chaos
/ calm
‘an urban Oasis’
Oliver Maclean Univeristy of Sydney
for BDES3026 Assignment 4B Portfolio
I would like to acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which this design process took place, the Cadigal people of the Eora Nation. I pay respects to their elders past, present and emerging. Always was, always will be.
contents Experience of Water
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Site Analysis
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Journey Through Site Fragment Float Jump Main Pool Waterfront
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Technical Under Load
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Model
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Precedents
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Experience of water Poetic beginnings
My proposal centres around the experience of water task completed at the beginning of semester. Specifically, the experience a wave on the body. As the wave crashes over you, there is chaos. The wave drags you into its control. It invites you through. It forces you through. Then it smashes. It consumed you, as you consume it. There is no escape. You exist in chaos. Under the water, there is calm. You are being tumbled around. You have no control. But it is freeing. If you dove, you control this moment. If not, you release control. Either way you are free. Free from yourself. Detatched As you emerge, there is calm. There is peace. You have conquered the chaos, and now reap the rewards. You are now truly free - freed. You regain control. You regain you. You may look to the horizon. You are present. You now exist in a space between moments. Between moments of chaos. Between the rough. Between consumption. You exist in calm
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Chaos, as I see it, has two forms. The difference? Control. When you lack control of the chaos life is hard. You are pulled by a riptide. You follow the flow. You fail. Living in the chaos without control is an everyday experience for many. Grinding through the rat-race of modernity. Being pushed and pulled from one task to the next, without time alone. Without time away. However, through this chaotic lack of control, life occurs. And life is good. Life has suprises and excitement. It may be argued that we never have control of our life. That everything is predetermined. That it is simply physics. However true this is, there can still be the illusion of control. When you have control of the chaos life is good. You are riding the wave. You push forward. You succeed. Living in and controlling the chaos is a particularly juvenille experience. That is to say that it is lost with age. The naivity of youth detatches you from the worries of being in the chaos. Chaos here is exciting and inviting.
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Similarly calm may be disected into two forms. One with, and one without, control. Calm without control is abstract. You become dissassociated. This, I believe, is when you may connect to other realms. To other lives. To the heavens. We, people, cannot choose when we are able to experience afterlife. It is decided for us, and thus we have no control. To some this lack of control is chaotic. If this is you, you are doomed to a life of chaos. However, if you allow yourself to lack control, calm may ensue. Calm with control too is abstract. We do not experience it here. We only experience it once we have been chosen. It is the conection to other realms. To other lives. To the heavens. As opposed to the aforementioned state, calm with control is a process. A process which once achieved continues for eternity. Ironically it cannot be escaped. But that is the thing with control - who wants to give it up?
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Site analysis understanding pirrama
harsh west facade control daylight
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ideal picnic region maintain open access, activate the area
open circulation funnel movement through the scheme
harbour views frame with architecture
level changes utilise to deliniate spaces and zones
swimmable harbour take inspiratoin from Clover Moore’s plan
Pirrama Park presents many challenges and opportunities for intervention. In particular the well designed and manicured landscape scheme by Hill Thalis does not immidiately invite a massive and intrusive pool to it. However through careful analysis of the site’s other challenges, opportunities begin to present themselves. The large western facade, for example, requires an intense controlling of daylight. Or, as I have seen, it presents an opportunity for a self contained space. Though this will limit the harbour views from inside, it then mandates circulation outside of and around the self contained area. This external circulation then in turn affords connection to Clover Moore’s swimmable harbour plan. My scheme aims to ‘join the dots’ between the above site analyses.
1:1000 massing axonometric from the north west
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Journey Through Site from chaos to calm
fragment the wave crashing
The fragment is Chaos sans control. It is the only entrypoint to the scheme. It mandates movement through it. However, the movement is also invited. Like Michael Brill’s Spike Field, the deliberately aggressive form is intriguing to people. Instead of being warded off, people choose to explore. We are a naturally inquisitive creature. As such we feel a need to venture through the fragment. As well as being the only entrypoint to the scheme, the fragment also blocks free passageway along the western broadwalk. If someone wants to explore the edge, to experience the calm, they must first experience the chaos. You cannot be teleported to behind the wave. You must journey through it. The form of the fragment is derived from the idea of a wave crashing over you. At its extents, it reaches nearly 20 meters in the sky - dwarfing the individual. It then slopes downwards, sucking you in. At the centre it is still a grand 7.5 meters tall, but with the illusion of intimacy. It has taken control.
