Character profile.

Carol Perkins works and lives in Brisbane. She has seen the changes the city has undergone and is still fond of 'the old way of life'. Like many Brisbanites, Carol likes to shop, Dine, rest, and play. She therefore needs a mult-purpose building, one that allows her to experience all that brisbane has to offer, an industry in which IKEA is developing in.

Screen Shots - Creating the Scenario.

After spending countless hours on the model, the overall stacking form has taken place, as you can see in the image I want the laneway to be an activator of connection and direction. Connection to the IKEA store undergroud ( to the right), a pathway to queen street (the middle ) and an entry point to the parasite capsule hotel above (at the left).

A sense of discovering through the walking is intended. Retail spaces take up the pods on the ground level - creating connection with the public - and activating the laneway during the day/night.

A sky shot looking at the context. The form is to act like a parasite the crawls the negative spaces within the city. The image below shows the contrast between the parasite and the block design of the past (brisbane square building).

Function Designed.

After playing around with ideas of movable walkways I resulted with the concept of tube walkways (non-movable). Essentially, the need for such technology as moving walkways in a compact capsule hotel, is unnecessary. Access would be difficult in such environments. I am however, considering the implementation of advanced digital technologies as a guidance tools in the tube walkways. 

The function acts as the core structure to build off of. Pods to grow from.. and over time these walkways can repeat over several levels.. and grow on top of buildings etc..

START and END. The journey of entering one end of the lane and existing the other.

3 different types of movements and speed (TIME) are developed. The hotel walkway, the ground laneway, and the underground Ikea Showroom, all create their own sense of movement for various types of people - the traveller/local rester, the business person travelling to work, and the shopper.

Circulation.

One thing that was questioned about this project - was circulation. How do users interact and access these pods? What technology could potentially impact the way we move through architectural space? Will we still need escalators? How will escalators change? Are moving walkways a possibility? Is Gravity even a matter of question. The options are endless.

A few futuristic visions from the 50's of moving walkways/tubes etc.

Futuristic moving sidewalks as illustrated by Arthur Radebaugh in 1959

Goodyear's proposed moving sidewalk at a sports stadium (1950s)

FUNCTION::
I started to think of the circulation as a separate entity. I want to explore the concept of moving walkways. Walkways that take you to your destination, your pod of choice. Perhaps an external element? This thinking reminded me of the Pompidou museum I visited earlier in the year. It was an amazing experience, the way in which the external escalator tube guides you to the various levels of the building. This sense of journey and movement is something I want to implement into my design. A tube element that allows the pods to feed off of.

Precedent: PARA-CITY

Another building of inspiration. Ruwan introduced me to this design. Essentially directing me into the idea of buildings that parasitically latch onto the negative space.

--- allowing public activity on the ground city level to still occur.
--- Bringing a new dimension to the city.
--- Although I find this design extremely interesting, I question the accessibility of such design, and the ease of use/function. What scenario have they designed this for??
--- It is interesting the way in which this entity feeds off its hosts (the skyscrapers) -- in this respect does the form act as a connection between skyscrapers??

‘With ever-increasing densities and changing programs,’ he [Somnath] writes, ‘Para-city grows in the entire three-dimensional space of its host: the existing skyscrapers of the present urban landscape’ [BLDGBLOG].

‘The system is imagined with an implicit geometric intelligence capable of being subject to or mediated by genetic algorithms to constitute evolutionary structures that enable its growth in complex environments to attain an optimum level of syntactic adaptability’

FORM: SU progression

After experimenting with the individual pod, I'm looking into the stacking formation within the laneway. Things to consider are the connection points between Queen Street and Elizabeth Street, connection to hotel reception, structural stability within the form itself, and most importantly circulation. One thing Ruwan highlighted was the importance of accessibility, how do the users access the pods? "An anti-gravity" lift concept was questioned. However, being this is an affordable/cheap accomodation hotel, I don't see the point in going to extreme with technological elements within the design (only in some digital aspects).

the Capsule

TECHNOLOGY AND TIME.


TECHNOLOGY
After looking into some of the most advanced and trendy hotel designs (previous posts) -- what I learn't was that hotel designs are becoming a lot more technological based -

-the process of checking in, 
-the functionality of getting to your room,
-the technology within your room; is all advancing. 

This is without a question a main element to my design. technology voice command functions? Convertible beds? robotics and technology?


