Joe Doak - Landscape Architecture Design Thesis by Joe Doak

ANTI MALL

JosephDoak

ANTI MALL Desi gnThesi s 2015

Mast erofLandscapeAr chi t ect ur e

Mel bour neSchool ofDesi gn

Joseph Robert Doak Design Thesis 2015, semester 2 Master of Landscape Architecture Student Number â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 359166 Melbourne School of Design // University of Melbourne Subject coordinator: Professor Ray Green Supervisor: Dr Andrew Saniga

ANTI-MALL

Chapters: Aims & Methods Geelong Context & History Analysis Design Concept

Aims & Methods

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Thesis Statement Geelongâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s CBD has changed drastically, both physically and socially since it was surveyed in 1838. Despite its long and unique history, its public open space may be criticised as lacking a sense of place with little hangout opportunities. Such placelessness can be attributed to the growth of the shopping malls and changes to the way that people use the street. Shopping centre buildings and interiors embody placelessness; one feels a lack of identity or uniqueness. Yet these buildings have evolved to become the main civic spaces in Geelong. Can landscape architecture challenge the shopping mallâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s placelessness by re-introducing hangouts for Geelong? Can a space be created that attracts more sections of the community to the CBD, rather than just the shopper?

Aims: Explore place theory and whether it can aid in creating a public hangout space in Geelong that attracts a broad demographic of users. Methods: Review Geelong’s public open space history Analyse Geelong and Haycock Points’ sense of place and hangouts Outputs: Produce a design and program that aims to rectify issues identified in Geelong’s current public space.

Design Competition As part of our thesis we as a thesis group took part in This Public Space, a student design competition by AILA. Its focus was on creating hangout spaces that were inclusive. As a catalyst for this competition we went to southeastern NSW to Haycock Point in a National Park. Here we camped at the Aboriginal Culture camp that sits within the National Park. The local Aboriginal families have exclusive use over this campground and are designated particular areas for each family. The design brief called for group submissions only. My group consisted of Bede

Brennan, Che Ken and Ding Ding. Together we elicited several successful elements from Haycock Point that made it a successful hangout. One of these elements that is of particular relevance to this thesis is flexibility. We developed a design based around flexibility that manifested into a mobile hangout that can be taken on a trailer. It consisted of stackable crate seating, (which we built two full scale models of) that fit within larger circular elements that also stack together. These could be moved and adapted to suit the needs of the user.

“Hangouts – cities wouldn’t be cities without them” (Competition Brief)

“TPS invites participants to propose strategies for making public spaces more inclusive and conducive to bringing together diverse groups of users.” (Competition Brief)

Sense of PLACE

Sense of place is a crucial phenomenon that human beings experience to assist us in determining our own identity and our own place in the environment, both as individuals and communities (Relph 1976, Tuan 1974, Francis et al. 2012). However the term has been met with a lot of ambiguity and in this thesis will act as an umbrella term that incorporates all the concepts surrounding place theory, such as place attachment. To define a sense of place one must first determine the meaning of place. Relph (1976) describes a place as being just as much culturally linked as geographically, that a place is an area where humans have imposed meaning and character on the landscape that differentiates it from other places. Shamai echoes this, (1991) who defines place as being interwoven environments between the physical and cultural. A sense of place is therefore the experiences one feels when in a particular place (Tuan 1974). Relph (1976) describes this in a similar fashion where a sense of place is

the relationship between oneself and the landscape. While a sense of place carries connotations of subjectivity there are some fundamental principals that enable a sense of place to occur in a landscape. Green (2010) outlines various factors that contribute to creating a sense of place. These include having unique elements and activities within the landscape, that refrain from blocking views of natural landscapes, human in scale and creating natural landscapes or perceived natural landscapes. The importance of the site and its context also greatly aids in creating a sense of place (Relph 1976). The goal amongst those designing for a sense of place is arguably one outlined by Relph (1976). It is a level of insideness akin to a sense of home. That the user feels, safe relaxed and secure in that place, a goal to be strived for in this thesis and a benchmark from which to assess current sense of place in Geelong.

