MACQUARIE POINT MASTER PLAN
POST - M Arch Studio 14 Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning The University of Melbourne
CONTENT
01-Introduction 02-Analysis 03-Master Plans 04-Fine Grain 05-Pavilions 06- Northern Cenotaph Zone
POST Master plan for the Post-Millenneal Generation This studio explores the youth’s expectations of architecture and what hybrid typologies and interventions that are integrated with technology can offer them. The site is within an existing industrial area of Macquarie Point, Hobart, a largely reclaimed concrete apron that sits on the edge of River Derwent. Redevelopment plans are currently being discussed by the Tasmanian Government and local community. As a design studio, the group did extensive research of Macquarie Point both remotely and on site; producing a series of progressive master plans. The research encompassed atmospheric, geographical and topographical, contextual programs, history and identity. Within the final master plan, each group member identified and issues and potential for individual interventions that would form their final design project for the design studio.
01-Introduction
We would like to take this opportunity to thank Catherine Duggan and Aaron Roberts for their guidance, knowledge, patience and most of all, the conception of this stimulating design studio.
Phillip Culpan William Priestley Laura Ng Yien Hsiu Niu
Analysis
Analysis Disconnected from its surrounding context; topography, roadways and exisiting built form sever potential relationships to the site’s immediate context. Analysis reveals traces of the activities and histories underlying Macquarie Point’s reclaimed landform. From this analysis, significant elements have been selected for response based on inherent potentials aimed at strengthening Hobart’s future engagement with the site. Opportunity exists to revitalize the site through the integration of historic elements and actively functioning built form to contribute to the formation of a master plan that responds to, and builds upon the site’s existing potential.
Historical Remnants - Timber trussed ‘good’s shed’ structure identified as offering potential as a skeleton for adaptive re-use.
- Queen’s Battery buried within the Queen’s Domain landform offers further opportunity for future adaptation and connectivity.
- Local subculture’s utilisation of the underground rivulet diversion reinforces its future potential for activation and integration with the site.
- The original shoreline marks the site’s departure from a naturally evolving landscape to an reclaimed port, a hidden trace of Hobart’s history.
lord’s house, queens battery, rifle butts rivulet diversion original shoreline goods shed
Built Form Built form at the periphery of the site currently operates autonomously, detached from its immediate context. Opportunity has been identified to create relationships between these existing environments and ‘bleed’ their functions into the site building off the existing urban fabric.
cenotaph arts college cruise terminal
Queen’s Domain The queen’s domain remains disconnected from the site, topography severs its access and activity. Connecting this raised land form to the north is essential for its future integration.
City Connection to Hobart’s CBD to the south west of the site is a vital link to provide through-flow from a major activity hub. Street frontage and permeable access is required to support broader public engagement.
Arts College A faceless edge at the southern interface of the site, devoid of visual and physical permeability. Opportunity exists for the activation of this edge to promote and permeate functioning interrelationships into the space.
Terminal A thriving cruise terminal to the south offers an abundance of activity. Linking this function supports transitory mixed use, promoting vitality.
Proposed Functions Investigations reveal a space ingrained with significant potential to enhance Hobart’s engagement with the site and its surrounding activity. The promotion of a thriving arts and maker culture integrated with university functionality will strengthen the site’s immediate context. An active spine of pavilions with the provision of open terrain will allow equitable, informal public engagement extending from the city through the site. While high density residential and commercial workshop space will extend from surrounding functions supporting a mixed-use ‘lived in’ community.
movement - activity central spine - pavilions fine grain - mixed use
Master Plan
0 YEAR LEGEND PAVILIONS PATHWAYS/PASSAGES DERWENT RIVER SEEDING INTERVENTION
10 YEARS LEGEND PAVILIONS PATHWAYS/PASSAGES DERWENT RIVER FINE GRAIN
25 YEARS LEGEND PAVILIONS PATHWAYS/PASSAGES DERWENT RIVER FINE GRAIN
50 YEARS LEGEND PAVILIONS PATHWAYS/PASSAGES DERWENT RIVER FINE GRAIN MEDIUM GRAIN EXPANSION AND DOCK REACTIVATION FUTURE TECH BUSINESS PAVILIONS
100 YEARS LEGEND PAVILIONS PATHWAYS/PASSAGES DERWENT RIVER FINE GRAIN MEDIUM GRAIN EXTENSION AND PORT REVACTIVATION FUTURE TECH BUSINESS PAVILIONS
Fine Grain
Fine Grain The fine grain is a high density arrangement consisting of a mix of commercial and residential programmatic functions. At Macquarie Point, the fine grain encourages people to both live and work locally. The high density means that frontages vary in sizes (approx. 4m, 6m, 6-8m), as do the building heights (2-3 storeys) which assists with activation of the streetscapes. This density provides a level of intensity and vitality through increased interactions and increased exchange, resulting in a greater economic potential. The fine grain also achieves a level of adaptibility, where over time spaces can be rented or leased and retrofitted to fufil differing needs at a relatively low cost.
