DAB 510 - Architectural Design 5

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Week Two 

Walk Shop...

I actually did the walkshop in 2011 with Mirko. However in addition to this I also revisited the site and recorded it accordingly.

Starting from QUT, go through the botanical gardens, follow the road running parallel to the river all the way to the Story Bridge...

Note.................>>>

Garden beds along path creates an edge to follow. Clear change in surfaces show clear end and start of different spaces... Qut and the Botanical Gardens.

<<<<<< QUT seat and sign. Over scale of the bench al  allows it to become a 

Land Mark

Trees define a path for people to move though the garden>>

<<<<Garden between you and the city. You still feel the connection with the city yet feel more relaxed than in the middle of the city or even on Alice Street. Could almost see it as a district of the city..

Although there is no clearly defined path (concrete or change in surface material) trees in a line allow people to move though to a particular destination...

Fence line creates a limit between the city and gardens, even though there is a clearly defined edge....(see below...)

<<< These lights are used in various places though out the city. Which links different areas to others....

                 Due to the Story Bridge's 

size and beauty it creates an 

iconic landmark of brisbane.

(below)

<<<<Shelter over road proves street with a human scale, people do not feel little walking next to skyscrapers...

The foot bridge below creates a link from one side of the road to the other...

Different levels can create different perceptions of the city and different environments.

This building gives a hard edge to the street and creates a path that can not be deferred from...

Howard Smith Wharves - The Site 

 Above is the site selected for our Architectural Design 5 unit.


Howard Smith Wharves 

Howard Smith Wharves (HSW) were first constructed in the 1930’s in conjunction with the Story bridge. The site was originally used by Howard Smith and Co. a shipping company that occupied the site from the 1930’s to the early 1960’s. During this time there were three berths and five new storage sheds were planned, however the third berth was never built as World War ΙΙ disrupted the construction. During the war five air-raid shelters were constructed below the cliff face. After Howard Smith and Co. moved from the site the only people to occupied it were the Queensland Water Police and the Queensland Works Department for storage purposes. The site has been vacant for a long period of time except for the minor use as storage and mooring.

It was really hard to access the site but it was clear from the fence that the Story Bridge has a large presence in the site, leaving people to feel that they are insignificant within the site.

The main interest to me was the old bunker that was just inside the gate! I really wanted to go inside it, to try and imagine what it was like during the war to be sheltering within these bunkers. Almost like hidie holes though out the site...

From far away or approaching the site it is unclear that there is there is a large space available under the bridge to use! could create an interesting approach to design..

View from the other side of the Story Bridge... There isn't much there! The cliff face creates a space that feels like it is cut off from the city! But in fact there is access to four suburbs!

Folie Design

Week Two

We met as a group for the first time in tutorial! We started to brian storm for our folie design with help from the project outline we came up with the following...

Folie Design Guideline

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 fir within 5m x 5m x 5m bounding box.

Things that must be included in the design...
- The space should activate
      - Emotion
      - They want to do something in the space
      - Something should signify the space - to create an icon
      - A FOLIE AS AN INTERMEDIARY SPACE (NOT A DESTINATION)
      - The folie should be in an appropriate location.
- The Design Function
      - How do people occupy the folie and what do they do?
      - How do they use the folie differently (time, season, event)
      - What can the folie provide for people in its proximity? how    
        is it going to effect people in the long run?
- The Design Tectonic
      - How is the folie anchored
      - How is the folie assembled and composed?
      - What is the most significant material feature?
- The Design Experience
      - What do people see from with the folie?
      - How do people see the folie in its geographical context?
      - How do people experience the folie and how do you express
        it?

After sitting down as a group and doing this brain storming exercise we decided to 1. Explore the sensory experience within our folie (a folie to help improve our other senses!) 2. Further research other ideas that we could uses as a key theme or concept that we could use for our folie!

Self Exploration

When I went home I did some research into different learning spaces. I came across a study that looked into the outcomes of heightening your other sense and how this increased your memory retention... see below...