Mall

The term mall can be attributed to many forms of shopping and pedestrianisation areas. However in this thesis, mall refers to the shopping mall or shopping centre. The term mall, a term mostly used in America, has been used in this thesis to highlight the globalization of our urban form, a shopping mall being a mainly American import (Vernon 2012). Spaces for shopping have evolved dramatically in the last 100 years, evident in the changing space of Market Square in Geelong. Covered shopping areas have existed for hundreds of years, with many early precursors to the modern shopping mall found in the covered Grand Bazaars of the Middle East (Hardwick 2003). Covered shopping, in the form of arcades, become popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries (Hardwick 2003). The regional or suburban shopping mall, the version of covered shopping most common today, came into existence through a combination of technological advances and changes in urban form. The rise of the family car, air-conditioning, disposable income and suburban dispersal were all major drivers in the creation of regional shopping malls (Mennel 2004). The regional shopping mall differs from arcade shopping in that they are self-contained. They have large provisions for car parking, large ‘anchor’ stores with other smaller stalls, climate controlled and managed and owned by one entity (Mennel 2004). The regional shopping mall was mostly driven by Victor Gruen, who in 1956 designed the first enclosed and fully air-conditioned

shopping mall, Southdale in Minneapolis USA. Not long after, Australia followed suit with the opening of Australia’s first regional shopping mall in 1960, Chadstone in Melbourne, now the largest in Australia (Vernon 2012). The regional shopping mall is an embodiment of globalisation. Chadstone itself had Victor Gruen involved in its design (Vennon 2012). The design of Chadstone was so ‘American’ that the car parks were too wide as they had been designed for the wider American cars. The influence of American culture and globalisation continued the rise of the regional shopping malls popularity, to the extent that Australia had the third most regional shopping malls in the world, behind Canada and America in 1973 (Vennon 2012). These shopping malls were never intended by Gruen to replace the CBD stores or arcades, as they were mostly built in greenfield sites and were to cater for the suburbs (Mennel 2004). Gruen envisioned his shopping malls to act as the new civic space for the suburbs, to be a utopia, to be safe and secure, with an emphasis on landscaping inside his malls (Hardwick 2003). In the context of Geelong, a large regional style shopping mall was placed in the CBD amongst long established strip shopping. With the addition of another several years later and their continued redevelopment and expansion, these malls became the main civic spaces of Geelong, to the detriment of all other public spaces external to the malls.

Geelong, Market Square

1985

Minneapolis, Southdale Center

1956

Geelong Context and History

Whittlesea Hume

Melton

Nillumbik

Moorabool

Moreland

Brimbank

Moonee Valley

Darebin

Banyule

Yarras Ranges

Manningham Maribyrnong

Melbourne

Yarra

Boroondara

Maroondah Whitehorse

Hobson Bay

Wyndham

Stonnington

Monash

Glen Eira

Werribee

Golden Plains

Knox

Bayside

Kingston Greater Dandenong

Lara

Casey

Geelong

Clifton Springs

Leopold Waurn Ponds

Armstrong Creek

Surf Coast

Frankston

Portarlington

Drysdale

Ocean Grove Barwon Heads

Torquay

C.O.G.G

38%

Indented Head St Lenords

Queenscliff Point Lonsdale

Mornington Peninsula

French Island (Unincorporated)

Pop Growth by 2035

Bass Coast

Geelong Context Geelong is a city extremely important to the region it sits within. It is the second largest city in Victoria and contains many towns that rely upon it for work and education. The city has always played a central role within Victoria and the Port Philip region. Be it through the gold rush period, wool industry, automotive, oil or the growing areas of health, tourism, viniculture and education. The Geelong region is expected to grow by 38% by 2035, couple this with the continued tourism growth of the region, will see Geelong remain an extremely important city. With the CBD playing a fundamental role in the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s future.

Percentage Pop. forecast of non COGG towns

Current Pop. of non COGG towns

Percentage Pop. forecast of COGG towns

Current Pop. of COGG towns

Extent of Greater City of Geelong

Major highway

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Current Central Geelong Redevelopment Plans and Context Structure Plan

City in a Park

Deakin University

3 -Waterfront

Schools

4 -Waterfront

Kardinia Park

5 -Pevensey Park

2 -Eastern beach Train Station East Geelong Cemetery

1 -Eastern Park

6 -Ron Robertson Rose Garden 7 -Richmond Reserve

2 -Johnstone Park

Geelong Botanic Garden

Golf Course

Boating facilities

Central Geelong Action Plan

1 -Swimming Enclosure

These three coloured precincts represent the three different areas the Greater City of Geelong council has identified in recent proposed rejuvenation projects. The two projects that make up the three precincts are the ‘Central Geelong Action Plan’ and ‘City in a park’. The Central Geelong action plan consists of the ‘Structure Plan’ and

Hospital

the ‘Action Plan Area’ precincts highlighted on the map opposite. The Central Geelong Taskforce created these in December 2013. The smallest scale precinct is the ‘City in a Park’, developed by City of Greater Geelong (COGG) City of Melbourne and Design Urban.

