MSD_Summer Studio 4_Mt.Isa Art Foundation by Guangen Jin

SUSPENDED A Mine and Fossil Museum Experience in Mount Isa, Queensland 1199513 Guangen Jin Studio Supervisor - Laura Martires

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Mount Isa Introduction

Mount Isa, Australia. Tennis Expert. 2006

Mount Isa is a small town in the Gulf Country region of Queensland, Australia, where has the vast mineral deposits found. The mine is rich in lead, sliver, copper and zinc.

It was estimated that Mount Isa has 18,588 urban population in June, 2018, but the number has decreased year by year at an average rate of 2.66% over the five years to 2018.

Lead contamination and air pollution in the city have been long term potential risks for the dwellers as well because of lead production and mining related activities.

Conclusively, Mount Isa has encountered multiple issues for the purpose of transferring the city from the mining industrial city to sustainable city.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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‘Field’ Forensic Site plan, kit-of-parts, impressive drawing Group: Guangen jin, Janine Foo, Mines Madeleine Archer p5

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‘Float and Anchor’ Microclimate and water system

Group: Guangen jin, Janine Foo, Mines Madeleine Archer p12

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‘Ground Above and Below’ Unfolded space

Group: Guangen jin, Janine Foo, Mines Madeleine Archer p20

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Mt. ISA Art Foundation Exhibition, workshop and cafe Individual part scheme 1 p26

Individual part scheme 2 p46 Individual part scheme 3 p54 Individual part final proposal p94

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1.

‘Field’ Forensic Site plan, kit-of-parts, impressive drawing

The project site is located at Outback at Isa in the town centre. Visitors can experience underground tunnels and receive a tutorial on using mining machines.

The artificial lake within the south of the site is crucial for mediating the surrounding micro-climate, as the temperature in summer will increase over 40 degrees. Therefore, trees and shaded areas onsite are important to cool down the temperature.

The site, moreover, has many industrial machines and structures on the west side, such as steel lift towers, warehouses, drillers, etc.

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Kit-of- Parts Our group is looking for the industrial elements and verticality on the site: steel framing shafts, window framing, bridge handrails, steel fences, mining tower shaft; in the meanwhile, we consider the possibility of applying these industrial factors in the design of the later stage.

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Stairs

Steel Framing Feature

Bridge

Decking Board

Wheels of Steam Machine

Window Framing of Warehouse

Steel Fence

Anteater Skeleton

Mining Tower shaft

WIre Mesh Reinforcement on Mining Tunnel

Madeleine Archer 836470 Janine Foo 917900 Guangen Jin 1199513

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Kit of Parts on Site - Internal Structures

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Impressive Drawing The impressive drawing represents our understanding of the site’s history and expectations of the future.

From the bottom to the top, the drawing displays the mining activities in the past, which is still reserved as one of the main experiences for visitors. Similar to the many industrialised sites, machines and industrial structures could be abandoned on site with overgrown weeds. Therefore, Mount Isa probably deconstructed and shut down the mines to transfer to a city with diverse business, or became an abandoned city because of people leaving.

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2.

‘Float and Anchor’ Micro-climate and water system

In the second stage, our group focus on the micro-climate and water system on the site and surrounding areas. The following three mapping drawings illustrate the theme of ‘hot climate’, ‘cool climate’ and ‘rainwater’, which is made by Mines Madeleine Archer, Guangen Jin, and Janine Foo individually.

In the ‘hot climate’, it exams hot area distribution within the site and prevailing wind direction. Also, water and vegetation are considered for cooling down the site in hot summer.

Following the first mapping drawing, ‘cool climate’ research the cooling strategies on the site and its surrounding environment. Therefore, sky gardens and water piping system are proposed to cast more shadows on the ground and transfer more water from the river in the city.

In the last mapping drawing, the topography of the city is studied to look for a possible rainwater collection point on an urban scale. Also, the river is originated from Lake Moondarra on the north is possible to supply water to the site until 2040.

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3D Rendering of Mapping Drawing Three 2D impressive drawings are converted into 3D models. From the top island to the bottom island, The core concept is that the water from lake Mandarra and rain are collected and transfer to the site, runing through the whole site to cool down the site.

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‘Ground Above and Below’ Unfolded space

Based on the concept in part 2, we create three interventions on site, including sky-walk garden, rainwater collection, underground tunnel expansion and glamping accommodation.

Water collection system is arranged on the whole site area which finally convey and store to in the underground canal.

Underground tunnels are explored to have closer connection to the ground by creating openning to the ground and lift to the glamping accommodation that will provide visitor unique experiences to sleep on a industrial site.

