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):

Building Development - Mid Semester Break

Finally, it is time to begin the drawings! Firstly i needed to work out a floor plan:

During the design of this i had to constantly think about what rooms would be sitting on top of other rooms and i came to the conclusion that i needed a model. Here are a few snap shots of my model: (Thoughts on how the stairs system would interlock are the black marks)







Here is only a small number of the possible arrangements:






The stair system was quite hard for me to figure out. I needed to think of a way to make my floor plan adjustable and flexible. Here was some initial ideas about a trap door system that i refined for my presentation:



Having a developed floor plan and a stairs system made it possible for me to then play with the form in section. I decided to focus on 2 contrasting arrangements to show the diversity of the proposal. Here are 2 drawings in development:


Now that i had figured out the basics of my design i thought i should start fine tuning some of the details, such as how the rooms would move and lift... i was able to come up with a system of rails and hydraulic jacks. Here are some drawings in development:



Even though my building has this ability to move and interact with the sun, wind, rain etc i feel that it is lacking in its ability to interact with people. This prompt me to think about how my building could respond to a persons movements through out and around it. I eventually realised that its circular form could be utilised on its facade! the facade could somehow move as people move. I explored this idea and came up with an idea that the face of the building could be a 'dynamic facade'. Here are some concept sketches:

Building Development - Week 8b

Now that i know my concept, its associated abstract research, and building typology it is time i started to actually design something!

Firstly i needed figure out what market my gym was targeting and what rooms are needed. I decided to target the average business person- because commonly in the past people were taking their lunch break down in the area and exercising. It made sense to therefore create a gym that wasn't designed to have that 'lets just get massive' atmosphere. It must have a positive, non judgemental feeling. Having a high level of interaction seen between the users will help assist in achieving this. There's something about exercising in groups or among other people that feels good.

My gym will also hold 'learn to swim' classes for young children. Parents will have the opportunity to watch their children and at the same time fit in their 30 minutes/hour of exercise, making their ever busy lives slightly easier.

What rooms will my gym need? Here is a page showing my ideas, maybe not all rooms will be included but this gives me an understanding of what options i have:


Now from here i explored many different avenues in an attempt to produce a form that worked. Initially i was working with ideas that seemed to lead to dead ends. I started by splitting my building into a possible 3 levels. This is a page showing a possible arrangement:


I was attempting sectional massing models to give me a sense of the form in elevation, this proved useful but was easy to follow to literally and get stuck on a boring rigid and limited design. Here is an example or some draft work:


This was leading me to believe the gym had to be designed around a form similar to this conceptual sketch:


This then pushed me to think about how i could get people to move up and down this structure. A central core would be needed, it could hold the elevators, fire escapes, toilets, bathrooms, and service rooms/ power board room. A rough design i came up with can be seen below:


I then decided i would like to play with the form of the buildings exterior, here is 2 options i came up with:



I then realised that each level could be independent from the rest. This would make it possible to rotate freely and re orientate itself to best suit where the most people are located inside the level. It also made me think about patterns the building would create if sections were missing from each level. Here is a possible form:


Having sections missing from each level also gives the opportunity to 'shift the blocks' move module to module to fill in gaps and shift up and down levels:


I then decided to simplify my gym requirements into something that would fit on one level and still provide users with a complete workout opportunity. I broke my gym up into the main areas and referred to my precinct study, what was a possible floor layout that would suit both male and female users while taking inconsideration that everyone is different:


Looking at this arrangement made me see the sense in the circle! having a circular building would make it possible for modules to slide on top of one another and enable the building to rotate freely around 360 degrees.

Deciding to Move back to my first circular design with the rooms being placed around a core, i could see the possibilities opening up to me. I decided to record some early ideas that i refined for my presentation:


For this idea to work i need to figure out the dimensions of my modules as they will form the rooms and movable sections to my building. Here are some ideas for the weights room; i need to consider how much gear will be needed in each room and allow for room for people to move freely at all times; also i was able to take into account which types of gym gear and exercises would best face inward or outward:


I calculated based on my precinct study that i would need each room to be around 12 meters long and 6 meters wide. This along with transport restrictions influenced the size of my modules:


Also now that i have reduced my rooms to one level there is no need for a core and i can replace it with the pool - fitting with my idea that parents could overlook their children while they themselves can exercise. Having this circular template also prompts visual interaction between users from one side of the gym across the pool to the other.