Week 08

This week saw the development of ideas and parameters to add on to the analysis that had already been undertaken. In addition to the analysis done last week exemplar projects were researched in order to form a decent concept and direction for the proposal.

Firstly the function of the proposal was contemplated. Recently a design competition was held for the St. Petersburg Pier in florida U.S.A. There were many proposals that were worthy of mention, in particular the entry by the firm BIG titled The Wave.

The form of this building is interesting but what was most interesting was the program that they proposed for it. As the building is water based BIG broke up the functions of the separate rooms to each house a different state of water.

This diagram shows how the building was broken up into the separate functions. This would be interesting to play with this concept of divided programs.

Another project that was studied was the eden project, which uses sustainable methods to control the climate that is inside the geodesic domes. The eden project also has differing climatic conditions separated into different areas. 

Fro the examination of these exemplar projects and the analysis already completed I came up with a rough idea for what the program of the future learning centre was to be. I wanted the centre to be somewhere where people could learn about different the climates of australia and their conservation. This would call for separated rooms or zones that each contained a different climate perhaps resembling this in some way. 

As the concept for the Folie project I worked on was based upon the framing of views as well as the metaphor of a bunker this was important to also be incorporated into the design. In the folie the group used the positioning of concrete walls in order to prompt users to view a certain aperture that would tell a story of the history of the site, this can be replicated with the newer design as well as incorporating the heavy, industrial feel that the bunker had. As we are designing in the group learning from nature i feel that it would be a great contrast to have the solidness of the concrete and bunker metaphor juxta-posed against a fluid and organic form.

When looking for inspiration for the form of the separated climate rooms i came across the work of Renzo Piano and his Tjibaou Cultural Centre.

The organic shape of the centre is a beautiful inspiration as well as being an environmentally sustainable design. When thinking about all the things that I would like to achieve with the function and the form of the building it could potentially look something like this, incorporating the bunker, framed views, the climactic rooms and the organic forms;

Again as the design group that I am in is specifically dealing with the concept of learning from nature it is important that I have a metaphor that is inspired by nature that is present in the design. After researching on www.asknature.org I came across some technologies and organisms that have functions that could potentially allow me to control the climates of the particular rooms using natural mechanisms for example;

These two animals the Buprestid beetle and the Bobtail squid (these are not the only animals with this function) are able to use special cells in heir bodies to reflect light of various wavelengths over the spectrum. The ability to reflect light could be harnessed in a building so that harmful rays could be kept out. If some visible light was desired harmful ultraviolet or infrared rays could be targeted to keep out. This could be used to keep the inside of a climactic room cool and would be appropriate for a temperate climate where you are trying to keep heat out.

Desert plants have evolved a function, due to the lack of water in their environment, to inhibit the evaporation of water as well as assist the condensation of moisture from the air by the use of tiny hairs that protrude from their appendages. This could be useful in the reduction of water usage and collection. this could be utilised to keep the interior of a climactic room humid to accommodate a tropical climate.

As we all know plants are inherently green and are so for a very good reason. Plants have a pigment in them that allows them to absorb the energy from the sun. As most people are aware the darker something is the more light energy and therefore heat it will absorb. This could be utilised as a function to absorb heat energy and contain it within a climactic room that was designated as an arid climate, trapping heat to be appropriate for desert plants.

From this point the ideas I have begun to research will be refined in order to present next week. The presentation has an allowance of 5 minutes, is to be diagram based and will be marked against how well each of these criteria have been addressed;

- Folie

- Concept

- Context

- Function

- Tectonics

- Contributory

- Presentation

Week 07

This week we talked further about what was needed for our project 2 submission. More contextual analysis was done in order to inform the

Greater Brisbane:

Shows context of site set against the entire Brisbane City.

Surrounding suburbs:

Shows context of site within the surrounds of the suburbs in close proximity
Gives idea of surrounding uses, people, activities and services.

Public Transport:

Gives an idea of how people get to site, where they are coming from and informs where the main connectios to the site will be.

Activity Nodes/ Proximity:

Informs where people are coming from, who they are and how many of them.
Proximity allows you to see how far away services and activities are and the distance and time it takes to travel to and from.

Pedestrian routes and unfriendly roads:

Informs connections points/ where pedestrians can access.

Connections:

Informs the main connection points to the site. The main routes that will be taken by pedestrians pre existing and potential pathways.

Entry points:

Studying connections can inform where the most advantageous entry points to the site will be. This includes pedestrian pathways and ferry terminals.

Surrounding Building use:

Commercial, residential, educational, cultural, green space.
Informs type of people and activities in area.

Users:

Who will be utilising the site? Based on activites, uses, proximity, connections etc.
Students, elderly, fitness users, couples etc.

Site Features:

Historical - Story Bridge, Sheds, Bunkers, wharves, narative, legacy
Natural - River, Cliffs, vegetation, wildlife
Structural - Ruins, semi built structures, industrial buildings, fences
Views - in and out of wharves
Site colours and textures

Social and cultural issues:

Cultural/ learning institutions
Pre-existing plans for wharves
What people want from site
Growing communities

Climate of Brisbane:

Sun angles/shadows, temperature, rain days
- gives idea of climatic conditions that building needs to withstand.

Week 06

Preliminary Research and analysis was done into the Howard Smith Wharves Site to present to the Theme group. The analysis was done as a starting point in order to refine and get even more in depth with analysis.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT:

This map is representing the Public Transport connections that are close to the Wharves, with the Train line in red, the City Cat in Blue and major Bus nodes in Yellow. This serves as a way to locate potential ways to access the site as well as where people would be coming from.

