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.