City in a Park Context Major Bus Stop

Deakin University

Multi story car parking

Shopping Centre

The Gordon Institute of Tafe Public Open Space Shopping Centre Extent

Village Cinemas

Police Station

3 - Waterfront Park 4 - Custom House Lawn 5 -Jarvis Forecourt New Library location

National Wool Museum Geelong Gallery Geelong Central Train Station

1 -Johnston Park

1 - Back to Back Theatre

Council Offices

2 -Lt Malop linear Square

2 - Geelong Performing Arts Centre

St. John of God Hospital

The ‘City within a Park’ survey area was chosen as the base site for further investigation and analysis for this thesis. This was due to its more focused scale, allowing for a more in depth exploration of the area. It also encompasses all of central Geelong and remains the core area of where the majority of vacant shops are located. The ‘City in a Park’ document will be further analysed later in this thesis.

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Escaped convict William Buckley, returns to a European settlement near Indented Head on the Bellarine Peninsular, after spending 30 years living with the Wathaurong clans (Reid 1988). Explorers Hume and Hovell named the land Geelong and bay Corio after the Aboriginal words (Djilang) and the (Kohria). However the Europeans had switched the names of the places as the Aboriginals gave the word, Djland, to the bay and Kohria to the land around the bay (Houghton 2008, Reid 1988).

Pre European settlement – Wathaurong people are the traditional custodians of the Geelong and Bellerine Peninsular area. They have lived in this area for over 25,000 years consisting of approximately 25 clans (Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative 2015).

1802

Willem baa Nip (King Billy) is born on the current site of Market Square.

Image: www.surfcoastnews.com.au/William_Buckley/timeline_new.htm

1824

1835

1836

Electric trams introduced (Scott 2008).

1910 Geelong becomes a city (Wild 1950).

Target opens it first store in Geelong (Reid 1988).

Eastern beach redevelopment completed, including swimming enclosure. Last piece of open space in Market Square area is developed (Houghton 20013).

1925

Tram network cease operations (Scott 2008).

Ford motor company began manufacturing (Houghton 2013).

1939

‘City by the Bay’ planning scheme released. Much of the CBD area was to be transformed into several large shopping malls; only a small portion of this plan was realized. (Houghton 2003).

Alcoa aluminum smelting factory constructed (Houghton 2003).

Deakin University opens (Houghton 2008).

Image: Scott 2008

1912

1837

First squatters arrived: David Fisher, James Ford Strachan George Russell, beginning European settlement of the area (Reid 1988).

First exploration of Geelong region by a European was by Lt. John Murray. The Port Philip area was the first of any newly discovered land to hoist the current version of the Union Jack flag (Houghton 2003).

Market Square begins to be leased for development (Wild 1950).

1837 – Forster Fyans conducted a headcount of the 297 aboriginal people within a 50km radius of Geelong. Much of the Aboriginal population however, had perished due to European diseases reaching the area before the Europeans themselves (Gardiner 2011).

1954

1956

Shell refinery opens, signaling Geelong’s new manufacturing era and boom in population (Reid 1988).

Image: Reid 1988

1963

1974

First Wool mills closes, marking the beginning of the end for Geelong wool mills (Houghton 2003).

1981

Robert Hoddle surveyed Geelong, laying down the distinctive grid pattern present in the CBD (Reid 1988).

First load of wool was sent to England, marking the beginning of the wool industry so vital to Geelong’s early prosperity (Wild 1950).

Rabbits are introduced to Australia near Geelong (Houghton 2003).

Number of Aboriginals in the Geelong region drops to 7. Geelong’s growing wool industry displaces a lot of the Wathaurong clans from their lands due to sheep grazing (Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative 2015).

Gold in Ballarat sees a population boom, as Geelong is the closest port city. This sparks a new contest over which city would be the state capital between Melbourne and Geelong.

http://www.dtpli.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_-

1838

1841

The town of Geelong is founded (Wild 1950).

1844

Future Market Square site set aside for public open space (Reid 1988).

Deakin University opens CBD campus (Houghton 2003). Bay City shopping centre opens (now Westfield shopping centre) (Houghton 2008).

Willem Baa Nip dies, marking the end of the Barabool clan who inhabited central Geelong and leaving only a handful of the entire Wathaurong tribe left (Gardiner 2011).

1850’s 1854

1859

1860

Melbourne merchants distribute a false map depicting Ballarat being much closer to Melbourne than Geelong, in a successful attempt to gain more gold rush trade (Wild 1950).

1879

1885

1888

Exhibition building becomes a theatre, where Dame Nellie Melba and Mark Twain perform (Reid 1988).

Ford announces 2016 planned closure of all manufacturing in Australia (Toscano 2014).

Waterfront redevelopment is completed (Houghton 2003).

Gordon Memorial technical College opens, to become the Gordon Institute of TAFE.

Alcoa smelting plant closes (Green 2014).

Image: http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/news/geelong/al-

1984

1988

Market Square shopping centre opens. Little Malop Street pedestrian mall created (Houghton 2008).

