Engaging with the site through movement, materials and form. This is don’t through circulation, the use of timber, sandstone, sand and water and the folding of the built form into the landscape by engaging with the natural contours of the site and shadowing buildings around it.
The built form draws upon the beach culture of Coogee and channels it to the slightly secluded site by best taking advantage of the natural circulation of people around Coogee and by attempting to recreate the social atmosphere within the site.
If I am ever stumped for design idea I liked to create things and see if there is anything intriguing that I can pull from them.
Section from site (far right) to water (far left)
I really liked the rough texture of the sand on the paper and how the light plays across the rough surface. This is one of the reasons I chose sandstone as one of the final building materials. To take advantage if its rocky surface I designed the café section (below) so that light falls inbetween the roofs onto the sandstone columns.
The form of this section was inspired by the way the land slopes down and opens up to the oval and Coogee beach. As you can also see in the section I introduced overflowing vegetation that begins in the exterior and is wrapped around the wall into the interior, creating a interior that isn’t as distinctly separate from its site.
Below is another little experimentation of materials. What I liked from these was the way the rough stone contrasted with the smooth texture of the resin. There is something nice about the primitive rough stone juxtaposed against the modern glass.
One of the mapping exercises also influenced my design. Below is an abstraction of the aerial plan of Coogee when the contours are visible. Rigid man made streets intersect beautiful ambiguous contours. This was transferred into my design through the intersection of straight walls with curved natural sandstone walls. These curves were also used to direct line of sight out to the oval by letting the eye follow the curve of the wall as the view slowly becomes more and more exposed.
Mapping exercise abstraction.
Real mapping- Coogee contours and streets in white.
A pool of materials was also inserted just outside the building so that people can enjoy the view from the interior, whilst sitting on the sandstone seats, and look out onto the onto the oval with a small, ordered, beach in front of them.
This was my initial design that was designed around a logical ordering of the rooms. I didn’t give much thought however to the ‘un – used’ space, such as the circulation. The result was a form very built up at the back and the circulation was merely a through way through the building with nowhere to stop and socialize. This was a problem because part of bring the Coogee beach culture to the site was having somewhere where people can relax and socialize and enjoy the materials.
The final design is a result of changes to the initial design. I spread out the private areas more so that spaces were created in-between them where people can wander, such as balconies and also so that there was a larger space around the circulation for people to relax and socialize.
I also reconsidered the entrances. Before I had two entrances off the outside existing paths. This time I added a third entrance right off the carpark that would be used for people attending the centre with a specific purpose, such as to use the booked multi- purpose rooms. Off this entrance all the private area room are located, whereas the entrances off the paths lead to casual rooms such as bathroom and the café/ café area.
If you enter from the private entrance the rooms are also very each to read as they are all visible from the entrance.
Casual entrace 1 (two above pictures): leads to cafe area and public toilets.
Private entrance off carpark leads to function based rooms.
Social areas located in between the brown sanstone colums
Main gym hall introverted as the people using it wont be interested in views etc.
Smaller gym hall offers views through slots in the glass that are small enough not to get punctured by sports balls etc.
Below are a few initial concept models.
Playing with the Usonian L shaped plan
Cafe development.
DESIGN WEAKNESSES:
The relationship between the north facing curtain wall and the room was only linked by the view.
If I had more time (or being more organised) I would have liked to better resolved the massive curtain wall on the front of my building looking out towards the oval. I think lots of new architecture students just curtain wall a lot and so I would like to consider other ways of adressing a wall.
I want to think more about doors and stairs as well- it is really easy to design walls and rooms in plan and not think about things likes roofs, windows, doors, stairs until the last minute.
I also want to think more about the psychology of a plan and how I can manipulate areas to make the most of the site- however I am conflicted as to whether it is right of an architect to become a dictator like that. If you are even reading this Peter it was really interesting to hear you talk of a fellow called Christopher Alexander (i think that was his name) who examined the natural circulation of a site (like the wear on grass where people have been treading) and using that as a factor in his design.
I think the exterior of my building is rather weak as well. I do think the interior is more important, but to draw people to the interior (in something like a community centre) the exterior should be something interesting that will entice some curiosity towards the site. This might contrast the brief though, which was to 'blend the building into the landscape.' I personally think that we should have done the exact opposite because the site was so cut off from the hub of Coogee that most people didnt even relise it was there- why camoflague the site even more!
Sorry- i always type too much on these. Hats off to anyone who has made it this far.
