Design Portfolio by Annabel Blackman

Annabel Blackman Design Portfolio

brief

concept

plans+section

program+circulation

integrated services

process

stair faรงade

mesh screen

physical model

previous work

contact

PYRMONT

Sydney City

DARLING HARBOUR

imo

Ult est

Ped

Darlinghurst

CENTRAL

project overview_

SURRY HILLS ns

design brief summary + project concept

MOORE PARK SCG/SFS way

e St Cycle

Anzac

Bourk

ULTIMO

o etw n N

ria

CHINATOWN

CENTENNIAL PARK

Parade

The site is located at the proposed Devonshire Street stop of the CDB South East Light Rail project currently under advanced planning stages. The brief for the studio was to design an integrated station, public space and specialist post-high school for the performing arts as a test case for integrated infrastructure and public/education development that will be a neighbourhood asset, and unique destination in the cultural landscape of Sydney.

This design project seeks to create an environment that respects and preserves the privacy of students, despite the seemingly public nature of a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;performingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; arts school. Hence the challenge of creating a different kind of public/education relationship has been posed, and responded to through the design, which includes the integration of services. Energy, air, fire, water, transport, security and communication have been integrated in ways that attempt to support this relationship and enhance the durability, utility and beauty of the design.

Riley St

Little Riley St

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Jess

on S t

S.1A

Ma r

or o

ug h

WARD PARK

Crown

Jesson

S.1B

N site plan scale 1:200

concept

performance targets:

project objectives:

massing:

• to not only integrate well with the Surry Hills community, but contribute to its diverse cultural identity.

• to create a form that responds to public and private interests.

• the Performing Arts High School presents a strong, definite corner edge that delineates public and private space, seeking to respect the privacy of students, while forming a connection to Ward Park and Light Rail stop.

• to implement service strategies that push for innovative responses to passive design, reducing energy waste and consumption where possible. A project of this kind should aspire to raise the standard of modern integrated service design, for itself and the wider Sydney community. • creating spaces that inspire the user to perform, or be part of a performance.

• to design a Light Rail stop that will serve the pragamtic needs of commuters. • to form a relationship between these two aspects of the project that symbiotically enriches them and inspires innovative design outcomes.

This dominant corner massing approach delineates private space, while the design of a stair façade that faces onto the street creates an interface between public and private, transforming the function of circulation into performance and ornamentation.

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student kitchen

flexible classrooms

library

quiet study

classroom staff

staff classroom

tea room quiet study + overnight stay

rehearsal gym

level 2

plans + section 1A The topography at the edge of Ward Park gently rises from the light rail stop and creates a sense of privacy within the park that separates it from the disturbance of regular influxes of light rail commuters, and naturally draws them away from the stop and emphasises/encourages the viewing relationship between the faรงade and the public. As the hill drops down on the internal parkside, an informal outdoor auditorium is formed, giving students the opportunity to hold public performances that might tie in with events like the Sydney Performing Arts Festival, and so on. When not being used for performances this seating is furthmore available as a gathering place for the public to enjoy.

level 1

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props and costume

change rooms

recording studio

shell storage green room main auditorium plant room

dance theatre

foyer + cafeteria

ground

basement N

floor plans scale 1:500

_SECTION 1A not to scale

Little Riley St

Riley St

program + circulation

Jess

Jesson

on S t

main entry

Crown

WARD PARK

General daily circulation flows on and across site

9am

12pm

3pm

6pm

6am

frequency of movement (people + vehicles)

9pm

11234_Design Portfolio_Annabel Blackman_11230772

Circulation flows: PRIVATE (stairways) •the graph represents the movement of students and staff as they use the stairs throughout 9am to 5pm, and potentially onwards into the night. There will be typically be 250 students enrolled in the school in any one year, and a maximum of 40 staff members on site at any one time. VEHICULAR • the graph consideres peak traffic activity between 8-9am and 3-6pm on a typical work and school weekday. In the site plan this also indicates loading areas for deliveries and parking for staff.

Program key: PERFORMANCE

LIGHT RAIL • regular influxes of light rail passengers throughout the day, displaying a similar relationship with peak-hour passenger loads. The service is designed to carry up to 9000 people per hour in each direction.

