FINAL PRESENTATION

the last week

Still not entirely happy with the lines of my building and roof plan I did another sketch to see what I could simplify and improve on. Ultimately, I want to create a building with interesting and well thought out tectonics, therefore the structuring of the roof and the form of the eastern and western sections has become very important. After deciding that the first thing I must do this week is to enlarge the scale of the building and extend the entrance point beyond the boundary of the existing warehouses (for visability) I worked out with Yvonne that the roof plan needed to be brought into more of the building. Therefore I have decided to curve it around the eastern section and bring the steel elements around into the facade of the observatory at a smaller and a delicate scale. The diagram below shows how the vertical access and cinema space between the bridge pillars is the heart of the building and the strucural elements are fanning out from this point.

 Another element I need to change is the observatory space. In order to transform it from a box shape to something which connects  more with the rest of the design I will fan out sections of the observatory.

Now I am at the point where I have to start drawing up floor and roof plans, sections and elevations for the final presentation. I also want to think about showing diagrams and detail drawings of the tectonics and how the building works...

treatment of the vertical access

This week I realised that I have been allocating all of my attention to the treatment of the facades of the building and the roof structure. I have finalised the entrance of the building however I have not paid much attention to the heart and mecanics of the building- that is, the central circulation core (spiral ramp system) which runs upwards through the space between the supports of the bridge. My last post spoke about how I am going to treat the facade however I thought I should think about the form of this system. Currently I have designed a standard square shaped ramp.

I conducted some research into some alternatives to this system and this is what I have discovered:

I think at this stage I am most inspired by the last image (above)...

week twelve and thirteen progress

Still deciding on a finalised roof plan...

From week 11 I have felt that I have a relatively resolved concept for building form in terms of the floor plan and arrangement of the walls and spaces within the building. What I felt like I needed to concentrate on over the two weeks was formalising a roofplan and really bringing together the vertical and horizontal aspects of the design.

Bringing together different elements of the building...

Another issue I have faced this week has been grasping the design of the two ends of the building. The curved concrete element which represents the entrance and first half of the building does not seem to be linking together well with the very angular and box-like form of the cinema and observatory spaces. Originally I had created the observatory as a curved space and had changed it back to a straight facade. After discussing this with Yvonne I have decided to reintroduce the curved feature of the observatory to continue with the first half of the building. I have decided to maintain the box shape of the cinema because it is located around the support of the bridge. Distinguishing this space between the bridge supports not only provides a connection with the bridge but also distinguishes the space from the rest of the building as the heart and core of the building- this is where the vertical access is situated.

Treatment of the facade facing the river... changes to the materiality and approach...

In week ten my approach to the front facade of the building was an interactive screen for the vertical access and clear glass for the observatory as shown below.

After realising that having people walking up the spiral staircase and stopping to interact with the screen probably wasnt the most efficient way to move people through the space I decided to treat this section of the facade as clear glass (also as a way to respect the form of the bridge support structure) and to transfer this treatment to the observatory.