B_Macdonald_ADR_CONCISE

Blaise Macdonald S3195901 MLA 2012 01_

flagstaff station

selected site

southern cross station

possible site

possible site

possible site

flinders st station

social interaction, relaxation, and activity, within corporate urban forecourts Blaise Macdonald S3195901 MLA 2012

contents

09_ research question

11_ research evolution 13_ precedent

16_ puddle studio 21_ abstract

22_ age diagram 24_ AMP square 27_ introduction

28_ modernist forecourts 38_ design iterations 42_ shadow study

44_ reveal & conceal

46_ bodily experience

48_ suspense & curiosity 51_ concluding design iteration 54_ sections

58_ acer palmatum sango kaku 60_ multiple section study

68_ one point perspective sections 72_ collage

74_ bibliography

07_

Research Question:

How can urban forecourts be designed to stimulate different ways of acting or being from normative adult behaviours? Could the introduction of other landscape typologies, trigger sensory

and perceptual relief from the adjacent, more ordered and formal interior and exterior spaces?

09_

Research Evolution

What is it in the world that we remember as a child and how do these nostalgic memories effect and change our perception of the world as we mature?

How can we escape the mundane through landscape?

What kind of landscape will give life to the inner child?

What is it in the landscape that evokes an emotive experience?

How can landscape escape from grown up sophistication to engage with the adventure of the everyday?

Can everyday landscapes escape from the mundane into escapism and adventure?

How can urban hardscapes be redesigned to become immersive urban landscapes?

How can the reimagination of urban hardscapes be used to escape the routine of the everyday?

How can urban hardscapes be redesigned to become immersive urban landscapes?

How can homogenous impermeable urban forecourts be redesigned with curiosity and vitality in mind to become immersive landscapes?

Garden of 10,000 Bridges - West8

The prairie topography has been

recreated

through

hills interspersed across the plaza and wound through by

snaking

suggestive

both

pathways, of

the

Museum’s curves and the soft and undulating prairie landscape. paving

The

stones

granite

hug

and

accentuate the gently rising mounds.

The

introduction

of an urban prairie to the environment

microclimate, biodiversity,

creates

a

increases

lessens

heat

island effect, and improves

air quality—in short, lures the public through an appeal

to the senses, without in any way hindering the stunning view that defines the site.

Gardens tell a story. They combine

Precedent

poetry and narrative. The Garden of 10,000 Bridges represents the human

life; the path of people’s lifetime, which is a route of uncertainty and burden, but

also of highlights and elation. The garden

design takes you on this walk of life as a meandering, winding trail continuous

and like a labyrinth. It lets you find your

way through nature and takes you over 10,000 bridges. - west 8

The Canadian Museum of Civilization - Claude Cormier

Teardrop Park NYC - Michael Van Valkenburgh

Teardrop Park is a 1.8-acre public park in lower Manhattan that transcends its small size, shady environment, and mid-block location through

bold topography, complex irregular space, and robust plantings. As children are considered

Teardrop’s most important users, the park is designed to address the urban child’s lack of natural

experience,

offering

adventure

and

sanctuary while also engaging mind and body.

Site topography, water features, natural stone, and lush plantings contribute to an exciting world

of natural textures, dramatic changes in scale, and intricately choreographed views.

13_

How can a seemingly arid and barren grassland in Victoria’s driest district engage a multitudinal response?

By uniting the vertical and horizontal view points a

landscape of discovery is

revealed where grasslands become forests and the

cathedral of the sky allows us to be immersed in the

world whilst being alone but not lonely

No space exist in a vacuum nor does any space have a singular purpose, through the intervening design

proposal a new reading and

engagement with the landscape would ensure habitat

for people and indigenous fauna simultaneously

Puddle

Semester One Third Year

previous studio

Puddle was a studio which ex-

plored similar landscape induced

emotive responses to Foreplay. It gave the user a place to escape

and make space. A place where they could disappear and day-

dream without being constrained by the surrounding context of

pre conceived ideals of suburban housing developments. Tak-

ing precedent from the dry mud cracked landscape, modules were

created to respond in height from the surrounding buildings and

housing, framing and blocking views as appropriate.

19_

Abstract

It could be argued that the forecourt is a

place of unwritten rules, and codes of behaviour that extends from the adjacent corporate environments that often administrate

the space. The landscape forms found in

modernist forecourts, reinforce these dogmas, disconnecting users with a generic corporate surface treatment.

What potential affects/effects on people’s interaction of space could occur if the ex-

pectations of the landscape were radically different and could it contribute to the

health, wellbeing and behaviour of those who work there?

If a swing were placed outside the AMP building would anyone use it? What would need to happen for people to feel licensed to use it?

The adult behavioural pattern is controlled

by social mores and unspoken codes, landscape either reinforce or contradict these.