Framework Battery Point is an example of a low-density ďŹ ne grain that already exists in the old suburbs of Hobart, where allotment sizes are on average 12m wide. A more dense outcome is achieved at Macquarie Point to encourage
a more lively and intense atmosphere. The 12m allotments of Battery Point are reduced to varying allotments of 4, 6, 8, 10-12m. Yet, a sense of openness is found through courtyards and the Northern Zone of the site.
Program The ďŹ ne grain is comprised of a relatively even spread of the following zones, where each zone is further divided:
- Educational facilities - Tourism + retail - Trade - Maker labs
ďŹ ne grain | program
arts school bridge connection education pavilions good shed trade hall education tourism + retail trade maker-labs
Growth The ďŹ ne grain growth begins from the two main points of access to the site, the south-east and south-west corners. It then develops towards and around the pavilions which are the economic drivers for the consequent
site growth. The highest density of growth is prominent around the Old Goods Shed which supports the initial economy of the site.
fine grain | growth
birth of the fine grain fine grain
2015
Staging The progression of the ďŹ ne grain to medium grain from 0-100 years (2015 - 2115.
2025
2040
ďŹ ne grain | staging 2065
2115
ďŹ ne grain medium grain expansion and dock reactivation
Connectivity A connection to the Arts School on Evans Street acts to enliven the desolate, underutilised area. By opening up the space and connecting it to the ďŹ ne grain via elevated walkways, a dialogue is created between the
Arts School and the creative potential of the site.
ďŹ ne grain | connectivity
commercial housing arts school connection elevated walkways internal / adaptable courtyards goods shed
Courtyards The internal courtyards, referencing Cerda’s original plan for Barcelona, provide relief from the comparitive busy atmosphere of the pavilions and main streets. These internal courtyard spaces provide access to light
and open space which can be utilised for small events and everyday use for the local residents.
Pavilions
The Pavilions A series of pavilions serve as visual and activity landmarks of the development. The pavilions represented the future trades of the master plan and served as public realm for the site. They house experimental concepts and serves as a space for pioneering trades or businesses. The structure is elevated above the surrounding compact fine grain to become visual spectacles and activate the development during the night.
Function & Staging The function of the pavilions is divided into two main categories; educational and supporting services for the maker labs and mixed use fine grain.
10 years
pavilions auditorium UTAS arts school rentable event space retail + f&b pool
others old good shed market projection wall yatch club + restaurant
25 years
Central Spine The pavilions are located along a central spine that represents the original shoreline prior to land reclamation works in the 1880s. The progressive layout brings people from the South West of the site to the waterfront’s edge. The pavilions are to be developed in stages, starting from the ones on the South West.
pavilions old goods shed circulation
Pool Pavilion
Trade Pavilions
Auditorium Pavilions
Derwent River
Fine Grain Workshops
Arts College
Context The pavilion house functions that correspond to their surrounding context to support and create stronger connections to their neighbours.
Adaptability The pavilions cater for various functions according to the seasons. During the summer, there is the pool pavilion and the open air auditorium pavilion. with more open spaces and outdoor decks. During winter, the more enclosed pavilions provide a sheltered space for activities.
Year Zero:Social Seeding Prior to redevelopment works on the site, the location and footings of the pavilions are re-purposed as social seeding interventions to reintroduce social activities to the currently introverted site.
Year 10-25 The pavilions become social hubs for the students of the Arts College and become commercial hub for occupants of the fine grain and tourists arriving at the nearby jetty. The free terrain space under and around the pavilions are free for the public to program.
Night Spectacle During the night, the pavilions act as light beacons that activate the site and provide visual interest visible from the cenotaph and surrounding neighbours.
Year 25-50 As the master plan shifts from the hands-on trade of the maker labs into the technology enabled skilled manufacturing, the pavilions act as technological pioneers to support the changing skill sets. The pavilions become global and technological hubs that cater for the Tasmania and beyond, placing Hobart in the international scene.
Virtual International Offices The offices are technologically enabled spaces for virtual interactions such as holographic conferences that will seamlessly connect Hobart to the world. Manufacturers may provide future clients with virtual previews of their products and carry out complex real-time or remote site simulations to test their prototypes.
