Individual Project One Statement

Quite often we believe we can prepare for our future by thinking, acting, and learning using present models and values; however no projection can be certain – especially in today’s rapidly changing world.

When we try to contemplate an approach to designing architecture for our future in somewhat concrete terms, we are not trying to predict an architectural style for our future; merely an approach. In terms of Assignment 1, we identified the architectural approach as ‘planetism’; designing for the betterment of the planet. This led us to the issues and framework relating to world views and methodologies within which architectural design of the future will be directed.

The approach involved both deductive and reductive thinking. On one hand, deductively, the issue is the type of context the architecture is to be developed in the future context (Regional; Woodfordia), and what the trends that influence the future; which give direction to future development. On the other hand, inductively, we had to consider what our architecture could achieve in the future in order to improve the nature of our existence; our concept of learning through experience. A society for the use of principle technologies aimed at improving our existence and promoting sustainable and self-sufficient lifestyles to give rise to this future movement towards ‘planetism’.

By approaching this assignment through ensuring an ecological agenda for our future society, and the critical need for education, we were able to assess and conceptualise Woodfordia in terms of a place for promoting sustainability.

The possibilities prove to be limitless surrounding the architectural opportunities; however the idea that the site can be utilised as a means for education presents a strong argument for political, economic and environmental sustainability. By exploring these qualities and assessing their nature I feel the design process of assignment 2 will result in a well-informed development conscious of an ecological agenda. 

Assignment 1 Panels

Architectural Possibilities | Design Charrette

We understand that the possibilities for architectural ideas are endless. In order to address this, we must first look at the issues we are facing today (economic, social and environmental), while at the same time addressing the local context.

With a focus on ecologically sustainable design, social connectivity, self-sufficiency and integration of technology, we aim to develop a society that relies on unity to thrive; using it as a model to educate the world on global issues and providing alternative lifestyle solutions.

Our design principles, approaches and concerns include:

SOURCE: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148109000615

These elements will be key to ensuring the success of a future development at Woodfordia. The diagram below shows the architectural ethics we intend t employ:

SOURCE: http://blog.japhethlim.com/index.php/2012/01/22/permaculture-will-save-the-world-some-call-it-the-green-architecture/

Architecture as a Dissident Practice & Erasing Architecture into the System

Source 1: Architecture as a Dissident Practice: An Interview with Diller Scofidio + Renfro http://blackboard.qut.edu.au/@@/0D5D7DDEDB0B8088D403981B4DCAAB0A/courses/1/DAB810_12se2/content/_4400872_1/embedded/Architecture%20as%20a%20dissident%20practice.pdf

Source 2:  Erasing Architecture into the System http://blackboard.qut.edu.au/@@/0D5D7DDEDB0B8088D403981B4DCAAB0A/courses/1/DAB810_12se2/content/_4400872_1/embedded/Erasing%20architecture%20into%20the%20system.pdf

Reflection: Changing styles and approaches to design are elements of learning processes. We see what worked in the past and how architecture has adapted over time through particular circumstances to produce our present. Our approach might be different, but our goals are all the same; to create change.

We see the necessity to provide alternative options; always aware of social, cultural and environmental concerns. When we see a problem, we look at solutions to design that problem rather than covering it up.

Architecture is the system. We have more of an effect on society than most realise. We are controlling spaces, activities and change norms. People adapt to their environment and we are the creators of this environment; we are silent heroes, aiming to improve life qualities and societal constructs.

People and Lifestyles | Design Charrete

In the post-modern era the merits of many old ways of doing things and of viewing the world are being reaffirmed. Post-modernism fosters the view that the world would be a better place if we paid more respect to pre‐modern and traditional practices.

In this post-modern era, many antiquated actions and processes are being reaffirmed. We are being encouraged to approach activities in such a way our ancestors did; fostering the view that the world would be a better place if we were to revert back to traditional practices. Unfortunately this is what seems to be wrong with promoting sustainability; people are being told that in order to be sustainable we must sacrifice our current quality of life for the greater improvement on mankind. This is what is holding us back from approaching global sustainability.

