Experiment 2 Final Submission

Stage 1: Conception 

Introduction 

Experiment two was a very prestigious assignment since it involved the design of a school of architecture which should be considered the pinnacle of one’s practice. To help ease the burden of planning, designers were told to consider only a hundred students and to not fuss over any monetary or engineering limitations. This was combined with a unique prompt, ‘the bridge’, to allow flourish new ideas within open architecture. The building should be required to connect between spaces and areas, whilst centring around the Squarehouse, one of the main hubs of architectural learning within UNSW, an important focus also placed on the dynamism, symbolism and timelessness as qualities to be desired. 

Initial Perspectives 

The design process began with abstract perspectival sketches of cruciform elements, which would become the backbone of any future design. 

Initial Element 

The element was then selected constructed and contextualised. 

Site Study

The Element had then to be expanded whilst retaining its uniqueness, but before I decided in which direction this was to be done I conducted a quick site study. I came slowly to favour the area shown below since it allowed for self-sufficient building and whilst providing enough of a challenge to foster creative solutions. 

My building could just go over and around the roundhouse since the area is surrounded by lots of amenities. I wanted students to be able to hover over many facets of the built environment such that they observe people becoming constantly aware of the human aspects within the design itself, such that they lost sight on designing for people,. Hence my school bridge will span over a variety of different spaces;

• Creative workspaces: Squarehouse

• Administrative buildings: Blockhouse

• Formal workspaces: Law Building

• Hands-on workspaces: Materials Science and engineering building

The placement of the building was key since the notion of a bridge implies accessibility and connectivity, which I wanted have as the foci within my design, This Specific spot spanning a clear path between the university's most major traffic and pedestrian thoroughfares including ANZAC parade, High Street, University mall and Union Road. 

However, part of the challenge was the incorporation and preservation of green areas on-site, many of which were teeming with protected trees. This was taken lightly, as more of an important opportunity since the sustainable design is an area in which I am particularly interested in developing. 

Final Element

With these considerations in mind, the element was expanded and rendered to ensure a graceful addition within the surrounding environment.

Stage 2: Inspiration 

Inspiratory Article 

Human Movement in Public Spaces: The Use and Development of Motion-Oriented Design Strategies

Words chosen: Experience, temporal, delimitation, observer, sensory perception, space, tactile.

  Vroman, Liselotte, and Thierry Lagrange. ‘Human Movement in Public Spaces: The Use and Development of Motion-Oriented Design Strategies’. The Design Journal: Design for Next: Proceedings of the 12th European Academy of Design Conference, Sapienza University of Rome, 12-14 April 2017, Edited by Loredana Di Lucchio, Lorenzo Imbesi, Paul Atkinson, ISBN 978-1-138-09023-1 20, no. sup1 (2017): S3252–S3261. Accessed DOI:10.1080/14606925.2017.1352830.

Theory of Architecture 

True architectural experiences elude temporal delimitation, enchanting an observer’s sensory perceptions of light, space and tactility.

External Inspiration

External Inspiration served to personalise the task so that my design philosophy would be prevalent within my submission so that it seemed like a building was created rather than just meaningless tasks strung together. The pictures below help to illustrate the foci of my research and building development.

Cubist forms and De Stijl were found when researching about Meis Van Der Rohe's brick country house, this helped me work within a gridded form and allowed for a simple yet complex final interpretation of a seemingly blocky building. It also served to high light the importance of element thickness especially in a facade, along with cementing the importance of a splash of colour.

The importance of skylights within buildings is obvious, being important for building sustainability as well as the health of all those who inhabit them I had a look at some interesting implementations. These were wide-ranging from simple shopping malls to great libraries and parliament buildings but imbued the spaces in my final building to have a sense of decorum within their lighting. 

Being rather captivated by that last picture I adopted a mezzanine style approach, opting for vertical complexity as well as horizontal complexity by allowing for various platforms at many different sizes, however, I still needed to use glass to let in the light. This caused another problem, so I examined building with prevalent glass facades.

