site analysis union lawn history / action / climate / movement
penny grigor – action / panoramas sherry te - movement megane ah-yu - history ho pak ho justin - movement
history the union lawn (also known as the concrete lawn) was originally the site of ornamental lake, which was filled in due to the space limitations. the site was known for its indigenous and non indigenous’ people significance. fiona johnson and jillian walliss (reconciling history: inserting an indigenous space into the university of melbourne campus, ) suggested the histories of events that explains in this space from the campus tour and the official history of the built environment fails to acknowledge the university as a place of debate of student life.
today, the union lawn, also known as the concrete lawn is known as a major gathering place. the site is surrounded by the redmond barry building, the melbourne school of design, the raymond priestly building, the union house and the baldwin spencer building. three buildings known as redmond barry building, the raymond priestly building and the union house still remains today from the 1985’s.
1938 map
zoology shed
union house
the lake
1985 map
union house
raymond priestly building
union lawn/ concrete lawn
zoology
redmond barry building architecture building
2016 map
raymond priestly building
an overlay of the 1985 map onto the 1938 map showing site improvement zoology redmond barry building
union house
union lawn/ concrete lawn
raymond priestly building
architecture building
LEGEND: highlight of buildings that still remains today from the 1938 map
old commerce
an overlay of buildings improvement in 1985, that has been constructed. union lawn/ concrete lawn has been constructed on the lake area
an overlay of the 2016 map onto the 1938 map showing site improvement baldwin spencer
redmond barry building union house union lawn/ concrete lawn melbourne school of design raymond priestley building
legend: the highlight of building that still remains today from the 1938 map an overlay of buildings improvement in 2016, that has been constructed. union lawn/ concrete lawn
action / intensity each dot represents a person
blue - walking / red - waiting / green - eating + drinking / yellow - socialising
9 am
3 pm
11 am
5 pm
1 pm
7 pm
action / intensity + the site is mainly used as a thoroughfare and as a rest area. the south grassy area is barely used, except as an area to wait for others. the north-east corner gets very congested during peak times, due to the cafĂŠ and seating creating traffic.
+ the majority of non-pedestrian use is in the north-west corner. workers from union house use that path to transport trolleys and rubbish through raymond priestley.
action / use
+ on wednesdays, the markets contribute to quite a lot of the foot traffic through the area, as many people who are walking through are also shopping. the cafÊ (standing room) is a central part of the usage of concrete lawn. when it’s shut, the main use of the site becomes as a pathway between buildings.
panoramas
9 am
11 am
1 pm
3 pm
5 pm
7 pm
climate / sun + shade
climate / heat