1993 Council amalgamation. Municipalities of Geelong, Geelong West, Newtown, Corio, Bellarine and South Barwon merged to become the City of Great Geelong, now City of Greater Geelong (Houghton 2003).

Image: http://www.geelongaustralia.com.au/li-

1996

1999

2002

Streetscape redevelopment, re-establishment of Little Malop Street, demolition of Little Malop Street Mall. Planting of Cotton Palms along key streets (Houghton 2003).

2013

2014

Geelong’s population reaches 224,000. It is the second largest LGA population in Victoria. (Profile.id 2014).

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A Changing CBD 1

Former Market Square

Cunningham Pier

2007 Extension of Bay City - now Westfield

Harding Park - Demolished now apartments

Geelong’s first Brewery,est 1845 - demolished: now council offices

Old Geelong Power Station - Demolished: Now Westfield

C.J Denny’s - Geelong’s first wool broker - Retained: wool museum/nightclub

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Johnston Park, former wetland

Exhibition Building Demolished: now Market Square Shopping centre

Royal Australian Survey Corps 1955 Map

Current shopping centre extent

Current property boundaries

Former public open space Former tram route

Market Square 1875, taken from Malop Street looking north.

The original Market Square 1857, taken from Malop Street looking north.

Corner of Moorabool Street and Malop Street - 1947

2007 Westfield/Bay City Plaza extension. Developer was taken to VCAT over flyover that breached COGG guidelines for maintain views of the bay. VCAT acknowledged the significant detrimental environmental affect, but stated the economic factors outweighed them.

Johnston Park. Note the much larger extent of the park. 1875

Johnston Park. Former wetland site, from Geringhap Street frontage

Image depicts the Final journey of the Geelong tram network in 1956. Thousands lined the streets to witness the event.

Harding Park (in yellow) now apartments.

“City by the Bay” 1980’s masterplan for the CBD that included mostly large shopping centres across the entire CBD district. Only Market Square and Westfield were realized from this plan.

Geelong’s Trams

“City Within a Park”

Double tram track route Single tram track route

Geelong’s tram system lasted 44 years. It was opened in 1912 and closed in 1956. It was one of four cities in Victoria that had a tram network; Bendigo, Ballarat and Melbourne were the others. Geelong’s network boasted the most trams outside of Melbourne with 32 at its peak and 18.9km of track of which 7.6km was double track (Scott 2008). Melbourne currently has the largest tram network in the world with over 250km of track and patronage at 173 million between 2013-14 (Yarra Trams 2015). Geelong, only a decade before its removal, had patronage on its trams of 6.5 million with a population of around 60,000. The State Electric Commission (SEC) took over tram networks throughout Victoria and under its control saw the demise of all tram networks, excluding Melbourne’s. In Geelong the SEC was

700,000 pounds in debt when it was forced to close in 1956, not even having the money to pay its own workers let alone maintenance and running costs. Despite the city’s small population a petition of 16,000 signatures was gathered protesting the tram network removal in the mid 1950’s (Scott 2008). Despite the petition the networked close, with large crowds gathered to witness the final day of operation. These two events both highlight how important trams were to those who lived in Geelong, not only as a form of transport but as part of the city’s identity. Electric trams had only been operating in Melbourne for 6 years prior to that of Geelong’s trams, so did not become a distinctive symbol of Melbourne until the final remaining regional tram network closed in 1972 in Bendigo (Scott 2008).

300

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References: Orange References Gardiner, G 2011, Inquiry into the establishment and effectiveness of registered Aboriginal parties, Wathaurong Aboriginal Cooperative, viewed 22 September 2015, < http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/images/stories/ committees/enrc/RAP/32_Wathaurong_Aboriginal_Co-operative_Redacted.pdf> Green, M 2014, ‘Alcoa’s Point Henry aluminium smelter in Geelong prepares to close’ , The Age, July 31. Houghton, N 2008, The story of Geelong, Greater City of Geelong Heritage, Geelong, viewed 28 September 2015, <http://www.geelongaustralia.com.au/heritage/history/article/item/8d0779e8d5e7ee6.aspx> Houghton, N 2003, Geelong: A short History, Gordon Print, Geelong. Profile.id 2014, City of Greater Geelong community profile, City of Greater Geelong, viewed 24th September 2015, <http://profile.id.com.au/geelong/home> Reid, J 1988, Geelong & district: A sepia album of historic photographs, Joval Commercial Productions, Bacchus marsh, Victoria. Scott, W 2008, Last tram at eleven: Tramways of Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong, Full Parallel Productions, Vicoria. Toscano, N 2014,’Geelong region one of the most ‘economically vulnerable’ in Australia: report’, The Age, June 30. Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative 2015, History and profile, viewed 28 September 2015, <http://www. wathaurong.org.au/about-us/history-and-profile.html> Wild, D 1950, The tale of a city: Geelong 1850-1950, The Hawthorne Printing Press, Melbourne. Yarra Trams 2015, Facts and Figures, viewed 25th September 2015, <http://www.yarratrams.com.au/aboutus/who-we-are/facts-figures/>

