City "Walkshop".
For me the city "walkshop" helped to raise awareness of the varied socio-cultural zones within the city cbd. I also took a greater interest in scaling of the build environment and it's relationship to human scale.
Our route started toward King George Square via the cycleway under the Riverside Express.
For many years there has been a "neglected" aura in this area, and today was no different. This cycleway could be considered as an "EDGE" because of the relationship to the river. We then arrived at King George Square and began analysis.
King George Square:
- Category = Square
- Gathering Place
- Ritual and Interaction
- Sense of Belonging
- Versatility
- Dominated Square (Terminal Exit)
- Contains a Landmark (Steel Balls)
Analysing King George Square
Notes "on-the-run".
Building scale (looking north along George St towards Roma St).
King George Square analysis (built, pedestrial, transport, landmark).
We continued up George Street and our tutor raised a question as we passed the courthouse: Is the entrance courtyard a public place or a private place?
I beleive that it is meant to be a public place, and yes, some people do use it as such. However, due to the criminal stigma attached to the courthouse - not many people stop to enjoy this area. Therefore, it has become, a private enterance to the courthouse - used largely as a path or transit to the courthouse foyer.
Our "Walkshop" route.
We entered Roma Street Station and boarded a train to Brunswick Street Station.
There was a noticable difference in the presence of these to stations. Roma Street Station is a major node that services the North West area of Brisbane's CBD. The Terminal Structure is a very large, almost brutalist building that dwarfs its much older reincarnation (which still exists behind the new terminal). In contrast, the Brunswick Street Terminal is hidden within the existing commercial buildings. You really have to look hard to find it! Why is it so when the Brunswick Street Station must surely cater for similar numbers of travellers? Perhaps the Valley area was never expected to become as popular as it has over the past 15 or so years due to its colourful past and socio-cultural stigma?
From here we entered the Brunswick Street Mall.
Buildings in this area remain largely unchanged and represent an interesting mix of eras, and due to this, appears to attract people of all economic classes. Perhaps they feel comfortable, or feel a sense of belonging to this area. The presence of law enforcement in this entertainemnt node is strong, and perhaps this would make it seem safe to the homeless population that inhabit the area. This is obviously a very different "zone" of the city.
We headed along Brunswick Street toward the Petrie Bight / Howard Smith Warves area of the Brisbane River, the site for our proposed architectural folie. Recent flood damage has made this site inaccessable to the public. We were left to analyse the area at a distance - not an ideal situation for a thorough site analysis considering I have never been through this area.
Our Site for the Architectural Folie.
At first glance this is a very promising site with unlimited potential for improvement, however, access is unclear, especially from the street above. It would be a good opportunity to preserve history whilst also providing an exciting, new experience for the users of the Howard Smith Warves.
Designing a Folie:
What is a Folie? Perhaps it's an interuption from the everyday norm. A form of pattern disruption. Something that refreshes the senses and causes one to see things a little differently.
The breif was to provide an architectural folie in the Howard Smith Warves area, so I began with the usual research into site orientation, current use etc. but as I began to research history I discovered a little known fact about the area. Wedged against the cliff-face exist several WWII air-raid bunkers, largely overgrown and in a slow state of decay. How could it be that we have neglected to aknowledge this interesting past-life of the now disused wharves area? How could I raise awareness of this interesting peice of history through my folie design?
I began by collating as many photos of the actual bunkers as I could.
During our visit to the site, I noticed piles of salvaged building materials (decking boards in particular) and wanted to incorporate these materials into my design. This also satisfied my need to design with sustainability in mind, and also provided an interesting tactile experience for users.
I also looked into the use of shipping containers in my design but later deleted them from my design as they over-cluttered the design and diluted my design concept. Drawing inspiration from the Yokohama International Port Terminal by FOA my bunker design underwent a sleeker transformation.
The resulting folie design is an abstract bunker placed in the middle of the existing pathway - forcing pedestrians to negotiate, either over, or through it, and thus, forcing the user to experience the bunker.
Travelling through the bunker is a much more rewarding experience. The incorporation of touch-sensitive flooring ignites led lights in the red panels positioned a head-height in an explotion-like sequence to enforce the bunker feeling.
During the day the bunker can be used to sit, read, have lunch, play, climb etc.
During the design process I added functional glass balustrading to the top of the folie to ensure user safety, and I am aware that this would be neccesary if the the project were to eventuate.
I chose to remove these for the exhibition to simplify and stylise the design.
The bunker set in context.
The final A1 Poster design.
No comments:
Post a Comment