Industrial School in 3D

After planning the spaces of the school, thought has now been given to the structure of the building. The structure is to be a simple steel post & beam arrangement, based on an 8m grid. Concrete floors will feature Bondek and a sawtooth roof system is going to be used throughout the building, with the glazing facing south to get as much diffuse light as possible throughout the classrooms on the top level and through the atrium space.

Whilst figuring out the grid, a maquette of the building below (1:400) shows a basic form of the building in relation to the Library. It shows the massive nature of it & the need for the atrium space in the middle provide both circulation and natural light, breaking up the 70 m long solid structure.

I began researching a little more into Industrial design, attempting to get my head around what it is and how I can represent it through architecture. After going through a couple of books, I noted down some key points that helped me understand it and might help add substance to my design and drive it into not only a functional building, but one that represents and achieves a lot more. Industrial design involves:

• creation, invention from the solution to a problem or need, giving rise to a 3-dimensional form & its materiality - capable of multiple reproduction by mechanical means
• repitition
• a high level of skill and artestry

In recognising the importance of industrial design, I've chosen to research a Sydney designer, Marc Newson, and hope to understand his style and technique and somehow use what I've learnt and apply it to either the facades of my building or any design feature to help my aim of representing Industrial design through my building. Below is an image of his work highlighting the repititon of a single shape and use of colour in his work, something I might use in the facade design.

DDI Submission: Auditorium and conference centre

The 'Bender' and master plan diagram:
Auditorium & Conference Centre main spaces, circulation, main walls:

Sectional sketch:

The auditorium/conference centre is positioned directly opposite the library and next to The School of Sustainable Design within the masterplan. The triangular footprint has first surfaced within group masterplan stages 1.1 and 1.2 .
These schemes integrated both School of Susstainable Design and iIndustrial Design schools to combine public spaces and promote a walkthrough access to main functions such as the libraray and the auditorium, from the direct path of 'the Bender'.

The North entrance foyer can also be accessed from the south side of the building , from 'the Bender'. This void is an interesting space where people visit reception - bar - conference rooms 1, 2, or 3 - or enter the auditorium space one ground level. Stairs that run over the reception area, give access to the first floor conference area and first floor seat allocation. This first and second floors are also serviced by a lift located on the south side.

The Auditorium has 3 levels of seating. The ground floor seats is 322 people - first floor seats 184 people - second floor seats 92 people. The interior walls are slightly curved as seen on the outside and allow passageway for gound floor auditorium users on the north and south of the building. There are three openings to the auditorium space integrated into each corridor that services the oval auditorium space.

Five bowstring truss span 6 metres apart to allow the dome to span onto the curved concrete walls that form the space of the auditorium. There is a fly-space above the whole stage, and a lower stage. The conference centre component of the building may weaken the shape of the building but did provide this facility and continue the main footprint from masterplan 1.2.

Reworking the concept plan

This week was crucial to the finalizing of the 'South Building' of the proposed School of Multimedia.
The grid and stability ideas reworked the general concept of the design in many ways. I was firstly opportunistic in the fact that a challenge is looming and I'm eager to solve this in a responsible and legitimate way.

From the detailed sketches of the proposed, I went away on cad to draw and streamline this on computer. One thing - it barley ever looks the same on paper from sketches to cad!!! Anyhow, while drawing in a suitable grid system, originally 9x9m, all changed as you would expect.
After speaking to the boys on site (Wycombe Group) they suggested to apply the original grid of the Lacelles building. Richard kindly also suggested to use the existing grid plan.

After the plan was redrawn again for the third time, still conceptual, I finally found a design that I liked. I wasn't leaning for the conservation theory and sketched up some quick perspectives of what I wanted to do. I wanted to mix the old with new, emphasize and add to the historical building.

But this would involve a 4o per cent demolition of the historical street facade facing Broughham St. I was so set on this intricate and exciting glass curtain walling system to compliment the facade, as I thought it would bring more meaning to the building.

The smartest thing I did this week was to take the initiative to find Richard, asking him of his opinion which I was so set upon. I was glad I did this and Richard kindly chatted to me. I now saw such a part as faultless to be the fault of my design.

I was apparently "demolishing a facade" that I saw to be as giving it new life. Richards third degree of separation, enabled me to see that this would be careless, as I could still add a curtain walling system to the facade with minimal impact to it.

