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JANUS Introduction This Studio is primarily about views, visual readings of the city from without and within. In this studio we will consider the city through movement in and out of the metropolis and the two faces of Janus looking simultaneously into the city and out of the interior. We will explore ancient ideas of urbanity, in particular test the idea of the physical city as caput mundi in the contemporary networked world and ultimately ask each individual to adopt and articulate their own existential view of the city. They will have the opportunity to explore the architectural implications at a range of scales from large scale urban to detailed building skin. We have started with a Roman concept. We take Melbourne as our experimental material and the site for our endeavours as a city which at first sight has many of the physical and cultural characteristics of the Roman world – it is radial and has a clearly defined centre and organisational grids, distinctive nodal gateways and thresholds and has singular scale, economic, cultural and government importance within the State. We invite the studio to challenge this analogy in its architectural interpretations of the received relationship between ordered and chthonic, symbolic architectural language and how the spatial organisation and built fabric speaks. The image of the central city as a composition within the landscape is a powerful one in Melbourne where the tall CBD sits in the relatively open flat terrain of Port Philip Harbour, a beacon from the suburbs and hinterland in every direction of travel, whether across treetops and roof scapes, down the view shafts of the many axial arterial roads or distant spikes viewed across the bay. There is a particular type of symbolism at work – and we will extend the Roman parallel by exerting a controlling and structuring brief over this skyline – the city as a symbol of itself. Aims • Develop and articulate a strong existential view of the contemporary city and the expressive and communicative role of physical architecture as the continued setting for human acts • Use flexible modelling techniques to explore a field of design ideas within a theoretical and physical framework or the possible spatial evolution of the city over time. • Investigate the building skin as a spatial device and public/private, social/commercial, and interior/exterior threshold. Explore its means of outward expression and outward view manipulation. Objectives • Identify Melbourne central city sites that are still un- under- or ripe for re- development. • Develop a schema for the evolution of the city skyline and explore this through controllable flexible, animate or serial modelling • Within the context of this city model, undertake schematic design for a particular block or infill site • Design with a particular emphasis on the building skin as the inter-face or Janus face. Consider the spatial design based on subjective views. • Consider how the skin presents a communicative outer face to the public space and a powerful means of expression. Investigate possibilities of variable depths and qualities. • Consider views out of the interior including how these may develop and change over time Note to title of studio: "Janus was the Roman god of all doorways and of public gates through which the roads passed. His two faces allowed him to observe simultaneously the exterior and the interior of a building. Being the god of gates he also was god of departure and and return." Christian Norberg-Schulz, 1974, Meaning in Western Architecture, Electra Editrice, Milano. TASK 1 RMIT SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN SEMESTER 1 2006 UPPER POOL DESIGN STUDIO SIAL WEEK DATE (Wednesday) LECTURE / PRESENTATION 9.30 -11.00pm FLEXIBLE MODELLING WORKSHOP 11.15 – 1.30pm TASK PRESENTATION 1 01/03/06 Introduce first project [Hank + Jane] Introduce parametric design [Jane] Analysis of the Melbourne CDB grid, where are sites available, put the in to category: 1. empty 2. occupied with building that could be demolished 3. potential for higher density PRESENTATION TASK 1 FOLLOWING WEEK -- TASK 1: Analysis of the Melbourne CBD grid First task in the studio is to search for potential sites with in the CBD. The CBD will be defined by following borders: o In the South: Flinders Street ( to be precise the Train lines along Flinders Street, there is some potential to build closer to the train tracks) o In the East: Spencer Street o In the North: Victoria Pde till Elisabeth Street, then down below the Vic Market, along Flagstaff Garden and La Trobe Street. o In the West: Spring Street. You will find these borders on the dxf / dwg plan. On this plan all possible sites should be marked and classified in following categories: o Empty o Occupied with a building that could be demolished (e.g. Car park, consider heritage) o Occupied with an at present empty building that can’t be demolished, but have the possibilities to build on top on (Example: The Herald Sun Building Flinders Street) o Has potential for higher density Each category should be specified with an own colour and a number. Furthermore each student should document each site with pictures, sketches, notes, etc. These will help you in the next step to define a size and height of the building. Good Luck. | ||||||||
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