residents like to ponder if the keeper doesn't open, would Greene King renew their lease on the fountains to continue serving the residents of New Malden their evening entertainment? Although in hindsight it's a good thing, unfortunately the pub didn't do it and an application was submitted to redevelop the premises which would reduce the floor area from 413 to 214 by eliminating the garden, the car park and also all the extensions that were added to the pub in the 20th century leaving only its original 19th century building and being transformed into 43 new flats, which is ironic indeed given that the Watch-house in its early stages of application was refused planning to transform the top two floors in 2 flats due to the number of petitions received with one of the main points being that "the proposed extension was excessive in size" with another point that there was "inadequate parking" and yet this new development just across the street road that offers 43 new apartments provide only 17 parking spaces. While making a U-turn on these ideas, they also decided that, as Liz Meerabeau, president of the New Malden residents' association, says, "to lose amenities such as the car park, the pub garden and the flower stand, which cheered that corner" removing the original pub car park would also mean putting an end to the farmers market and Korean festival which is a big part of New Malden's culture, this will be a great loss to the locals not just the loss of these resources but also due to the disruption of could lead to visitors coming to New Malden specifically to stop at the market or festival. As the Warden was previously a police station with a long history dating back to the 1890s, the planning process was never going to be a simple arrangement, but having become familiar with the planning process and how stringent they canbe, Wetherspoons do not appear to be pushing them to avoid these types of situations having over the years faced situations such as their latest encounter with the purchase of a Grade 2 listed building, the State Cinema, Essex in 2015. A former art deco cinema opened in 1938 and capable of accommodating 2200 customers, which then closed 50 years later in 1988 and has since been used for a church and a nightclub. In 2000 Mike Ostler reported that the state listed condition was going from a grade 2 to a grade 2* a few months before it was sold to Morrisons with a clause that they would have to maintain the condition of the cinema until they were sold again in 2006, which according to NeilSpeight they failed to keep their promise saying: "The State, in Grays, empty for a decade, has fallen into disrepair since it was sold to Morrisons as part of the deal which allowed the company to build a supermarket and a car park.” The new owners have suggested that they plan to restore it but 9 years have passed and nothing has been done until Wetherspoons bought it in 2015 who, in accordance with planning requirements, intend to restore not only the building but also the original organ making it a “centrepiece” sensitive projects such as the Watchman and the State when it comes to planning and surrounding areas, while many people embrace the change, such as Thurrock MP Jackie Doyle-Price with her comment of support: “I am always keen to welcome new investment into the borough and the arrival of Wetherspoons will help catalyze the night-time economy that the Grays need.” And also Labor MP candidate Polly Billington “It's good to see something happening in the State after years of neglect. However, the building should be more than just a pub and, if possible, should benefit the whole community." with further claims also asking whether they could also provide live music and comedy to help keeping the original entertainment factor alive. Some unfortunately don't see the change as a positive thing like Albert Gosnal, an activist who created a Facebook page dedicated to trying to save state cinema. Commented in Thurrock's Gazette saying: "It would be very sad, and somehow I don't think it could ever be a success as the town as a place of socializing was killed when they built Lakeside." This comment refers to Grays shopping centre. As with the state cinema, the Watchman ran into problems from the beginning of its planning process, as previously mentioned, the first application was rejected to turn the upper floors into apartments as the scale of the project was too excessive 3 years later Wetherspoons gained planning permission to begin construction after architect Lawrence Beckingham Field refined the plans by removing the apartments from the upper levels and extending just the ground floor keeping everything in line with the existing pitched roof (right) while it did this by also creating a new entrance into the extension and positioning the extension 11 meters back from the neighbours' property to the east. Many of the conditions that would lead to the application being accepted had a lot to do with the noise that would be created by the use of the building, i.e. that the building must not exceed 5 db per meter from any of the facing facades on the neighboring homes, working with the acoustic consultants at Spectrum, led to the implementation of additional sound insulation added to the project. The layout of the interior also plays an important role in becoming a natural sound block which, as you can see from my diagram on the left,the layout of the areas where customers interact with each other are all facing the street except for those facing the courtyard which, as I mentioned before, is 11 meters from the neighboring house to ensure that any sound traveling is lost as he crosses the courtyard. Then all the other rooms such as the cellar, the toilets and the storage room act as a natural sound block and finally the kitchen, which is also set back 2 meters from the neighbour's garden. As one of the biggest concerns was about noise levels, a couple of extra conditions were put in place, for example they could not have TVs on the walls or sound systems and the pub must not be used by customers outside of opening hours which were 9am to 11.30pm Monday to Saturday and 10am to 10.30pm on Sundays and public holidays until May 2018 when they were granted extended opening hours which were 8am to 11.30pm 7 days a week. the social aspect of the building becomes almost a necessity for the space to allow its customers to gain a sense of it, feeling welcomed and comfortable almost as if they were at home, giving them the opportunity to relax and enjoy themselves, which is quite fun considering that when you think of a police station these feelings are probably the last ones you would associate with and you could probably go so far as to say that sometimes you would feel intimidated by being inside and you definitely wouldn't feel at home, well... I guess it all depends how many meetings have you had. All these sensations that you get when you enter a building, depending on its purpose, it all boils down to how the building is designed to make you feel and whether the sensations depicted match how it was intended. this is how a building can become a success or a failure. According to an article written by Shirangi Vats on “Impact of Architecture on Human Psychology”, she states that “An architect can control human behavior with his design by understanding how the design of a building can influence a person's behavior , thus changing the individual's mood and perception, whether the environment is natural or artificial. “In this case, being a pub, the inability to create an atmosphere that makes you feel welcomed would lead to customers not wanting to spend their time and money, which would ultimately lead to the venue closing. The design features they change within the Watchman depending on where you are within the pub, for example on the right you have an image of the Watchman showing you the bar on the right hand side and on the left you have part of the seating area, this image is an example perfect, next to the bar as you can see you have a large skylight next to the brighter lights, a screed floor and higher ceilings to make you feel more spacious giving you the feeling of wanting to interact with others and not just those you know. here to show you that this is where you are served. Then on the left side you go to the more intimate areas where you usually interact with your group, this is where features such as: atmospheric lighting that gives you the feeling that the ceiling is lower, more relaxed and the use of textured wallpapers with carpets to give you the feeling of being in your own front room, all of these elements come into play throughout the pub with some extra features such as lower ceiling, fabric on the walls which wraps around the ceiling, lights fixed to the wall, making sure the tables have decent space between them and the booths back to back with high headrests to block the view of others making you feel like you are alone. All of this gives the place a character, a character you would associate with your home. A place where you feel safe to relax and "melt down.".