So finally, from redeveloping or as Richard said 'demolition' to conservation. What a change in one week. The whole theme, structure and idea, has hopefully turned for the best of a sharper design. It's not what you know, it's who. Now back to work.

Industrial Design School Plans

Whilst trying to plan for the building, I've begun my thought process by trying to nut out my ideas on paper and listing exactly what I want to achieve and what is needed. The functions of the building include:

Ground Level...
Reception
Foyer
Lecture Theatres 1 & 2
Amenities
Retail
Vertical Access

Level 1...
Lecture Theatres 1 & 2
Offices
Admin/ Resource Centre
Research
Amenities
Vertical Access

Level 2...
Computer Labs
Tutorial Rooms
Amenities
Vertical Access

Level 3...
Roof Garden
Amenities
Vertical Access

In the planning of the building, I am trying to achieve, as with our masterplan, a system whereby a central hub becomes the point of activity within the school and from that, private spaces for teaching and learning feed off and are separated from the social/ communal areas. A main street of promenade within the building, joining it to the library and providing a connection and place for people to pass one another and interact, is also featured. I'm confident with where the planning is heading but I have to start thinking about materials and also the building in a 3-dimensional way.

EXPLORING THE STRUCTURE – REWORKING THE PLAN

EXPLORING THE STRUCTURE – REWORKING THE PLAN

The Health and Well-Being Centre houses three principle activities; the basketball court, the swimming pool, and the amenities and strength/cardiovascular areas, and each of these activities required a different type of space that is defined by a different type of structure. Devising these spaces and their enclosing structures was my first step (See: Images: ‘A’).

Just as important as accommodating the three activities, is this building’s urban design role (See: Images: ‘B’). It must ‘ground’ The Bender, it must invigorate and promote movement and activity along the waterfront, and it, because of its prominent location, must make a positive architectural contribution to Geelong and the DDI.

Sheltering the pool and the basketball court were my architectural departure points, but they and their structures still needed to be synchronized with the amenities areas and with the waterfront (See: Images: ‘C’). This is the challenge that I have been attending to this week (See: Image: ‘D’). For help in solving this design’s last fundamental problem –solidifying the architecture’s three aspects with an act that also fully integrates it into its immediate urban context. For help I have been looking at these three case studies in particular;

- FOA, Yokohama International Port Terminal (2002): It has a park-like top level which is used by locals, along with its internal circulation ramps, as an extension of their City.

- Mecanoo (Francine Houben), Library – Technical University, Delft (1993-1998): It also has a large, grass ramp/roof that makes a soft-landscaped public space where there would otherwise be a massive building/obstacle.

- James Stirling, Staatsgalerie New Building and Chamber Theatre, Stuttgart (1977-1983): Stirling emphasized both the urban design quality of this project and the quality of its architectural design. He ‘cites’ historical, formal concepts, using them in new ways. Most pertinent to the DDI Well-Being Centre is Stirling’s use of a large ‘Drum’ that is central to the project and acts as an entry, a statement, a passage, a courtyard and garden, and as the project’s major organizing principle.

I am now at Image ‘F’ and I am using aspects of the above three schemes to help me to integrate the Well-Being Centre into the DDI spatial-fabric and to give it its own vivid spatial rhythm.

Group Design for ESD & Industrial Design Schools

After combining all the ideas generated from the different groups of the class, we zoomed in on our section and were given the chance to design the Industrial and Environmental Schools of design for the DDI. We tidied up a few loose concepts from the week before, and worked hard throughout the week to produce plans, sections and conceptual perspectives of how we thought the spaces might feel. Below is the ground floor plan for our proposal, drawn by Joe.







Our design points for our proposal include:



Our initial concept was to have the ESD school as the backbone to the other schools. The bender serves as a connection between the ESD and Industrial faculties and has been used to connect both schools as it interacts with the public.


Junction (crossroad)… Serves as a core through the centre and axis of the two buildings and allows students to pass through both buildings.


Interaction between existing Deakin… A link is made between both buildings through a cafeteria on level 2 (above Brougham St). It allows students to pass from the A+B studio on the 3rd level of the existing waterfront campus through to the ESD campus with the provision of a communal space. Pathways are created between the two buildings also that stem from studio to studio on a number of levels to allow transition for students.


