Monday 25 June 2012
Final Model
The Concept
Numerous notions have been explored in the development of a design that brings many opposing constituent to the foreground. The two companies in question, Facebook and Take-Two, engage in virtual realities, where often connections are only implied and by no means tangible.
With this in mind a play between transparency and solidity is explored in both structural elements, implying ideas of the transparency of connectivity that the two companies dapple in and define as a product to be sold.
Facebook - A void, a gap between two places
The Facebook Headquaters was to be a dynamic space, that was not obviously fixed or attached to the the surface. To design a tangible product for Facebook a company whose incentive is to sell a virtual reality seemed quite ridiculous. However the task came with a bazaar desire to conceptualise and visualise something that is essentially invisible to the naked eye.
In tern, the main picture visualised was a massive void, a gap between to places. This void was to be accommodated by the bridge, where the aqueduct bridged the gap between the two alternate sites. This notion of a void is also explored in both buildings, where the boundaries between the exterior and interior environments are blurred. The Facebook headquarters almost float, ever so slightly touching the ground, the surrounding environment seeping up into its core. Any sense of closure is broken down. Rather one is exposed to the surrounding environment.
As evident in the Sketchup model, there is a clear junction between the past and present with a marriage between old and new. Ones connection to the past is exposed. This is true of facebook, where ones past activity is almost put on display.
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| Surface Value - The Palette was to be raw, having an embodiment of rich textural variety. |
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| View from existing infrastructure, showing an impression of Annandale's Terrace Architecture presence. |
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| Play between transparent and solid elements |
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| Traditionally the Arch as a structural element is made up of many components that are co-dependent on each other to stay structurally sound and essentially stand up to the loads generated. This could be said of Facebook, the company being dependent on society in order to sustain its existence and in some senses society is becoming increasingly more dependent on Facebook for its social stimulation. |
Take Two - A Visual Experience
The Take-two headquarters seems from the exterior to be a simple box. Yet, from above it is hollow, the interior spaces being bellow the surface.
Take-Two about the visual experience - Vertical and horizontal connections through window slits in all the facades. This allows one to see snippets of the
exterior environment and essentially reality.
The Bridge The Annandale Aqueduct, an existing structure located at the site in question has a
physical and raw presence that is unquestionable. It does not have to
prove its existence. Rather it acts as a tangible form that bridges the
void between the two structures. The bridge gradually disappears into
the landscape as to imply a gradual lose of reality so readily excepted
in today society. The bridge, built in 1896 and still in use, has a
structural solidity and soundness, acting as a metaphorical reminder
that humanity seeks physical and emotional connectedness that cannot be
replaced by any virtual imitation as represented by the void in the
landscape between the two buildings.
The
Aqueduct is also a metaphorical chain, linking the two constituents.
Furthermore it implies movement,a flow of information, something that
is ever changing, where time and space and notions of ones past and
presence are blurred.
The Landscape
Sunday 17 June 2012
The Site - Sewer Aqueducts at Annandale
I grew up in the Inner West suburb of Annandale, hence the choice of the site in question for Experiment three.
Annandale as a suburb has vast historical significance holding many houses and structures that date to the 1800s. One of the more prominent features of the suburb is the Sewer Aqueducts designed by Mr W. J. Baltzer of the Public Works Department. The Aqueduct was built by the engineering firm Carter, Gummow and Forest using reinforced concrete. The Aqueducts were the first structure in Australia to incorporate reinforced concrete using the Monier System.
The Monier system was developed by Joseph Monier, a French gardener who manufactured flower pots and tubs which he strengthened with an embedded mesh of iron wires. In 1867 he patented his invention and thereafter took out patents for pipes, arch bridges, beams and reservoirs.
There are two Aqueducts in Annandale as shown on the Ariel map above. On the map they act as markers over Johnston Creek and White Creek.
History
In the late 1800's nearly 18,00 properties in the Sydney city Area were serviced by only 10km of main sewers and 103km of subsidiary sewers. Nearly 700 properties of the Dralington, Paddington and Redfern areas were service by only 25km of subsidiary sewers. All of the sewage from these properties drained through these systems and into Sydney Habour. Th rest of Sydney were unsewered.
This was of concern, with such a method of disposing the sewage being primitive of the time and having may health and ammenity impacts. Subsequently two main projects were commissioned. An Ocean Outfall Sewer discharge near bondi and a Southern system of sewers draining a Sewafe Farm at Botany were built in 1880 and 1889.
The Johnston's Creek and White's Creek Aqueducts, built in 1896 and managed by the Water Board since it was commissioned, were key components of the Bonmdi Ocean Outfall Sewer network designed to service what is now now as the inner Syburbs of Sydney.
The two aqueducts in question still carry the sewage accumilated from Glebe, Balmain and Annandale areas and have only required minor repairs since there construction.
Setting the Scene
Some personal photographs of the aqueducts, canals and surroundings context.
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