ARCH design5 2014

here is my draft about the design presentation:

So this writing is about what I am gonna to say at week 5 and why and what and how (www), just trying to tell myself what is needed and trying to put my ideas in a more logical way. It is a mass, really

Now first thing is I don’t know where to start, so I just start to write down all my thoughts

First of all the site is located at Bondi ! What this means is that the view to Bondi is really important: this is really simple and straight forward, the owner of the apartment, the residents want their room to have a good view to the sea, so that they can sitting in their room having a coffee or other drinks and them have a beautiful view of Bondi beach, that is what most people want, as a way of enjoy their life, the well-being.

And that is what we designer needs to achieve if we can.

So for the site, the most important thing in our head in the beginning is nothing but simple, how to maximize the view?

Well I tried to do so just like what everybody does, and comes out with a solution after doing some research about the Le Corbusier’s Unite d’ habitation.

So let’s come back to the site and see what’s the problem here: in order to get view, we need at least one of each apartment’s room face to the Bondi, which is to the west. But there is lots of limitation here:

The ground floor’s view is block by other buildings, and in order to not block the view of the flats behind the site, there should have some view corridor which again cut down the available front area, also there is height limit and there needs to have lots of apartments.

All those above shows it is really hard to have good view for every apartment so we need a really good solution.

Just like my 1^st massing model shows, that is my solution to maximize the view.

But that still have some problems and I believe it is not the best solution. It’s bit not fit the site and having some problem with the view sharing.

So there come to the rethink of the strategy: is that idea of maximize the view really important and needs to be achieved in this way? So if we need to provide the view, should we provide it to them in this most private way?

My answer is, no, we could also have something more public.

That idea comes when I start to think where the café should locate and what kind of café it should be.

So I go back to the description of the site, what’s surrounding it? If there is already a café near the site, what kind of character should it have to attract its costumes?

So, what kind of costumes will come to this café? First of all, the residents of the apartments. Because they are most close to the café. Them, the residents of the surrounding buildings. It seems that there is no other costumes would like to go to this café. Right across the street, there is already a café there, a small tiny café face east, at ground floor, good spot for a little rest and chatting, but not a good place to sit there for a long time, there is nothing to look at.

So it seems we found the advantage of our café: it will be more attractive if we could provide a good view!

But still, is that so? If it’s for the view, it seems that the cafes and restaurants locate just beside the bondi beach a better place to go, this will, only make the café more attractive to residents around the site.

So a more attractive character of out café should be added. Which is, after study the character of the site, the privacy, we can create a really good environment which is quite, and in this way showing a feeling of privacy.

So for the transport access of the site, the only 2 public transports available are the bus and the taxi. Most people coming to the area are from north and north-west, mostly local residents who have their own car. And the site itself is locate at a really good spot. It is close to the main street, not too far from it but still with a good distance, also is at the end of the commercial area, it’s north part is with commercial buildings but the south is pure apartment area. It locates at a spot between more public area and a more private area.

And that’s why the café of our design could become a very attractive one, it should be a café which have a good view, quite environment, with small costume density in the room, ok if it is not directly accessible from the street. It is no need to become a really “fast” Café where costumes just grab their drinks and only stay for a short time.

So, what we gonna do to achieve this? To become a café with quite environment and privacy is a matter of the site itself is, mostly, a matter of interior design, but the view is controlled by the designer.

In order to get the view, we need to have a 2-floor high café. So that the view could be achieved at 2^nd floor!

So let’s come back to the problem of the view of the apartments. After I think about how the café should be like, and find out it will also use some view area, I come out with a better idea: try to achieve view for most apartments, and also provide a public area with good view to those who don’t, and with quite environment, and more private feeling of café itself, it just feels like home.

And that’s what it becomes at 2^nd massing model, a shape that fit the site, 2-floor-high café, and fewer apartments.

But still it is with some problems, the problem of view corridor is still there and it seems it still have some space for improvements.

So I start to look back to the description of the site again. To find out how it was and how it deal with view sharing problem.

The answer is simple; it does not have that problem because it’s 2 buildings, not one big flat! There is plenty of space between the two!

And there I ask myself why having one really huge building, wasn’t a bit more separate building with a link a better idea?

And a Box flat fit the site more!

So here comes to my 3^rd design: 2 building blocks at each end of the site (north-south) and with a link.

So this link act as the core circulation area of the building, and that’s why the café have been placed here, to allow the residents enter the café easier, feels like part of the building and close to the residents. This also solves the view sharing problem for it does note block other building’s view.

These also help to create a semi-internal garden and the backyard where more vegetation should be added. The apartments are been placed with an angel to fit the street view, and for garden, it also helps to draw people’s attention to the backyard where the space becomes bigger than the front.

For transport:

According to the drawings, the site should provide enough space for parking for the residents of the apartment. This is mainly because the site is several kilometers away from the city and the only accessible public transport nearby is the bus. Also, combined with the information from the building around the site, the surrounding buildings are mostly apartments that hold lots of families. Almost every family has a car and there is not enough space for parking along the street.

According to the diagrams, car parks or public space that does not need too much solar access should be place at the north part of the site. This is mainly because the north part does not have enough sun light in winter and since the sun light come from north; the 4-level apartment beside the site will cast shadow.

So we need to build car parks and storages at ground level, better not apartments. A good way to raise the other areas (apartments).

Vegetation, topography and the view

More vegetation needs to add to the east part of the site. There is almost no vegetation inside the site. Most of the plants that could be seen on site are located at the backyard of the adjacent flats: all of the vegetation is at the eastern side of the site. The west part is facing the street and the other buildings do not have vegetation at the front but at the backyard, the design should obey this rule.

All those above solve the view problem also tells us where to put the café.

So the simple strategies of my design are:

Having 2 building blocks that fit the site, by their shape and position. and link them together at 1^st floor so it does not course view sharing problems.

Have lifted café and apartments, so that they have good view and the café will have a good character.

Lift them by building car parks and store room at ground floor.