Public spaces… Large open areas are provided for spaces of high activity. The spaces include the studio, for example, and the studio is situated below mezzanine levels and an atrium space to encourage interaction through views of the spaces below.


Conference Hall… Isolated, easily accessed by all four schools. Situated next to the library, it serves as a central hub, a communal area, and is easily accessed from Brougham and Clare streets)


Integration between Fashion school Nooks and intimate spaces created by the angled form of the building. Distinguished access – ‘the bender’ (addressing it…we know high activity occurs here, therefore we’ve drawn people into space from high, private and public use areas)


Configuration: was designed with intention of how spaces (frequent use) determined and the locality of it


Connectivity between different faculties & stemmed spaces from the bender… ‘the bender’ acts as a divider between the schools has been utilized and acts as a pathways which encourages social interaction. This is achieved through public spaces and avenues such as the galleries and retail areas. Retail areas to be used by the public and encourage social activity in the area; public open spaces provided to allow students, customers, and people passing through the bender to stop and interact with the building.


Integrating the natural sloping grade of the site… Working with ‘the bender’ as a central hub to the two schools, it is entered at ground floor from Gheringhap St and follows through to Cunningham pier. The slope of the site allows for different floor levels to be created between the different areas of the faculty (ie. the conference hall/ auditorium).


Softened & activated edges… Achieved through positioning shops on street front; galleries displaying students’ work; the basic form of the building and materiality (ESD-driven); green wedges & vertical landscaping to create that connection.


ESD-driven principles… - Garden terraces (energy efficiency, public space away from work space, maximising bay views) - Solar access & energy efficiency: potentially areas where the will be students and teachers, natural light, perform much better (comfort factor – ESD natural light) - Vertical landscaping - Louvres - Passive heating & cooling - Ventilation


For the next individual design stage, I have chosen to work on the bottom right corner of the masterplan which is a building housing offices, lecture theatres, and tutorial rooms for the Industrial design school as well as shared computer labs for both it and the ESD school.

Week 6: Auditorium & conference centre - quick 'conceptual' maquette:

Maquette stage 1: conceptual:

Structures

If after Tuesday’s discussions on structure you are still confused (and I can certainly empathise with that state) please just try to remember the following basic rules when designing (especially when drawing your plans, and I hasten to add that the number of people I saw on Tuesday who did not design according to these very fundamental rules was disturbingly high);

Most buildings greater than 1 storey high have a regular grid of columns that rise from the ground to the roof that carry the load of the roof, floors, building contents and external climatic pressure loadings (a load that is distributed horizontally by beams and diagonal bracing). These columns are usually but not always perpendicular to the ground, which means they tend to be in the same position horizontally from one level to the next. The columns tend to dictate the position of vertical partitions such as walls. This is why walls on floor plans usually (but not always) align from one level to the next. The greater the span (the greater the load), the greater is the sectional area of the beam and/or column.

If you follow these rules, and as long as your members are stiff enough (do not deflect too much) you cannot go too far wrong. Please try not to be frightened by the subject of structures.

just my first conceptual montage of a malop street perspective... a mix of site photos and images of the structural model i have been working on. the image shows the carlton hotel (looking away from thecity centre) with the new insertion taking place between the carlton hotel and the german restaurant.

The Reconfigured Massing Model

After last weeks review of our "Master Plan" we as a group there were some necessary changes to be done for the best interests of our design.

1. The bridge over western beach rd, gone for 'lighter impacting' foot paths.
2. The south and north building tweaked and reconfigured to strengthen their relationship.

As the school of multimedia, the site of the former Denney Lacelles building, was split into two buildings to originally increase and improve natural light, ventilation and circulation.

Although the concept is similar, the changes made really do improve the design so much more. Originally the south building was lower with a roof top gargen and the north building was higher with a large studio space placed on top of it.

Changes made were to switch the studio space from the north building to the south building so that the south building (My Building) is now higher and the rooftop garden now relocated to the northern building so there are now unobstructed views of the bay and that the lane between the two buildings 'Alf's Ave' gets a substantial amount of more northern lighting.

Other reconfigurations of my south building were to as stated raise the studio space to the top level, lower the offices and staff space to lower levels and clarify public and private space within the building.