One way to remember something easier is to get all your senses involved. Your mind is not aware of whether something is real or whether it is your imagination, it does not distinguish the difference. So this means you can act out scenarios in your minds, use your imagination to engage your heart and soul into whatever it is that you want to be learning. The more your emotions can come into play, the more your senses will become invigorated and the more the imagination is employed the more you be likely to remember. (http://www.aahh.com.au/resources/Learning_Tips.pdf)

After reading this i decided to explore the idea of sensory experience within our folie...


I wanted to form a shape that represented the old bunker! The dark dingyness of the bunker forces us when inside to concentrate on the tiniest bit of movement, the tiniest bit of sound, and the tiniest bit of life...

From this I explored the idea of integrating design into the walls and seats for increased sensory experience...

On the left hand side (of the page) I thought we could use a green wall with fragment foliage, and then other side have a series of cones to amplify the the sounds of people using the outer side of the folie....

<<<details on how the cones "should" work...

Closer view of the green wall with smelly foliage...

Thought I we could create a seat that works on hydraulics, moving up and down when people sit on them... not sure if it would work or if it would be comfortable...

<<Model of how the cone wall will look/work...

Week Three - Project 1 Folie Design

Meet all together! discusses our ideas further... came up with the following...

We decided that instead of incorporating all the senses into our folie design that we would limit it to one (under the assumption that the other senses could be enhanced in other folies within the site...). As megan had researched more into the sense of sound we decided to move in this direction...

she came up with the idea of a swinging pendulum that would work off the winds coming off the river (invisible forces that we require our senses to experience...) which we integrated into the shape that I originally had... (the idea of the bunker, and the history behind it)

<<<< People would walk though and have the noise of the pendulum echo off the walls (creating a sort of sound shell or sound bunker)

Concept models of our design progress...

 "Concept", "Context", "Function", "Tectonic" and "Experience"

Concept: The concept behind this folie was to create a learning environment that enhances the sense of sound, thus allowing the user not only to learn to use their sense besides sight but also to increase their memory retention...

Context: The folie is to take the shape of the old bunkers within the sight to not only in the form but also the mimic the experience people had during the war within the bunker...

Tectonic: We decided to use the same tectonics as the bunker and other materials found on the site eg. cast iron and gravel..

Experience... (pretty much explained above...)

Week Four - Folie Design 

Week 5 - Theme Group Tutorial

Though the eyes of a child...

Dan Adler

Tutorial Exercise

Ideas of this theme group:

To create an environmental learning centre for primary school students.

Thing back to how you learnt as a kid! Think about experimental learning!

Visualisation...

Remember what your first learning experience was! where were you and who were you with? how did you feel?

My earliest memorie of learning was going to the museum of science in Brisbane. I was with my family but I only remember my brother and sister being there! All I have is glimpses of being in different rooms playing with different experiments... touching things that we wouldn't normally be aloud to touch etc... I remember most being happy! having fun with my brother and sister...

Now skip forward a few year! You are now in primary school! Do you remember going on any school excretions? What did you learn? How did you feel?

In primary school we went camping as a group. I remember that we were learning how to over come our fears and that we had to do a high ropes coarse. It was scary! To us at the time anyway! I remember our teachers giving us support to go up there and do something we were scared to do... Once we finally did it we felt a sing of relief! 

Things to think about: 

  - How do you effect someones experience?

To do by next week!

  1. Bring your Folie Design

  2. Think of your core concepts

  3. Look at your site analysis in accordance to your core concepts

Core Concepts and Parameters:

    - Sensory Experience:

        - Experiencing and heightening your other senses, not only 

          relying on sight

        - Using the built environment to enhance your senses

    - Invisible Forces of within the site

        - How we perceive theses forces and how our bodies respond

          to theses forces

        - How we need to use our senses to experience and 

          understand these forces

    - The Bunker Experience

        - How being within the Bunkers heightens our senses, trying 

          to work out what is going on out side the bunker

        - How the building causes deprivation of sight and allows 

          for the other senses to come over