Analysis

Examples of Standardised Streetscapes Within L.G.A

Lara

Portarlington

Geelong

Clifton Springs

6 Waurn Ponds

Leopold

5 Drysdale

Indented Head

St Lenords

Armstrong Creek

Barwon Heads

Ocean Grove Queenscliff Point Lonsdale

Not to Scale

Placelessness City of Greater Geelong:

1247

km2

Examples of standardised streetscapes within L.G.A - Legend

Townships & Suburbs

224,462

Population

The absence of a sense of place is ambivalence, not knowing or being able to distinguish a change in place or the experiences that one feels in a place. Placelessness has been the term given to this phenomenon (Relph, 1976, Tuan 1974, Mastura et al. 2012, Francis et al. 2012, Green 2010, Williams 2014). There are many elements that aid in creating placelessness: uniformity, standardisation, lack of meaning and references to the site are some of the main elements (Relph 1976, Kurtz 1973, Green 2010, Tuan 1974, Shami 1991). The main driver of these elements is globalisation (Relph 1976, Francis et al. 2012).

Tourism also plays apart in eroding meaning and generating standardisation (Green 2010, Gurran, Sqauire & Barkley 2005). Globalisation allows for the transmission of general standardised trends, ideas and fashions therefore creating uniformity, with increasingly ease of access to these ideas. The best example of this is the shopping mall. Where the first modern shopping mall concept, Southdale in Minneapolis, was exported all over the world (Mennel 2004). This was made possible by globalisation, allowing for easier communication through emerging technologies at the time (Vernon 2012). These elements are all evident in Geelongâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

CBD and the wider council area that it sits within, contributing to its placeless public open spaces, resulting in their lack of use and importance. The images above correspond to towns within the City of Greater Geelongâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s (COGG) local government area (LGA). They highlight the standardisation of streetscape elements, such as furniture and paving, throughout the LGA. Despite the diversity of towns, large LGA size and large population, these different towns are given the same streetscape elements, which is a main driver of creating placelessness.

Data sourced from: id (informed decisions) City of Greater Geelong Community Profile ABS Regional Population Growth, Australia, 2013-14 (cat. no. 3218.0)

Existing CBD Vegetation Conditions - Legend Corymbia citriodora

QLD/NSW

Ulmus procera

S/W Europe

Washingtonia filifera

California, USA

Fraxinus angustifolia

S/E Europe

Quercus rubra

USA

Quercus palustris

USA

Platanus acerifolia

Western Europe

Lophostemon confertus

QLD/NSW

Brachychiton acerifolius

QLD/NSW

Waterhousea floribunda

QLD/NSW

Cinnamomum camphora

Eastern Asia

Platanus orientalis var. insularis

Europe

Ficus rubiginosa

QLD/NSW

Magnolia grandiflora ‘Exmouth’

USA

This vegetation map depicts the various street tree species within the study area. These street trees constitute the main vegetation form, as there are so few parks. There are 14 street tree species with newer street developments (within the last 10 years) favoring Australian tree species. Despite this, non-Australian species dominate the CBD streets, with only 5 out of 14 species being Australian. As previously mentioned, creating a sense of place is achieved through referencing the site in which a project sits within, its context (Relph 1976, Kurtz 1973, Green 2010, Tuan 1974, Shami 1991).

Through having such exotic and inconsistent plantings in the CBD Geelong’s sense of place becomes lost and placelessness develops. Even Moorabool Street, arguably Geelong’s ‘main ‘street’, was redeveloped in the early 2000’s and planted with palm trees from California; despite the street name itself being derived from the local Aboriginal Wathaurong tribe (Reid 1988). This placlessness is exacerbated when analysing the Australian trees and noting that not one is from Victoria let alone endemic to the Geelong region.

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Existing CBD Vegetation Conditions

135m Adapted by JDoak, from observations and https://data.gov.au/dataset/geelong-trees

Shop Vacancies Shopping Mall Tourist Walking Track

Centrepoint Arcade Vacant Business Street with most vacancies

Malop Street Pedestrian crossing

A survey of vacant businesses was conducted along the streets of central Geelong to determine which areas the highest vacancy rates occurred in. As the two shopping centres, Market Square and Westfield are opposite each other on Malop Street; strip shopping along this street appeared healthy. However the area where the most shop vacancies occurred was in Little Malop Street. Along this street there were 20 shop vacancies. This doesn’t include ‘Centrepoint’,

an old arcade connecting Ryrie Street With Little Malop Street. Centrepoint alone had 25 vacant shops out of 28. The recommended walking route through the city, highlighted in yellow, takes a tourist past 33 currently vacant shops. Through this analysis alone it is evident that central Geelong, in particular Little Malop Street, is suffering a clear lack in public space use, despite its proximity to the two popular shopping centres and the small linear public square in Little Malop Street.

