Tectonic Investigation

Pictured below is a collection of mathematical theory behind the "Veirendeel truss" system which was introduced in my initial design concept. This was scanned from S,M,L,XL by Rem Koolhaas and Bruce Mau. This system will be employed between the floor and ceiling panels of the government buildings in order to offer allow high levels of FLEXIBILITY.

It will allow my building to achieve: 

Large spans

Open plan 

Totally customised and reconfigurable services for each floor level

Initial Design Concept

My initial concept for the Infrastructure Australia and mixed use precinct in the heart of Civic was heavily based on the strong pre-existing geometric relationships present on site.

Red indicates the axes of the sides of the radiant, hexagonal form that typifies the whole area. Purple indicates 15 degree angles between these axes which effectively divide the site up between what is vacant land and what is already built ie the retail / entertainment and municipal buildings.

This conveniently divides the site into 7 precincts which contain mixed uses of recreation / government / commercial OR recreational / commercial / residential.

The huge roundabout which cuts the central park off from the surrounding commercial and retail district serves as the BRT terminal while bridges link pedestrians back to the mixed use developments.

Pictured below is a rough view of one of the 7 precincts of the development viewed from NW corner of the site.

Inspiration for the structural lock nuts pylons was taken from the SME20, a state of the art vinyl record player. It uses a similar structural system to achieve very high levels of stability:

The cutaway section below illustrates how a gentle 1:20 grade brings pedestrians and commuters up / down across the outer edge of the site. The ground plane is designed to feature a wide variety of recreational uses which are activated by a constant flow of workers, residents, commuters, tourists and officials. Above this is a potentially accessible green roof, followed government / commercial or commercial / residential tenancies.

The idea behind the structure was to make it as flexible as possible in order to respond to the changing needs of the parliament and other tenants over the life of the project. It is for this reason that the fire stairs, elevators, toilets and services were moved to the exterior of the building, allowing them to be easily refurbished or repositioned in response to needs.

The other main feature of the design that it employs square grids of trusses which are supported by massive pylons at each corner. These are locked in place by large, stylised hex nuts. This allows for each end of the building to be totally open plan so that tenants can easily customise internal spaces, greatly extending the lifetime of the buildings usefulness. The external services are expressed through colour coding: Blue = water in / out, Green= air in / out, Yellow = electrical, Orange = network.

The floor slabs consist of a grid of deep Vierendeel trusses. These are square trusses which are not as structurally efficient as triangulated ones, but allow for some interesting architectural opportunities. This grid of trusses is deep enough to allow a totally customisable array of services within each slab which simply connect to the external service channel on the side of the building at each floor.

Infrastructure Analysis, Government Analysis, Site Analysis + Design Brief

Given that my tutorial group's particular theme strategy for the 21st century Canberra project is 'Distribution - Transprogramming', I will be integrating a holistic network of planned infrastructure projects as a primary element and driver of my design proposal. 

Pictured below are logistic diagrams and analysis which illustrate how both a High Speed Rail (HSR) and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) network are designed to link my design proposal within the greater context for Canberra in the 21st century at a local level, as well as nationally via the HSR and internationally via holistic public transport connections with the Canberra International Airport.

The diagrams below are taken from the 2009 Canberra Airport Masterplan. They illustrate investment into freight routes and public transport circuits which will accompany Canberra Airport's planned role as Australia's freight capital.

The drawings below illustrate Canberra's urban topography and how the planned local and national public transport infrastructure will be integrated into the city plan.

The diagrams below illustrate an investigation into what areas of parliament are responsible for implementing such grand infrastructure schemes, and how their processes can be optimised.

The Civic district is identified as an ideal site to facilitate public and private partnerships which will make Australia's infrastructure processes possible.

The statutory body Infrastructure Australia (IA) was selected as the ideal governmental department to incorporate into my proposal for Canberra in the 21st century. A headquarters for the 7 divisions (outlined below) of IA along with a BRT terminal will form the key element of the design brief which I have created for myself. 

In order to optimise the development, I propose that a high density of residential apartments  and commercial tenancies would be needed to activate both the inner and outer edges of the site. The presence of a mixed use of retail, cafe's, restaurants, bars, nightclubs, culture and entertainment would also be critical in ensuring a large variety of people use the site for a large variety of functions throughout the day and night. This would theoretically produce a vibrant and functional city centre with highly active sidewalk and park life.

At this stage I am not sure what detail can be achieved in the design of the residential / commercial / mixed use complexes due to the demanding nature of the primary element of my brief (the government / transit / commercial hub). However, I would definitely like to include them in my scheme.