The Theme Group I have been placed in is 'Architecture of Argument' which is run by Jesse Lockhart-Krause. The focus of this group is Critical Thinking. The first thing Jesse asked during the tutorial was what our definition is of an Architect. My view is that the an architect is someone who develops a concept and brings that concept to built and functioning form. My definition of the role is similar to that of Jesse and during the tutorial he played a clip of Joshua Prince-Ramus in which he talks about the role of the architect among other things (video available at: http://www.ted.com/). Following this short video Jesse spoke about diagramming and the main idea I got out of the talk was to diagram everything and to give everything your doing a purpose.
Wednesday, 6 April 2011
Week 4 - Presentation
This is my panel for the presentation. A big problem I had with arranging this panel was the inability to access the site and get the desired photograph. As well as this the final print turned out very pixilated. In the end the panel was somewhat disappointing however as I see it architecture is not about creating a pretty picture to mount on a board. It is about having a logical concept and being able to turn that into something real. I feel while the panel is not the greatest, my final design is unique in form and use and will add to the abundnce of history within the site.
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| Final panel for Presentation. |
Week 4 - Folie Design (final)
This week focused entirely on getting my folie ready for presentation. Feedback from my tutor in week 3 was vey solid and she seemed to really like my concept of an interactive means to experincing Brisbane's flood history. Therefore I have continued to develop my design further starting with the heights of the location to be understand the scale of what will be necessary.
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| Port Office Gauge - Edward Street Brisbane |
As the height difference from ground to highest flood point is 4.5m, I have had to re-think my design. With collaboration with my tutor the week prior, we had discussed the idea of creating a spiral staircase rather then the large wall. Due to the height the distance required to elevate someone 4.5m then down again would exceed the 5m length. This has altered the design to create a more vertical design.
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| Refined design using spiral staircase to elevate users. |
The diagram above displays the new method of elevating users. The reason for elevating the user is firstly, to provide the user with a line of sight through the folie to relate the height with surrounding infrastructure. Secondly it requires elevating the user to the height of the highest flood so they can experince just how high the water level was where the are situated.
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| Final Design |
Wednesday, 30 March 2011
Week 3 - Folie Concept
The concept behind my folie is providing an interactive means to experince Brisbane's history of floods.
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| Creating a view that mimics previous flood levels. |
This concept came about due to the sites strong historical nature combined with its obvious connection with the river, as well as it's views. HSW provides a visitor with extensive views down both the New Farm reach of the Brisbane River as well as views back to the CBD and Botanical gardens precinct. Combining these 3 elements of the site has created the concept.
INITIAL DESIGN
My initial design consited of sorting an array of arcs at levels of previous floods in order to give the user an idea of the height necessary to stay dry. This idea however lacked the inclusion of giving someone that view of water heights back to the city or to New Farm. It will be required to elevate the user to the proper eye-line of the height for them to achieve a level view over a large distance.
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| 3 arcs reaching the heights of significant previous floods. |
It became apparent that to provide an accurate veiwing piece that will show the user exactly the height of a previous flood a viewing mechanism would be needed in order to provide an accurate view.
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| The 2 lines are necessary to be able to display a height over a distance. |
REFINED DESIGN
After discovering faults in the initial design my thought was to create a wall in which the above views can be placed in. This would allow a passer by the oppurtunity to witness how high the water was and upon closer inspection view from that height back towards the city or New Farm. This refined design still includes the arcs by using them as a means to elevate the user to the required height.
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| Steps up elevate the user to the required height to gain the view of the relevant flood height. |
Monday, 14 March 2011
Week 2 - Folie Design (Site History & Analysis)
The site for our folie is the Howard Smith Wharves situated below the Story Bridge. The Howard Smith Wharves were constructed in the 1930's in conjunction with the Story Bridge. The site also hosts several WWII air raid shelters which are the most intact group of shelters remaining in the city (http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/). With such important historical artefacts within and above the site this plays a very key role in defining the site.
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| Project site with historic elements highlighted. |
After analysing a stretch of the Brisbane River using Lynch's principles I have now analysed the Howard Smith Wharves precinct, our location for our folie. While analysing the site I have taken into consideration activities that took place pre-flood and also the planned redevelopment of the site by Brisbane City Council. This planned re-development can be viewed at http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/.
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| Project location analysed using Lynch's 5 principles |
Week 2 - Walkshop
In week 2 we partook in a walkshop in conjunction with another subject DAB525 Architecture & The City. This walkshop resulted in us walking from the Goodwill Bridge entrance to QUT along the river bank to Howard Smith Wharves (the site for this assignment). Along the way we were asked to analyse the city through the use of Kevin Lynch's 5 key physical principles identifiable in a city. These are:
- paths,
- edges,
- districts,
- nodes and
- landmarks.
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| Intersection of paths near QUT. |
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| Plan view of Goodwill Bridge entrance at QUT showing Paths. |
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| Edge of districts at bottom of Alice Street. |
While the sketches were very rough I attempted to show each of the 5 principles Lynch talks about. One principle I found hard to come across was a significant landmark. I personally see a landmark as a point of reference you should be able to meet anyone at and they should be able to know exactly where you are talking about. In the end I realised the Goodwill Bridge itself could be seen as a landmark.
Tuesday, 8 March 2011
Week 1 - Introduction
The first lecture has just been presented where it is apparent this blog needs to be created. Here I will be reviewing the weekly lectures, weekly studios and other activities and most importantly discussing my design. The first lecture almost entirely spoke about our first assignment and the site we have been assigned for the semester. We have been fortunate enough to be allocated the site of the Howard Smith Wharves located underneath the northern end of the iconic Story Bridge. This location is ideal as it is currently a derelict underutilised area within the heart of Brisbane. The only forseeable problem is the site is currently under redevelopment and therefore access to the site is unattainable. It is however somewhat exciting to be given this site.
Image: Howard Smith Wharves
Source: http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/
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