We must endorse a paradigm of ecological transformation, encouraging us to prepare for success in the 21st‐century by combining the best of the old with the best of the new. We need to embrace technology and adapt it to this current model for societal/global betterment. Changes we must see include the movement from one model to another:

• Priority to nation – priority to planet
• Individualism – communitarianism
• Independence – interdependence
• Autocracy – democracy
• Humanity against nature – humanity a part of nature
• Patriarchy – gender equality
• Intolerance/hostile – tolerance/harmonious
• Confrontation/combat – cooperation/negotiation
• Safekeeping through defence – safekeeping through security

Our current global megatrends show promising movements towards this better approach to these humanitarian goals. Below is evidence of our changing systems:

• A more prosperous, integrated, interdependent, and pluralistic global society is being created through the combination of globalization, tribalisation and through technological interconnectedness that increase our interconnectedness, interdependence, and our awareness of the lives and views of other cultures, and of our shared fate.
• A massive expansion of education, both in terms of its geographic spread and the time devoted to education in individual lives, that is encouraging people to look beyond their cultural roots that emphasizes difference and to see themselves as part of a humanity that that seeks to simultaneously embrace cultural difference and human unity.
• The substantial growth of the educated middle class through a massive spreading of prosperity generated by globalization. This is resulting in the values of the educated middle‐class becoming the values that inform global public opinion. This has major implications for global paradigm shifts and the creation of a sustainably prosperous global society.
• A single integrated global market place for ideas, products and the emergence of a global public opinion informed by shared values
• The interdependent relationship with reciprocal rights and responsibilities is becoming the dominant model in personal, business, workplace and international relations.
• A growth in communitarianism and a relative decline in its opposite –individualism. A modified form of individualism is evolving.
•  Populations are ageing in many parts of the world as more people join the middle class and seek to have careers rather than jobs, families with fewer and better‐educated children, and as more women seek equality and democratic freedom. This is leading to a massive increase in automation to ensure that increasing productivity per working person offsets this decline in relative workforce numbers.
• There is an increasing support for religion and tribalism that respects difference, and an escalating pariah status for religion and tribalism that does not. Fundamentalist religion in all its forms‐ a religious perspective that is intolerant of difference ‐ is increasing challenged by its more tolerant alternatives supported by international public opinion. This is a 21st century intra‐religious battle that is equivalent to the political battles between autocracy and democracy.
• An integrated and interdependent global investment and financial system is evolving. It will operate under one set of rules, and will force international responsibility on all financial institutions. There has been a gradual demise of the influence of many national currencies. This will lead to the establishment of a world central bank and a single global currency
• Products and services that realize sustainable production, consumption, development and lifestyles are increasingly proliferating in global, markets. Many of these will be devoted to both adapting to, and abating global warming.

(Ellyard n.d.)

These trends show promise that we are approaching this lifestyle of 21^st century sustainable modernism.

Reference

Ellyard, P. (n.d). A Sustainable Frankston City 2050. Retrieved August 10, 2012, from http://bldgblog.blogspot.com.au/2007/04/architectural-weaponry-interview-with.html

Architectural Weaponry: An Interview With Mark Wigley

Source: http://bldgblog.blogspot.com.au/2007/04/architectural-weaponry-interview-with.html

Reflection: As sustainability is being exposed to greater media attention and enforced through education we are seeing rise to a different future. People are becoming more aware and as a result our activities are changing. We become educated which in turn allows us to educate others. Prior to studying a minor course in sustainability I had never really understood the whole concept. I mean I had head people talking about how we needed to make changes and such but was never educated about the importance of these changes and how we are effecting our environment. The knowledge then promoted the desire to change; sustainability became real and actions first became a thought process.

