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Final Presentation Panel

So a bit of reflection..... Today's lecture was mainly on the assignment and how to respond to the criteria ... Now I had a bit of a sudden realization within this lecture.

I took the mapping I had done earlier to develop my form and in some ways  I feel that this may not have been the best reaction to the overall concept of the site I am trying to convey. Really all the mapping gave me was a place in which I can develop the form and structural intent of this building not the actual form itself, (which in a broad sense was a simple extraction and deformation). Now this form created only a sense of the solid and seemed to lose the transparent/temporal elements, which we so actively chased in our folie and are the instinctive elements when one thinks of a memory driven concept.. I feel now I need to express this idea of solid vs void in a much more dramatic way to create this somewhat ethereal temporality.

So from here I think it is a vital point to reflect on my current position and define what I am intending to do within this site.

Currently I have a form and some direction of where I want to go yet I still feel it does not respond perfectly to he overall integration of memories from within the site. Howard Smith Wharves is a sensitive area where many people have strong memories which will limit any commercial integration into the area. It would be necessary to look at ways of intergrating commercial, public and private amenities into the site using sensitive design. Recently I saw a lecture at the 2012 National Arch. Conference by Rachel Neeson. She talked about one her recent projects, Prince Alfred Park and Public Pool.

Prince Alfred park is located in central Sydney, therefore it was important to maintain the vital green landscape present in the site. This use of folding plates creates an integrated system that is unobtrusive to the overall rolling landscape. 

What Neeson creates with her project is an "unobtrusive public interaction within a very sensitive site". 

So I use this project as an exemplar for ways to understand how we can still enhance a persons experience within a site where intrusive objects are greatly disregarded by the public (as seen in the canned development for a hotel within the area http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/wharves-decision-awash-with-politics-quirk-20110803-1ib7w.html). 

What I feel is necessary for this site is to incorporate an idea of Hedonistic Sustainability, as Bjarke Ingels refers to it, to enhance the interaction of the people without destroying the purist elements of the site.

So what next then? I feel it is now important for m own development to outlay a set of rules in which I can incorporate throughout my project.

• The idea must enhance the sites uses
• The idea must not destroy any previous historical elements.
• The idea must enhance the users memories, whether personal or site-specific
• The idea must be unobtrusive.
• The idea must be a place to develop ideas.

From here I really want to look at how I can incorporate the integration of the other senses into overall building to enhance the user experience and to create new memories as heightening the old ones.

One Technology i want to look into is the use of sound.

Tom Hall does this well in his video on the Storey Bridge which all the sound is sampled from the Bridge itself.
http://www.tomhall.com.au/Videos/Chassis.mov

He manages to create an ethereal feel completely via the use of sound and simple video, there may be potential here to create a facade which creates a similar sound without taking away from the overall feel of the building.

The other direction I still need to explore is the use of light as it was so prominent in our original folie idea. This video of the valobar tracks an object once it touches, to create something like this which tracks a user though a space and gradually fades over time would be an excellent example of memories being created and fading within the space .

At this point I want to start further developing my form, so I looked into how memories can alter in object in 3d space not only a users direction of travel.

Below are some the alterations to form which were the result of this thinking.

The first shows how the space allows users to walk up onto the building to bring them closer to the cliffs.

The second image below shows how the form upwards towards the Storey Bridge much like a users attention would when walking through the site.

Below s an image showing the progress of the form so far, more work needs to be done though especially with the progression of the types of differing technologies which would heighten the users experience within the space. I've outlined each area which I would like to progress further on the image below.

At this point though it started to become a bit more difficult to create a building which is entirely experienced in 3 dimensions on a singular plan level, therefore modelling tools were used to extrapolate the key ideas into the generation of form.

General Mass Making was used next to create key forms which could be used within the area to maximize the use space while still maintaining key paths of travel throughout the site.

The next step was to start looking at the space available and locate the areas which would  the most beneficial for each room/space depending on its inter-connectivity levels.

What follows is a general layout of areas spread across the 3 levels.