Week 04

The finalised posters that were presented on Wednesday:

Some details of the renders:

The lecture this week asked us to pick theme groups that will guide the design for the rest of the semester. The themes were:

1: Through the eyes of a child

2: Music - Education through Commerce

3: Tabula Rasa

4: Generative Design

5: 4-D Diagramming

6: Library Park

7: Volatile Bodies

8: Buildings as diagrams

9: Inter-Cultural Communities

10: Learning from nature

The three themes that I am going to choose in order are:

1: Generative Design

2: Learning from Nature

3: Volatile Bodies

Week 03

This week the design had to be fully resolved in order to be ready to present in week 04.


The design was fully refined to the following plans:

The plans can be explained through the experience of the user. Firstly in keeping with our theme of historical appreciation and in direct reference to the air raid shelters the first floor is an enclosed area with internal walls directing the user to specific viewpoints. These viewpoints all prompt the user to view and contemplate a piece of Howard Smith Wharves history. The experience is made interactive by sliding panels on the left hand side of the first level that when moved by the user create an aperture that moves to a different view. 

The first level of the design is largely enclosed, responding the feeling one would get from entering on of the bunkers. as the user moves up through the design the Folie opens up slightly, the views captured on this level are focused on the more modern elements of the site and Brisbane as a whole. When one continues further onto the top terrace level the panorama of the site and city that one views is to represent the viewing of the city and site as a whole entity that is connected.

Details of the sliding View Panels.

The team decided to work on elements that could be used in the posters for the next week. 

The list of elements were:

Site Map 1:1000
Floor plans 1, 2, 3, 1:50
2 x Elevations 1:50
2 x Sections 1:50

From Drawings:

2 x Perspectives
Development Sketches

Diagrams (site):

Nolli Map
Views
Sun Path
Flood
Existing Pedestrian Movements

Diagrams/ details (folie):

Views Out
User Experience/ Access
Sliding Panels
Sun Access

PhotoShop:

4x Photo Montages
Images of site + raid shelters
Poster Layout

Written (paragraphs about the):

Concept
Context
Function
Tectonic

Experience

Some idea for the poster layout were taken from thee posters that were part of the Evolo Skyscraper Competition at www.evolo.us

Week 02 - 2

This week we had to form groups for our project 1 Folie Design.


I joined group 16, with Henry Bennet, Caitlin Lonn and Georgina Churchill. 


Project 1 brief:


The aim of this project is to design a Folie (see week 1 reading) in a location of your choice within the site boundary (see above) of Howard Smith Wharves. This project gives you an opportunity to study the site, analyse the context, and propose a simple architectural installation with a function. Your project should be an artistic investigation to find a way to communicate your message (subjective), as well as an investigation to provide a service for people (objective). You can consider this as an artistic endeavour to design a functional space.

Assignment Requirements:

1. This is a team project.
2. Each team needs to have 3 or 4 members (no more, no less, not negotiable).
3. Please sign up to a team with "Folie Project Team" section. (please scroll down to find it)
4. As a team, you will prepare 3 sheet of A1 posters to be exhibited. See Poster Guideline below.
5. There will be no presentation for this project.

Folie Design Guidelines:

1. Your Folie needs to provide a space to help someone to learn.
2. The Folie has to be at least for two people.
3. The Folie has to fit within 5m x 5m x 5m bounding box.
4. The Folie design proposal will be evaluated with design criteria below.
5. The Folie needs to be designed with all design qualities described below
   
   
   Howard Smith Wharves Site Information:
   
   
   
    Inner City Brisbane
   
   Howard Smith Wharves and Surrounding Suburbs
    Specific Site
   
   Figure Ground Map
   
   
   
   Urban Section
   
   
   
   Site Sketch
   
   
   Howard Smith wharves has a long History dating back to the 1930's. The original wharves were constructed alongside the Story Bridge to be Brisbane Central Wharves. The Wharves were purchased by the Howard Smith company and were in use till the mid 60's. The site features heritage listed sheds that were built late 1930's - early 40's and well as 5 air raid bunkers that were built during World War II in the early 1940's.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   (Images of sheds and bunkers available at http://www.ozatwar.com/bunkers/howardsmithwharves.htm )
   
   
   The folie design is to be evaluated on 6 criteria;
   
   
   Concept
   Context
   Function
   Tectonic
   Experience
   Presentation
   
   
   The design team had to think of ideas in order to satisfy all the criteria, in our first meeting various concepts were discussed.
   
   
   Concept: In relation to the concept the team decided to go in the direction of the historical value of the site. The long history would be an interesting subject to learn about and could be done through a variety of methods.
   
   
   Context: as stated in the concept the heritage value is very strong. The cliffs and the river provide strong limits to the site. The site for the folie could be placed to take advantage of the views around the site and out of it. Flooding is something that is not able to be ignored.
   
   
   Function: the function of the folie had to be some sort of learning space, although the definition of learning space was very malleable. Our strongest idea was to somehow teach the history of the site through some sort of function. Framing views seemed like a strong idea.
   
   
   Tectonic: In keeping with the industrial feel of the site it seemed appropriate to keep the materials involved very raw and untreated. Things like concrete, steel and wood would work best.
   
   
   Experience: The experience of the users in the folie would be to walk through a set pathway which at various points prompted the user to view certain elements of the site, therefore teaching one about the history of the site.
   
   
   The team came up with some concept sketches to see where the design could go.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   This concept focused on the idea of framing views in order to evoke a response. The design would have prompted the user to look in certain directions towards a historical element of the wharves. The design took the 5x5x5m restraints very literally and formed a dissected cube like shape. The design went through many phases but we decided to stick to the idea of framing views.
   
   
   
   The Views that the team decided to focus on were that of the Story Bridge, the Sheds underneath the bridge, Views of the CBD, views across the river towards Kangaroo Point and towards the other sheds.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   The Folie's was envisioned to be set into the cliff face, this solved many issues such as accessibility to the folie; now could be from the top and bottom of cliff and also that of flooding as it was out of harms way. As well as these factors it made for an interesting take on the site and enhanced views out.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Week 02 - 1

The City walk was taken on two attempts. On the first attempt it was too rainy too continue so only made it down Alice Street.

The second attempt was taken by arriving by bus from King George Square. The journey took me through the Queen Street Mall down past the Post Office and through to the Riverside Centre. From there I followed the boardwalk around to the Howard Smith Wharves.

 The story bridge has quite a strong presence over the site and is quite an iconic Brisbane structure. The heritage listed sheds and buildings are quite small compared but are quite a strong feature of the site none the less.

 The Cliffs give a unique feel to the space being bounded by limits of all sides, the other being the river. The space is quite large and unkempt as of late but this adds to the feel and long history of the site.

 The views here really show the contrast between the heritage buildings and the modern towers of the CBD.

Overall the experience of journeying to the Howard Smith Wharves and the taking in of the presence of the site itself was an eye opener. Brisbane is becoming quite a diverse city with many different precincts and places to explore. The Wharves being a rare piece of waterfront property, gives immense opportunities for what is possible to be built there. I believe that the site is an extremely important part of Brisbane and its Strong history is something that should be preserved and celebrated.