Juxtaposing ‘playspace’ with ‘workspace’ could balance the technologically complex, highly institutionalised office spaces with ‘other’ spaces to provide alternative

meeting areas and opportunities for social

interaction, relaxation and quiet reflection on a day-to-day basis creating the means for physical and visual escape and allowing

for momentary relief from the pressures of work to invite and accommodate different types of experiences and encounters.

baby

0 - 1.5 years 1%

toddler

2 - 5 years 4%

child

6 - 12 years 7%

adolescent 13 - 18 years 6%

young adult 19 - 25 years 7%

adult

26 - 65 years 40%

senior

65 - 100 years 35%

The opposite diagram shows that through each stage of life there

are different spaces that are al-

located for appropriation. Inter-

estedly the time we spend as an adult, which is the majority of our

life, spaces are more about spe-

cific functions, such as work and less about appropriation or play.

Because the world is perceived to

be built by adults for adults I be-

lieve that these spaces are over designed and lose a sense of exploration.

23_

AMP Square Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Bates, Smart & McCutcheon Corner Williams Street and Bourke Street Built 1969 AMP Tower is 28 floors high St James Building is 9 floors high The building and its plaza are an example of stark corporate modernism with obvious influences of Eero Saarinen’s CBS building in New York City. Nevertheless, the AMP building, is one of Melbourne’s classic 1960s buildings.

Testing Site

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flagstaff station

possible site selected site

possible site

southern cross station

25_

Introduction as

a

provided by the church as privately

Melbourne in the early 1950’s.

A

daylight hours to the general public.

The

modernist

forecourt

landscape first came into being in time of economic prosperity and blatant

boosterism,

businesses

could be ostentatious in the ways they showed their power and wealth,

especially through the designs of the

forecourts of their impressive new towers.

Environmental

and

such

concerns

were not considered, by the majority, were

as

seemingly

natural

resources

endless

without

consequence, this was reflected by choices in materiality and the energy

hungry features of many of the forecourts and buildings. Conversely the memory of the depression and

the Second World War was fresh in peoples mind, so it was important

that these lavish forecourts were made available to all so as not to engender resentment towards the businesses from the public.

Though a deeply conservative time

by current standards, there were some radical departures in the way business operated, the concepts

of open plan offices, and buildings flooded with natural light were all symbolic of an openness business

wanted to portray to gain the publics trust. It was vital to restore the

nations ‘innocence’ after the horror of war and big business knew it was

within their interest to show that they were embracing a new open way of operating that had a social conscience.

owned space but available during

The church offered this space in a highly conditional fashion .The modernist forecourt appeared to change this by providing unfenced seemingly public space that was

privately owned, but it was essential that

people

still

certain

behavioural

cleverly

designed

conformed

to

patterns

in

these spaces and as such they were to

discourage

pausing. They were move through landscapes,

landscapes

to

be

viewed and pass through not pause and ponder, benches were a rare

feature in the original forecourts as were any large undercover areas.

From the 1950’s right up until the early 1970’s saw a time where regulated patterns for people were

the norm. As very few people lived in the city, there was no trading

from Saturday afternoon till Monday

morning, and as such the central business district was a ghost town at these times. The workforce was

still male dominated and as such the

majority of users of the forecourts were male, Thus it could be argued that the spaces were designed to

societies perception of masculinity, hard, angular, unforgiving, obviously these notions are antiquated and

do not apply to actual gender but

more a reductionist ideal of gender stereotyping.

Victorian (era) cities were a closed world

except

to

the

privileged

classes. The only open land space

that was available in Melbourne pre war for everyone was the land

around churches. This space was

27_

Before the advent of the

modernist forecourt there was a clear distinction between public and private space in the urban

context. The top figure ground

represents the pre-forecourt era depicting the public space as blue, the buildings as black and private outdoor space as yellow.

The bottom figure ground depicts

the current era with forecourts.

The advance in technology led to buildings being able to take

up smaller building envelopes by maximising the vertical axis this

allowed ground space around

the building but for the first time private land had unfettered public access. This blurring of public

and private is represented by the green colour blocks private space public use

public space public use

private space private use

The AMP Square space is a

modernist example of a stark urban

forecourt.

The

path

traversed by people across the sites are from point A to point

B. There is no deviation from

destination as there is nothing

on the site to incite curiosity.

All of the internal spaces of the buildings are private and

are only accessed by the office workers that use the site.