North & Cenotaph Area
Cenotaph and North Zone Program Began with the desire to reconnect three disparate, dislocated zones that characterised the north of the site. One the grey concrete of the site’s industrial apron as it wraps around the cenotaph hill. The second the aloof landscaped greenery of the cenotaph hill itself. The third the far-flung but tranquil river views from the site’s northern tip near the regatta grounds. Two passageways are cut into the cenotaph hill in response, one between arpon and cenotaph, the other between cenotaph and waterfront establishing a triangular flow of connection.
RETAINED APRON Part of the northern portion of the apron as the site funnels up past the water treatment plant will remain largely free of program, giving tacit endorsement to informal appropriation.
This comes from the notion of a ‘pristine’ landscape being unrealistic due to contamination. This industrial remnant is retained and opened up as a landscape in its own right. Remnant rail and industrial infrastructure can be appropriated into public events as uses emerge and take hold but the chief goal is to allow the public to reacquaint themselvs with the site, it having largely been a distinctly non-public arena throughout its life.
100 YEAR GARDEN This garden will be the catalyst for the slow reclamation of the north of the site by nature. Contaminant absorbant plants are seeded across the northern apron from the outset of the Master Plan. They are left to slowly establish themselves.
100 YEAR GARDEN The slow, incidentaly growth of plantlife over, under and through the apron will smudge boundares between the industrial and the natural, creating a landscape gradient between the cultivated landscape of the cenotaph and the intensity of the urban activity in the Master Plan’s fine grain precincts to the south.
100 YEAR GARDEN Eventually a vegetated landscape will overcome the previous industrial condition and a ‘natural’ landscape will preside across the northern area of the site. This landscape however will be intrinsically linked and shaped by its industrial past due to its incidental growth. Overgrown remnants of which will still bear testament to the Point’s original purpose
ELEVATION: EAST-WEST AXIS FACING NORTH
PASSAGES ORIENT TO CENOTAPH
DISTANCE BETW EEN SITE AND BRIDGED WATERFRONT GROUND RAISE D TO AXIS - BRIDGE PASSAGE BECOMES U/ CENOTAPH AX IS EXTENDED TO EDGE WATER’S
CENOTAPH PASSAGES Two large axial passages are cut directly through the topography of the hill, aligning with the cenotaph. These direct paths bridge the existing divides between the cenotaph and the site, opening up the green space of the cenotaph to the hill. The primacy of the Cenotaph on the skyline, outlined in Hobart City Council’s Design Guidelines for the area is respected.
NEW INTERFACE TO DERWENT DIVING TOWER/RECREATION/AVIAN NESTING SITE
CENOTAPH HILL - ELEVATION DETAIL
CIRCULAR EMBANKMENT OVER TUNNEL REFERENCES HISTORICAL QUEEN’S BATTERY FORTIFICATIONS BENEATH’ AXIAL PASSAGE CLEAVES THROUGH HILL RECONNECTING CENOTAPH TO SITE
WATERFRONT PASSAGE MARKS SECOND AXIAL ENTRY AND PLACES CENOTAPH ‘BETWEEN’
The passage would form dramatically elongated connections through the cenotaph hill, framing views and preserving the cenotaph’s position in the landscape.
CENOTAPH PASSAGES - SECTION EAST-WEST
AXIAL WATERF RONT-CENOTA PH CO ELEVATED TO SU BTERRANEAN NNECTION TRANSITION
CENOTAPH PASSAGES One passage cuts up directly from the site to the south, whilst the second cuts an elongated corridor down through the hill and out over the intervening land to the water. This movement reconnects the narrow northern tip of the site and activates it towards the water. It’s relationship to the cenotaph via the axial passage anchors this far flung region back into the plan as a whole.
AXIS BRIDGES INTERVENING LAND TO ESTABLISH WATERFRONT INTERFACE
CENOTAPH PASSAGES - SECTION DETAIL
ARCHAEOLOGICAL REMAINS OF QUEEN’S BATTERY EXCAVATED . FORMALISED INTO LOCATION FOR FUNCTIONS/ARCHAEOLOGICAL/EXHIBITION/PRECINCT INFORMATION CENTRE
BENEATH THE CENOTAPH The notion of the subterranean has a connection with specific context to the cenotaph hill. Beneath its surface runs the Hobart Rivulet as well as the ruins of the original Queen’s Battery set up on the site of Cenotaph. The excavation of the Queen’s Battery as an archaeological attraction reversed the role the cenotaph hill has previously played in concealment.
LIGHT WELLS THROUGH TO PASSAGES
The creation of space around the archaeological remains of the Queen’s Batter will provide opportunities for functions, exhibitions and installations to occur in and around the cenotaph, the present use of which is sporadic and limited.
Phillip Culpan William Priestley Laura Ng Yien Hsiu Niu
Tutors: Catherine Duggan + Aaron Roberts 2014