This was awesome, the picture above seemed to embody all that I stood for as an architect and engineer, the use of the laminar plywood in such simple forms along with those curving ramps, it was rather beautiful. So, I chose to use those ramps to connect my mezzanine levels, and begun research into timber structures. This turned out to be a masterstroke with many of the final pictures below acting as the direct inspiration for the external railings, roof, gallery and organisation for the design.     

Stage 3: Planning

Perspective Animation 

This class task required the construction and unification of six abstract rectangular forms drawn in two-point perspective, this acted as drawing practice and catalysed the development of the Anzac Parade Façade. 

Axonometric animation

This class task required the construction and unification of six abstract rectangular forms drawn in axonometric view, this acted as drawing practice and catalysed the development of the Pool Lawn Façade.

Defining Space

Whilst the blocky animation corresponded nicely with my element, the vertical complexity present slowly overwhelmed my ability to understand the forms. In defeat, I simplified this conceptually by using different colours to distinguish between planes on a similar elevation, choosing to assign them roles. 

This allowed me to list out the spaces which would need to be mapped on each one and so form the backbone for further planning. 

Completing this self-assigned activity ensured that my building would fulfil all of its required functions which intern would be decorous with its design. 

Floor Plan

This task detracted from earlier abstraction and allowed for the direct planning of the model. Key to Chris’ advice was to abstract the important ideas or art style within the chosen plan. This prompted external research which allowed me to discover the important ideas about the ‘inverted pinwheel model’ for a room which helped create open-plan, free-flowing spaces. 

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Initially, I began by copying the blocky art style to create solid elements defining the envelope in which my building later came to exist. 

Proceeding to then define the smaller spaces and allocate them decorously with the considerations made in the planes defined above. 

However, this was changed within realisation, since Chris advised the use of ramps over staircases for a more free-flowing open building. 

Section

The implementation of the plan within a sectional view was trickier since the large blocky elements and ‘inverted pin-wheel’ approach could not be functionally introduced.  

Unsure, I decided to use the tried and tested approach and sated mimicking the art style.

Smaller elements and spaces being completed later in accordance with the physical and decorous constraints imposed by the site.

Additional Infographics

Part of my inspiration was Mies Van Der Rohe's Brick country house which places great importance on the presence of boundaries, between spatial components as well as between the interior and exterior. I decided to subvert these theories to produce a building which is in harmony with the landscape, my 'adaptive roofing' blurring the bounds between roof and sky, which is combined with open plan design to ensure a mediation between inside and out. The fact that this mediation isn’t resolved is one of the most powerful aspects, as regardless of where you are in the building it prevents you from being alone; by keeping you connected to the surrounding nature. 

One of the fundamental design considerations during the initial conception was the orientation of the site, this allowed for a building which aimed to use the natural sunlight present throughout the day to completely illuminate the interior during the day. Below is a sun study that visualises this effect from 4:00 to 22:00 hours during a summers' day.

Stage 4: Materialisation

Custom textures 

An aspect of dynamism within the building was heavily emphasised by the design brief and so was enforced by the rulings for custom textures creation. These were required to be based off six words that describe motion, three of which were assigned whilst the remaining were to suit the building.   

Mine, being related to the placement of the building within natural elements and areas, and the natural movement patterns that occur and should occur amongst them.  

Texture Applications 

The textures were applied in a manner that suited the porosity in which they were conceived, either to the moving elements of my adaptive roofing or to the railings which direct the motion of people enclosed by them. Furthermore, the presence of dark detailed roofing elements visually shortens the distance between the viewer and the roof/sky offsetting the cavernous nature of the space whilst the railing enforces Burkean notions of beauty to provide a subconscious immersion with the dynamism imbued within the spaces themselves.

Moving Elements 

The moving elements were incorporated into what become my much-hyped roofing system, which consisted of two primary components listed in the earlier infographic. 

