Film Gallery: Melbourne Laneways

Project Brief: Create a FIlm Gallery within a selected context of Melbourne's Laneways

Melbourne has a rich array of passages and laneways that cut through its large city blocks. They were designed for the pedestrian, and allow the core of the city to be explored by foot. They are tightly packed with cafes and boutiques and are distinctly european in their vibe. We used these alley ways as a context to site the project. This design is situated in the Block Arcade, which is one of Melbourne's narrowest paths with cafes on either side jostling for space. It was conceived as a replication of Milano's famous arcades. "incorniciare" (To frame) plays with the lanes lively layering of awnings and steel details that create selective views of the city and unique openings. I used forms derived from the actual shapes these openings created for the 3 levels of the gallery. the lower level is used as a "raised floor" of the lane incorporating cafe seating and compensating for any lost space underneath. The second level is a viewing point for the outside film screens that hang on the opposite facade. These screens take the shape of the existing windows, and through a certain ambiguity of what windows are real and what are films link the interiors of the upper floors back down to pedestrian level. The highest level is the interior gallery, where the form is an abstraction of a typical italian awning hanging above an entry way.

The layering of levels and crossing of stairs in this design further magnifies the built conditions, framing and lively nature of this lane. It raises the laneway rather than excluding it to make the gallery accessible to all pedestrians, and in doing this it intergrates the upper levels which are often disregarded and viewed as separate spaces.

minus_h

minus_h. with Simon Jenkins

Demountable Shelter project. The design sought a transportable, demountable and easy to assemble shelter which could be used in emergency housing situations, or for homeless persons. Simon and I came up with a series of cardboard sheets with shaped cut outs, that when slotted into the bearers created internal voids. There are 4 kinds of sheets. The entry, a standing void, raised sleeping void and a rear port window. The entry uses the iconic image of a house, that would stand out as a symbol for refuge. The repeated sheets created a dynamic aesthetic, playing with transparency, movement and privacy. At the front on view exposing the occupant inside partially, but then appearing completely solid from other points.

This was our second project which we recieved in week 1. we spent so long drawing up different designs using different materials - which almost always turned out to be some form of a tent! which is what most people ended up submitting and for that reason was exactly what we were trying to avoid. Simon and I have since decided that our architecture careers peaked way too early and we should just quit now with minus_h as our legacy. hahaha.

Conceptual Design: Seaford S.L.S.C.

For this project we were asked to draw on multiple ideas. We had recently been studying varied topics like political events in Aboriginal and Colonial Australia, issues of displacement in Palestine, the glorification of localism and nationalism in "Bra Boys" and many other contentious issues. I chose to reflect on Aboriginal heritage by creating a building that embodied a traditional perspective of time. In Aboriginal culture, time is meaningless. There is no race to the end, and no prizes for impatience. Days are spent much like they were 60,000 years earlier. And the ancestors of this past traverse time through story telling and spirit.

The design uses repetition on the front facade, compression and expansion of spaces, and a series of levels to create a journey throughout. The repeated elements are abstracted from the leaning tea trees in the dunes, twisting and turning away from the wind. The watchtower draws from other studies focusing on totalitarianism, it is an all seeing, privileged viewing room. The building would be embedded in the dunes so that over time sand and growth would consume the building leaving its own age and lifespan open to interpretation.

Expression

In one of the mid semester design tutorials, we were exploring abstract ways to symbolise ideas. every project involved something different to absorb and analyze, from Lynch films, 18th century paintings, existentialist theatre through to political speeches. From these we took concepts and developed the ideas into physical forms. so fun. alot of post rationalisation! these are some of the drawings i used to explain my built models.

a monument to shame












collage inspired by "Ten Canoes" used to explain the cyclic nature of time














Jørn Utzon created an icon













the things we surround ourselves with will consume us in then end!

Semester 1

1st Semester consumed my life! It was pretty amazing, and i'm so stoked to be studying architecture at RMIT. I'm not sure how many sleepless nights i've endured so far scratching away with my 0.18 pen, cutting out pieces of card for models, and filling my lungs with cfc's spraying stencils for presentations.. But the certainty of these zombie like states is assured for the next 9 semesters. 9! Well, at least i don't have to go and get a job for a long time.

a sectional perspective layout