WK NINE // existing + proposed public spaces within the cbd

Proposed Public Spaces in the center of the CBD

Usable public space within a city is very important with in a city. If poorly designed, public spaces can become barren and unsafe. Above are the possibilities for new kinds of public spaces in malls. 

WK NINE // pedestrianising the cbd

thoughts and ideas: 

It is always important when giving back public space to the community to be sure that the spaces are designed in such a way that they can used to there full potential. If the Brisbane City Council was to pedestrianise some of the streets in Brisbane's CBD, the design and functions of the spaces would have to be thought through with considered of what the users need in Brisbane city. What is missing from the streets? How can we activate them with architecture so that they dont just become a pedestrian heavy thoroughfare like Queen street Mall?

Change in street scape and change in topography would be high necessary to create more usable spaces for relaxing and 'hanging around'. Workers and people in the city currently have no where to sit and relax away from the hustle and bussle of the cities thoroughfares. Queen Street is already a pedestrian mall in the city which I believe does not work so well in terms of its use. 

This pedestrian mall is alway packed full of people trying to get from A to B, and it exhibits a heavy flow of thoroughfare traffic. It is not a comfortable or relaxing place to sit down and have a break. 

That is exactly why I want to create a street scape that invites variation in the topography to create a space that can be used to its full potential beyond a pedestrian thoroughfare. 

The use of this street should be appropriate for future users. 

The diagram below maps the access points of important roads into the city. Through mapping these access points I was able to strategically and educatedly decide on appropriate streets to pedestrianise. 

site selection process

CBD Access and Major Roads

Elizabeth, Charlotte, Mary and George Streets were selected. If pedestrianised, all of these streets would not create much obstruction to traffic flow, especially if an underground train system could cater for delivering 50% of people into the city. The pedestrianised areas could possibly keep on extending, with further development of the underground. 

source: http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/documents/plans_strategies/City%20Master%20Plan/public_domain3.pdf

The map above shows an interesting analysis of brisbane city which show the direct axis from the botanical gardens to roma street parklands. It calls these streets the park streets and the ones which run opposite these the river streets. It would be interesting to actually create pedestrian streets in the river streets so the people would have an axis connection with the river. 

WK EIGHT // direction for project - Car-free Carefree

What possibilities arise from a Car-free Carefree Brisbane City?

Site Plan // Brisbane City 

An underground train systems would make a car-free CBD highly possible by 2030. Above ground the perimeters of the car free area would be adelaide str, george str, alice str, eagle str, wharf str. This unoccupied space would be given back to the people. One of the main problems with this would be how to accomodate the people that live in the car free zone of the city. After a site visit of the CBD I noted that there are residential buildings in Margaret and Mary street which means a solution would have to accomodate the needs of these residents. Even though the street fabric would change physically to show the difference between car streets and car free streets, permit owners would be allowed enter the car free zone to park in their buildings car parks.

What would we do with all this new pedestrian public space?

How do you deal with what was once a traffic thoroughfare and now pedestrian public space?

WK EIGHT // direction for project 2 - underground rail system

I am proposing an 24/7 underground rail system in Brisbane in 2030 to accomodate for the growing population. Brisbane roads are almost at capacity. With Brisbanes population predicted to reach 1.1mil by 2026 (www.weca.org.au), a new transportation system that will be able to manage Brisbane's population growth not just for 20 years time but for 50 to 100 years time. What if brisbane CBD was serviced by a underground metro systems? This would adversely affect the roads in the CBD, as well as the people and vehicles that occupy them. How would the urban fabric change? Firstly it would allow for higher density living in the CBD and surrounding suburbs as the transport would be able to now cope with the increased amounts of people entering and disembarking the city. It could also potentially change the urban fabric of the small centres outside of the CBD. If existing infrastructure was looked at advantageously, the density along these corridors could also be increased. 

As well as taking in all this information in about the scene, the most important question is, how would it effect the people with in the stage (architectural entity) and what would change in their daily lives (script)??

I first started to think about the streets and how the streets would be different. Due to less heavy traffic (buses etc) circulating in and around the CBD more street space would be available, which could turn into a city fabric exhibiting very narrow streets and quite compact with buildings. Again the question is, how does affect the people who use these streets?

The addition of an underground could allow for a car free city.

WK SEVEN // reading: Environmental Adaptability

Designing for the future and multifunctional inhabitants will become more desirable. Kevin Lynch discusses the means of adaptability and the difficulty of accomplishment.

'Now we reverse the inquiry to discuss, not the adaptability of the organism to his environment, but that of the environment to the changing purposes of the organism.' (lynch, K. 1990)

I find the notion of this reverse inquiry very relevant to today. How do you design urban fabric which essentially can be adapted to the future needs and wants of the people of whom use it? I think a lot of this idea has sprung from the issue we have with wasted built space within the city. The built city spaces should be able to be occupied and fully utilised 24 hours a day. This idea of a 9 to 17 job is becoming more and more of an issue in terms of the office spaces these jobs occupy. For the rest of the day, 17 to 8am, these spaces are empty boxes that are wasted places in the city. We need to adapt our built environment to the lives we live and the routines we perform. The city is merely a stage for our routines. To adapt it to these routines, you need to really understand how each and every actor plays there part in the city.

// tutorial thoughts wk7: thinking about the tangible aspects of architecture

free energy has become too hectic for the everyday life and certain systems have had to be implemented to limit the excessive energy consumption in order to regain some control.

The next steps are to find an appropriate direction for my project. Our concept of 'free energy' for the first project was quite complicated, and something that would definitely not happen in the next 20 years. One of the concepts within this city was the idea of everything being 24/7. As I understand, this is already the case in some cities such as New York and Tokyo. When thinking about Brisbane City as a 24/7 city, it would be interesting to look at how the city fabric and programming would morph to this new adaptation. I think spaces would become more intertwined and multifunctional, which is what we had started looking at in the last project.

Would it create a more convenient city for its inhabitants? 

remember...ALWAYS THINK OF HOW IT WILL EFFECT THE PEOPLE AND THEIR LIVES

The other aspect of this city which I am also very interested in is the transport into and around the city, how could it change with this idea of a 24/7 city. New systems would have to be introduced and integrated into existing systems to cope with a city that functioned 24/7. A new type of transport could or just a total reorganisation of existing systems would have to implemented.