The intention of the proposed design intervention is to allow people to have multiple options

for how they traverse the site, allowing intrigue and curiosity to

carry

everyday.

them

through

the

current usage

desired usage

31_

These diagrams show the land

use of Melbourne’s forecourts

across the last 60 years. ICI ici house - 1958

house was the first high rise to be built in Melbourne, introducing

one of the first open forecourt typologies to the urban context. It

allowed for people to walk across the majority of the site except

for the lift tower at the rear. It gave public space for the general

public to spend time in while still being owned and managed by the

corporate business. Nauru House while still being accessible from all sides the building itself is only nauru house - 1977

accessible to the private use people. The ANZ building has a

small forecourt but is also linked by

a

multifunctional

courtyard

that

is

internal

open

and

available to the public at all times

also it is one of the few publicly accessible spaces in the city that is heated.

anz building - 1980

forecourt occupation

33_

The Shell Building is designed to

have multiple entrances on two levels, with a small urban forshell building - 1988

est in from of the Flinders Street entrance creates intrigue in the

outdoor space. Casseldon Place on Londsdale Street even though

its entrance is technically a fore-

court as it is open to the public

at all times it is enveloped by the building allowing for minimal nat-

ural light and no rain, and therefor no plants. Federation Square

a relatively new addition to the

urban context has given Melburnians a new generation of fore-

courts. This space incorporates multiple buildings and areas into casseldon place - 1992

federation square - 2002

a new public realm of indoor and outdoor spaces.

35_

Collins St., 5pm - John Brack

original vs desired flow iterations

Through the process of iteration

design ideas were tested and re-

drawn to incorporate and include further

precedent

typologies.

Searching for a way to possibly

encourage the users of the site to engage with opportunity of the design. Thinking about the cur-

rent flow usage to the desired flow usage new design propositions were created and then evaluated by their flow opportunities.

handmade iterations

bamboo forest - escape

lawned topography - bodily experience

topography and voids - suspense

39_

summer solstice

winter solstice

shadow study

With the open space of AMP Square being on the south and

west sides of the AMP Tower the

amount of sunlight is decreased by the vast shadow often cast across the site.

43_

Through precedent mirrors

were highlighted as a way of revealing and concealing

what is in front of us. Michel de Broin used mirrors to conceal huge boulders in

the middle of pine forests and

through

doing

so

revealed new perceptions of the surrounding context.

A tree house in sweden was it

mirrored

almost

making

completely

disappear from view. Also Arnaud Lapierre installed a checkered ring of mirrors

in Paris, the repetition of a cubic mirror to break the perception of the place.

By facing mirrors in on themselves

the

external

world can forgotten and a new escape can be forged.

The Fun Theory presents a series of clever design

interventions aimed at influencing behaviour through making

things “fun to do�. Recycling bottles, using the litter bin and Fun Theory - Volkswagen

taking the stairs instead of the escalator should be normal behaviour, these interventions encourage this behaviour.

Aldo Van Eyck - Playscapes

45_

Melbourne’s rolling lawns

Children’s Garden - Royal Botanical Gardens

Creating topographic lawns that

have through many precedents been a favourite place to sit and

lie, as long as the weather is good, engages the user in bod-

ily experience. The Children’s Garden at the Royal Botanical Gardens

Melbourne,

captivate

children and adults alike with its

rolling lawns, bamboo forests and many other fantasy like spaces.

perspective section of design iteration

By enclosing space a suspense

is created, instilling the user with emotions which can vary from

person to person, such as curiosity, excitement or possibly fear.

Parc de Pedra Tosca - RCR Architects

Richard Serra sculptures

49_

The world of business has changed in

most aspects since the inception of the

forecourt, increased flexibility and diversity in the workforce, a need to appear

environmentally conscious and a more subtle way to communicate power. Be-

cause of the Internet and the information technology boom people have lost their

naïve trust (to an extent) of big business and no longer recognise the philanthropic

reet

st urke

gestures of providing open public space

bo

forecourts but see it merely as a part of

ams stre et

et

weekend and for the primary function of

stre

people. Programs could exist at night,

rch

es could function on many levels for many

chu

fore entering the workplace. These spac-

willi

the streetscape or a space to traverse be-

office workers. The implementation of non-controlling forms and the creation of

c

s ollin

et

stre

follies could evoke a child like excitement

little

of being childlike to bring a richness to

Project A design iteration

that could enliven the space. The notion adult life is not a new one, a critic once commented to Picasso “ a child could’ve

painted that” to which he responded it took me my whole life to learn how to paint like a child. Picasso’s comment taps into the adult desire to regain the lack of

self-consciousness and to able to live between the two worlds of reality and imagination simultaneously. Landscapes can

provide this ‘bridge to terabithia’ and an engagement with the creative inner self could help people function to a greater

level in other aspects of business. Transprogramming the forecourts could make

them richly layered spaces. On top of the usual way of engaging with these typologies, many more programs could be activated by the redesigning of these spaces.

A

Sectional diagram of the southern al-

leyway exploring the mirrored courtyard

of Acer palmatum Sango Kaku, creating

an infinite forest. Also the dome of tropical plants to show an obvious dramatic change in humidity, temperature and smell.

