Architecture is a negotiation of politics, it is the physical manifestation of social, economic and historic constraints. This project was born from an exploration of the satirical political and the ways in which it can generate an architectural response. Rather than set limitations, the politics (and the humour) became the drivers for design; Len Brown’s affair shaped his 2016 re-erection campaign towards Chinese residents in the city, Zurich building’s unfortunate affliction - Plethora of Men Syndrome (or PMS) - identified a need for more diversity in the CBD, Gerry Brownlee’s heavy feet explained his dragging them so much over plans for the city rail link, climate change predictions generated ideas of a protective berm on Quay Street (maintained by council) and a walk-able breakwall, and Kim Dotcom’s paranoia presented ideas of the architecture of surveillance. Queen Elizabeth II Square is a site surrounded by contention, but despite acting as a knuckle of the city - the bending point between successful urban spaces - it is tired, windswept and rough at the edges. The program of a University of Auckland campus would see an influx of women and a greater variety of ethnicities take a more prominent stance in an otherwise Caucasian Male arena. More than just reactionary feminism, as a business model the university is economically viable - it is product we continue to buy and it seems logical to have dynamic and innovative campuses. I propose an Arts and Language school, reacting not only to the substandard facilities currently housing the Arts Faculty but also to the increase in English language schools in the CBD and the economic success these have had. The Tower of Babble is a 200m tall tower that would make education a centre-point of the city and its skyline. Challenging the typical hierarchy of tertiary architecture, program is distributed throughout the tower on a continuously ramping floor plate - which could theoretically continue to grow as required (cf the Tower of Babel). Supplemented by a new public square, underground and low-rise above-ground retail and a market lane the site would become the heart of the city, constantly moving and changing. The architectural language of the tower would “spread” to other office towers, contaminating the private with public spaces and creating veins of diversity that would flow around the city. Student accommodation ramping in conjunction with the education program would activate the building and the site surrounding 24hours a day and justify the additional retail and commercial lots. The Tower of Babble and its supporting interventions would see Auckland’s waterfront revitalised. It would flood the city with students and act as a destination instead of just a thoroughfare. Born from humour and satire it would be a dynamic and much needed addition to Auckland’s everchanging architectural landscape.
The Tower of Babble as an “Injection of Diversity� into the city is supported by a series of interventions including a marine loop, a berm running the length of Quay Street and the activation of event spaces around the city.
1. Diagonal connection between Queen Street and the waterfront 2. Mirrored diagonal and clear access way from the ferry terminal and cruise ships. 3. Continuation of Galway Street with associated market space. 4. Through way in line with Takutai Square alleyway, terminates at the tower and public square.
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5. Grass areas in front of tower, mirror the location of Takutai Square.
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6. Path of the proposed city rail tunnels. 7. Tower in the Southwest corner of the site. Structure would avoid the rail tunnels and would avoid shading the public space.
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8. Public square shifted West in response to the shading of the site by HSBC. 9. Terraced seating over market space making the public square an ideal hub for performance and events.
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10. Low rise retail surrounding the site, providing wind shelter without significantly compromising sun penetration. 11. Low rise retail as an addition to the East wing of the site, with improved bus shelter. 12. Retail added to Southeast corner of the site to replace currently undesirable public space. This cuts in at the front to encourage thoroughfare into the square.
Masterplan @ 1:2000
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The tower consists of two separate continuous ramps, one incorporating the university based program, and the other featuring student residences. While these ramps are visually connected, they never meet, creating a unique dialogue between education and accommodation.
Babble Despite being able to see each other at all times, little do they know Kim and Gerry will never catch each other, no matter how far they run. (Though I can’t imagine either of them running very far)
The circulation ramp that runs internally within the program is not only wide enough for two wheelchairs to pass each other but also allows plenty of room for Gerry Brownlee to drag his heavy feet (namely over public transport issues and the city rail link).
The shape of the internal circulation ramp also allows for the classic meandering “txt and walk” which usually involves aimless veering in multiple directions and near misses of columns, steps, furniture and people. Given the continuous nature of the ramp you could, theoretically, ascend the entire building without looking up once.
Normal Person
Gerry Brownlee
The nature of the ramp can facilitate a disestablishment of typical university hierarchy, which sees staff above and students below. This scheme proposes a distribution of program throughout the entire building, with key subjects associated to a colour coded quadrant. While the distribution of program would respond to sunlight demands and hence remain fairly standard, a twisting of the subject quadrants would see a change of allocation on each floor.
Proposing a university campus for a key commercial site in the CBD was partly founded on the idea of injecting diversity into the city centre. The concept was to “contaminate” the city with demographics that would otherwise exist in small numbers. Rather than a literal contamination of built form as seen in the diagram above, a central atrium penetrating the mesh building facade became a way to reflect this notion while also offering a pragmatic response to daylight penetration. The language of these “intrusions” can easily be applied to buildings on the site and around the city, explicitly forcing a public thoroughfare through private space.
Expressing the language of the tower on buildings around the city makes it clear what spaces are publically accessible.
The location of the intrusions around the building responds to the sun path throughout the day and rise and set locations throughout the year. The intrusions can contaminate between one and four floors, affecting the floor plates and creating sun soaked balconies.
A stainless steel mesh facade would be tied back to a curtain wall system acting as a sun shade and providing a point of differentiation from other buildings around the city. The mesh would be effectively transparent from the inside and close to opaque from the outside. This would highlight the intrusions in the facade, with the mesh “sucking” into these forms. The transparency of the mesh would be variable and based on the daylight requirements of internal program.
The intrusions on the South side of the building would contain lecture theatres and program that does not require daylight.
