Obediah Hall
House of Celebration Ryan & Haynes
Obediah Hall ''[Rushcutters Bay had] a beautiful running creek of pure clear water... the land about being thickly timbered with splendid specimens of the mahogany, the blackbutt, the blood tree and the red gum... About 200 yards from the mill a large swamp commenced... it swarmed with aquatic birds of every description.'' -Obediah West 1810
Ellen Ryan 440327820
Jarrod Haynes 440173788
Michael Muir Tutor
Contents 1. House of Celebration 2. Design Development 3. Objective Diagrams 4. Site Analysis Diagram 5. Site & Environment Analysis 6. Structure Diagram 7. Structure & construction Analysis 8. 1:50 Floor Plan 9. 1:50 Section
House of Celebration Rushcutters Bay Park is a popular spot adding the liveliness of Sydney and her foreshore. A brief has been established for a 'House of Celebration' to be designed for the area. The 'House of Celebration' would feature a large function room and the whole building would have a foot print less than 300m2. Since the building serves as place for ceremonies and celebration, such as a wedding reception. Utilising the harbour front provides lots of opportunities but careful consideration is required for things like noise, views, privacy, usage, accessibility, usage, and the building's relationship to its surroundings. It is also essential the design incorporates passive and sustainable design elements by exploring the role of the local environment and the impact of certain materials and structural systems.
Objectives
• Have a functional and logical floor area in terms of table layout and navigation • Do not deprive the public of the shoreline or interfere with their line of sight • Create a subtle differentiation between the public and the private • Allow natural light penetration deep into the building • Consider passive heating and cooling by thermal mass • Design for natural ventilation possibilities • Include a sizable courtyard which can be shaded in summer and exposed in winter • To blur the boundary between inside and outside to allow for openness
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Design Development
1. This is the first floor plan devised from models and concepts. The facilities and entrance are towards the back with a small courtyard at the rear closest to the Harbour.
2. The courtyard was extended to the east and partial shading device was added. The east walls in the function room were fanned out to allow for more sun and a more open view while retaining privacy. The original organic form that was the base of the design came from a desire to have a structure with a seemingly grand function room whose structure naturally allowed for lots of light and air flow. The facilities were more modest in nature and protruded from the main function room.
The first drawing after the model placed a lot of emphasis on a large element of thermal mass that could catch the energy of the direct sunlight.
The organic form was quickly put to rest and replaced with a linear form. This is because it would be a lot easier to construct. The first idea for the stepping roof is presented in the model below. The roof has alternating slopes stepping up. Problems arose regarding taking the water off the building and controlling the sun penetration into the building. The roof form was switched out so that it is all slopping the same way with the same size windows.
3. A bar was added on the east to service both the function room and courtyard.
4. The fanning walls were removed and replaced with one straight, mostly glass wall to maximise sun and view. The kitchen is moved behind the bar for functional purposes.
5. The bathrooms are made slightly larger and the path on the west side of the building is removed to discourage public wandering.
6. The final floor plan includes a surrounding garden, the introduction of the tree in the courtyard as a shading device, and the removal of the courtyard space in front of the function room as the space was deemed not very usable.
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Objective Diagrams The Rushcutters Bay area is named so as the first use of the land by European settlers was to collect rushes. The land was first granted to Thomas West for the purposes of a water mill in 1810. From the 1830s-1870s the land was used as market gardens as a way to reclaim the land, six acres was set aside for a public park which was officially open in 1885. It took a lot of work as the park was mostly marsh land that needed reclaiming, the creek needed channelling, and a sea wall needed to be constructed. The channel divides the park in two with the City of Sydney being responsible for the west half and Woollahra responsible for the east. Croquet lawns were added in the 1990s (converted to tennis courts in 1923). In the 1860s the General Post Office was demolished and replaced with the Reg Bartley Sports Oval, completed in 1889, with the grandstand completed in 1894. -CITYOFSYDNEY
1. Privacy & Community
A gradual increase in privacy is established by the public; who mostly use the footpaths, with a separation of grass; not used as much, then a layer of mulch and spread out vegetation; people would not naturally venture, and the last layer is dense, hedgelike vegetation before arriving at the private space. This also gives the public a new garden to become part of the popular park.
2. Courtyard Shading Device
A native deciduous will be central to the courtyard, in summer providing shade to the people in the courtyard but also stops morning sun from entering the building. preventing thermal mass elements from warming. In winter a leafless tree will allow for light penetration.
3. Function & Navigation
The example table arrangement shows the focus of the rooms occupants towards the front with the services down the back. Navigation would naturally take place to the sides and back of the function room. The community is whole and central but can be dispersed when the occasion call for it.