TIME
Another element learnt from my research, is the impact of time on room function. Especially being in a city context, the entertainment sector (queen street, elizabeth street) provide the user with a place to play, and to some degree; a place to relax. The impact of the exterior context has a huge impact on the time spent within the capsule. Essentially, the city is an active environment.

The capsule hotel is a place to slow down time, a place to rest for 9hrs and then continue with the fast pace journey in life.

short stay (overnight - 9hrs) = sleep and clean
long stay (2 nights max) = sleep, clean, eat, rest.

(other elements to be considered are storage and waste)



DIAGRAMS of spatial needs:


9HR POD:

2 NIGHT POD:

Experimentation - The Capsule

SKETCH DESIGN

Single pod: 1 person use. (affordable and short stay - 9hr capsule 1 night max)

Basic necessities met (sleep and clean) modular form. The core stair system provides most functions.

Double Pod: 1 person or 2 person use. (more $ and longer stay - 2 nights max)

Traditional method of more space = bigger cost. More space = longer the stay. More needs are met (sleep, eat, clean, rest) - the stair systems provide most functions (clean in one and eat in other).

Stacking structure is created as seen below- creating a structurally sound form. Things to consider are services and perhaps magnetic frame to strengthen stacking formation. Do the connected frameworks allow services to join??

Precedent: The Habitable Polyhedron.

The habitable polyhedron is a great example of the "flatpack" "unfold" concept I want to bring into my pod design. Although this design is not a modular, flatpack entity, I like the concept of a pod that can adapt and be unpacked, or folded into form. The cut-out 2d image shown below is a great example to this idea of "build your own" pod - which is quite neat!!

Inspiration to guide me in direction.

Some images that gave inspiration to me lately. I've been struggling with how to approach this polyhedra stacking design concept. Essentially this idea gives many possibilities for spatial connections, and adaptive spaces. However, my initial concept was to have a series of irregular shapes that can stack onto one another creating a weird and parasitic form (like the image below). However, I think I need to approach this from the individual pod shape. Irregular shapes can create difficulties with circulation, whereas a series of consistent forms have the potential to be adaptive and "plug in" to one another more easily. There are two ways of looking at this (and I think this has been my problem). There is the overall form, and there is the individual pod. I need to focus on detail and intricacies of the pod to create the form. 

The overall form:

The individual Pod:

SU experimentation

SU experimentation: I attempted to play around with randomised geometric forms that could stack into one another. My mission was to, as seen in the image above, create a rectangular entity (the laneway) and chip away at it, piece by piece. Creating open spaces - and leaving frames for accommodation, fames for lower ground retail spaces, etc. 

EXPLORATION: Voronoi

Looking at Voronoi froms - suggestion made by my tutor Ruwan. After showing my site analysis and exploration of a form to "fill" the laneway space  during the tutorial (previous post). My aim is to enhance the laneway vibe - perhaps a space for connection and gathering? Ruwan suggested I not worry too much about form but think about the positive and negative space, explore parasitic entities that encapsulate the space. I need to discover my reason for form. In a way I find Voronoi forms quite organic in its approach - not something I could imagine IKEA going into... I feel IKEA has a more systematic (and perhaps replicative?) approach to design. 

CONCEPT: an architecture that envelopes the negative space in cities. "Flatpack" that grows? Stacking, magnetic? 

I enjoy this image above. In a sense we can look at the laneway as an entity that can be chipped away by a series of geometric forms (frameworks) -- and thus creating open spaces, circulation spaces, gathering spaces etc...

Transparency - a sense of connection to the site?

Experimentation on SU

Playing around with Polyhedra Geometric forms to create stacking. A stable structure is formed.

Quick experimentation done up on SketchUP.

My aim is to create a series of capsules that connect/disconnect from one another. Perhaps a more organic approach should be considered. Capsules/geometric forms of different sizes.

Variety.
Modularity.
Flexibility.
Movability.

Site and analysis.

Looking at the site for project 2, as highlighted in red in the plan below, the location is in the heart of Brisbane city - the centre of the entertainment Hub. Essentially the architectural entity should respond to this context in some respect.  Accessibility to both Elizabeth st, and Queen street is of question, as well as the connection to pedestrianised environments. 

I'm beginning to question how the building could act as an activator - a connector within the entertainment/branded city.

Elevation sketches, experimenting how form can react to narrow spaces. Especially smallers entities such as 'flatpack' pods.