How Project 1 influences Project 2

I went back through the Project 1 panels, statement, and blog notes, in order to determine key aspects that influence the design of Project 2:

Speculate an alternative version of the present.
Due to information loss - digital collection at archives destroyed, physical data and building.
=> Creating the archives from scratch
=> Creating history
=> Creating a new system
- new law
- new Government

How is Parliament re-imaged?
 - once static system reevaluated to rebuild the image in light of INFORMATION and INNOVATION
 - capital identity forged from memories, perceptions, histories, people, place, ideologies and events (past and present)

EXPERIENCE
acknowledge the past of architectural memory
the virtual strategy attempts to embody the disembodied through occupying negative space

Past (reinvented)
Present (imagined)
Future (speculated)

Outcomes -
innovation, new information systems, recollection of knowledge, new + improved networks, new laws + reassessment of justice

CAPITAL IDENTITY - INCIDENT - MEMORY OF ESSENCE - RE-IMAGING - RE-PLACEMENT

Ceiling Heights and Site Fall/Contours

Due to the 1500mm fall from the south to the north of the site, I decided to have the main entry level positioned lower than the rest of the building. I think this would provide greater accessibility as there are no stairs to contend with before even entering the building.

In the existing archives, they have addressed the site fall through the use of a fill and stairs leading from the street level up to the entrance for the main entryway.

Based on the old archives, and as I felt it was important to make the height of the new building no taller than the old (in order to address restrictions based on the archives building's close proximity to Parliament House), I decided to use a floor-to-floor height of 3000 (with a floor-to-ceiling height of 2700) within the office spaces and the teaching/eating spaces.

As the old archives' central component of the building reaches a height of 3 stories (as opposed to 2 for the rest of the building), and due to this being the exhibition space in the new building, I decided to use the entire height of the three stories for 2 stories of exhibition space, giving the exhibition floors a floor-to-floor height of 4500.

As I wanted all the levels for each block to be interconnected, it became necessary to whip up a quick model so that I could see where the plates cut each other. The following images and sketches show ceiling heights and floor level differences.

 

 

Augmented Reality Touch Sensation

An interesting video I found on the ability of augmented reality to alter touch sensations.

Reading Pods - Symbolism

It became imperative to ensure that the form of the pods influenced the aesthetic of the building envelope.
Their appearance are to resemble their namesake - that is, pods, which incites images of curved sacks as the bearers of new life.
They are a metaphor for Australia, and for innovation, bringing the onset of ideas and new technologies, new advancements, new vision.
They are symbolic of organisms, living, growing, evolving.

They represent CHOICE.
The tell a story of CHANGE. GROWTH. EVOLUTION.


They are found in clusters. This represents community, collectivity, emphasising the societal aspect of VIRTUAL. Emphasising the building as a whole inciting a general feeling of nationalism.

The pod as a meditative tool.

Reading Pods - Sensory Experience

After going on this augmented reality tangent I suddenly hit a wall - this was not what I wanted to do anymore, because the main reason I went on this tangent had been... lost. Originally it was about using the digital virtual to create the experiential virtual, so that all of the visitors could experience the archives gallery the way they want to experience it, so that they could learn the way they want to learn. But with the overlaying of digital information onto the physical realm it seemed that everyone would still view the same things, it would just be a little bit cooler than a regular gallery.

So if everyone sees the same things, how can we allow them to see something different?
How do they own their experience? How is it unique?

I started to think about the reading pods specifically - their functions, and how users can adapt them to suit.

VISION:
The above image speculates on how users can change the interior space of the pods to suit the environment they wish to work in. The image is projected 360 degrees through projectors in the table or roof (or both?)

I began to investigate the other senses (than vision), that is sound, smell, touch and taste.

SOUND:

This one is easy - all it takes is the installation of speakers within the pods to create a surround-sound experience of the auditory elements of the location.

SMELL:

At first I could not imagine being able to create the smells of a location, or that it would be very difficult - somehow manipulating air-freshener type devices. Fortunately for me, someone has already invented a digital smell device! It's called the iSmell Personal Scent Synthesiser, which works by drawing in air at the back and blowing it over tiny vials of oils that are being heated selectively in response to signals from the computer. The air picks up the oily fragrance and wafts it out through a 2-inch vent.

DigiScents has indexed thousands of smells based on their chemical structure and their place on the scent spectrum. Each scent is then coded and digitized into a small file.

TOUCH:

Again, a simple solution is achieved by manipulating existing technology. With the use of ducted air conditioning, ventilated air with an appropriate temperature suited to the desired virtual location is blown into the pod room in the direction of the user, to create a sense of an outdoors breeze.

TASTE:

Although this one cannot be directly achieved, as we don't specifically want anyone tasting anything within the reading pods, upon investigation it was found that this sense is connected directly to the sense of smell. Therefore it is safe to assume that it can be categorised under the SMELL heading.