The proposed form of the project will largely focus on including natural light and airflow within a clearly defined area where the types of spaces required can share the benefits of them. Perhaps there is no practical reason for having natural light in a building design except in order to satisfy the human spirit, but the whole point of a piece of architecture is to induce a certain mood into the inhabitant, and keep us in touch with the flow of nature while empowering us to create our own spaces. A building that will embody this ideal is The Louvre in Abu Dhabi.
Fig.1 shows what the outside of The Louvre might look like when the project is finished. The form is a definite dome shape that lets a very controlled amount of light through to the ‘inside’ of the building. For the harbour-side site, this idea will be included in the design to give the area a certain amount of separation from the rest of the area surrounding, however the area will still feel like an outdoor area when standing underneath the dome structure, much more than what appears in Fig.2.
The proposed site is at the waterside just as this one in Abu Dhabi is, as the play of light on the waterfront creates a serene atmosphere that is not achievable in any other way. The building will take form as a part-undercover area with many different uses and facilities as separate buildings inside, including apartments, cafes and walkways to the parkland behind, and the focus on natural light is aimed to give the area fluidity and a relaxed mood for such a popular area.
While the design will be largely based on the design of The Louvre in Abu Dhabi, the concept of emergence will be considered when forming the structure which means that control points will be found in the system that can alter the design without losing control over the aspect of natural light for the area. When thinking about how this ‘roof’ structure might work this building was looked at again, and a system very similar to this will be used (Fig.3). The Sydney climate has also been considered, in that it is similar to Abu Dhabi in summer, but in winter the temperature drops dramatically and we get wind and rainfall, however under the dome is still to be considered outside space, just slightly undercover, and the individual businesses can account for the weather changes in their own way.
Fig.4 below shows the start on using Grasshopper for this project and finding the points of control, a concept to do with emergence, and here I have changed the radius of the circles being projected onto the dome shape and therefore created different densities of piped lines. These four forms look similar to the one above (Fig.3) but circles have been used and projected onto the dome shape, and perhaps it would be better to have shapes that are more geometrical and can intersect in interesting ways. This will be explored with further experimentation in order to achieve the required effect of the model. This is obviously only the ‘roof’ structure, and the buildings that will need to be placed below will also be designed and will essentially hold up this main attraction of the site.
Image References:
Fig 1: Jane and Mark Burry, The New Mathematics of Architecture (London: Thames & Hudson, 2010), 62.
Fig 2: Jane and Mark Burry, The New Mathematics of Architecture (London: Thames & Hudson, 2010), 62.
Fig 3: Jane and Mark Burry, The New Mathematics of Architecture (London: Thames & Hudson, 2010), 64.
Fig 4: Captures from author's computer, 10th May 2011.
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