The design

How could I design a building which addressed areas in which human movement is most prominent around the corner site which include: vehicle and foot traffic, cafes, the post office, the Newtown business institution, apartments, traffic lights and etc without giving away too much of what inside the building?



This is done by the exterior panelling which continues into the building. They have the ability to control what is shown from the exterior to the interior of the building. By creating this façade arrayed with these panels, you create an animated façade which changes as the move around the building. Which at instances the building may be seem closed at the angle of view in which your situated in but as you progress around the building the closed areas will open up to the viewer and thus creating openings into the gallery in which work can be seen. (more information on this can be seen on the link ‘ideas and development’ or through the ‘older’ posts link further down the page)
The final design, had little changes in terms of the actually art gallery/shop space. The only changes to the plan are: the spaces which are used for the office, bathroom, workshop, storage and the garage. The forms of these spaces are come from a grid which derives from the arrangement of the exterior panels.
The court yard has been left as an open area which has vegetation amongst the roof and the sides. I have used planting to have a contrast of shadow types as oppose to the interior roof panels. This open area allows for flexibility in courtyard. The large wall is used as a contrasting element to the unique facade of the gallery and it is also used as a back drop for displaying art.
The gallery in terms of materials largely will be expressed in neutral colours to enhance the works within. Concrete would be used for the facade: the connection between the use of concrete and the forms of the facade has this interplay of rotating aesthetic qualities of the panels and fixed associations of the concrete material.
The apartment I have designed so that the owner is situated away from the gallery within his own space. The apartment is designed with the master bedroom on the upper levels so that the owner has views over the roof, the city and Newtown, followed by a very large open deck to compensate for the unused space on the east side of the roof. The reasoning for the two levels allows the owner to have views of the area, this resulted in the double ceiling height living space and the other apartment functions bellow.

Presentation

Ground floor and 1:1000 plan


Level one of the apartment and level two


Section one and poche rendering of the gallery


Section two and poche rendering of the gallery

External Images

King Street corner entrance


View from the accross the street


North facade


Courtyard and apartment


West facade and south corner


The roof composition

Internal images

Internal one

Internal two

Internal three

The model

So far, the plan is..........

The plan is made up of 3 main sections:
1 The large open plan gallery / commercial space.
2 the administrative and private sector
3. The courtyard.
I find it important to have these divisions as is it is a way to reduce the conflictions between the functions of the Art gallery.
In the gallery the walls are freely designed within the open plan, the walls are designed split and to rotate giving the gallery flexibility, this also allows for the manipulation of light conditions. (The walls are addressed earlier on in the blog).
The garage, workshop/storage are all combined into one. The transportation from the deliveries to the workshop/storage is of importance. Next to one another allows for safe handling of the products.
Transport – storage – assembly – gallery
The Courtyard yard; this area will proved areas for artworks to be placed in outdoor conditions, mainly sculptures.
The residential space is to act like a separate building. As its own entity, if one day the gallery owner decides to sell the residential space or the gallery, neither one would be effect by its sale. As they are in their own divisions.

ideas and developments

How could I design a building which addressed these areas in which human movement is most prominent without giving away to much of what inside the building?



The solution was to create a façade which was open to the angle of view in which you are situated around the building. By using fixed louvers, this also controlled what was able to be viewed in the interior. By creating this façade arrayed with these panels, you create an animated façade which changes as the move around the building. This allows the artworks within to be visible one moment and then obstructed the next.






The façade is then translated into the roof, this does the same effect except in terms of lighting conditions. Through sunlight which is directed mainly through the roof, you are able to get different lighting variations on various types of artworks, especially sculptures. The ability to have the option to use diffused, direct or even unnatural light allows you to display your works in a dynamic manor.



A combined gallery/commercial space is important so you are able to maximize displaying space. They also should not be separate as you can deplete the quality of art within the gallery, by putting them into different categories you create a hierarchy. The walls within the large shell like space are walls which have the ability to split and rotate on a hinge. The walls are used to display photographs, 2D forms of artworks and they can play as an important backdrop to sculptures. These walls translate into the aesthetics of the fixed façade and have the ability to reflect light within the spaces, allowing artworks to be enhanced and highlighted. As art is sold, the art is replaced;the walls which have no load baring considerations and have the ability to move, you create a space which is dynamic and adjustable to the various forms of art allowing flexibility to the future needs of the gallery.

The site

The reasoning for site 2 was because of its visibility. It is visible from the public on 3 sides which provides a business opportunity to capitalize on various functions around the corner site. Areas in which to focus on would be the areas of people movement around the site; it would be important to address the cafes which sit opposite and adjacent to the building site on king street, the flow of traffic, the post office, the business institution, human traffic, the traffic lights and apartments to the south and south west areas of the site.

