material palette - week 13

The unique geographical location of Woodfordia lies on a path where 4 major vegetation groups cross according to the National Vegetation Information System.

After cross referencing these 4 major vegetation group species with the planting list provided by the Queensland Folk Federation, I have drawn on distinctive characteristics from each group to create a colour/material palette for the design.

project progress - week 13

the entrance from the east is where the main paths lead towards the amphitheatre.  the design hear attempts to capture and draw the user into the main entrance.  from a large open triangle form, the design directs user into the entrance through layering and using a range of different materials.   The materials were influenced by the vertical elements of the natural forest.  The dark stone on which the rammed earth wall sits on top of, symbolizes an eternity for the design. Not necessarily a psychical eternity, but an eternity into which the design will create a system with throughout the community.  The use of stone technology seen in the Egyptian evolution gave their buildings the possibility to last for 1000s of years.

An initial idea to have the main stage roof operable to move up and down according to what activity was taking place on the main platform

the journey in which the user would have the opportunity to experiences. 

the lower digram in the bottom left hand corner represents my design summarised in a nut shell - a platform, at least 2 people, a connection through physical and digital means and an interactive system.

tutorial response - week 12

one complete list covering all basis, can i do it all - i hope.

lecture response - week 12

an experience, a first person experience.  doesn't matter what it looks like 50m from the sky.  what does it feel like at ground zero.  So in this project i intend to concentrate on the user's experience at a human scale - what we see from our eyes (with our feet flat on the ground).  what we touch, where we walk and how we move through the design.

function or form - in previous years, i have focused on pushing the boundaries and designing out of the box literally.  Odd forms, interesting to the eye exterior skins.  throughout this semester my vision to design smartly has evolved, i believe.  I have of course learnt and been exposed to new theories which has altered the way in which i design.  

One aspect to a sustainable design for me means designing for construction.  Construction methods that are simple and don't consume inappropriate energy just to produce an interesting odd shape.  Louis Kahn quotes "let a brick be a brick".  To me this means use materials in a way that they have for 1000s of years.  Just cause we can do it, doesn't mean we have to.  Placing a restrain (in a sense) on how we use materials can reduce the energy required to create any design.  this is one principle in which i wish to abide by for my design.  

project progress - week 12

- initial floor plan of stage space combined with entry space

- an entry that draws you

- a massing study for the stage, a secondary viewing platform deleted as it does not complement or connect to the overall flow of the design.

- a place to view the 'Window of opportunities'

tutorial response - week 11

Categorizing our work - a tool to moderate the process & design

project progress - week 11

After analysing my initial scheme which can be seen in 'site location - ghost week', it was evident that the scale of the design was over estimated.  After quickly sketching the building footprint into autoCAD, I was easily able to see that it had an extremely large building footprint.  Designing a new building within in this natural environment, I wanted to keep the design less intrusive upon the landscape.  We have no set limitation for the buildings design.  However, I want to keep the height of my building to a maximum of 2-3 storeys where possible and maybe a little more where the main stage would be placed, due to specific requirements to create the necessary stage when Woodfordia Folk Festival is on.

01 - the picture at the top demonstrates how the site responds to the natural amphitheater and how the design needs to be orientated to draw viewers into the buildings.  The design in a sense sits alone with no immediate buildings adjoining it.  I don't believe it sits alone on the site however, it is surrounded by incredible natural interesting elements.  The design needs to facilitate and control the light from the east and the west.  However, I don't want to place large walls on either side of the stage, which would block views from the amphitheater out towards the landscape and vice versa.  The viewers on the west side, should be able to interact with the viewers on the east side.

The existing path that passes the south of the design (right hand side of the computer screen - sorry forgot to put the north sign on the drawings, at least I know what I'm talking about) also needs to be interacting with the design.  Although people may not be willing to enter the building, they are still able to engage with the design as the journey pass it on it's south side.

02 - 03 The middle & bottom pictures represents a viewers encounter sequence senario.  Arriving from the main path the east, the viewer is drawn to the entry and has a number of options once entered the building.  The entrance becomes a meeting/gathering place, where one can interact with other users before entering the design.  once in the design.  An intriguing sculpture of mantras directs the user towards the south-western side.  This place would also be a place where you could interact with people passing by on the south side.  Here is a place where you can also see in the distance the main stage but not directly journey towards it.  To acces the open stage, you must move past the Hall of Artefacts (a place where we can not forget where we have come from).  From a narrow confined space, the user is directed into an open courtyard like space.  You are able to view where you came from and are enticed towards the stage - the main interactive platform - 'Window of Opportunity'.  Going back to the entrance space.  If one does not move down the Hall of Artefacts, the user also has the opportunity to explore the upper levels which unfold sequentially.  When the user is in the open courtyard like space.  the viewer can see up the amphitheater and through the 'Window of Opportunity'.  Here the user can branch into a number of different spaces to interact with the 'Window of Opportunity' in different ways.  More private - to a more open forum style spaces.  Different spaces to encourage different thoughts.

lecture response - week 11

to be rain checked - was at the Blue Mountains for my brothers wedding.  Was an amazing weekend and had just the right amount of beer

lecture response - week 10

1.  Guest speaker summarised it in a nut shell - we are looking at it from a macro and micro scale.

Now that voices from Libia can be heard in Brisbane (for example) and start a motion to change their political structure.  Global communication is affecting the way we now live in a modern world.

2.  Sustainability should not be seen as an add on, it is another piece of the puzzle.  We design to compulsory building standards for safety and function, now sustainability should be seen on the same playing field as these examples.

integration within the landscape - week 10

have a dig - week 10

That Integral theory has hardly impacted architecture to date is damning testimony to the damage wrought by the distractions of theory courses and academic publications still recycling the same irrelevant philosophical and literary theories.

"Modernity simply exploits and seeks power over nature rather than seeking any symbiosis with it, or ‘transcending and including’ it as part of an Integral culture that recognises it evolved, rather than is separate, from nature − and thrives and is healthy only to the degree nature does too.

Much postmodern architecture has strong parallels with Conceptual Art, once you have got the idea there is nothing more to engage you.

Much very good architecture is being produced in the pursuit of the green agenda. But the common flaw in this work is that it focuses on objective issues such as ecology and technology; it does not yet give due emphasis to the subjective dimensions of psychology and culture. The conceptual thinking still conforms to the paradigm of modernity. But as Einstein pointed out, a problem cannot be solved with the same level of thinking as created it

Now, instead of subduing it we must seek to live in symbiosis with nature, not least by applying the ecological understandings bequeathed by modernity.

The fundamental purposes of modern architecture are thus limited to such right quadrant concerns as shelter, security, function and so on − all of them important, but not enough for a truly sustainable architecture because they ignore what sustains us psychologically and culturally.

This is an area where modernity conspicuously failed. It promised freedom for self-realisation unconstrained by culture, community, place and history. Yet without these we are not at home in the world, hence the pervasive alienation, and the atomisation of communities into lonely individuals, characteristic of modernity. We now understand that self-realisation needs the support of and sense of belonging to this larger context.

Besides transcending self-expression, creativity then escapes the current frivolous obsessions with form and theory − a symptom of how lost we are and lacking in vision as to the purposes of architecture − to be about expanding the world of human possibility so that we can become more of who we aspire to be in our emerging view of what it is to be fully human."

- Peter Bunchanan 

as iam not as swift or strategic with the words i choose to say and write, i wish that when i read literature and completely agree with the author's notion - i could just reproduce it.  as i believe they have already written it more accurately then i could ever establish.