Week 7/8 Design Process

This week I started working on the final design concept for the week 9 presentation. I wanted to establish at least the basis of an actual building to present, and so I started looking again at the different kinds of spaces. I had been looking at arranging my spaces through the concept of the h2o molecule, but during the last tutorial Jesse and I discussed that it might be a difficult configuration to work with. Instead I have looked at the idea of the bookshelves leading off at different scales to other rooms that are wrapped around/sitting directly beside the central study/learning space.

Bookshelves lead off to other scales of room, the sharing space and the contemplation space

The shelves wrap around into other spaces that are out of view of the user as they enter the central space

I came up with a quick sketch of what each space (contemplation, study/thought, sharing) would be like in relation to scale and relationship to book shelves.

Space for Study/thought. In order for the user to be able to access the books,  and due to the rise to run ratio of the stairs, this was the best scale that I could come up with so that the size of the bookshelves still had an impact while being able to be navigated

The central concept behind the space for contemplation is passing through the different layers of knowledge  and entering a room where the user is looking at things from a different perspective. The user is looking at the books from the page side rather than the binding, and can see as users look at the books from the other side. The user also experiences the water in an alternative way, watching the patterns that the sunlight makes on the walls when reflected from the water.

The scale for the room for sharing puts the user at a more equal level with the scale of the bookshelves, provides room for groups of tables, and has a window running along two sides of the room, providing continuous views of the water rising and falling with the tide.

In order to be able to start putting actual spaces together, I looked at the layout of the building. I had previously considered stacking the spaces on top of each other and moving them from there. In this instance, I stacked the spaces on top of each other and splayed them out from a central axis of the circulation space, so that all rooms have access to the others.

Spaces layered on top of each other with a linking circulation space

Parts of the building offset from each other, orientated around the central circulation space

Rough concept of spaces splayed out from central axis

Rough planning of floor plan

Working out the floor plan of the central library space with the space for contemplation and the space for sharing off to the sides

Final floor plan for conceptual design

As a quick side note, I also had to revise the sizes that I had determined for the storage space earlier after reading the library document provided on blackboard by Jesse. The document mentions that for storage, 100sqm stores 100 books, so I am going off of that estimation instead.

From this point I need to move onto drawing my final diagrams to answer the 7 problems that Jesse has set for the interim presentation. I have been looking at the diagrams that he as shown us, as well as a lot of the diagrams from BIG (http://www.big.dk/), and am going to attempt to get a really simple, clean style of diagram to answer each of the problems. I am going to attempt to stick to the 7-15 diagrams that Jesse suggested to attempt to be concise with my ideas, though I imagine I will end up going over the limit.

Week 7 Workshop Feedback

I discussed my ideas with the tutor this week, and got some fantastic, clear feedback. He was interested particularly in the use of book shelves and scales to create different kinds of spaces, and also the idea of ecology. Jesse wasn't so sure about the h2o molecule concept, particularly as he thought it might be difficult to fit the majority of the usable spaces around the central experience space. I think that the idea of the bookshelves is a really useful one, and I like the idea of the ecology, though I'm unsure exactly how to incorporate it. It will take a bit more sketching and thought to incorporate it, but I would like to attempt to.

Week 6/Easter Break Design Process

We had our first feedback about project 2 and the private library in the tutorial this week. I proposed my library title to Jesse ("Library of Rivers and their Ecology in South East Queensland"). He was interested in the life system idea behind ecology, but thought that the name itself needed work, as it was a bit clumsy. I showed him my design process so far, and while he thought that the idea of the inhabitants being able to come out from inside the library and find themselves below the waterline, he felt that I had gotten away from the relationship and interaction between the user and the object of the library (in my case books). I hadn't focused on this in my project development last week as I felt a bit lost as to how to address this issue, and so started on a more logical line of thinking. We discussed how I wanted the user to relate to the objects being used, and I suggested that the number of books and the sizing of bookshelves used in each section could be varied depending on the subject that they relate to and the kind of experience that the space is intended to impart to the user.

I took the idea of using the books and the scale of information in the architecture of the library and focused on that as the central concept behind the relationship between the user and the object. I analysed what kind of scales of bookshelf there could be and what kind of information and experience those scales might relate to.