The art

The gallery will mostly be consistent with the displaying and selling of sculpture art. Good examples of the type of sculpture art would be by the artist Olafur Eliasson. I will need a large enough spaces which have the ability for the viewer to walk around and view this pieces of art from distance.

Sketches and development

Edward Hopper: New York Office

Interpretation

This painting I have chosen is of an isolated scene of a woman who gazes out from her office into the street. The small proportion of the office hints of a grand scaled building; which is evident in the large columns. The dimmed artificial lights in the office have little effect in the space as it contrasts quite highly against the sunlight. The dark and dimmed office with its dark shadowing hints of mystery and the unknown.
The architecture of the office: 1960’s ideology of an office plan was a large open space so everyone could be observed and thus CONTROLLED (their aims where for greater efficiency in the work environment). This is expressed in this painting as the woman is standing in an open space as the male occupant overshadows her. The lady seems to be opening a letter, but she gazes out into the city, she appears to be dislocated from reality.

Time and Place

The building I have designed is presented in a world where everything and everyone is controlled or conditioned. Examples of such conditioning and control would be from Aldous Huxley’s novel The Brave New World as people are conditioned to the world that they are in, they are told to behave/act/work and etc. Human subjectivity is of no longer of any importance.

The site in which the building is presented is high up within the spaces between large buildings. An environment where society is so advanced or developed physically that the average building is one of the size of a 200 storey building. Being so high up gives the sense of disconnection with the outside world and nature.

About the design

The facade of the building is expressed with large orthogonal walls to give off the sense of entrapment, the facade doesnt alow any views of the interior nor does it alow any direct sunlight.
The spaces I have designed are spaces which are dark and dimmed, with only diffused light able to enter the habitable spaces on the 4 floors. The lowest floor is presented with the most diffused light and the highest level is one with an almost pitch black scene. Each level has an opening; an opening which gives a view into the dark shaft of open space which appears to be an endless drop. Within this shaft is a beam of bright natural sunlight which reflects off dust particles within this extremely dark space.
‘I dreamt I was in sunlight’ this narrative in conjunction with the painting is that the painting is the woman’s dream; the person who is standing in sunlight. The occupant of the spaces is controlled within a diffused, dark and dimmed environment; expressed by labyrinth of walls which reflect light into the building at the same time having no direct openings of sunlight or any direct opening of any sort of view of what is outside the building. This gives the occupant little knowledge, hope or freedom as she is confined to the spaces she is in. Within these spaces she is one who would wonder, imagine and dream about this dimmed and diffused light entering the spaces. Feelings of curiosity about this light would be provoked in this environment of entrapment. she is confined to the walls which govern her.
The beam of light which pierces through the shaft grabs her attention, she is unknown to where the origins of this light comes from, all she knows is that it comes from the upper levels of her building. The light which enters the building is like no other light she has ever seen as opposed to all of the other spaces which are filled with diffused light. She follows her dream up the building hoping that she could reach this light which is like no other. But in following her dream she has to move into a darker environment each time she goes up the level and every time she moves throughout the spiral ramp. The ramp which spirals up four levels has very little openings and is almost completely dark. A spiral ramp is used because it’s a way of slowing down time dramatically as opposed to stairs; the ramp is a form of controlling movement, slowing down her journey means feelings of being uncomfortable, paranoia, anxiety, scared in dark spaces are expressed in the body for prolonged periods of time – again leading back to the idea of control. Each level plays with her mentally; either she stays in diffused light or moves into darkness (the unknown). Every time she moves up a level the rooms get darker but that also means the contrast between the beam of light and the darkened spaces becomes stronger. Do I keep moving up to find this light? Or do I go back down to where it’s safe; where some light is at its strongest?
The beam of light fuels her curiosity to break her current state of being in an environment governed by diffused light and to explore into the dark unknown.
As she reaches the top level she sees where the light originates from, a small hole in the ceiling. She is unable to reach the light because it’s too far over the ledge for her to touch. Once the light passes away she is left in an almost pitch black space. Now having no other choice but to return to the first space (the one which is the lightest) on the lower floors or to stand in complete darkness for prolonged periods of time until the light returns.
The building and its spaces is about control through time, space, light, emotion and movement.

Renders

Experimental render- testing light qualities



Experimental render 2-playing with reflective light



Final product: This render shows how the difused light depreciates in appearence as it moves up higher in the building.

The model & Axonometric

This image shows how the lighting conditions decrease as you move further up the building












This axonomentric has been exploaded to give you various views of the internal and external spaces. It is designed so that it can give you more of an understanding of the buildings spacial elements.