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CBD Study Area: 86.3 Hectares Off street car parking: 9.8 hectares / 11% POS: 3.6 Hectares / 4%

Cars Parks and Pedestrians Public Open Space

Multi-story car parks (No. of parking bays)

Ground level car parking Level of pedestrian activity (Dark, high use, Light, low use)

This map highlights the car dominated city centre of Geelong. The car parks highlighted in purple and blue indicate all major off-street car parking only, with a significant number of on street car parking remaining. The area covered by these offstreet car-parking facilities equates to 11% of the total area, while public open space (POS) represents only 4%. The area is dominated by the two shopping centreâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s car parking facilities, with a combined number of bays total over 2350. This appears to show a relationship with pedestrian activity on the surrounding streets. The majority of foot traffic is concentrated in or around the two centres, especially at the pedestrian crossing on Malop Street.

Shop Vacancies and Pedestrian Relationships There appears to be a relatively strong relationship between shop vacancies and pedestrian activity. However Little Malop Street receives a moderate level of pedestrian activity, which doesn’t seem to have an affect on shop vacancies, it is in fact the worst performing street in this regard. This can be answered when pedestrian ‘anchor’ points are considered, or buildings/ areas that attract a lot of people. The vast majority of the pedestrian activity within

the CBD, in particular Little Malop Street, is transitory; pedestrians are walking to a destination and not promenading or stationary. This then aids in explaining the pedestrian activity along Little Malop, as at either end of the street are large car parks and anchor points, such as government buildings, reinforcing the idea that people are using this space almost exclusively as a thoroughfare, despite the public open space provided near the Centrepoint Arcade. Pedestrian ‘anchor’ points

Vacant Business Centrepoint Arcade

Shopping Mall

Multi-story car parks

Ground level car parking Level of pedestrian activity (Dark, high use, Light, low use)

Village Cinemas

Pedestrian crossing

Deakin University/Gordon TAFE Geelong Central Bus Station

Geelong Central Train Station

Council Offices

Art Gallery

Theater

45m

135m

200m

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Bell

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Shop Vacancies and Pedestrian Relationships

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Site Selection

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Vacant Shops Streets appropriate for development (by Council)

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Yarr a Area for a ‘City Heart’ (by council)

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Selected Site

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135m

Adapted by JDoak from: observations, City in a Park 2015 <https://www.geelongaustralia.com.au/common/public/documents/8d257b0d0b12746-20150226%20Ci ty%20in%20a%20Park%20Report.pdf>

Site Selection Little Malop Street Little Malop Street, between Moorabool and Yarra Street, was chosen as the site for this thesis. The site was determined through analysing pedestrian activity, current council CBD rejuvenation plans, CBD history and current shop vacancies. The site along Little Malop Street sits adjacent to Market Square Shopping Centre and is the area that performs the worst in terms of shop vacancies. The site is one of several sites identified for possible future redevelopment by the council. It is also near

the area where council plans to develop the concept of creating a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;city heartâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. The site also sits amongst streetscapes determined by the council as appropriate for development. Through pedestrian surveys the site receives moderate to high pedestrian activity along its edges. All these elements combined demonstrate the immense possibilities and opportunities the site has for making a hangout place for all of Geelong.

Little Malop Street 2

Union Street

Little malop Street

Rock Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Cashel Lane

Moorabool Street

Market Square Shopping Centre

Yarra Street Yarra Street

Market Square Shopping Centre car park entrance Market Square Shopping Centre car park entrance

3 Banks Place Banks Place

Union Street Union Street

15m

Not to scale 5m

15m

All panoramic images JDoak 2015

3 3

2 2

1 1

East East WEST WEST

Little Malop Street Existing Materials

Exposed aggregate paving, bluestone cobbles and plane tree plantings dominate the site in terms of materials. There are a stainless steel bench seats, an automated public toilet and lighting towers on the site. A linear fountain, that has been broken numerous times since its instillation, runs east-west in-between Little Malop Street and the Market Square Shopping Centre. This area also receives the most shade all year round.