The education system must focus on instilling this information into our future generations as early as possible in order to ensure sustainability becomes second nature; to live sustainably without having to consider it being sustainable. Our societal structure needs to change. This change will not be fast, however we need to start implementing strategies now to benefit our future; learning through education and experience is our only hope as it seems to be the most effective solution.

Our common goal should be to enhance our society and to maintain/improve the health of our planet and as architectural student I can’t help but feel the responsibilities rely heavily on worlds design careers; reassessing current models and redeveloping them for future relevance. I see design as a form of psychological control. We are setting boundaries and eliminating unwanted actions. While something may seem liberating it is not; it has a function and that function is its intended use.

While we might argue that our designs might promote freedom, they do not. It may be less constrained however it will always be a control mechanism. 

Sustainability & Technology

This clip is a perfect example focusing on the idea of a hedonistic approach towards sustainability. 

Sustainable Future | Design Charrette

While no one can certainly predict the future we can make educated judgements based on current trends. With current societal trends failing our global, we must take a step back and reassess our activities and the path humankind has apparently chosen. We need to make changes in order to better our existence, our health, and the health of our planet. We must aim for universal sustainability.

Discussing sustainability during class led to some interesting discussions about how to achieve sustainability (through green energy solutions, waste management and of course education); however one that remains strong to me is the idea of a hedonistic approach.

When we think of a truly sustainable word we often think in order to achieve sustainability we must sacrifice our quality of life for the good of the planet; however technology shows plenty of potential regarding the movements to sustainability.

Microsoft offers a concept surrounding technology and how it can have a positive effect on out move to sustainability:  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KnIJoHibiQ

We can use technology to aid our path towards our own sustainable goals while at the same time solve current global challenges. Technology can keep people aware of our current unsustainable habits, and allow us to set our own goals and monitor our progress.

The idea that we can advance global sustainability through technology is one that I am sure everyone would like to witness. We are a modernising world and we simply cannot start going backwards. While sustainability is indeed important, educating people and motivating them will not work whilst their mindset centres the idea that their lives will become worse; that they will miss out. The technology is there, and it is steadily improving; we must embrace it.

With this in mind, we have considered the future of Woodfordia and explained the following setting:

"In the year 2050 Woodfordia has become prosperous, sustainable, harmonious, secure and just. It has become a sustainable community; and as a result of this transformation from an underutilised section of rural property into a thriving self-sufficient society, it has become a world leader in sustainability knowledge and wisdom.

It has been developed into an institution for a sustainable lifestyle; exporting sustainable community-knowledge to the rest of the world; which has become a key concern in the twenty-first century economic base."

The Continuous Partial Everywhere.

Source: (http://juhavantzelfde.com/post/23506562343/the-aspatial-city)

Reflection: This is something I have always considered with social media technology. While we may not talk to our facebook friends as often as we used to, we see no need for regular face-to-face contact since we already know their living patterns and their recent activities; we are being social without realising. While I understand that virtual interaction is nowhere near as satisfying as physical social interaction, it does allow us some interactive possibilities that we would not otherwise be able to participate in with our busy schedules. This notion of an aspatial context is slowly taking over our physical environment. Look at public transport for example; when we are using public transport, we are not really ‘on’ the train/bus. While of course our physical beings are present, our minds are transported elsewhere through the use of our portable technologies. We are utilising this time to catch up with friends, communities and groups online; a form of indirect communication.  It is not necessarily a bad thing (as with anything it will have its advantages and disadvantages), we seem to take on other peoples experiences as our own. 

Tsunami Warnings, Written in Stone

Reading Source: (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/21/world/asia/21stones.html)

NOTE: Image from reading source

Reflection: It seems remarkable how something as simple as a stone can mean so much. These  stones (however ruined they may seem) provide a safeguard for the surrounding society. I find it astounding that regardless of their meaning and their accuracy to predict future catastrophe, people still ignore their message and build beyond the perimeter of safety; but at what cost? Many who do build beyond these stones die, and those who don’t, incur great loss. There seems to be no laws restricting development; just a long history of knowledge and an applied message; perhaps this needs to change. Alternative methods need to be employed in order to educate people of the ‘live-able’ boundary and stop them from committing (for lack of a better term) suicide. 