A proposed rigid shaded glass roofing curtain walling system is added over the top of the studio space on the south building, curved to a wave design will maximize lighting and ESD principles.
The blue curved strips on the top of the south building is the proposed intricate shaded glass system.

These are my changes from the review of the group master plan... the evolution has begun and the momentum has gained acceleration.

DDI group masterplan

Hey hey all, I know I've been pretty slow to get started on this but I guess I've got to start somewhere...

So after joining a group with Raymond, Joe, Laurenzo & Bill, we started working on coming up with a Masterplan for the Deakin DDI. After sitting down and discussing the project, we were able to produce a list of objectives that we wanted to achieve in our plan. They consisted of:

1. The need to not overshadow public spaces
2. Creation of secondary streets
3. Definition of public & private space
4. A 'Central Hub'
5. Connection & interaction between schools
6. Avoiding building isolation
7. Providing distinguished paths between Bus/ Train depot to the school
8. Maximising views to the bay
9. Emphasis on historical buildings
10. Higher density to the southern end of the site
11. Gallery space being public space
12. Preserving & addition of parklands

So after coming together as a group and creating our goals, we each broke off and individually analysed different aspects of the site. I had a particular interest in green spaces and also traffic movement and the two images below show these features in our proposal.

For our proposal of a masterplan for the new schools, our design is based around the environmentally sustainable school being located in the centre with all the other schools around it, allowing the environmental building to generate the form of all the other buildings. The group tried to address the issues of the site in a 3-dimensional manner also, paying attention to building heights in order to achieve views and other objectives.

After pinning up our plans from Tuesday, our group has been designated the environmental and industrial design schools around the bender.

Backtracking and Resolving the Bender

Upon regrouping after the masterplan review, the bender team got their teeth stuck into resolving the bender. We came up with a pattern of voids punched through the bender to perform a number of functions:

• Steering of pedestrian traffic to the entrances of bleeding spaces (spaces both for the public and university body)
• Allowing light to penetrate to the street bellow
• Forming entrances to important spaces
• Manipulation of the possible choice of pathways

These use of voids in the bender, particularly above Cunningham street, is intended to create a less intimidating and overpowering space for the end users. This will hopefully encourage wider use of the bender space through the formation of smaller private ares along with introducing a heirachy to compliment larger primary public spaces.

The bleeding spaces were divided as follows:

Entertainment and eating venues - James

Backpackers and outpost - Regina

Spiritual centre - Pam

Gallery - Anna

Library - Andrew

Week 5: Auditorium/Conference digital maquette & Case studies 1.3

Fred Kavli Center for the Performing Arts, Thousand Oaks, California
Antoine Predock Architect & Dworsky Associates, 1994

The Loeb Drama Centre, Hugh Stubbins AssociatesTheatre Consultant - George Izenour, 1960

My digital Marquette and case studies gave me more of an understanding of the spaces required in an auditorium. An auditorium can exist on many scales. Mine will probably end up seating a small to medium number of people. The conference facilities are flanked with kitchens and public bar. Vertical and horizontal circulation is quite visible within the model. However, the height for the final balcony of auditorium may mean I have to extend parts of this building to accommodate this added height required for seating and backstage 'flight' spaces for sets, speakers, lights and spaces for the people to control the equipment in this section.

Auditorium and Conference Centre.
Case Study 4:
"Living Tomorrow" UN STUDIO, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2000 - 2003 (temporary structure).
Monument Architecture and Design, August September 2004,volume 62

The School of Fashion - Textile Design

Moving on from the first part of the project, i have begun further investigations into the detailed design of my assignd section of the school of fashion - the specific facilites housed within my zone have been envisioned as the area in which the learning spaces an other associated facilities for the textile subject will be housed (as well as retail, commercial and hospitality ventures can be carried out. As an over riding tone to the porject i have bee interested in the intimacy of the school and opportunites to engage user with their surroundings, asking them to define the spaces around them.

This has predominantly been and exterior exercise with some, however limited, resolution of the interior workings of the buildings themselves. This project now has challenged me to investigate what each building within my zone is and how, as a collective group they operate together and as a part of the overall school offashion and DDI. Furthermore it is intended to continue to investigate this idea of intimacy, or almost a domestic/homely quality to the school, somewhere to feel like you belong or are a part of.