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Mt. ISA Art Foundation Exhibition, workshop and cafe Scheme 1

Most residential houses around the Mt. Isa Outback are pitched roofs with fences at the front of the courtyard. Both metal decking roofs and steel fences are common on those houses, which gives a sense of industrialisation.

Therefore, the representative pitched roof and vertical steel fences are symbolised in 2D geometry and further re-examined to generate different forms.

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In terms of building arrangement in the plan, the overall shape of the building design is originated from the urban texture - the orthogonal road systems and 90 degrees crossing building blocks. Thus, the preliminary design is also based on this orthogonal intersection of quadrilaterals.

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2D and 3D form generation Scheme 1 begins with intersecting multiple rectangles in the plan to generate two different composite volume complexes. One is scattered on plan, the other is compacted.

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Rainwater collection on the roof Analysing water flow on the roof to look for the water gathering area where downpipe will be installed to collect and store the water.

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Water collection area

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Overall configuration of the project The complex consists of both underground and onground structures. Rainwater collection columns are inserted into the complex.

The underground arch columns are self-standing and supporting the on-ground structure

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Rainwater collection columns

On-ground exhibition

underground cafe + Workshop

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Project location on the site The project is located at the highest location on the site, which enables the buildings to have less impact on the water flow.

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Project Location

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Front View of the project

View from the street

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Perspective view toward street This is the view from the interior of the on-ground exhibition room looking toward the street and surrounding residential houses.

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Perspective view toward lake This is view from the interior of another on-ground exhibition room looking toward lake on the site.

Facade balustrades are varied in the density to frame the viewport.

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Perspective view through underground cafe Underground arch columns function as not only structural elements but also view port framing, creating a rhythm in the visual pattern.

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Aerial view of the project The project aims to respond to the buildings surrounding the site in both volume scale and building typology, to make the project integrate with existing conditions.

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Mt. ISA Art Foundation Exhibition, workshop and cafe Scheme 2

Reflection from Scheme 1 The water collection columns are unexpected, compared with other rectangular volumes. Therefore, in scheme 2, the columns are integrated into the rectangular volumes.

Underground structure is lost in scheme 1.

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Underground part generation The underground structure also follows the same strategy as the on-ground structure by manipulating quadrilaterals at different angles.

Skylight is considered to add in to introduce more natural sunlight into underground space.

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Diagram of overall configuration The diagram displays the process of the overall complex generating process, from the underground structure, lower-ground to the on-ground structure.

The project is located at the highest point around the site to reduce rainwater-blocking effects; in the meanwhile, a paraboloid cut is made on the topography to create an entry for the lower-ground space.

Thus, all three functional spaces, exhibition, cafe, and workshops can run separately.

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Rainwater flow analysis Based on the analysis. the main structure of the complex is away from the rainwater gathering area.

A separate water collection system can be created to collect and store the rainwater on the site in the rain season.

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Rainwater collection and application Rainwater is mainly collected in the rainy season, January, and stored in the underground tunnels. After that, water will be pipe out to the canopy and building facade as an insulation to cool down the built environment.

To save the energy, water will be pipe out and recycled via siphon.

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Perspective view of Scheme 2

Front perspective view

Back perspective view

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Mt. ISA Art Foundation Exhibition, workshop and cafe Scheme 3

On-ground From Generation

Selected Underground From Generation

Selected

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Combined on-ground and underground form

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Rainwater flow analysis

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Underground cafe plan, 1:250

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Lower ground cafe plan, 1:250

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On-ground cafe plan, 1:250

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Site plan, 1:250 65

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Section A-A, 1:200 @A3

Section B-B, 1:200 @A3

Section C-C, 1:200 @A3

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Mt. ISA Art Foundation Exhibition, workshop and cafe Final Proposal

On-ground and underground form generation The highlighted plan organisation is selected for the final scheme among all iteration developed in this semester.

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3D form experimenting From 2D to 3D, four groups of building complex are tested. Finally, the fourth one that scatters the building blocks on site with circulation passing through is selected for the final proposal

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Rainwater collection Rainwater will be collected mainly in the summer and store underground. Based on the water flow analysis on the existing topography, multiple water collection areas are proposed.

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Rainwater collection area Rainwater collection route

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Rainwater application Canopy and building facade are considered as double skin polycarbonate structure. After rainwater is collected and stored on site in the wet season, the water mixed with soap bubbles will be piped out to fill in the gaps between double polycarbonate, which functions as thermal insulation as well.

