Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Graduation Project - work in progress




1 month left before the final presentation of my graduation project and possibility (and hopefully and sadly) the last month of my uni life. Wish me luck.

@vision+@experience, Wentworth Park, Sydney

The underlying trust of the project is to energize and densify the Wentworth Park area with a character and function distinctive in Sydney. This hybrid program ( moving image center and thermal bath house) transcends its private aspect of each of the single program in order to function as part of the public structure of the park and enrich the city space.

The Moving Image Center (@Vision), consisting of cinemas, library, gallery and restaurant, is proposed to add urban function to the park and to acquires new urban quality by the injection of media events. Locating in the northern section of Wenthwork Park, which is closely adjacent to the intersection of two busy roads with incessant traffic, the Moving Image Center confronts with the perpetual urban motion and acts as a sanctuary, providing a sense of ‘time-out’ of the real time experience. The building retreats from the harsh urban environment on one side, but maximizes its opening to the natural parkland on the other side. The facade facing the park reveals the people movement of a multitude of levels. It is an inside out building which sustains a dialogue with the park. The building is lifted off the ground to free the ground from the domination of architecture. The columns that support the building are positioned like a forest grove, creating a dialogue with the arches of the viaduct and the boulevard of trees.

The building also functions as an urban passage by establishing a direct pedestrian linkage between the nearby tram station and the fish market area. A flyover gallery connects the moving image center with the thermal bath house (@Experience), renovated from the abandoned coal bunker that locates at the water front of Blackwattle Bay. With its beautiful timber structure, the bath house portrays the maritime characteristic of the site, retraces the relationship with water and also presents a new relaxation experience to the community.