At ground level the building would “hug” the site with arm-like forms. These would house retail, hospitality and commercial spaces, effectively replacing what was there before. Low rise retail around the site would provide shelter from the wind without increasing shading levels.
Where an intrusion occurs in the building a steel lattice structure would create the form and provide additional strength. Where the intrusions contain program this lattice structure would be clad on both sides to create a solid.
The structure of the building consists of a 10x10m column spacing with 900mm diameter columns at the base and exposed steel beams supporting the ramps and floors. The atrium and intrusions are placed to fit around with this structure, in order to compromise it as little as possible.
The ramp itself would act as a brace on every floor, providing the necessary stability in the event of an earthquake. The tower is symmetrical on both axes and would be separated from its “arms” by a seismic joint. The gantries connecting the tower to HSBC and Zurich House would be floating, allowing independent movement.
Below ground 200mm holes would be dug to 30 metres deep, angling away from the corners of the building. A steel rod would be inserted, the hole filled with grout and then the rod cranked to anchor the building to the ground. This would avoid the tunnel infrastucture at 43m below ground.
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Ground Plan @ 1:500 1. University Tower Ground Ramp 2. Grass Area 3. Public Square 4. Terraced steps 5. Market Lane with retail/hospitality on the fringes of HSBC 6. Public thoroughfare through HSBC to the waterfront 7. Diagonal connection to waterfront straddled by retail/hospitality 8. Low rise retail 9. Low rise retail and improved bus shelter 10. Low rise retail angled in from street to encourage thoroughfare
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University Tower Ground Ramp @ 1:200 1. Square entrance 2. Entrance from underground retail that connects to Britomart train station 3. Main building reception 4. Cafe 5. Outdoor stairs to second floor 6. Large lecture theatre 7. Exhibition space 8. Computer lab 9. Albert Street entrance 10. Private entrance for student residents 11. Street front retail 12. Student study space with large bifolds 13. Internal circulation ramp 14. Circulation cores 15. Private circulation core for student accommodation
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First Floor University Ramp (9m above square level) @1:500 1. University Tower First Floor Ramp 2. Outdoor usable roof space 3. Gantry connecting Tower to Library 4. Retail Gantry 5. Library Roof Garden 6. Library Reception 7. Double height Library occupying floors three and four of HSBC 8. Public Gallery 9. Steps from terraces to Gallery 10. University club space occupying a corner of Zurich building
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First Floor Education Ramp @ 1:200 1. Education ramp start 2. Computer Lab with voids to below 3. Social Space 4. Gantry to Library 5. Student Learning Services 6. Counselling Services 7. Social Balcony 8. Careers services 9. IT Centre 10. Gantry to Zurich club space 11. Study space with voids to below 12. Public toilets 13. University Bookshop 14. Purple subject quadrant reception 15. Yellow subject quadrant reception 16. Orange subject quadrant reception 17. Red subject quadrant reception
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Second Floor Education Ramp 1. Social Space 2. Staff Offices 3. Class room 4. Quiet Computer Lab with voids to below 5. Staff Offices and Class rooms 6. Social Balcony 7. Class room 8. Post Graduate room 9. Quiet Study space with voids to below 10. Large meeting room 11. Bathrooms 12. Lecture theatre intrusion 13. Staff Room 14. Ramp balcony seating
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First Floor Accommodation Ramp 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
Communal Living Room Single Rooms Communal Kitchen and Dining Large Apartments Gym Communal Bathrooms Movie Room Medium size apartments
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In order to deal with the size of the tower, the program would need to be modular and repeatable, with only minor adaptations needed to respond to the changing floor plates. These spaces have been arranged and designed in response to satirical (and actual) political events affecting Aucklanders, university students and the site.
Ngati Whatua Staffrooms
Zuckerberg Classrooms
Designed for having sex with your secret lover, these offices include a custom sized bookshelf, hiding room under the desk and a desk just long enough for lying on. These rooms can be stretched (for taller lovers).
Staggered desks in classrooms of varying size provide the perfect vantage point for watching fellow students browse their facebook homepage without the guilt of stalking from home.
Selfie Sofa and Snapchat Seat
A sofa that dips in the middle, providing the ideal angle for leaning in for a selfie. Such a selfie can act as an excellent media distraction when passing controversial bills.
A seat designed for friends who like to snapchat each other instead of actually talking.
Post Graduate Common Rooms Public and Communal Bathrooms
The toilet stalls are just the right size to support a friend while they’re throwing up, whether from alcohol poisoning, finding out about their Novopay payments or a literal expression of a career down the toilet.
The disabled stalls provide plenty of room to open your coat full of synthetic cannabis for potential buyers.
Postgraduate study and common rooms feature a small kitchenette and couches just big enough to sleep on for those postgraduate students who can’t afford their rent after losing their allowance. The couches are primed to be out of view of the security but there is also a human size closet included for good measure.
Colin Craig fits comfortably in his closet.
The Lecture Theatres feature in the Southern intrusions, making use of the slope. These theatres are transparent to the street and the surrounding buildings, putting the students on display.
One way mirrors into the lecture theatres take precedence from the “Panopticon,” (or Panopticom). While you can’t see out, anyone can see in, so you never know if someone is watching you focus or otherwise.
1:100 Residential Plans, Small, Large, Medium
1:1000 Queen Street Elevation
1:1000 Quay Street Elevation
1:1000 Albert Street Elevation
1:1000 Customs Street Elevation
1:500 Long Section
1:500 Short Section
Steel frame Bracket connection to mesh
Steel mesh Steel tie connecting mesh frame and mullion Structural mullion
Curtain Glazing
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View of the public square and tower entrance
View from the Albert Street and Customs Street corner entrance
Looking out over the usable roof and public square from the first floor of the education ramp
Interior view of ramps and central atrium
And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.