Steel seats - bluestone TCL’s - linear fountain cobbles - exposed aggregate

Fountain has cost COGG $100,000 in repairs since 2001

3 Automated toilet block

Platanus orientalis var. insularis

Vacancies 5m

15m

EAST WEST 15m

Lighting tower

Magnolia grandiflora ‘Exmouth’

Shadows

Market Square Shopping Mall entrance

Washingtonia filifera

Site Extent

WEST WEST

Identified Identified hangouts hangouts

Car traffic Car traffic (width(width represents represents volume) volume)

Pedestrian Pedestrian traffictraffic (width(width represents represents volume) volume)

(No observed (No observed Bike traffic. Bike traffic. cyclists,cyclists, extremlyextremly narrow narrow path) path)

Little Malop Street Circulation and Events

EastEast

1 Council Council sponsored sponsored events events at western at western edge edge

Council comissoned comissoned art art 3 Council

Council Council comissoned comissoned art art 4

6 5m

15m

Council Council comissoned comissoned 5 Candy Candy Chang Chang installation installation

MoreMore recent recent Candy Candy Chang Chang inspired inspired installation installation

‘Before I die’ wall I die’today wall today 5 ‘Before

6 All images: All images: JDoak JDoak 2015 2015

Little Malop Street History

Moorabool Street

Market Square Shopping Centre

Union Street

Rock Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Cashel Lane

Little malop Street

1 1

2 2 (1) Reid, J 1988, Geelong & district: A sepia album of historic photographs, Joval (1) Reid, J 1988, Geelong & district: A sepia Commercial Productions, Bacchus marsh, album of historic photographs, Joval Victoria. Commercial Productions, Bacchus marsh, Victoria.

(2) Geeling Heritage Centre, https://www.geelongaustralia.com.au/heritage/default.aspx (2) Geeling Heritage Centre, https://www.geelongaustralia.com.au/heritage/default.aspx

2 2

1 1

Yarra Street

Banks Place

Union Street

Market Square Shopping Centre car park entrance

The next major change to the site came with the creation of the Market Square Shopping Centre in 1984 (Houghton 2003). This saw the closure of several small side streets and the closure of vehicle traffic along Little Malop Street to create a pedestrian mall whose extent matches the current design today. While unable to determine the exact reasons for the re-design in 2001 by TCL that included the re-introduction of traffic along Little Malop Street, some hypothesis can be attained from historical photographs. The mall was designed in 1984 prior to the introduction of another shopping centre in 1988. The new shopping centre saw the majority of pedestrian activity shift further towards the bay as pedestrians moved in-between the two shopping centres, similar to today’s pedestrian movement. With less pedestrian activity came safety concerns The agreement in the 1950’s was that private busi- leading to the TCL redesign that again included nesses were allowed to build on the leased land but vehicle movement. the buildings would become council property in 50 years (Wild 1950). As the Geelong main library and The two designs of this space are remarkably simiHistorical Centre are closed due to them being in lar, while they’re material palette may have changed the process of relocating to their new building in (still neither representing Geelong), their inflexibility Johnston Park, the author wasn’t able to determine and rigid form remain the same. There is nothing the current ownership situation but it is presumed drawing people into the site in either design, there is no ‘magnet or anchor store’. the majority this land is no longer council owned.

15m

The area chosen for the site has had many different designs and functions. Currently known as “The mal”, possibly a combination of the pedestrian mall that it’s used to be and the street it runs parallel to (Little Malop Street), the area began as a public square for markets to occur within in 1844 (Reid 1988). Ever since then the area has been sold off to developers, beginning in 1912 with Solomons Department store (Reid 1988). Prior to this the site remained predominantly public in use, having an exhibition building and theatre. The council originally owned the entire block from Ryrie Street to the north, Malop to the south, Yarra St to the east and Moorabool to the west (Wild 1950). This remained the case until the 1950’s even when the entire area had been built upon.

58 1

Flexibility at Haycock Point Aborig

inal Cu

lture Ca

Haycock Point

Aboriginal Culture Camp

Not to Scale

Anchor Points

Hangout Areas

Camp Grounds

One of the key factors that made haycock Aboriginal Culture Camp so successful was its flexibility. This lay in the way the space was organised and used. From observing our own actions and from hearing how the space is used when there are larger groups there, most people congregate around ‘anchor points’. These anchor points draw people together and are situated amongst flexible open space, creating individual hangouts. Fire, water and earth. These three essential elements, while also playing an important role in how space is sued, also greatly contributed to haycock Point’s sense of place. Fire was where we shared stories and socialized, water carved the earth we camped on and was a source of sustenance and earth brought the vegetation and wildlife.