A

B

Sectional exploration of the western alleyway showing the tussock grass mirrored walls and how the entire site is dwarfed by the AMP building.

B

domes and the slated back of the

The Acer palmatum Sango Kaku, called the Coral

Bark Japanese Maple is a species of woody plant native to Japan, North Korea, South Korea, China, eastern Mongolia, and southeast Russia. Many different cultivars of this maple have been created and they are grown worldwide for their attractive leaf

shapes and colours. During autumn the leaves on the

Coral Bark tree turn a vibrant red before shedding

but the most unusual characteristic of this tree is that

during winter the bark of the tree turns bright red until it is in full leaf well into spring, giving this tree

vivid colour all year round and having very unique seasonal difference.

59_

_1. _1. _12.

Multiple sectional study of western side of square.

_12.

61_

_12. _1.

Multiple

sectional

study

southern side of square.

of

_12.

63_

hipDisk - Danielle Wilde

MineCraft - Mojang

Becoming attuned to the kinetic possibilities

of the human body is usually thought of as the

realm of actors, dancers, athletes and physical therapists. But how a body moves through space is also the concern of architects and land-

scape architects as they design and shape the built environment. Danielle Wilde’s hipDisk is

designed to inspire people to swing their hips and explore and extend the full range of move-

ment available to them through a simultaneous, interdependent exploration of sound. In creating

hipDisk, Danielle’s interest was to move beyond limb and digit triggered switches and explore full body movement. The resulting body instrument interconnects choreography and composition in

a fundamental way, and hopefully opens up new areas of exploration. To translate this into my de-

sign I took from precedent topography to create engagement with the ground plane in a way that

requires more body core participation to encourage kinetic possibilities.

A design technique I’ve engaged in to attempt to

activate the forecourts is researching landscape typologies from precedents and reinventing them in a way to encourage the users of the space to

engage or explore in a non linear fashion. Allow-

ing them to acquire the space as their own and make a place to be present.

Another technique is exploring how gaming could

be viewed as a design tool, without the physical

constraints of the material world amazing things

can be achieved. Over the summer I constructed a city in Minecraft this lack of constraint could

be seen as an incubator for new innovation that can then be tested and honed in the context of the real world and its parameters and limitations

whilst still retaining the excitement of the gaming world. There is even the possibility of a gaming

transplant, a direct physical outcome of a gaming aesthetic, a 3D print. A comparison could be

drawn to the movement of the picturesque where

designers strived to manipulate the environment to be composed or framed in the same way you would construct a landscape painting to be the most intriguing, beguiling and alluring.

65_

People have always had a fascination with the bizarre / unusual fear but usually only if framed in a benign way. The carnival / circus is a great

example of a safe way to explore the darker oddities and offer a device to enter an alternate reality as well as an opportunity to flirt with fear.

When we see our distorted reflections in the magic mirrors we are engaging

the part of the brain that is still in touch with the child like awe of everyday

events. The magic mirror is a metaphor for the devices I want to use to enliven the landscapes of forecourts.

The adult control, and brain dominated way of interacting with space is difficult to overcome, but a technique which allows cracks in the veneer is to de-privilege sight and start to engage the body. Just as most kids will instinctively make themselves dizzy to feel a different way of being

through the body, most adults still crave this alternate state, though alcohol is often the preferred method. Of course there are healthier ways to achieve this altered state and engage with abandonment, and it could be argued

that it is crucial for office workers who perform repetitive tasks in indoor environments in a sedentary fashion for long hours to use there bodies in healthy and engaging ways.

Multiple sectional one point perspective of western side of square.

67_

Multiple sectional one point perspective of southern side of square.

Medical studies have demonstrated the important effect of having living things around us, studies

have consistently shown that patients recovering in hospital with a view of a tree recover better than those with a view of a brick wall, this may seem like common sense but unless this starts to translate to a greening of our urban landscapes it seems to be falling on deaf ears.

In conclusion the opportunities for forecourts to become richly engaging spaces is immense, with

the implementation of variable topography, introducing the element of surprise, providing a multispace use that allows some to be relaxing whilst others play.

69_

1800

aboriginal land management to hoddle grid

1837 hoddle grid

1850

victorian gold boom architecture

1885 St James

1900

2000

birth of the sky scraper

rework of existing architecture

1969 AMP square

71_

overlaying historic, present & future site design

hoddle rectilinear

geometric paving

site specific surface iteration

smoker

out of wind out of walkway

mobile talker

out of wind open area for wandering

sitter

seated area view of other people

quite reflection

seated area 1 person secluded area

one on one

seated area 2 people somewhat secluded

meeting

seated area 3 - 10 people able to hear

horizontal placement

rectilinear pathways

diagonal opportunities

diagonal tessellation

random operation

s

diagonal occupation

vertical movement

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