REHEARSAL STAFF LEARNING

PEDESTRIAN • this activity is less easy to quantify as it comprehends a wide spectrum of movement across the site, but naturally it corresponds with the other transport systems, and particularly the Light Rail as passengers arrive and disperse throughout Surry Hills.

STUDENT SUPPORT

flin

de ders

i sh

detail

Horizontal zone layer immediately below concrete slab is reserved for air duct distribution.

455

Supply and return air ducts run above the lighting fixtures and sprinkler system. Lowest layer is reserved for lighting fixtures and the sprinkler system, which extends through the ceiling.

Suspended ceiling systems conceal services and allow access for maintenance + alterations

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The main auditorium is embedded 4m underground to reduce the mass and height on site, and allow more light to reach the central courtyard. While there is internal stair access to the lower auditorium seating, there remains ground level casual and disabled access to the mid-seating level. The rooftop also forms an outdoor auditorium and connects to flexible classrooms.

_SECTION 1B not to scale

process

m 3S

2L 2L

S R

2SS

S m

P L

SS L

R L

O R

SS L SS

2L R

2L L

P O

S R

R LP

O + L

SS L L

S2 L

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Early attempts to consider different strategies for program massing on site involved the use of blue foam blocks. However, this process became less relevant with the idea to externalise vertical circulation between programs as a kind of impromptu performance that would create an interface between public + private, combined with the corner massing approach. Blue foam was then used to conceptualise a stair façade system, which in turn suggested the use of the diagrid trussing that now forms the most distinctive part of the performing arts school. To create the geometry of the façade it was necessary to first determine the dimensions of a single step, which would then inform the angle of the diagrid, and at times, proportions of spaces within the school. 300

300

250 900

175 2R+G ≥ 550 ≤700 2(175)+250=600 Dimensions of balustrades, risers and goers.

blue foam concept model of stair façade

3.5m

10m

unrolled faรงade solar shading balcony nook

L1 kitchen L2 learning space

rooftop

L2 - rooftop

exposed balcony solar shading

L1 - L2 staff

external circulation

level 2

level 1

entry L1 staff

student lounge

staff + music practice

ground

north elevation_ flinders street

Primary structure consists of reinforced concrete floor slabs supported by internal wall concrete beams and diagrid faรงade trusses. Stair system is steel frame with beams set in concrete floor slabs, centred at 600mm, and additionally supported by the diagrid trussing of the tensile mesh that provides added safety and solar shading on the east and west faรงades.

600

west elevation_ flinders street

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south elevation_ devonshire street

east elevation_ jesson street

600

The mesh screening system on the south and west faรงades transforms to become a solar shading device that counters the rigid geometry of the diagrid, curving over to cover the outdoor auditorium, and presenting the opportunity for hanging plants to be grown and create added shade + a cooling bioclimate.

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concept

/ /

/ / /

/ /

The conceptual driver of a ‘burrow’ was used as a strategy for designing student housing in Sydney, opposite the Peter Johnson building on the Ultimo Pedestrian Network. Drawing from a precedent study of the Prince Henry Community Centre in Little Bay, the challenge of creating a sense of community on the scale of a studio apartment was then taken, using the notion of the ‘burrow’ to translate ideas from a large-scale structure to a compact unit by shaping a sense of security and intimacy. The notion of creating intimate spaces then took hold - culminating in the design of the bedroom space, where the concept operates on multiple levels in order to create a sense of seclusion, as it represents the final destination of the burrow; the retreat from the city.

form

1:50 studio unit plan

The solid apartment volumes contrast with the more fluid, transparent form of the atrium, which provides shelter for the internal apartment walkways, and branches out on two corners, forming common areas for residents on each floor.

1:200 level one floor plan

1:200 section model faรงade and atrium detail

detail An idea that has driven the design of the unit since the beginning is that of creating an intimiate â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;nookâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, which here takes the form of a window seat. A prefabricated steel frame bolts on to the concrete floor slab, angling out and then back with an awning window, positioned above eye level in conjunction with a suspended ceiling to exclude views of the UPN, making an internalised private space. The angle of the wall creates a natural recline for the seat, and forms the faĂ§ade pattern with repetition across the apartments.

600

600 600

hardwood timber cladding waterproof membrane

glass wool insulation

prefabricated 90x45 steel profile frame

1:20 prefabricated window seat detail

steel fixing plate

contact_ 11230772 annabel blackman annabel.blackman@gmail.com 0432 428 906