When it comes to the structure of this design my original intent was to incorporate materials such as masonry/stone, timber metals, concrete and of course glass - the intent seemed to move towards an architecture of solidity, monumentalism and bold form. However this isn't all that intimate and has the potential to dominate space. From this point i decided to re-think the structure. what is the structure, how should it feel, how should it look, what is it trying to say... and most importantly how will it work. This thread of thinking lead me towards a combination of a sort of assemblage of structural elements that appear almost weightless, (visually) unburdened by downward forces. This has been the approach for my first week of investigation towards a structural reality for my project. I have also started to investigate the idea of structural piggy backing - mainly just the idea of transfering loads but... in a way that visually assigns more importance to one member over an other. The first image (Sigurd Lewerentz) above is an idea of how an important structural element can b given prominence in size (post to support awning), however reduced by attaching it to what would commonly be perceived as a basic element (hand rail). This also reduced the need for two sets of footings. Similarly with the Santa Caterina Market the structural 'bent' columns appear danty and fragile, yet they also seem more than capable of providing support for the roof structure.

For the prgress of the next twoo week i hope to beable to investigate and find a medium group between solidity and foundation with lightweight and organic structures.

Strength, Stability, Stiffness, and Emotional and Aesthetic Effect

Strength, Stability, Stiffness, and Emotional and Aesthetic Effect

After Tuesday’s lecture I was as confused as everyone else. Moments, eccentricity, sheer forces, etcetera – Our first-year ‘structures’ course and year 12 physics started to reenter my consciousness. The main thing that I’ve been able to take with me in my notebook, from the jumble scribbled on the whiteboard, are some jumbled starting points for further study. What have stuck in my mind are the fundamentals of determining the loads for particular structural elements in particular and for the structure as a whole.

Ordered considerations of span, loading, material, and cross-sectional area have preoccupied my design thoughts and actions for the last two days. I’ve begun reading “Structures: Or Why Things Don’t Fall Down”, and in it author J.E. Gordon writes that materials and the structure that they compose must be both light and rigid to achieve their goals.

These goals are what Adam Krezel described in Tuesday’s lecture as being: Strength, stability, and stiffness. My aim, in designing the Health and Well-Being Centre is to use the large structure that is required to span the open spaces that contain the full-size basketball court and the 4-lane 25 meter pool, to meet these three structural goals while achieving emotional and aesthetic effect. I began designing this building by first exploring plan while simultaneously considering 3D structure and building form ithrough section, sketches, and maquette. This building, because of its prominent position on the DDI campus and within Geelong’s Waterfront district, must be grander than just one constructed with a utilitarian portal frame – Which is what could otherwise suffice for a less prominent site. This week I have explored form through 3D structure with another maquette and with sketches.

The results of my main studies are posted on this blog. The large triangulated member is pre-tensioned concrete, the trusses are of 200-250 diameter tubular steel sections with bolted connections, and the columns of the colonnade are brick/masonry.

Bender

Our team (the School of Multimedia team) has been looking into ways we could resolve the issues presented by the bender and how it ends. We looked at the Seattle Olympic park by Weiss/Manfredi Architects which links down town Seattle with the waterfront in a similar way that the bender, at this point, attempts to connect the schools to the waterfront and well being centre.

http://www.landliving.com/image/groundswell_9.jpg

The main issues that came up in the review were the lack of street level access to the bender and tunnel effect created at the Western Beach Rd crossing. Various options were discussed including lowering the bender at this point to street level and having a traffic light crossing. This option presented the problems of traffic management and how we would be able to lower the bender a floor level in the short distance from the end of the bleeding group bender segment to the road. Another option discussed was to keep the bender at ‘bender level’ and re route it through one of the buildings (the front end of the Denny Lascelles building). This option would make use of the gradient at the front of the site, the bender would end at street level and a street level crossing would be used to access the Well Being Centre. The option we have decided to explore further is of multiple crossings linking the waterfront and well being centre with the rest of the schools at bender level as well as linking the bender level to the bus stop across Western Beach Road without creating a platform.

Interim Design - Week Four

This is the interim Deakin Design Institute building that I proposed, with the entire groups consultation imput and thoughts. The school of multimedia building was split into two parts for three simple reasons.

