Perspectives

This interior perspective showing the Philips LED Livingcolours illuminating the room a pinkish colour, whilst the Yellowbird 360 technology shows a 360 video on the walls. This is an improvement from my last 360 room proposal as the walls in this room are actually round, 360 degrees from the center of the room.

This perspective shows the relation of the building and its surroundings

Ventilation

Ventilation is a must in a building that is half covered in a rock wall. These diagrams show how the building takes in the cool breezes that come from the Brisbane River and circulate them through the building and then vent out through the sides of the building out of the rock face.

Model

Elevations

Section

This section shows how the cantilevered building structurally works. Each level has about 60% of the structure fixed within the rock face, aswell as an even space between one level and then next.

Floor Plans

After a lot of thinking and sketches I got some floor plans from the graphics used. Notice how most of the rooms and clutter of the plans are at the rear of the levels. This is so not to clutter and block the window at the front of the building that allows people to see the magnificent views. Another thing to notice is that the windows are all set back 2 metres. This helps the frame the views that each level is facing. Without this, people inside the building would be able to come right up to the window and see almost 90 degrees to where the level is facing.

first floor

second floor

third floor

Site Plan and Roof Plan

The actual location of my building on the site has been moved over. This is because it was sitting directly under the bridge getting no sunlight. The building has been moved to the east side of the bridge, therefore the photovoltaic panels can recieve most of the morning and afternoon sun.

The roof plan shows the buildings as one, showing the diferent directions in which each floor are pointing.

Floor Plan Process

Here are some sketches of my process of working out a floor plan using these graphics as a floor. I am trying to leave the front of the building less cluttered as to not block any views.

third floor

first floor

second floor

Nikki Farquharson

I've been struggling with designing my new floorplan. Iv'e been look at graphic design to try to get some cool and interesting shapes into my plans. One graphic designer that I find very cool and interesting is Nikki Farquharson. Her artwork and design usually involves model standing in some cool matrix of colours and shapes. This is where the FLoor Tech technology comes in. With this Floor Tech product and some imagination it is now possible to have such cool designs as flooring. So with these images I can already start to see a floor plan possible, it is just a matter of actually sitting down and doing it. I've left a link to Nikki Farquharson's website at the bottom of this post.

http://www.nikkifarquharson.com/home.php

Floor Tech

It’s not really an emerging technology, but this company Floor Tech in the UK have a product called sportgaurd floor seal. This is a polyurethane product that is used to seal hard flooring such as concrete. Sportguard has excellent tractional properties combined with a tough durable finish, which would be perfect for my building as people will be constantly dancing on it. It is also 100% waterproof. It’s not directly on their website, yet these polyurethane floor seals can be coloured. The reason for this is I am thinking of putting images or shaped or colours or something on the floor of my building to not only give it a more vibrant interior, but also to distinguish different areas of a level.

Black Translucent Concrete

This material has just popped up as a new product on inventables.com. It is exactly the same as normal translucent concrete, yet it is black in colour. The normal transluecnt concrete had a warm gray, almost brown colour to it. The balck colour of this concrete would improve the hard, monilith structure aspects of the building.

Floor Plan Process

These are some sketches I had for the last tutorial trying to sort out a better floor plan. I am trying to get a flow going through the building through forms that are not blocky or repetitive. Also, I have changed the windows of the building. Previously they made the building look to similar to the folie. Evn though I had to turn my folie into a building, my building proposal didn't have to look like the folie, yet it had to take concepts from the folie. THe large fropnt window frames the view that the level is facing. With views such a large aspect of the building, the previous design with small windows facing everywhere didn't seem to fit the concept. The small window jsut weren't doing these fantastic views any justice.

The biggest change so far is the the 360 bar. I looked back at my olf plans, and woundered why is my 360 bar a rectangle. So I have moved it to the back of the level so the views are still the main aspect of the floor plan.

Cantilever 50-50

In the tutorial my tutor and I discussed the fact that in this situation, the cantilever doesn't have to apply to the 2 parts fixed, 1 part hanging, rule of thumb. My cantilever building could be more towards 1 part fixed, 1 part hanging. This is because my building isnt fixed from beams or a structure, it is fixed from being slotted into a wall, therefore there are loads from the top of the earht ontop of the building stopping turning moments, and earth underneath the building to hold it up and withstand the dead load of the building. Because of these aspects, the placement of my levels only has to ensure that the cantilever can support the turning moments. Therefore if there is an equal amount of building fixed compared to the amount overhanging, technically this should be structurally sound. Just to be safe though I am probably going to aim for 60% fixed, 40% overhanging.

Schematic feedback

The feedback from my schematic hand in was in relations to improvement that needed to be made. I've separated the feedback into the criteria that was on the CRA sheet.

Design Development

- Design concept - This was the concept of my folie design and how it was further investigated and applied to my design proposal. The folie concept related mostly through form, rather than concept. A monolith like structure that contradicts its surroundings. these where things such as the nature and vegetation, which is reason for the cantilever protruding out of the rock face, and the complex structure of the Story Bridge, which was the reason for the heavy, manmade form. Where I possibly need improving on this was to have a stronger relation of concept AND form to my proposal, because at the moment I have both, yet form is mostly related to my proposal.

