Perspectives

Reworking the Facade

Reworked Facade


Through reviewing the model it became clear that the King St facade had not been properly addressed and was not welcoming. The view from the rear laneway was far more interesting and it felt as though the building was turning its back on King St. I have reworked the facade in an attempt to create a more welcoming building as viewed from King St. Small slit windows have been added, allowing a limited view into the lower gallery from the street. I have also added a circular South-West facing skylight that is visible from King St. This allows diffuse light to enter the space and also give a hint of the circular geometry of the interia. I have also added a sculptural tree to the cut away section on the facade and added rounded overlapping awnings to give a sense of continuity with the surrounding buildings.

The Rear Lane

The Model: Sectional

The sectional model illustrated the spacial volumes, especially the double height foyer and the courtyard. It also shows the materiality, note the reflective foyer floors and grey tile courtyard.

The Model: In Situ

This image shows the skylight system for the exhibition space, as well as the rooving.

The gallery fits into the site, addressing King St, and also the rear lane access.

Elevated view from King St.

Elevated view from, the rear laneway showing the car port and roof system.

The central courtyard and progression of spaces.

The King St. facade.

Courtyard at 1:50

The sculpture courtyard is the focal point of the entire gallery space, and this is why I chose it as the component to show in detail. The centre of the space features a reflective platform for a large sculptural centre piece, but this platform can be removed and be replaced by a water feature when it is unoccupied. The courtyard is covered in large grey tiles and features the cafe and seating area, as well as the large curved staircase up to the walkway.

Sections

The sections and elevation illustrate the progression of spaces and their separation by the courtyard. Section 1 shows the double height of the entry space, while Section 2 illustrates the skylight system used in the main exhibition space.

The Gallery

Plan The plan is perhaps the most illustrative view of the concept of rippling water. The focus of the gallery is on the circular courtyard, and the surrounding spaces and their rooving echoes this idea of concentric circules.

Level 1

The layout of the rooms on level one is based on a grid that addresses the angle of entry of both the front of the site and the back of the site. The grid allows for predominantly orthogonal rooms and much more ration spaces than working of concentric circles. The spaces have been separated into private and public spaces, the private spaces are accessed by the rear laneway, while the front is accessed from King St. The King St entrance opens up into the main foyer, which is double height and heavily glazed to allow for a lot of natural light. The floor in the entry and all of the gallery spaces is black and highly polished to play with the idea of reflection, while the white walls allow for a neutral background for the art. The gallery spaces are broken up into three main sections, art that is for sale, installation/multimedia, and longer term exhibitions, whilst the sculpture courtyard is on the outside. The sculpture courtyard also acts as a cafe area in an attempt to draw more people into the space and also to give them an opportunity to rest while they explore the gallery. The cafe kitchen, storage space and workshop are all accessed from the rear laneway.

Level 2 The studio apartment is located on the second story and is accessed via the stairs form the carport. It is very open plan and has a built in kitchenette and bathroom, but also allows very easy access to the kitchen on the first floor, and also to the office. The second level gallery is the largest of the gallery spaces and is used for longer term exhibitions. The walk way allows for a greater angle of view for the sculpture courtyard and is accessed by a slightly oversized curved staircase from the courtyard.

Artists and Gallery Concept

Since the gallery was to exhibit a variety of different forms of art, I decided to choose works from a sculptor and a painter to inspire my design of the gallery. Ben Smith is a young emerging Australian artist whose paintings focus on semi anthropomorphic animal interactions. This painting, entitled ‘the voyage for direction’ is one of my favourites. Alasdair MacIntyre is also an Australian based artist, his work is essentially sculptured miniature political cartoons. I liked the simplicity of the form and the honesty of the characters in the work, this piece is entitled ‘Marooned’ and is one of his most recent pieces.

From the artwork themselves I found a few concepts that I wanted to work with. Firstly was the idea of reflection, I liked the way that in both pieces the characters in the work had a reflection of themselves. I wanted the gallery to also have this reflective quality to it, offering new and different ways of viewing the art work. The other concept that I took from the selected artwork was that of water. Apart from its reflective properties I also wanted to explore the notion of rippling waves in the water. My initial concept had several sets of concentric circles all interwoven, like rain falling on a pond, but this created very awkward wall junctions and spaces and I eventually simplified this idea into one drop of water with ripples radiating out.

My last concept that heavily influenced the design was that I not only wanted the space to be a gallery, but it was also to be a cafe. This, in my opinion, would fit better with the Newtown site, allowing anyone to come in off the street, wonder around, have something to eat or drink and discuss the art, then perhaps purchase something on the way out. This concept was to give the gallery a more relaxed feeling, and to tie in better with the site.

Circulation Paths

Interior Views

Some of the fragmented views of the interior

The Model

Plans, Sections and Elevations

The site can be entered from two areas, the rear entrance gives a view of the interior, but the stair lead downwards away from the view of the inside. Once inside there are two main paths, upwards to the studio space, or down to the gallery. The upper level is designed for the photographers use, it has a ‘dark room’ with no exterior openings, and a slightly more well lit studio space. Outside the studio space is a enclosed terrace area, and this leads up the stairs around the outside to a balcony level that has the only open views in the building. The lower area is used for a gallery space to display the photographers work. It has an observation deck and a lower display area. There is an entrance here as well where the walls fold around each other to form a transitional entry with curved window openings.

The windows on the front face are based on the aspect ratio of 35mm film, the array mimics the film strip itself. The thin windows on the sides of the house are on an angle to either draw people up from the gallery space or down from the balcony. There are also series of long thin strips to break up the views on the terrace level and balcony, while the rest of the views are glazed to mimic the view through the lens of a camera.

The site is sloped, and the multiple levels in the circulation and different entry points are designed to create a certain cunfusion and ambiguity about the level which you are at which is designed to mimic this ambiguity in Edward Hoppers painting.

Concept Sketches and Idea

With this space light has to enter each different room in a different way, the light has to draw the viewer to different areas of the house as he constantly searches for different views. The main views are either fragmented or just out of sight and should be seen through glass, like the lens of a camera. There needs to be a certain ambiguity about the levels of the house, as there is an ambiguity about the levels in hoppers painting.

Narrative

A photographer always see the world through a lens. He is drawn to the way that light penetrates and paints a space, but is constantly moving around to try and find a better view.

Project 2

I have selected Edward Hoppers 'Night Window' as the image on which to base my narrative.

Parti

Stucture
Program

Geometry

Enclosure

Circulation