1. Access to the central courtyard.
2. Natural Lighting.
3. Ventilation.

This was the main justification of the mulitmedia school's split, but it was also to create a lane that would link these two new parts of the proposed school as one. This proposed new lane runs directly off "The Bender" and compliments what is to become known as "Alfreds Avenue." Walking through the lane entices ones curiosity as they suddenly appear in a little central space that is open for all students and guests. The lane called Alf's Ave only because they rhyme, is dedicated to Australia's second Prime Minister, of which the university was named in honor of. In this central space there is a statue on a pedistool of the PM and it gives the space an important vocal point while simultaneously linking history and meaning which I find missing from some other institutions I have visited in the past.

This central square in Alf's Ave is the area that warmly invites people for a coffee or a place to meet outside while literally being still in the building. The perimeter of the space onen up via double glazed BI-FOLD doors that virtually link the ground floor of the two buildings with an out door space as one. Versatillity meets Practicallity.

The floor plans above consist of five levels that are of the proposed south buiding that are to be directly bridged over the lane to the proposed north building. There is a lower level that consists of a plant room, services room, storage room, a server room and a bike storage room that is linked to adjoining showers, allowing and promoting the use of bicycles.

The next level is the bender level. This consists of a cinema, bar, auditorium, two lecturer rooms and open gallery space for the presentation of students work. Bi-fold doors surround the perimeter of the gallery space and square surrounding the statue in Alf's Ave with the possibility of the the north building opening up like I have proposed to maximise gallery space for larger exhibitions.

On the first level is a rather large open studio space with private work spaces and lecturer/computer labs. The studio space opens up to a ramp that leads down to the bender level for outdoor presentations and informal lecturing, viewing towards a large screen integrated on the facade of the building where their is currently a gymnasium. this ramp is almost as long as it is wide, accounting for more than the school of multimedia, but also similtaneously welcoming students from the other three schoos or faculties.

The second level maintains a space dedicated to staff offices adjoining the prefessorial suite with great respect to view and natural lighting, as three light wells/voids were integrated to this design. While the final level becomes the roof top. A semi-shelterd space that allows for more outdoor study and social events overlooking the entire site of the DDI proposed redevelopment.

This is a school that I am eager to customise together with the groups imput that should become one fully integrated faculty that is to enhance the learning and atmosphere of a multimedia design school.

Cloud Jumper...

Since the studio presentation on Tuesday my group and i have began to painstakingly nott-out the design format of our individual buildings, a process that is proving to be considerably more difficult to what i first anticipated....Thankfully to the patient support of my colleges Steve, Phil and Elle, i have been able to progress because of the groups active constructive feedback and suggestions. Initially from this point on i was a little uncertain as to how successful the proceeding design development would be, particularly as individuals now begin to work separately to a concept thats architectural strenght rests in its interlocking cohesion. As a team though each person will design there aspect of the school individually, by maintaining strong links of communication and assistance we have so far been able to preserve our urban concept without limiting our own individual thoughts.....well so far anyway :D

The above image is an example of planning layouts that i am currently exploring in regards to my appointed area for the school of fashion. At this point though they each have evolved from varying thoughts of design and aspiration they are still open to manipulation and refinment. This week when we each begin to construct our schematic models i think that particular elements of our design will further evolve as we bring each element together into a single architectural entity, particularly as unforseen issues such displaced levels, structural member heights and undesired perceptions of view emerge.....Until then good luck everyone!

The Interim Submissions from the Four Schools

The Interim Submissions from the Four Schools

The critique on Tuesday was an honest and useful exercise. All four schools now have tested their first resolved solutions against the interpretations and assessments of their peers.

I note that it is difficult to thoroughly and accurately critique ideas that are not firmly pinned down by their creators, or if resolved, that have not been represented or easily communicated. Words are messy and flexible, and as they were the primary communication medium that augmented most of what was shown by the schools on Tuesday, what I write below is based on my interpretation of the drawings that were pinned-up and upon the minutes of the presentations that I scribed.

The School of Fashion has communicated well its design intent of small and intimate spaces that are woven into a tight site with existing buildings. This communication could be better made with some diagrams of how the people will actually move through the space (as this is the central motivation for the tricky streets). At the moment the site plan more than slightly resembles a labyrinth used to test the sedated wits of laboratory mice. The one contrast between this beautifully colored plan on butter-paper and the laboratory is that the laboratory, in its labyrinth, presents the mice with one true path.

