SUMMARY

This semester learning how to analyse the city has been extremely  interesting for me and I have learnt a lot over the past 13 weeks. I think I see the cities especially Brisbane, in a totally different way then before. Having learnt how to investigate the city from the point of people and also in the architecture element I think it is very relevant in today's world where design needs to give something back to the city and the people of that city. Working through the lectures and the tutorials and understanding how a city works is a skill that I will use in future projects. I think the main element that should be looked at when designing a building is the wider scope of the urban environment and how this building i am design will be influenced by the surrounds or if it will influence the urban environment. Every element in the city comes together to form the city so each element is important. Before this unit I only looked at sun patterns, wind direction and could not really anaylse an urban envirnoment. After the 13 weeks I am able to create maps and produce diagrams that critically analyse the surrounding envirnoment and allow others as well as myself to get a better understanding of how the space (city) works. I  also think the online discussion was a fundamental learning source for this unit as it allowed us to see what other people thought on the topics and also provided feedback on our projects.

Looking back on the first week 1 reflection activty now I think the casino does not fit into the urban environment in which it is situated for obvious reasons such as the materialistic qualities, scale and the untraditional geometry. I think this building definetly influences the surrounding urban envirnoment it, when looking at the site plan I can see how it does not restrict movement in the space but rather directs it. Also the way the building steps up in heights could be used to reflect the change in building heights of the buildings heights around it as they go up the slope toward the mountain. It also looks like the traditional window styles has been incorporated into the facade of the building.

WEEK 12

Presentation and model:

 

Final model of the Moreton View Bay Tower and Villas. All laser cut out of acrylic. The model fitted onto the existing block and blended in with the surroundings. Analysing the building and applying the concepts learnt throughout the semester allowed me to see how this building influenced the surrounding urban environment and how the building is influenced by the city.

 

Final panel applying the concepts learnt throughout the semester to the building. I looked at how the building sits in the surrounding urban environment and how the coty influences the building.

WEEK 11

Pr Peter Richards talked in the lecture today about "Urbanism." Some key questions he highlighted was, what is the purpose of making buildings, what should the buildings look like, what need for immediate users and possible future users.

........if architecture is for people the artifact of people must be the city.

how will the building suit the users in the future?

an example in Brisbane of a building that has adapted from its past use to suit the needs of the current users is the Brisbane Power House. Once used as a building to generate power it is now a building that offers an array of performing arts, visual arts, festivals and free community events.

http://www.brisbanepowerhouse.org/

 Peter explored the relationship that the building has with the surrounding context something which i found relevant to my project on the Moreton View Towers and Villas. How does this building respond to the surrounding context?

The integration of the natural environment seems to be a key feature in the building with plants being used to create a sort of barrier between the inside and outside. Fits in with the surrounding park areas. Every floor has outdoor balconies which is ideal in the Queensland environment where natural ventilation and sunlight is key in all designs.

The key points Peter explored that were key to urbanism were;

• WALKABILTY- the first pre-requiste for urbanism
• DIVERSITY- a rich mix of activities
• PROXIMITY- the rich mix within easy distances 5min or 400m
• CONNECTIVITY- activities are connected to each other for walking, cycling, bus or train etc
• ACCESSIBILITY- something to walk on, choices of routes, permeability
• LEGIBILITY- easily finding your way around
• COMMUNITY- experiencing the life of communities on your journeys

Urban design anaylisis of a good urban place-

• paths
• edges
• nodes
• landmarks
• districts

Applying this points which were from Kevin Lynnches book to the area around Moreton Bay Tower and Villas. I generated the following sketches.

Some floor plans of the building i use to generate the laser cut model. The layout of the rooms is ver linear and balconies are positioned to recieve sunlight from the north and south.

WEEK 10

This week the lecture consisted of three topics: Eco Cities, Parkour and Architecture and The Future of Cities. I think the future is very much directed at the sustrainabilty side of architecture however many of the sustainable design seem to use very expensive methods of construction which are not economical viable at this stage which is the main reason I believe why designers tend to stay away from this however there are more simple ways to achieve a sustainable design.

http://www.trendir.com/house-design/desert-home-sustainable-house-design-1.jpg

This is an example I have looked at before in a previous assignment on sustainabilty in architecture. In eco cities i think it is important to go back to the basic's of what it means to be sustainable before looking at highly complex systems.

Also the TED talk 'How food shapes our cities' by Carolyn Steel was very interesting, outlining the transformation of agricultural functions into industrialised functions in cities. This shows how cities have been disconnected from nature and how humans have took control of natural landscapes and create their own 'utopia'. Personally, this talk was bias without taking any considerations of how over time population increases causing many more demands in not only food, but also other industrial and economic necessities. This is how cities grow and evolve.

Week 09

Todays lecture was on cities and memories and we looked at how these memories are generated by architecture. Mirko looked at how laction, locale and sense of place all create an identity or memory of a certain place.

• Memorial- tells who i am
• Landmark- tells where i am
• Monument- telles why the city has its layout

Memory= Identity:
Everybody has memories connected to places and every place has a history. Cities and Architecture communicate memories and histories. Architecture is four dimensional where the values of a society are transmitted through architecture.

"Architecture is the physical expression of the highest human thoughts." (W.Gropius)

 

 

http://www.bauhaus.co.il/bauhaus_files/bauhaus-school10.jpg

 

Working in an urban envirnoment means dealing with society's memories, people's memories and history and heritage.

 

Australia does not have history???

 





Many people think Australia does not have history, compared to other countries such as Rome, Australia's history is not as evident. Architecture in Australia's was not used to display the history but rather the land which has shaped who we are.

Ways we can preserce the identity of our cities mentioned in the lecture was;

• single buildings can be listed and preserved
• planning and legislation can impose ties to the transformation of the urban environment in order to preserve its character

Examplars showcasing a connection with the urban environment was the paving used in the public spaces in Portugal, Madeira, China and Rio.


In the workshop for the Brisbane model group we discussed with Mirko what building we were going to build or model on and drafted a CRA sheet to be assessed against.

The feedback we got from our presentation we got was good we just needed to fix up a few minor things in the nolli and figureground map and that was it.