A History of Green-washing: How Dirty Towels Impacted the Green Movement

Week 2 Reading Source: (http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/02/12/the-history-of-greenwashing-how-dirty-towels-impacted-the-green/)

Reflection: While within the reading it is mentioned that it is somewhat ironic that the hotels seem to be concerned about the waste of water through washing towels after one use; sustainability starts out small. While yes, it does seem like a minor issue, enough positive feedback and public response will encourage further analysis to see what else can be mitigated in terms of waste. This is where sustainability starts – small steps. By eliminating one issue at a time, and being credited for it, encourages others to do the same – and before you know it, we start to develop this movement towards a green future. Look how far we have come over the past decades. We have by no means reached global sustainability – nor are we even close; but our approach is slowly consuming the thought of our civilisation – and with enough education and incentives, we can achieve our sustainable goals.

Future Visions and Scenarios | Design Charrette

Urban - Car-Free Environment

While the idea of a car free city may seem like an unlikely reality, there are in fact cities that have already achieved success – eliminating large amounts of congestion from within the city centers (See http://www.carfree.com/carfree_places_old.html).

Using London as a case study (Source: http://www.vtpi.org/london.pdf), our group assembled and looked at how implementing London’s concept of a congestion fee might affect Brisbane. We decided to look at the problems it may cause within the cities layout, and how Brisbane might adapt if there was a congestion fee system within the Brisbane CBD. 

Some of the problems we encountered included:

• How much would you charge in order to stop cars entering the city?
• Go extremely high to stop car traffic altogether? or;
• High enough to still allow traffic for personal emergency situations (late for work/meeting etc)?
• How do we define the limits of this transition between traffic friendly and unfriendly zones? (In accordance to the congestion fee system)
• Is it just the Brisbane CBD that will incur the congestion charge?
• Do we need to cover surrounding districts?
• What happens to the congestion? Where does it go?
• Would people just park their cars on the outside of the transition zones?
• Will these suburbs be equipped to handle the increase in traffic?

We decided to look at how Brisbane’s city layout might change if this system were to be implemented:

Current City Model

Zone 1: Brisbane Central Business District

Zone 2: Culture Hubs

Zone 3: Suburbs

Future City Model

Zone 1: Culture hub

Zone 2: Brisbane Central Business District

Zone 3: Culture Hub

Zone 4: Suburbs

Reasoning

With the implementation of a congestion fee, many retail businesses will relocate to the outskirts of the central city limits (Zone 2; where the fee no longer applies). This will ultimately form a ring of commercial structures. Land and buildings once used for commercial purposes (Zone 1) within the inner city districts will be reclaimed and used for culture hubs (educational facilities, clubs, museums etc). The outer ring (Zone 3) would need to be re-developed in order to handle the relocated traffic and congestion; ultimately providing another culture/retail district surrounding the main center of commerce.

Suburban - Sustainable Retail Experiences

While we did consider what a physical retail experience would feel like in the future (analysing retail approaches from companies like Apple), we chose to approach it slightly differently. Assuming all shopping was to be done online, we looked at the current societal model, focusing on elements that would need to change in accordance to mass online shopping and the delivery methods that would then result. Some of these elements include:

• Postage services would need to change drastically in order to keep up with the enormous increase in item deliveries;
• We would develop a global shipping and delivery service as a result of this change;
• Enormous warehouses would be required to stock the incoming purchases before being distributed to the appropriate buyers;
• Items would go directly from production to shipping to the online buyerThis would result in less production waste and packaging as items would be created based on the demand for that item.
• Packaging would no longer be required for the purpose of aesthetic advertising
• Resources would only be exhausted based on the current demands; resulting in lower production rates and less landfill
• Manufacturing companies would globalise – building manufacturing facilities in all major countries and continents;
• Postage services would need to become considerably faster when purchasing from outside of the country/state;
• Postage services would need to adopt green initiatives in order to offset the large increase in global emissions due to the increase in service requirements;
• Postage/delivery services would need to adapt working hours to suit everyone (9am-5pm would not suffice) – alternatively, people would need to have PO boxes for deliveries.