Perhaps the suggestions, offered in the critique, of a hierarchy of spaces and lifting up some key buildings to do this, will sympathize with the users of these streets and will offer them some relief and some guidance, while at the same time present them with the opportunity to make a conscious choice of whether to get lost or found.

Our School of Multi-Media spent significant efforts to represent its ideas and design intent in its drawings. I believe that this was accomplished because of all of the intelligent and pointed criticism that the school’s scheme received. This criticism has been very helpful. It highlighted the areas in which we ourselves were uncertain. However this uncertainty did not stop us from designing solutions – not all of which were successful. Now we have a very stable place from which to design. We have our peer reviewed first solutions which have been tested.

Our core design problems revolve around two aspects of our scheme. With the school of Multi-Media buildings these involve top-lighting and a readjustment of floor plans to better utilize natural light. Also the relationship between the two buildings of the school, though ameliorated already through the creation of Alfred’s Avenue, it can be further enhanced and intensified. The Health and Well-being buildings on the waterfront must address their relationship to the public thorough-fair along the Waterfront. And both, the School’s buildings and those of the Health and Well-being Center must work together in urban design and architecture to better cross the bender over Western Beach Road.

The Bleeding Spaces group plays a very important role in this project, weaving together the main public spaces. They have communicated to our School of Multi-Media that they are very close to a solution for the Cunningham Street Bender that will mediate between street level and Bender level. They have given us confidence and have increased our resolve in our group’s original design intent of creating a ‘platform’ of designed and important public space that would link and unify all four schools of the DDI.

Their library was an interesting proposition: Four sides, four levels, four schools. Perhaps this could be taken further, like four different facades or street fronts for the building (or like the Mecanoo building shown in Richard’s lecture where the four different lecture theatres each, through material, represented one of the four schools that were in the one faculty and one building).

The School of Industrial Design and the School of Architecture needs to make more of their site and the opportunities it presents them. It is known that the School is aware of the ‘problems’ of the site’s levels because these were articulated by them in their critiques of The Bender that were recorded in their comments directed at the School of Multi-Media. These concerns about The Bender, rather than constraining, offer-up a chance to better design the two schools of Industrial Design and Architecture into the site.

It became apparent that a key aspect that had hardly been resolved at all was the vertical aspect of their scheme (this being most obvious in the absence of stairs of any depiction or description). In now focusing on the physical and visual ups and downs of their plans and sections it is very possible that all of their hard work, in planning each of the levels, will click together these levels and integrate them both with the street and to The Bender.

Week 4

Our group’s masterplan that was presented in week four used our main concepts from week three’s schematic masterplan. As a group we worked very hard, where the end result was a schematic concept design for two schools (sustainability and industrial) including the conference center.

We faced many challenges in regards to the site levels and the level of the bender. Working in section and three-dimensionally was very difficult because it was hard to grasp the concept of working with different ground levels and different floor levels. Building a form model of our individual sections for next week is going to be very interesting, as it represents how the building will work three-dimensionally and how it relates to the different ground levels, the bender and the building around it.

Flare Facade on Conference Centre...

Case Study 3: charles fulford Architectural materials, architecture, design, sculpture Monday, May 5th, 2008

Flare Facade: "is a modular system to create a dynamic hull for facades or any building or wall surface. Acting like a living skin, it allows a building to express, communicate and interact with its environment". The articulated surface exudes a texture that can’t not be noticed and remembered.

"An auditorium is the area within a theatre, concert hall, or other performance space where the audience is located in order to hear and watch the performance. For movie theaters, the number of auditoriums is also expressed as the number of screens". wikipedia

"A conference is a meeting of people that "confer" about a topic.
Academic conference, in science and academia, a formal event where researchers present results, workshops, and other activities.
Business conference, organized to discuss business-related matters best effected there.
News conference, an announcement to the press (print, radio, television) with the expectation of questions, about the announced matter, following.
Settlement conference, a meeting between the plaintiff and the respondent in lawsuit, wherein they try to settle their dispute without proceeding to trial
Conference (sports), a grouping of geographically-related teams
Conference call, in telecommunications, a "multi-party call"
Conference hall, room where conferences are held
Football Conference, an English football league
In the Netherlands, a solo cabaret act, a type of stand-up comedy lasting one to two hours".. wikipedia

Week 4: Masterplan 1.2

Group 1: Analysis of Master-plan 1.2:

The concept of last week was to have the ESD School as the forefront of the new design institutes. We depicted a footprint of a building with a zipper in the middle. This building was to house 2 university faculties within the same footprint.

