Online Form Submission
Title: Adaptable Clubhouse + Promenade Details:
This proposal was submitted to the University of Technology, Sydney as part of a Master of Architecture Design Studio. The aim of this project was to interrogate the existing monocultural state of urban renewal sites in Sydney, and to develop an alternative method to provide valuable and relevant public spaces. This was delivered through the typology of a clubhouse, which allowed for small scale interjections along the harbour front, challenging large urban development projects on similar sites. Using the Unsolicited Proposals Guidelines, this hypothetical clubhouse aimed to be unique and provide value to the public as well as its members.
Sydney has a noticeable tendency to demolish buildings rather than adapt them. Developments such as Barangaroo and Pyrmont are strong urban gestures which ultimately wipe everything that pre-exists away. Although they have aspirations to improve the public realm, they tend to isolate existing groups from the city as a whole by attempting to post-justify and inject “a sense of community” at the end as a fix-all. This over-formalisation means that we ultimately miss out on the opportunity for the mutation of diverse culture. Instead we should be developing systems which all existing community groups to grow organically and inform a more relevant urban environment to address the needs of a modern global city. This proposal is focused into a model to suit the homeless community which lives underneath the light rail in Wentworth Park, but could be adapted for many user groups. The homeless have particularly strong community bonds and are often isolated from the greater discussion around urban development. A flexible, modular system was proposed as a solution which could be easily adapted to suit the needs of the users as the population is constantly in flux.
The site is located on an important junction between proposed master plans. The integration of a public boardwalk directs the public away from the busy street and provides a point of contact.The old heritage-listed coal loader is adapted into a public viewing platform
The clubhouse is made of modules which can be expanded or subtracted depending on the size of the community. It steps down to the harbour, a commodity all but reserved for the wealthy and the pool contains filtered harbour water but also provides privacy and dignity to members through subtle level changes and physical screens. This allows the homeless and the general public to exist in an incidental, democratic way. There are food production plots placed on the old dock for the homeless and the rest of the community to use.
The system is designed to be flexible. Each module is prefabricated and as a common base structural framework with clip-in panels which can be ordered depending on factors such as orientation and access requirements. This module can therefore exist as a stand alone pavilion or can be be mirrored and rotated infinitely to create larger structures. The current configuration shown is designed to suit 30 members (the approximate number of homeless in the immediate area), however this could be expanded
to accommodate 60, or even be reduced to exist solely as a public plaza with toilet and shower facilities for the pool if the homeless community was to move on."
cut 5mm towards image from this line WENTWORTH PARK BLACKWATTLE BAY FISH MARKETS EXISTING COAL LOADER LIGHT RAIL HOMELESS COMMUNITY
“‘Community’... is perceived as capable of redeeming the mess which we are creating in
our cities. A lot of community construction projects are, in the end, a recipe for isolation.
We have to think about the construction of community not as an end in itself but as a
moment in a process.”
- David Harvey Contested Cities: Social Process and Spatial Form
---This proposal was submitted to the University of Technology, Sydney as part of a Master of Architecture Design Studio. The aim of this project was to interrogate the existing mono cultural state of urban renewal sites in Sydney, and to develop an alternative method to provide valuable and relevant public spaces. This was delivered through the typology of a clubhouse, which allowed for small scale interjections along the harbour front, challenging large urban development projects on similar sites. Using the Unsolicited Proposals Guidelines, this hypothetical clubhouse aimed to be unique and provide value to the public as well as its members.
Sydney has a noticeable tendency to demolish buildings rather than adapt them. Developments such as Barangaroo and Pyrmont are strong urban gestures which ultimately wipe everything that preexists away. Although they have aspirations to improve the public realm, they tend to isolate existing groups from the city as a whole by attempting to post-justify and inject “a sense of community” at the end as a fix-all. This over-formalisation means that we ultimately miss out on the opportunity for the mutation of diverse culture. Instead we should be developing systems which all existing community groups to grow organically and inform a more relevant urban environment to address the needs of a modern global city.
This proposal is focused into a model to suit the homeless community which lives underneath the light rail in Wentworth Park, but could be adapted for many user groups. The homeless have particularly strong community bonds and are often isolated from the greater discussion around urban development. A flexible, modular system was proposed as a solution which could be easily adapted to suit the needs of the users as
the population is constantly in flux. A module, repeated and mirrored to create a larger enclosure
Site Analysis Diagram
View from the boardwalk near the Sydney Fish Markets Katie Williams
Master of Architecture Student E [email protected]
An exploded kit-of-parts view of a single module and its panel options
A B C D E F G H
The site is located on an important junction between proposed master plans. The integration of a public boardwalk directs the public away from the busy street and provides a point of contact. The old heritage-listed coal loader is adapted into a public viewing platform
The clubhouse is made of modules which can be expanded or subtracted depending on the size of the community. It steps down to the harbour, a commodity all but reserved for the wealthy and the pool contains filtered harbour water but also provides privacy and dignity to members through subtle level changes and physical screens. This allows the homeless and the general public to exist in an incidental, democratic way. There are food production plots placed on the old dock for the homeless and the rest of the community to use.
The system is designed to be flexible. Each module is prefabricated and as a common base structural framework with clip-in panels which can be ordered depending on factors such as orientation and access requirements. This module can therefore exist as a stand alone pavilion or can be be mirrored and rotated infinitely to create larger structures. The current configuration shown is designed to suit 30 members (the approximate number of homeless in the immediate area), however this could be expanded to accommodate 60, or even be reduced to exist solely as a public plaza with toilet and shower facilities for the pool if the homeless community was to move on.
---“Over-specification of form and function makes the modern urban environment
peculiarly susceptible to decay. Today’s ways of building cities... fail to provide
communities the time and space needed for growth. When the city operates as
an open system... it becomes democratic not in a legal sense, but as a physical
experience.”
- Richard Sennett, The Open CityKatie Williams
Master of Architecture Student E [email protected]
View towards Blackwattle Bay from the adapted Coal Loader Viewing Platform
= PUBLIC SPACE
PROMENADE STREET FRONTAGE + VIEWING PLATFORM
= REFUGE SPACE
CLUBHOUSE + POOL AREA PRODUCE GARDEN + RECREATIONAL AREA
DINING KITCHEN PROMENADE STORE STORE STORE FEMALE W C POOL PRODUCE G ARDEN VIEWING PLA TFORM MALE W C MEETING ROOMS CLUBHOUSE FOR 60 CLUBHOUSE FOR 30 CLUBHOUSE FOR 15 CLUBHOUSE FOR 0 DINING ROOM = WC + SHOWERS = STORAGE = FOOD STORAGE = KITCHEN = MEETING ROOMS =
Katie Williams
Master of Architecture Student E [email protected] Plan View of the site
Section through the site showing public + private zones