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External render through the fragment 19
float diving under
Float is a senory deprivation experience. It is calm without control. Its entry is in the center of the chaotic fragment. It mimics the feeling of being controlled by the wave under water - where you are no longer in control of your body. It aims to dissassociate people from their everyday lives, from the rat-race. The space is intentionally dimly lit. The main source of light comes from beneath the water of the salinated pool. The space too is tight, in order to create contrast from the monumental fragment. The tightness also creates a calming intimacy. As you enter the space you are greeted at the front desk before moving to one of the screened showers. Here you wash off the worries of the everyday before descending into the float. The journey down the steps is at first rhymatic and repetitive. Then it is interrupted. The step disance increases as you touch the water. Interruption is the reminder that you are without control. It makes you aware. It allows you to give up control. It allows to calm.
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internal render in the float 23
1:100 plan highlighting the float 24
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1:100 Long section through the float
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JUMP harness the chaos
The jump is the juvenille experience of controlling the chaos. It present itself as an opportunity for chaos control - it is not necessitated. Jumping off the ledge into the harbour is freeing. Jumping off the ledge is exillerating. Hitting the water is abrupt and sharp. It leaves a sting. But you want to go again. The process is repetitive, continuous, cyclical. When you are in the chaos, and in control, you want more. Like I said... who would give up control? The activity is inspired by the Vaucluse jump rock. A place where kids explore. The three escallating entryways alow for a multiplicity of uses. They are places to sunbathe. Places to slide. Places to run. At the edge are two storeys. One public, one private. Both open to occupation. They are places which offer themselves to be controlled. The siting of this intervention is also heavily inspired by the Vaucluse jump rock’s picturesque backdrop. There it is the picturesque sdney skyline. Here it is Pyrmont, Balmain and the Anzac bridge.
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external render at the jump 29
main pool emerging above
The main pool is calm with control. It is the other realm. Inside, you are in control. The main pool is a uniquely self contained space. It is removed from the outside. It does not bother with the everyday. The translucent polycarbonate windows offer no ledgible views to the outside - only light. When in the pool hall, only the skylights connect to the outside. Even so, below the skylights is a fabric louvre system. This system disperses light throughout the space. It removes any intesnity from the everyday. They also absorb some of the chaotic sound usually associated with a public pool. The repeated portal frames offer a calming regularity. The structure here is restrained. It aims to frame the space, the calm. Not distract from it. Also included in the main pool enclosure, on the upper floor, is a yoga studio and sauna. These programs are for those people who choose to control the calm in their lives. Those people who make time.
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internal render in the main pool 33
1:200 plan ground floor of the main pool 34
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1:200 plan upper floor of the main pool
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1:100 long section through the main pool looking west
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1:100 short section through the main pool looking south
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cafe & waterfront Past the waves
The edge of the building is calm. It is the emegence from the waves. It exists between moment of chaos. Between the fragment and the harbour. It is the conquered chaos. The siting of the building as a whole, to the south of Hill Thalis’ park edge, allows for the northern grassland to be maintained. This was an important note from my site analysis. I observed the park edge to be a popular space of human occupation. People inhabit the edges, as such they must be designed to accomodate said occupation. The inclusion of the cafe allows for an activation of this parkland. It brings a life which previously was missed. The building’s footprint steps down towards the waterfront, like the many level changes in the original scheme. These level changes offer places to sit, to stand, to drink, to eat, to picnic. To exist. They are places of interaction. They also elevate the designed clam spaces away from the everyday. Away from circulation. Away from the chaos.
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1:500 AXONOMETRIC highlighting the waterfront interaction
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external render through the circulation passageway 44
external render back to the cafe and structure 45
1:250 plan of the cafe and park edge
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1:250 Western elevation from the waterfront
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Technical structure & constrcution
Structure in support of architecture Structure plays a key role in creating the calm and chaotic spcaes of the scheme. The external expression of the glulam portal frames for instance dwarfs the individual’s scale. But, by being externally expressed the materiality is put on display. The light wood softens the grand scale of the scheme as a whole. The frames are grounded as a reference to the original Hill Thalis park. There level changes, grounded in structure, are able to deliniate zones of occupation. The restrained form of the building is another claming aspect. There is no expression of vibrant chaotic forms. Additonally, the calm spaces are highly regular. The portals repeat at 5 meter intervals until being interrupted by the sloping and grand chaos. It is the contrast between the regular and irregular that supports chaos vs calm intent.
