The Architecture of Public Dichotomies
BOOK 03
The ordinary and the sublime The commercial and the public The public individual and public mass Split dichotomies become a sinuous slope. A public space that is social and a public space that is intimate. Open and exposed yet sheltered and whole. A chaotic landscape of possibilities, a platform for exercising democratic free will.
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“Pass through the zone of realism, and the everyday and the banal become strange again…” - Haruki Murakami
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Zurich House
HSBC House
Queen Street Dilworth Building Mecure Building
AMP Centre Downtown Shopping Centre
PWC Tower
Britomart Transport Centre Endeans Building
Ferry Building
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A Tall y of the Vehi cles Driv ing Und er neat h
“Where are you going with all that gear?”
“Manukau.”
The Three School Girls with Low Str ung Backpacks “快一点!”
Another Old Man Eating Sushi “...” *the old man finished his six pack sushi, wiped his mouth and left*
An Old Man with a McD Sundae “...”
The Girls from Last Night “So? Did he text back?” A lazy shrug of the shoulders. The conversation had ended.
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1. How do I exercise my role as public member of a democratic society? 2. How can architecture facilitate this free will?
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06
S
h
i
f
t
the current office towers to the Custom Street side of the site...
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Lift
Lift
Lift
Lift the towers off the ground by 5 metres at a plane that is reflective of the sloped topography...
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C V
Replicate the same topographical slope...
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apeDrape Dr pe
Dr a
Drape
it
over
the
towers...
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Extract
Extract a quadrant courtyard...
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Lift up one peeping corner...
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The rally point wave and steps hark back to historically significant public masses hosted upon the steps of such places as the Lincoln memorial or the New York Library, takes this typology and forms a platform for social public possibilities in our very own Auckland city. This zone for the public affords opportunities for public gatherings, concerts, speeches and general public socialising. The lifted wave provides shade yet opens enough for general sunlight. The underbelly of the wave providing a surface for the projection of potential activities that unfolds on site. Here in this space, soak in the rally cries, join the voices of the mass, embrace the emanating sweat from the bodies pressed close to yours. Public in the mass. You in the mass. The mass as public.
The Rally Point wave and steps
The platform in-between hosts the liminal zone of public dissonance. It is upon this platform in which one may observe the various forms of public expressions of freewill.
The Platform in-between
Walk beyond the platform of the rally point steps and you will find yourself looking across the plains of a quadrant shaped courtyard. The courtyard is defined by a grid of columns spaces out 4 metres from one another. Amongst the columns, an assortment of freestanding curved walls, single chaired eating desks, couple seats, even water faucets for drinking. Flitting between the columns delivery bikes, their soft ringing bells signalling an approaching delivery. A courtyard is a more intimate typology of public architecture and in this way, the courtyard quadrant becomes the landscape for individual public possibilities. Here, express your own intimate desires, to read alone, to eat alone, to take a brief nap, to drink, to quietly gossip with a friend, to play. Public in the individual. You are that individual. The individual in the public.
The Courtyard quadrant
A bike bell rings. Sweetly. The sound of gently water flowing. Bubbly. Murmurs of gossiping ladies, muted munching of solo eaters, deep flowing concentration emanating from the walls holding the bodies of the solitary readers. Cacophony of individual sounds. Blending into one. Harmony.
The Sounds of the courtyard quadrant
The Section of united waves
The Aerial View from the eyes of a bird
Lower Customs Albert Street Street
Queen Street
Quay Street