- Design context - This was the contextual understanding of the site in relation in surrounding areas and relate back to issues with my folie and relation to my proposal. I did well in this area. The reason that I had chosen a bar as my building type was from analysing the direct neighbours of the sight. What was immediately apparent was the fact that the CBD, Fortitude Valley and New Farm where all heavily based on the bar and nightclub scene. So seeing as our sight was smack in the middle of these areas, it would serve as a perfect junction for as a bar of nightclub and relate back to its sight and surrounding areas. Another thing which I think related to this criteria was the concept of my folie was heavily based on context. This was the concept of views, and how Howard Smith Wharves has many different views and viewing directions for the sight. The concept of my folie, which was directly related to my proposal was the manipulate and control these views of the CBD, kangaroo point and New Farm through a structure.

- Design tectonic - This was the structural and tectonic aspects of my proposal and how well investigated and demonstrated they are. This was a criteria I knew that wasn't too good in my proposal. The cantilever structure of my proposal was not feasible in reality. I discussed this with my tutor, and the basic rule of thumb for cantilevers is 2/3 e.g. 2 parts fixed and 1 part hanging. My design did not follow this rule, it was pretty much 2 parts hanging, 1 part fixed. I knew that this would be a problem, so to try to counter this problem; I added concrete blocks on the fixed end to try to weigh down this end and stop the turning moments. The feedback from this was that it would still not fix the problem and would most likely be where the point where the structure will crack under its own dead load.

- Design Function - This was a criteria that I didn’t do too badly in, yet there was still room for improvement. The whole idea of a bar and a nightclub pretty much came from the idea that the building has a multi-use. This was that during the day, the building would serve as a bar, a place where workers could go on their break for a drink and even take work along with them if they wanted to. This was the reason for adding technologies such as the Telstra 4g network and oxygen bars. The 4g network so people could access WIFI internet on their laptop if they wanted to. The oxygen bar works for both the bar and nightclub aspects of the building, e.g. during the day workers can come and relieve stress from using the oxygen bar, and during the night, dancers can use the oxygen bar to rejuvenate their tired body. This is because during the night, this is where the party starts, and the building becomes a nightclub, with heavy dance scene. This is elevated through technologies such as the Philips living colours LED lighting and the yellowbird 360. My floor plans where an area in which the function could be greatly improved. The feedback I received on this was that even though on the outside my building is a great monolith solid rectangular form, it doesn't need to be the same for the interior. People that see my building that are intrigued by it will want to come inside only to see numerous square bars and rooms just like any building.

- Design contribution - This was how my building relates social and cultural relevance. This tied back to my proposal of a bar, and how I came to the decision from analysing surrounding areas. The social surroundings would benefit from a bar/nightclub at Howard Smith Wharves. The cultural aspect of my proposal was lacking.

- Design Issue - This was my own interpretation of theme-specific architectural issue. This area could be improved. I suspect the reason for this was again the floor plans for my design. They didn't reflect the theme of a bar. It was just square bar after square bar, accompanied by square rooms. People that are intrigued by the exterior of my building will find the interior very disappointing. I was suggested to scrap the whole floor plan and start again, creating cool flowing bars and rooms.

Quick Feedback

We didn't receive our CRA mark straight away, which I didn't expect anyway. So without any work done all there was to do for this week's tutorial was to receive feedback. The feedback I received was mostly on the tectonics of the building. I was told there is a rule of thumb for any cantilevered structure. This rule of thumb is that 2 part of a structure must be fixed; therefore 1 part can be hanging. My current proposal at the moment is more like 1 third fixed, 2 thirds hanging. My tutor and I did some quick sketches to diagram and explain the concept of cantilevers to get a better understanding of the situation.

The image above is of the sketches we made discussing the cantilever of my building. I was suggested to remove one of my 4 levels to allow more space in-between each floor. The reason behind that was at the moment the earth in-between each floor that are taking the load of the turning moments is too narrow. The removal of a floor would allow the shifting of the floors to allow and even amount of space in-between the levels. The amount of earth in-between each level should be the same height of the levels. To allow maximum strength in the structure, the concrete shell needs to be straight beams. Having any kinks or bends in the outer structure would create weak spots which would have a higher chance of failure under the cantilever load.

Model

360 degree bar perspective

Here is a sketch of an interior perspective of the 360 degree bar room. Showing the Philips LED Livingcolours illuminating the room a pinkish colour, whilst the Yellowbird 360 technology shows a 360 video on the walls.

Ventilation

These are just ventilation diagrams showing how the building harnesses the cool breezes that come from down the river. The building would need natural ventilation seeing as half of it is practically a cave, that would get hot and smelly after long use without any ventilation

Section

This section shows the cantilevel structure of my building. How the left side is heavily concreted behind the rock to counter-balance the building. Not too sure whether it would work in reality though.

Finalised floor plans