PVC pipe column

Double layer transparent PVC membrane

PVC pipe column

Double layer transparent PVC membrane

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Soap bubble infill

Soap bubble infill

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Site Plan , not to scale

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1. Exhibition 2. Administration 3. Toilet 4. Workshop Front-courtyard 5. Outdoor Entertaining 6. Underground Workshop Entry 7. Courtyard 102

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Upper ground floor plan, 1:200 103

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1. Dining Area 2. Cafe Entry 3. Toilet 4. Kitchen 5. Outdoor Entertaining 6. Underground Workshop Entry / Acess to Workshop 7. Outline of Exhibition above

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Lower ground floor plan, 1:200 105

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1. Access to the Ground 2. Access to the Cafe 3. Skylight 4. Workshop 5. Outline of Cafe above

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Underground floor plan, 1:200 107

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Section A-A, 1:200

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Site Circulation Three entries are considered for the relatively independent use of the complex, but circulation inside workshop, exhibition hall and cafe remain connected with each other.

Exhibition Entry

Workshop Entry

Cafe Entry

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Unfolded Section and Detailed Perspective Vie

Night view at the courtyard.

Underground wor

The double layer polycarbonate structure of the canopy is filled with water, which casts waving shadows on the ground

Skylight on the ceil into the undergrou while, water will ru glass to cast chang

Workshop Entry

Underground Workshop

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ews

rkshop

ling introduce extra light und spaces; in the meanun through the skylight ging shadow as well.

Front view of cafe

Exhibition space

Upper building blocks are matched with the lower-ground column grid. The exposed timber mushroom columns and lattices function as not only structural but also decorative elements

Exhibition area is the supplementary functions to the existing museum, which can be used for different kinds of exhibitions.

Access from Workshop to Cafe

Cafe and Exhibition Hall

Unfolded Perspective Section, scale 1:100 113

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Presentation script

Program introduction The project is designing an art foundation used for workshop, exhibition, and dining functions, which will be supplementary to the existing museum on the site. The current site is mainly used for the underground mining experience and museum, but it needs more attractive functions to enrich the experience of visiting Mt. ISA. Therefore, a workshop for kids and adults, dining, and supplementary exhibition of the workshop are considered for this design task.

Part 1. Concept and form generation Most residential houses around the Mt. Isa Outback are pitched roofs with fences at the front of the courtyard. Both metal decking roofs and steel fences are common on those houses, which gives a sense of industrialisation. Therefore, the representative pitched roof and vertical steel fences are symbolised in 2D geometry and further re-examined to generate different forms. For example, the iteration of the steel fence pattern that a paraboloid shape is created will be reflected on the underground column and canopy profiles.

In terms of building arrangement in the plan, the overall shape of the building design is originated from the urban context - the orthogonal road systems and 90 degrees crossing building blocks.

Thus, the preliminary design is also based on this orthogonal intersection of quadrilaterals.

Both underground and on-ground parts of the building are generated through manipulating the rotation of quadrilaterals in the plan with a linear circulation through space. Inspired by Stan Allen’s Maribor Art Gallery Competition project, the quadrilaterals are scaled and trimmed during the process to generate different forms.

By responding to the group theme, rainwater is also used for insulation and creating fancy visual effects. Rainwater will be mainly collected in the summer and stored underground. Multiple water collection areas are created based on the water flow analysis on the topography.

After the collection, rainwater will be pipe out to fill in the double polycarbonate structure of the canopy and building façade. Water will be piped out and recycled from underground storage to the canopy and façade by the siphon system.

Part 2. Design strategy The building is placed on the highest point where there is less water flow as shown in the water flow analysis. There are a total of three parts to consist of the design, on-ground exhibition, lower ground café, and underground workshop.

On ground exhibition The workshop buildings are scattered around the highest point of the site with access toward a common courtyard. In the meantime, paraboloid profiled canopies are planted above the lower ground columns. Water running inside the canopies will spread the sunlight toward different angles and create waving shadows on the ground. The paraboloid shapes are repeated on the lower ground cafe entry and surrounding landscape design as well.

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Lower ground cafe The lower ground building plan is evenly grided with parabolic profile columns and a lattice grid shell. The load-bearing structure matches with the ground floor structure to transfer the load to the foundation. The repeated pattern of columns also frames the view for the visitors inside when they look out of the glazing entry.

Underground workshop The volume of the exhibition rooms is arranged in a similar method as the on-ground workshop, which is the collage of rotated quadrilaterals in a linear direction. A separate entry is designed for the independent use of the museum, whose entry is closed to the footpath to the north. Large skylight openings are made on the ceiling in each volume of the museum.

Part 3. Project details Three main project components have independent access so that each program can be run individually, but the circulation inside the three programs remains connected with each other.

The unfolded section with perspective below shows the spatial connection of three programs, as well as the iconic views of the programs.

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