Project 3 Development - Week 12 b

This week i have been looking into what i would like my site to become. I would like to turn the area into a parkland making it a space where people can 'escape' from the city:


Perhaps i could try to express this in my site plan?...here is an undeveloped sketch:


The site is in a great place to 'escape' considering the surrounding areas are so densely built up and that the site acts as a thoroughfare connecting some main areas such as New Farm to the CBD and Fortitude Valley. Here are some diagrammatic images of the sites context:


What are some interesting ways to show how i could be attracting people from the surrounding suburbs.... maybe something like this:

Project 3 Development - Week 12

I also have noticed that i need to design toilets and change rooms. I think that this will take up an entire section of my building so i need to design them so they do not disrupt the flow of circulation through my room modules. Here is a sketch showing my ideas:


Now that i have a repeatable circulation module and designed the change room section its time to produce a floor plan so i can begin to work on the other images such as sections and elevations. Here is the floor plan:

Project 3 Development - Week 11 b

This week i have been focusing mainly on ways to improve the circulation throughout my building, both vertically and horizontally. Currently my stairs system works on the same principles as 'collapsible attic stairs' this is useful in that it means a fixed staircase will never be left unused and in the way, as you can tuck it up into the ceiling.



However it defeats the purpose of having a repeatable module. To do this i would need to make more modules, for the assignment i would like to keep the 'custom' modules to a minimum.

If i could design a stairs system that did not intrude on the room module then it would make the construction process much simpler. Here is an idea that i think has the potential to work:


This would be an aditional module simply for circulation purposes, it would be attached to the room modules on the inside of the circle. This still uses the 'trap door' charachteristic of attic stairs - it has a slideable roofing and flooring section to alow movement from level to level. The beinfits of this module is that it keeps the stairs out of the way, provides aditional circulation passages and could become a feature along the walls of my design.

Project 3 Development - Week 11

One point raised, perhaps the most important, is that i need to explain more clearly my concept and how it is integrated into my design.

The fitness centres design has been based on the concept “interaction”. The design has been influenced by the interaction between a sunflower and the sun. A sunflower is constantly re-orientating its flower to ensure its face captures the maximum amount of solar rays. This provides the plant with the energy that it needs to grow, and flourish.

Like the sunflower the fitness centre can move, re-orientating itself to suit changes in the external environment. It will respond to changes in sun angle, wind, temperature, noise, and rain. It changes its form to best suit the real time conditions, providing the people within the building with conditions for the best quality of living.

Here are some digramatic images showing how my building could respond in a similar fashion to a sunflower in the sense that it orientates and reshapes itself to suit the external conditions:

Project 2 revisal - Week 10 b

Here are some images that could be further developed:

In my sections and elevations i need to use cross hatching to show the ground being cut and also use a thicker line weight for the ground line:


Labeling would be handy for explaining images such as this:


When showing a site plan its not an aerial view so only show the ground - there is no need to show the bridge (it only disrupts the site plan). This is also a good area in the presentation to explain its relationship to the surroundings 'context':


It is good to show possibilities but when showing these you should also explain why these are useful:


This perspective looks rather flat, adding water color or even just line weights would help to add more depth and feel to the image:

Project 2 revisal - Week 10

As last week was presentation week it seemed appropriate to use this weeks tutorial for "revisal". What could change about project 2? What are its strengths and weaknesses??

After discussing with the tutor and fellow students i had a list of some obvious alterations that could better the design.

For the next project its not a matter of producing more images but using what i already have and 'fine tuning' them. I need to:

- better communicate my concept and show how it is integrated into the design
- redesign the circulation system ie the stairs proposal
- learn to use line weights to my benefit, to help show more depth in my drawings
- add labeling to some images
- speak of the surroundings ie the greater context of the surrounding city
- research further into material for the module and its construction techniques
- further develop the facade
- possibly look into how my pool could also be modular

Building Presentation - Week 9b

I decided i would like to do my presentation in a PDF file. I think it will be much more effective as when using slides from PowerPoint you can find yourself talking about images that are not on the current slide, its hard to get a reference from other drawings when needed. The PDF will give me the opportunity to slide between drawings and images, hopefully giving people a better understanding of my proposal. This is my final layout for project 2:

Building Development - Week 9

This week i have spent my time finalising my ideas and drawings. Focusing on the criteria i have attempted to cover the design concept, context, tectonic, function, contribution, and theme related issue - the module.

Here are my developed drawings and images (including photos of a good copy model):