The ‘Slide and Stack’ incorporates modular complexity and translation, to create a roofing system which fosters endless possibilities for the space enclosed. The extrusive glass panelling ensures the presence of natural light, under both rain and shine. During dryer spells this can be opened to allow the cool breezes generated by the surrounding trees to sweep through the building, providing natural cooling and ventilation for an otherwise cavernous space. The elements can be moved individually to illuminate particular areas during exhibitions and even stacked to fill the volumes with sunlight. This type of roofing can be found over the main hall of the building, the library and on the main entrance from ANZAC parade. 

The ‘Rotating Louvres’ are comparatively simpler and incorporate more traditional rotating panels, to provide unique striations within the separate spaces, to better shelter them from the large open interior. Unlike their more sensational counterparts, these allow for easy replacement and daily motion; moving in accordance with the sun to provide the optimal lighting conditions for the spaces. These are unique to particular spaces, those shown below exist in the outdoor lecture hall and the academic block, having small cut-outs which imitate traditional office lighting, symbolising the ease at which natural lighting can be a suitable replacement without affecting the functionality of the space. Those found in the library block are opaque and boldly textured to create a diffused light that encourages quiet reading and comfortable conversation. 

This notion of architecture is futureproof, since the open planning means that the spaces within the building can be reconfigured without major demolition and regardless of said configuration the roof will always be adjustable in a decorous manner. Conversely if maintained this system will come to symbolise the timeless importance of natural light, air and space within buildings for both sustainability and the health of their occupants.

Key Spaces  

The key spaces shown below provide evidence for the extensive planning which ensured the creation of a functional building. Although all of the planned spaces could not be rendered due to technical limitations, I hope that these can microcosmically convey the open plan and functional nature of the building. 

Classrooms

Workshops

Computer Labs

Studios

Lecture Theatre

Library

Open Courtyard Pool Lawn

Pool Lawn Entrance

Student Gallery

Stage 5: Realisation 

Summative Statment 

A unique proposal for a bridge-like School of architecture, my building embodies the essential qualities of functionalism, symbolism, dynamism and timelessness. Containing extensive, unique spaces for students, staff and visitors alike, the design emanates a simplistic aura which enchants the daily lives of its patrons. Its dynamic roofing and open plan interiors are essential to this free-flowing, harmonious use of space, one which respects its site and the needs of those within. The extensive planning and sustainable materials allowing a refreshingly tactile, spacious and radiant structure that aims go beyond the bounds of expectations and the brief. 

Live Image Captures

The live image captures present still representations of an operational building, however, due to technical limitations many of these pictures are not high quality and many of these areas will be viewed within the flythrough. 

Library During a Sunny Morning

Pool Lawn Isometric Cloudy Day

Studios in use on a Sunny Afternoon

Main Facade ANZAC Parade on a Cloudy Morning

Main Hall on a Sunny Morning

Animation

Technical limitations mean that ideas for animation were restricted to a fly-through and also decreased the quality of the rendered output. Regardless, motion within a building allows a true perception of its design, decorum and functionality. Hence it was made and remains below for your viewing pleasure. 

Stage 6: Submission

3D Sketch-up model 

The original size of my Sketch-Up file was 150MB which exceeded the 50MB allowable upload limit for 3D Warehouse.and, unfortunately, Sketch-Up was unable to adjust the file size to download the original model please click the google drive link below, taking care to download both the .skp and .skb files before opening. The Upload Time can be found in the details column as evidence of compliant submission.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NtMQ0nEbfjmwve9U7L6nH9SvsHVIcjG1/view?usp=sharing

Virtual Lumion Environment 

I was unable to find a platform that paralleled 3D warehouse for Lumion FIles, thus I have again uploaded my Lumion model to google drive to allow for access, the upload time can be found in the details column as evidence of compliant submission.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VlFbOlxX0HUqm-OmNYEGsSkMEbNX2Ia0/view?usp=sharing

Peer Reviews

Peer reviews of my daft submission as completed by my very talented friends Jatin Midha and David Paul Ramos.