References: Francis, J, Giles-Corti, B, Wood, L & Knuiman, M 2012, ‘Creating sense of community: The role of public space’, Journal of Environmental Psychology, vol. 32, pp. 401-409. Green, R 2010, Costal towns in transition, CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Melbourne. Gurran, N, Sqauire, C and barkley, E.J 2005, “Meeting the sea change challenge: Best practice models of local regional planning for sea change communities”, Sydney: Planning research Centre, The University of Sydney. Houghton, N 2003, Geelong: A short History, Gordon Print, Geelong. Kurtz, S 1973, Wasteland: Building the American dream, Praeger, New York. Mastura, N, Saruwono, M, S, Said & Ahmad, W 2013, ‘A sense of place within the landscape in cultural settings’, Social and Behavioral Sciences, vol. 105, pp. 506-512. Mennel, Y 2004, ‘Victor Gruen and the construction of cold war utopias’, Journal of Planning History, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 116-150. Reid, J 1988, Geelong & district: A sepia album of historic photographs, Joval Commercial Productions, Bacchus marsh, Victoria. Relph, E 1976, Place and Placelessness, Sussex Academic Press, Eastbourne, England. Shamai, S 1991,’Sense of place: an empirical measurement’, Geoforum, vol. 22, pp. 347-358. Taylor Cullity and Lethlean 2015, Little Malop Street, viewed 2nd October 2015, < http://www.tcl.net.au/projects/urban-design/geelong-mall-little-malop-street> Tuan, Y. F 1974, Topophilia: A study of environmental perception, attitudes and values, Prentice Hall, New Jersey. Vernon, P 2012, ‘Shopping Towns Australia’, Fabrications: The journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand, vol. 22, no1, pp. 102-121. Wild, D 1950, The tale of a city: Geelong 1850-1950, The Hawthorne Printing Press, Melbourne. Williams, D 2014, ‘Making sense of place: Reflections on pluralism and positionality in place research’, Landscape and Urban Planning, vol. 131, pp. 74-82.

Design Concept

Market Square Entrance

Constructed Wetlands Vitis vinifera plantings

Tram tracks

New Eucalyptus camaldulensis planting See enlargement

Linear water way between tram tracks

Fire pit

Section A,A

Turf mound

Existing vegetation to be retained

New bluestone cobble paving

New Allocasuarina verticillata planting

New bluestone sawn cut paving

Design - Plan & Section 66

10m

Yarra Street

Moorabool Street

Water Earth

Fire

Not to scale

Anchor Points, the New Hangouts

Earth water and fire are the essential elements of place that have all been derived from the experience at Haycock Point. The turf mound and the vegetation that grows from it represent earth. The constructed wetlands represent water and references the sites continued feature of water, as it was the site of Geelongâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first water supply tower and nearby Johnston Park was a former wetlands. Together these two anchor points reference Geelong, or â&#x20AC;&#x153;jilongâ&#x20AC;?, meaning hills by the water in the local Aboriginal language, Wathaurong. (Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative 2015). The fire acts as a catalyst for social interaction; a point of social experimentation. This area is left deliberately sparse in order to emphasis this anchor point. Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative 2015, History and profile, viewed 28 September 2015, <http:// www.wathaurong.org.au/about-us/history-and-profile.html>

New anchor points

Grate to water pipe below

Vine anchor point

Wetland overflow grate

Underground water pipe

Wetland Enlargement

Existing trees retained:

Tree planting:

Washingtonia filifera

Wetlands plantings:

Allocasuarina verticillata

Eleocharis acuta 25%

Myriophyllum propinquum 25%

Triglochin striata 25%

Juncus holoschoenus 25%

Eucalyptus camaldulensis

Grassland plantings: Poa labillardieri 50%

Existing trees retained:

Themeda triandra 50%

Plantus orientalis var. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Insularisâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

Bluestone pavers:

Vine plantings:

Vitis vinifera (ornamental grape)

Bluestone cobbles:

Dryland plantings: Dianella revoluta 50%

Fcinia nodosa 50%

Exposed permeable aggregate:

Materials

Section B,B

Section C,C

Sections BB,CC

The rises of the steps of the wetland in section BB are clad in burnt wooden cobbles. This references the fire pit in the distance, linking the two, when facing south towards it. Fire.

The rises of the steps in section CC are of rammed earth from the site. This gives a visual link from the wetland to the turfed mound in the distance. Earth

Section Materials

Not to scale

Typical concrete vine planter box with stainless steel support and cable. The vine representing the wine industry in the Geelong region and the symbolic gesture of reclaiming the space through growing over the shopping mall.

Bluestone cobbled fire pit set amongst bluestone pavers and ringed with tram track.

Not to scale

This design is Geelong. It is for the people of Geelong. Through referencing the site and creating unique landscape elements, the right materials for a strong ‘sense of place’ have been laid. Through creating hangouts centered on the ‘anchor points’ of fire, earth and water more people will be drawn into the space. The flexible space these anchor points sit within allow for changing social and streetscape conditions in the CBD, a vital factor lacking in previous designs. This design goes against the placelessness spreading throughout Geelong’s CBD, embodied by the dominating shopping malls. This place is the Anti-Mall.

ANTI-MALL