Regional - Self-sufficient Community

Our concept for a regional self-sufficient community stems from the idea of interconnected city hubs. Due to the lack of development in rural areas, this presents architectural opportunities to create an identity for the surrounding area. By developing self-sufficient interconnected city-developments we can utilise these regional/rural areas to create a starting source for future living and design principals.

Each green high-density development becomes a self-driven community that relies on its adjacent communities for resource sharing and distribution. The image below summarises our intents at a basic level:

NOTE: Images are from a previous assignment 

Virtual - Strategies for all Regions

Our approach to a virtual strategy was an extension from an assignment that I participated in last semester: VOICE

 

For this purpose of this activity however, there would be no physical installation. The idea surrounded the presence of an invisible social network which encompassed each relevant location. This would encourage like-minded people to inhabit different parts of the city/are depending on their social preference. It would act as a virtual meet-and-greet system; while offering areas within the city to speak your mind and address current societal issues. 

And so it begins...

As the final semester commences, so too does the pressure to succeed within the design world. I am lacking focus. My thoughts lie not within the tasks at hand, but rather the future obstacles that the completion of my degree creates. All that my life has been for the past four years is coming to an end. While I look forward to finishing my degree, I am scared to face the real world. What if I cannot find my position within the design world? What if no design firm wants me? What if I am awful? I am tormented with these hypothetical contexts and over analysis. While I understand the ‘designer’ must present themselves as confident beings (producing a positive impression), the thought of stagnant effort supersedes my ability to stay confident. I may be overreacting, but I understand that the design world is a scary place; a place that not everyone belongs; a place that I am yet to encounter. Is it wrong of me to be concerned about my future direction and where I will come?

I know within myself I am not ready to progress into my fifth year of architecture; I lack the knowledge and experience that can only be acquired through working within a design firm. I need to apply myself during my eighth semester, but I am yet to find the motivation and inspiration to distance myself from my inner monologue of supposed circumstances. At this stage, to look at possible positive outcomes appears unwarranted when there seems to be such a negative presence surrounding the possibilities of finding design work. Though, I must look on the brighter side that is Architectural Design, and the possibilities it creates.

I started my degree without knowledge of what would come or what would be required. What followed was unexpected, hard and sometimes discouraging. It has not been easy as I am sure all of my peers can agree; but it has certainly been worth it. This course has moulded me into the person I am today; I have learned to appreciate design to a much greater extent, to every minor detail. While I have not always been successful throughout design, I have learned to laugh at my failures, learn through experimentation and to design through rapid prototyping. Above all else, I have learned a lifestyle.

The poetic combination of stress and deprivation of basic life needs, trading a social life for long nights in front of a computer screen, seems to be overcome by the sense of accomplishment and success. I have learned to love this lifestyle I have chosen for myself. I thrive on the stress it creates and long for the moment when all of the hard work, long sleepless nights, and lack of social interaction comes together to form the completion of a design project. That moment of pure bliss makes it all worth it. While I might argue that this lifestyle is hard, and I have those mental breakdown sessions where it feels like the world is ending, I cannot see my life without architecture. It seems like a sick and twisted existence, but I cannot see myself living any other lifestyle. That is what architecture is, a lifestyle.  

This is what I am scared to leave behind. This is what I have grown to love but fear it may soon end. I need to focus on my studies but similarly need to search for my position within the design world. This Blog will show my progress throughout my final semester of Architectural Design (fourth year Bachelors Degree). I will attempt to keep it up-to-date with my weekly activities/reflections, and will surely upload my progress and final submissions surrounding both Assignment 1 and Assignment 2. Please, feel free to leave feedback and ask questions.