· This idea still exists. The zipper is now replaced with a formal bender which now spans above the ‘old railway line’.

· The shape of the site for group 1 has grown larger and now represents a large ‘L’ shape within the overall DDI scheme.

· This ‘bender’, allows distribution and flow within the overall Deakin Design Institute. Provisions are now in place for bleeding points in and out of buildings. The space is wide enough to encourage social interaction.

· Group 1 has established levels that follow the natural slope of the Geelong Wedge. The slope of the site allows for different floor levels to be integrated within ‘the Bender’. In the case of Group 1 ‘The Bender’ is entered at Ground Floor from Gheirnghap St and follows all the way to Cunningham Pier.

· The buildings now envelope functions, facilities and all the student requirements for ESD School, Industrial Design School and the communal spaces that they share.

· The concept of ‘Configuration’ of spaces in regards to the ‘regularity of use’ has been adopted to assist in solving the layout of the DDI puzzle.

· Services such as lifts, toilets have been permutated and logically positioned to allow ease of construction and use.

· The 2 Basements: have been depicted within our sections. These 2 floors of car parking are to be formally positioned within the next submission. We have discussed it within our own group, but would like to discuss this issue involving all participants of this design, in regards to an appropriate entry and exit for this important facility. These large spaces also have the ability to house storage, cleaning and workshop facilities.

· Ground Floor: The ESD School has been crowned as a discipline that expands into each other school that makes up DDI. We have a large foyer for this building, to help depict this notion.

· A retail precinct has been utilised to activate areas of the site, where it could be described as ‘dead space’. These spaces now have attractions where people, university students or not will visit the site and use these services or purchase products offered. This expands financially viability.

· The junction formed by ‘The Bender’ and ‘Crossroad’ serves as a core through the centre, delivering students to their allocated classes or to the cafeteria or surrounding galleries/displays.
· On the other side of the Group 1 site we have a bold integration between the Fashion School and the Industrial Design School. The spaces formed by the Fashion School could be described as nooks and intimate spaces. These could be used for gardens and urban furniture, even bike racks.

· The conference hall on the Ground Floor is central to all Schools. It is also situated well in relation to the library. Accessed easily from Brougham St and Clare St.

· Vertical landscaping has been adopted as an ESD idea. It looks good, and also provides natural cooling and shade.

First Floor: Has an integration between lecture theatres, tutorial rooms, various staff offices, and research offices, administration offices and a resource centre. These spaces just mentioned are allocated for both schools. Pragmatic rules prove that the spaces should all be on the same level to allow smooth interaction of individuals between these purely academic spaces.

· The library introduced at ground floor, and appearing on every floor, is now ‘bled’ into this purely educational sector.

· An industrial design studio is introduced at the First Floor level. This studio has a void that spans to Level 3. Level 2 depicts an expansion of this studio onto a mezzanine. This ‘mezzanine’ studio connects to the ESD studio and has views of the bender, below. This same industrial design studio has another section on level 3 that has views onto the ESD studio below.

Level Two: Seems to further integrate both schools. The ESD School and Industrial Design School have a studio that actually connects within this level. Both schools have a combined cafeteria, large black-out space and computer labs. 4 student lounges can be found on this level. A garden terrace can be accessed on top of the conference/auditorium building.

· The ‘crossroad’ is used heavily at this level, allowing access along the opposite axis, and giving views to the bender below. The ‘crossroad’ allows bleeding points to the student lounges, displays, creating a massive flow from the southern computer labs and studios to the northern cafeteria and industrial design studio and computer lab. A large garden terrace can be accessed at this level of the site on top of the combined computer labs.

Level 3: The industrial design studio still continued at this level, with views onto the ESD studio below. A smaller black-out space is also utilized on level 3. There is a ramp that leads to another ‘studio mezzanine’ within the central part of the ESD building level 3, a garden terrace has been laid out parallel to this studio, which allocates a natural access to the ‘crossroad’....