Assignment 2 Concept and Statement
With Australia’s commercial oil production industry coming to an end, we are relying on oil imports from the most remote places around the world. How much longer will we continue to do this before we realise there are solutions here. I am proposing a solution before international oil supplies are obsolete. This solution also addresses the rise in mental health illness and decline of physical wellbeing among Australian citizens from metropolitan areas which are overpopulated.
A homogenous city with narrow footpaths bordered with sky-high buildings, no awnings or landscaping and 4 lanes of congested, noisy traffic which dictates the city and all of its occupants; this is our reality. Now picture the same scene except without the motor car and all its supporting infrastructure. Suddenly we are presented with room for wider footpaths, integrated public parks and squares, outdoor arcades, park benches, street lighting, street cafes and most importantly, safety to meander the streets with less noise and pollution. As Jane Jacobs once said, “Not TV or illegal drugs but the automobile has been the chief destroyer of American communities.”
I am proposing that the motor car be taken out of our Australian cities, and replaced with city hire bicycles which utilise existing infrastructure as a support network for this innovative form of transportation which will also be supported by underground busses on a loop system.
With congested cities, it is very difficult to find your voice and express your opinions freely. I suggest that instead of the current uniform city, subculture areas be introduced to make for a more heterogenous city because not everyone is the same and this will also go hand-in-hand with improving mental health and a sense of community once again into Australian cities. Each environment will promote shared support and a strong sense of shared ideals where individuals can grow. In a society where there are many values and voices, people tend to cling to those few things that they all have in common. The macro solution I am proposing is a metropolis which contains a large number of different, small subculture areas with their own values sharply defined and distinguished from the others. Once population is exceeded, channels of communcation needed for justice, information and democracy are far too congested and too complicated and bureaucracy crushes human processes. If the sub-culture areas are small enough, then there is a smaller number of hierarchy levels which means more direct access to government bodies however currently, we have become remote from the large-scale processes of government. I have designed a building which supports one sub-culture as a case study. There will be one of these buildings in each sub-culture area and their purpose is to maintain language, culture and customs so that each region is separate and independent enough to maintain strength and vigour of its culture. The building is also a direct link to the Australian parliament allowing citizens to once again express themselves.
This case study building sits in the middle of the existing traffic lanes in the city and is an open public space on ground level allowing pedestrians and cyclists to circulate through it and interact with its edges. This building has many supporting buildings in the city but this is the main one and it houses public space on ground level with some retail, two floors of office space and three floors of residential.
The building treats the bicycle as a fundamental part of the environment and makes a connection between the two a significant part of the building, so much so that it gives the building its character just like a train station or airport do the same. There are many forms of vertical circulation throughout the building, riding through the ‘bike tunnel’, elevator and stairs. Residential vertical circulation is separate from public and office circulation. The workers and residents of the building are encouraged to ride their bike right through and up into the building for convenience. There are 2 separate bike storage pods, one for office space and one for residents which are visible and exposed to the street so as to encourage more people to ride bikes. Short term visitors to the building park their bikes in bike racks on ground level. These bike racks are located approximately every 50 metres throughout the city.
Because this building has three functions, it is very important to recognise these and how they meet. Where public and private space meet in this building, there is neutral green space. This relationship is important and there needs to be a variation of settings which have different levels of intimacy. At the residential end of the building, the public space on ground level is more personal and private with small cafes and private sitting spots. Towards the office entry, the space opens up more with a larger busier café and the ceiling height is much higher. Each function has a different entrance with the large-scale public entrance at the busier end of the street which is visible from 100 metres away and easy for the pedestrian to find so as to not confuse or intimidate them. The residential entrance is more intimate. Through the use of natural materials like stone for seating and planting throughout all spaces, this takes the ‘city’ feeling away. The transition from outdoor space to indoor space can be seen through different elements such as a change of materials, light, sound, direction and change of surface or through an enclosure or view.
The building provides a lively edge which is part of the social fabric. These edges are crenulated with places that invite people to stop. The building’s edge weaves in and out and wraps around green spaces creating nooks and enclosures and a private place to sit. People don’t usually like to be exposed when sitting and don’t tend to sit in the middle of an open space but instead up against a tree or wall. It is important to place these enclosures which aid in a shelter also. People need green spaces to go to and need to be close to them. Green spaces are scattered throughout the city within three minutes of all major buildings. Café furniture shared between surrounding buildings like the Port Office and the Stamford Hotel creates a continuous integration of street action along the street. High-rise living takes people away from the ground where all the action on the sidewalks and streets occurs leaving them alone in their apartments. At four to six stories high, one can still walk easily down to the street and from a window, still feel that they are a part of the street action. Four to six stories still allows for adequate density and allows for vivacity within the city at all levels. All stairwells are exposed to the street with glass which also allows natural light into the building. Street lighting has been incorporated into all outdoor spaces for both cyclists and pedestrians. A public arcade runs along west side of building protecting lower levels from Western sun and also providing a public, human-scale thoroughfare through the site. The footpath cuts in and out of the building to cafes and green spaces with park benches and stone plinths for sitting encouraging people to enter the public space on ground level or the upper levels of the building. There is a communal herb and veggie garden on the first level of the residential level. This common space uses water from sinks and drains to irrigate the soil and compost from the apartments for fertilizer.
Concrete has mainly been used for its thermal mass properties. There are naturally ventilated breakout spaces at either end of the office floors incorporating seating and planting and eating spaces. Both the residential core and office core sit on the West side of the building blocking Western sun where necessary. This is coupled with adjustable shading devices which control wanted and unwanted natural light and ‘smart glass’. The residential core is detached from the building creating a naturally ventilated atrium running through from North to South. There are awnings over windows and openings on residential levels, particularly on the South-Eastern side. The apartments facing South-East with balconies, provide views of the Brisbane River and avoid the Western sun. The three residential levels are only one apartment deep to allow for maximum cross-ventilation and natural light. This void works to let light down to lower levels and encourages a greater connection to lower levels. There is a trellis wall along the circulation space to introduce greenery to upper levels. The surrounding buildings determined the height of each function in the building. Apartments have no direct view obstruction from nearby buildings. There is a site line right through the ground level of the building encouraging people to circulate through it.
Most cities around the world were built around mobility rather than people’s happiness. This solution presents a myriad of positive possibilities bringing with it better public health, better mobility in a cramped, congested city, less pollution, better physical and mental health and recreating public places. It improves the general social integration between the rich and the poor, the young and the old helping to eliminate any hierarchies within the city.