ACTIVITY NODES

This map zooms in to locate the major activity nodes that are of a close proximity to the site, and where most users would be coming from. It recognises these areas and then locates the trajectories or connections that these users would use. By analysing the nodes of activity that are close by the site you can get an idea of what kind of people would be using the Wharves.

BUILDING USES

This map is showing the program of the surrounding buildings. Green being residential, red commercial and Blue educational. As you can see there is quite a mix of building uses. again this helps to identify who will be using the site and where they will be coming from.

ENTRY POINTS:

Once it was recognised where the people would be coming from, this map tries to plot where potential entry points to the site would be located. As the site currently only has one point of entry, in order to create a successful building the site will have to provide better access. The red lines indicate connections to the local streets and pathways, I feel to be successful the site will need at least one form of entry coming from above the cliffs, in the form of an elevator of some sort. The blue lines are potential ferry terminals, as the site is on the river and is directly on the line of the major City Cat route it would be obvious to take advantage of this. The question would be where to place the terminal to be most strategic.

PRECINCTS:

This map was an exercise to better understand how think about a site that is so big. It recognises that there are separate precincts that all have their own qualities and features and also identify more strongly with one of the surrounding suburbs. This information will help in trying to place the building somewhere as well as where connection and trajectory point will be. 

VIEWS:

This diagram specifically refers to a concept from Project 1, the Folie aimed to teach people about the site by focusing on particular views that had a historical importance, this shows the directions and proximity to views.

CLIFF ANGLES AND SHADOWS:

This diagram is showing the angles of the cliffs in the 3 precincts as the cliff changes dramatically in steepness over the site. The diagram is also showing the angles of the Brisbane sun in summer and winter as well as the shadows that are created by the cliffs.  It could be relevant in where to place the building to receive maximum sunlight and/or shadows. 

Further Direction:

These diagrams serve as a starting point in order to work in a direction to identify parameters and eventually a design proposal. More analysis of the social and cultural issues need to be addressed as well as the features of the site itself. What are the advantages and disadvantages, how can nature solve these issues.

Things to think about:

Context:

- Greater Brisbane

- Surrounding suburbs

- Public Transport

- Activity Nodes / Proximity

- Pedestrian Friendly / Unfriendly roads

- Connections

- Entry Points

- Surrounding Building Uses, Green Space

- Users

- Geographical Features

- Site Features (Historical, Natural, Structural, Views)

- Social and Cultural issues

- Climate (sub-tropical city) 

These investigations will eventually lead to parameters that will become the design focus towards the conceptual, tectonic, functional and contributory aspects of the proposal.

Week 05

This week was the first week where students broke up into their specific theme groups to continue work on the Howard Smith Wharves Design Proposal.

PROJECT 2: FOLIE TO BUILDING


This stage of the proposal serves as an intermediate stepping stone between project 1 - being the Folie and Project 3 - being the Final Design proposal. This stage of the proposal will be Research and an initial design proposal. We will be re-examining the contextual, geographical, social and cultural issues we have found in order to set parameters to be the core interest and focus of the design. These parameters are to refer back to the original Folie design in some way and be specific to the chosen theme group. This stage is not to be a set of generic Site analysis with Students being expected to engage with their own unique research to identify issues beyond what everyone can see as obvious facts.  


THe following are the General Project Guidlines that all students are to abide by as well as The Specific theme group Context:

The Following is the criteria that Project 2 will be marked against:

Learning From Nature Theme Group

The first session went through the main aims of the group to get an understanding of the theme and what students would have to be producing from week to week and finally through to Project 2 submission.

The theme groups would be focussing on how Nature can be used for architectural inspiration in order to achieve better sustainable outcomes.

To do this we will be looking at how nature can be a; Model, a Mentor and a Measure and look at issues and ask, How would nature solve this?

Nature has had a lot of time, approximately 3.8 billion years worth of research to be able to effectively deal with complex issues. Humans being only 200 thousand years old have a lot to learn. More sustainable solutions can be found by studying the ways in which nature has dealt with these problems for literally billions of years.

Architects and designers in recent time have gotten inspiration from nature in order to build sustainable structures. This field of design is sometimes referred to as biomimicry; which is the use of nature as a model in order to solve human problems in a more sustainable way.

Some preliminary research was done into the field of biomimicry. One person in particular, Janine Beynus is a prominent figure in Biomechanics and has done several TED talks on the subject as well as being well published.

http://www.ted.com/talks/janine_benyus_biomimicry_in_action.html

In this video Janine talks about how designers are using aspects of nature in order to solve human problems in a range of disciplines, from designing faster and more economical trains, hygiene and bacteria management to solar power harnessing and storage. There is basically no end to the possibilities that can be harnessed from nature.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n77BfxnVlyc

In This video Janine outlines specifically 12 sustainable ideas that are already occuring in nature and have done for many many years, and how they can  be utilised by humans in order to create sustainable designs.

In Janines talks she mentions an initiative that she has been part of called Ask Nature, a website that scientists and academics can contribute to where the user can simply ask a questions; How would nature solve ....? any problem imaginable. This website is an extremely useful tool to designers who are incorporating sustainable elements into structures and objects.

www.asknature.org

Tasks For week 6:

Tasks for week 6 will be to re-examine the site and the Folie in order to get a deeper understanding of the issues surrounding the Howard Smith Wharves. This is not asking for general site analysis but to recognise specific advantages and disadvantages of the site, social and cultural issues, geographic and contextual elements and features as well as thinking how these issues can be dealt with with an inspiration coming from nature. These tasks will help to define the parameters that will focus the design proposal.