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External
Grounded
REstrained
Regular & irregular
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layers of strucutre
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glass skylight roof
warm flat roof [with acoustic plywood ceiling panels]
skylight shading system [roman roller blinds]
lysaght imperial cladding
cross bracing members [300mm square glulam timber] glulam portal frames [2000 x 500mm, with internal drain pipe and mech system ] plywood clad stud wall [with polycarbonate panel inserts] recycled timber battens [supported on a clip-lock]
exploded axonometric
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construction detail
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1:50 skylight detail
1:50 portal frame plan detail
glass skylight roof [see detail] skylight shading system [2000 x 5000 mm span, roman roller blinds, as per supplier’s instructions] recycled timber battens [30 x 30 mm, oiled fixed with clip lock] polycarbonate panel inserts [45 mm, fixed with clip lock, air cavity between]
zincalume box gutter [hollowed out of of the glulam portal frame]
cross bracing members [300mm square glulam timber, pin joint base into welded steel flange]
prefabricated window ceasment [at an angle of 18°, bolted to the top of glulam frame]
glulam portal frames [2000 x 500mm, with internal drain pipe and mech system ]
double layer glass skylight [6 mm thick internally, 4.5 mm externally with an 11 mm air cavity, fixed in window ceasement, sealant across exterior face]
plywood cladding [on heavily insulated stud wall, 430 mm deep]
1:50 Wall detail
seating area [with in built ventillation system, to engineers specification]
skylight shading system [four blinds along each section of the system]
drainage and service system [built into glulam portal frame, carrying water, lighting, and air]
zincalume flashing [custom bent]
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Solar Panel array 120 kWp roof mounted system reduces heat gain
Reduced water usage through 5-star rated toilets and showers
Rainwater collection and storage system on site. Drains off the roof across the portal frames and is transported to BOH. Supplying pool water
Air tight envelope to minimise heat loss in the heavily regulated pool environment
FSC certified glulam portal frames. Recycled clip-lock battens, easy to replace if excessive weathering occurs
Rainwater collection is highly important in the scheme. At the ridge-line of each portal frame is a built in box gutter. The box gutters then lead to down pipes within each frame. This water is then utilised throughout many programs in the pool complex - reducing the demand on mains water, decreasing the building’s ecological footprint.
ESD PRINCIPLES long section, not to scale 56
Use of LED lighting only when daylight is inadequate. Operated using dayight sensors and timers to reduce operational energy
Heat pump recovery system with mixing unit for recirculation of expensive warm air
Rolling skylight blind system allows for regulation of both luminosity and heat gain from the sun. The system is operable and adaptable
A compact volume is created around the pool area, minimising the area needed to be heated, reducing the energy usage
Polycarbonate wall panels are sheilded by timber battens to reduce the greenhouse effect from the west
Daylight control is anther important element of the proposal - especially in the main pool hall. Here the operable roman roller blinds allow for control of the sun. Polycarbonate sheets also allow for more daylight to enter the space, whilst maintaining the self-contained poetics. However, when natural light is not enough, LED lighting is avaible, and is powered in part by the building’s solar panel array.
esd principles short section, not to scale 57
loadpath diagrams structure under stress
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Under a vertical point load the portal frame will deflect downwards, undergoing a positive bending moment. This bending moment will then be carried across the rigid joints of the frame, mobilising the columns in compression. At the circulation passsageway, to the east of the main structure, a negative bending moment will occur, and the column will go into tension as the frame attempts to lift itself from the ground.
loadpath diagram under vertical stress 60
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A horizontal point load on the structure will initally be picked up by the shifted portal frames to the north. Compression will then be carried along the building, through lintels and the plywood wall panels, until it reaches an approriate horizontal bracing bay. At this point the compressive force will be redirected to the earth, where it will be resisted. Along the East/West axis horizontal forces will simply be resisted by the rigidty of the portal frame.
loadpath diagram under horizontal stress 61
model images
Massing and conceptual models 1:200 jump, 1:500 final massed, & conceptual 64
1:200 model submitted for assessment 4A 65
Precedents
Readleaf Beach Double Bay Freeman’s School Pool Hawkins\Brown, 2017
Freeman’s School Pool Hawkins\Brown, 2017
Swimming pool in Piaseczno P2PA, 2022 [competition]
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Therme Vals Peter Zumthor, 1996
Swimming Center In Barbate EDDEA, 2011
Jump Rock Vaucluse
Faaborg Harbor Bath JDS + URBAN AGENCY + CREO, ARKITEKTER 2014
Chand Baori Abhaneri, c. 900
Spike Field Michael Brill, 1992
Integrated Comprehensive School bez+kock architekten, 2021
Dresden’s Military History Museum Studio Libeskind, 2011
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