Different scales of spaces in relation to the bookshelves in the room

Original concept for scale of central learning space - scale of books is representative of the power of the scale of the river

Scale of central learning space compared to contemplation space

Location of contemplation space in relation to central learning /study space

Circulation from foyer, around outside of central learning space and  into the central learning space

 User is confronted by scale of books and the fact that the building is underwater 

During the Easter break we also have to email Jesse with the title of our library and the scope of the objects that it relates to. I wanted to be able to have a large enough number of books that the scale of them would be impressive to the user, and I wasn't sure that the subject of South East Queensland Rivers and their Ecology would be broad enough to allow for that amount of books. After doing some research on the QUT Library website, I found that the subject of Queensland Rivers and their Ecology could feasibly provide 3500 books, and so I settled for the title of "The Private Library of Printed Works on Queensland Rivers and their Ecology".


I have also been looking at the ecology aspect of the library, and the impacts that that could have on the design of the library. I thought that possibly the different subjects of books could be located on their specific level in the river. I was also looking at the idea of having the entrance on the human occupation level, but as the subject level gets more specific, such as microbiology, it moves to the lower levels of the river.

Ecology of the river and the spaces that each section of ecology occupies

I've also been looking at the concept of using a water molecule as the basis for the layout of my library as a whole. Each of the atoms would have a separate use of space, and a nucleus of experience.

Original drawing of h2o molecules

Allocation of uses to each space - each space has a central experience (nucleus)

Location of three different spaces in river section

I also took gave the size of the program a bit of thought, particularly in relation to the size of the storage space

Week 5/6 Design Process

Our first tutorial on Wednesday 28th March introduced us to our tutor, group and theme for the semester. Our project for the rest of the semester is to design a private library with a very specific focus. In this tutorial we discussed our folie design with our tutor Jesse and our initial thoughts on the focus of our library. I thought that as the focus of our folie was the river and its continual impact on our environment, my focus for the library should be providing information about the river. I was worried that the subject wasn't broad enough, but Jesse said that it could be much more specific. I looking at this this week, and have decided that in the tutorial next week I'll discuss with Jesse the title "Library of rivers and their ecology in South East Queensland". This would  continue my focus on the impact of the river on our environment, because ecology is the life system of a given place, and would also make it more specific than the incredibly broad topics of rivers and ecology throughout the world. I have also decided that it will be a library of books, as I would like to incorporate the physical presence of knowledge in the books into the experience in the library.

To make sure that the topic that I had selected for my library was relevant to the site that it was being designed for, I looked at educational facilities that may use a library entirely related to rivers.

Position of educational institutions that may have use for this kind of library

After this investigation it was possible to see that it would be a library of use to the city due to the number of institutes that study a subject that would require the investigation of the Brisbane River; in relation to universities, students not only from the science related degrees but also from architecture and possibly landscape design would require information at some point for a project that could most easily be found at this library.

We need to address where on the site the library is going to be placed. Due to the focus of my library, and the possibilities of using water in the architecture in the way that was used in the folie, the river is the most relevant and interesting place to design the library for. There are issues with placing the building in this area, particularly in relation to creating a building that sits in the water without looking too large or bulky; being able to create a structure that will withstand the pressure and forces of the river and be stable on the river geology; and most importantly at this point, being able to position the building so that users can easily reach it and the loading dock can be reached by vehicle while still allowing the central library space to be submerged in the water. At this point, I have two areas that I propose would allow me to connect the library to the land and still make use of the water in the architecture of the library.

The two possible locations for the library that would allow a direct connection to the land for both the foyer and the loading dock

My next step was to look at the spaces that we had been given in our brief, and to find a logical way to arrange them.

Requirements of each different programmed space

Arrangement of spaces according to requirements of each space

Necessary links between each space

Logical arrangement of spaces

Slightly better arrangement of spaces with hole for experience from the outside

Once I had come up with a possible spatial arrangement (which needs a lot of manipulation but might provide a starting point) I looked at how I could let people experience the library at least in part without being there, and wish to visit. I looked at the views from the top of the cliff and the Story Bridge into the site, and considered creating a hole in the centre of the building that had shifting walls like the folie that we designed, and allowed people outside of the building to see movement and change without being there. The space would also allow users of the library to walk outside into the space and be able to see that they are metres under the waterline.