4. Passive Heating and Cooling
A stepping roof with eaves allows winter sun to enter the building and interact with the thermal mass wall and floors while preventing summer sun. These windows and other wall windows provide natural ventilation
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Site Analysis
The site location was chosen after an analysis was done of the surrounding site. The chosen site is near the shore with the most advantageous view down the harbour, it is close to the shore but does not obstruct the shoreline path. There is minimal vegetation destruction, is situated on relatively unused land, and is evenly far away from any sound sources. Mirroring this, it is not near any residences so to not disturb them with noise, or compromise their privacy.
Site Location
Noise Source
View Direction
Shoreline
Prevailing Wind
Vegetation
Roads
Pedestrian Paths
Buildings
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150
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Site & Environment Analysis What People are Doing
Site Issues
Walking dogs both on/off leash Strolling with prams & children Lots of joggers Personal trainers People on exercise equipment Sitting admiring the view Children on the playground Cricket/Rugby/Soccer fields (not in use) Cafe/Kiosk with outdoor dining Predominately walking along bay-side path Designated bike paths (however few bikers) Wheelchair use People sitting on the sea wall People mainly sticky to paths Winter; seats in sun take preference Tennis courts and kiosk are popular Tennis courts double as child care There is water access however no swimming is allowed Fishing is permitted however fish deemed unsafe to eat; no one fishing Not many people using paths covered with shade Public Bathrooms
Facing NE Addressing summer and winter sun Low bearing capacity soil Closely located to the main public route Potential to be overshadowed by trees on the west side of the building in winter Protected from west, south and east winds due to hills surrounding the park Only breeze is funnelled of the harbour, usually a north-easterly Preserve trees, particularly fig trees Avoid interfering with public activities Average humidity of 56-70% View uninterrupted by residential towers and boats Structure is close to the sea, materials will need to be appropriately treated Public versus private separation Improving the park for the public as well has the buildings occupants Approach and access to the entrance Loose dogs not on leashes entering the building space
Winter (top) solstice compared to Summer (bottom) solstice, 9am Sun light. Tree species would depend upon the sizing required to overshadow the building in winter, whether it was deciduous or not, and preferably native to the area. It's position also depends on the overshadowing it creates. The above images show an outcome that is preferable.
Predominant trees in Rushcutters Bay Park
Sydney can get warm in the summer, so to counter this the over hanging eaves have been designed to only permit direct sunlight from February the 28th to October the 16th.
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Ceiling blanket insulation Natural wool 140mm Steel C-beam Rafters 60x180mm Ceiling plasterboard 13mm
Structure
Corrugated Steel
Steel Flashing Load-bearing masonry wall Steel Window Frame with double glazing
Steel 120mm SHS Truss
Steel reinforced concrete pillar carrying the load of the roof
Slate tile flooring
Concrete pad footing, strip footing under walls.
Fibre Cement Cladding Bolted to steel frame Wall Insulation 80mm Flexital Blanket Light Steel Frame Galvanised C-Beam 120x60mm Interior Plasterboard 13mm Post Footing extruding from concrete pillar To engineers specifications
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Corrugated Steel Ceiling blanket insulation Natural wool 140mm Steel C-beam Rafters 60x120mm Ceiling plasterboard 13mm
Construction & Structural Analysis Rushcutters Bay Park sits on what naturally was marsh land, an area of low-lying land, flooding at high tide, and for the most part would remain waterlogged. This makes the soil conditions have low bearing capacity. Also because of the soil conditions loose unconsolidated soil might collected around the bas of the footings and the hydrostatic pressure caused by the increased water content in the soil could cause, particularly, the concrete slab footing to crack and move. To counter this the building has strip footings and at points of heavy load post footings descending into the ground to bed rock (or to engineers specifications), and depending on how bad the condition is another option is having a perforated drainage pipe on a bed of gravel under the ground on the exterior of the building to carry away water collecting at the edge of the footing.
Perforated Drainage Pipes Loose unconsolidated soil
The roof has to span up to 16.1m and a post and beam structure was not possible as the post would have broken up the room below so to enable this to happen a truss system has been incorporated The truss also supports the stepping roof by having the lower rafters be joined to the bottom of the truss in their own 'box' held in place with bolts. The rafters above sit on top of the truss, also held in place by bolts with brackets. The loads of the other end of the rafters are either carried to the next truss or to wall. The steel window frame is offset from the truss on the exterior, the frame lines up with the 'box' of the truss.
The large masonry wall element was included in the design to harvest its thermal capacity to be used as a means to passively heat and cool the building from the inside out. Slate was chosen for the same purposes, to add to the amount of thermal mass of the main function room. The load bearing masonry structure is not continued throughout the entire building because of the large windows and door frames that would require large lintel to bear the load of the brick work above it. It is simpler to carry over the steel work used in the roof for these such walls. The light steel frame was carried over into the facilities structure because it is lighter than masonry and being on unstable ground a lighter structure would put less pressure on the ground. The inclusion of different materials and structure also give the building aesthetic appeal.
Low bearing capacity soil Post footing
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