Final Presentation

I feel as though my final presentation was quite successful in demonstrating my ideas. I especially think researching presentation techniques and focusing on how i will actually convey my final ideas helped in its success. I do feel that i could continue to develop the idea substantially more and start to detail some of the built elements of the festival, however, for this assessment i think the narrative took precedence. It was this that made me decide to focus on the first person experience through perspective images rather than typical architectural drawings.

The powerpoint attached (dropbox link) has notes incorporated which became my palm cards and which are worth reading if youre interested in how i articulated all my ideas into a cohesive speech.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/9581919/HeidiNielsen63723968_DAB810_PechaKucha.pptx

Human Made vs Naturally Occurring Closed Loop Systems

Close to the presentation date i took a brief look at two well known examples of 'sustainable future scenario' based design by two of the most well respected architects of the last century - Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright. Whilst both concepts were aimed at improving quality of living and took a somewhat closed system approach, they both applied the ideas in a very broad brush homogeneous way. 

Le Corbusier's 'Vile Contemporaine'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw8LNJ8gBq4

 Frank Lloyd Wright's Broadacre City
http://yorkutopias.blogspot.com.au/2008/02/building-utopia-frank-lloyd-wright-and.html

The diagram above represents my thoughts on why both Le Corbusier's and Frank Lloyds Wright's utopian image fail in fundamental way. The left image shows how i believe people view closed loop systems whilst the right represents how i believe them to truly occur in nature. To successfully design closed loop systems i believe we need to layer them and intertwine them with other closed loop systems and subsequently build an entire ecosystem from these individual cases. Diversity is the key to a healthy ecosystem. 

Masterplan Strategy

The masterplan in some ways, best shows how my thoughts have progressed from the original study of retail spaces in my future scenario to the end festival design. It shows how i see the potential development of office spaces becoming increasingly freelance and collaboratively based - this is as a result of economic situations as well as the changes in attitudes occurring towards sharing and ownership (file sharing etc). It is also largely based on the assumption that as we can not sustain an economy reliant on products created from resources that we do not have, we will switch to a much more knowledge based economy - i see the design fields and arts becoming a much more central part of this new economy.

The festival is designed to be a vehicle for experimentation of ideas related to this new economy and subsequent changing role of our city.

Development of Images

To create the atmospheric representation of my festical i used a combination of techniques. I began with a reasonably basic 3d model from which i generated sketch renders. 

 I then traced over these images and added any further detail i desired.

I then imported them into photoshop and used a combination of collaging and brush techniques.

Pecha Kucha Planning

The planning of the presentation for this design assignment is a very important component in order for the narrative to truly be understood.

I put together an initial plan with an introduction to the narrative followed largely by purely explanatory slides featuring components of the festival design.

After watching the following TED talk on the structure of great talks i tweaked the presentation to oscillate between the situtation now and how it will be with my design implemented. I believe this made it a much stronger presentation.  http://www.ted.com/talks/nancy_duarte_the_secret_structure_of_great_talks.html

 Main perspective images (these are the focus of my presentation in terms of illustrating my idea):

 New Plan:

Festival Theory

I began reading into the theory of festival architecture through the following book:

http://reader.eblib.com.au.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/(S(n05vfz5uhfyjfre4duzwqldi))/Reader.aspx?p=325392&o=96&u=cy%2btDP26vqH6yyPMoRTn6w%3d%3d&t=1352287204&h=A51166A57C444EB29F289E955E05B9A6E86D6B24&s=7167293&ut=245&pg=1&r=img&c=-1&pat=n#

Whilst im not going to regurgitate everything i read, there were some important ideas and historical discourses which i can see are still in existence today or which i think are important to reflect upon. Even concepts which are antiquated and seemingly irrelevant to modern society (or whatever 'post modern' society our future scenario might be deemed) are important to understand in a historical sense to give richness, cultural understanding and progression to new ideas.

(Page 23) Passive, static viewing dominates much of modern society. In contrast roman spectator-ship was highly interactive. When passing through city they would read the individual elements as important components in meaningful narratives (Favro 1993). 

This statement i find interesting when applied to my future scenario as i feel the interactive spectator-ship of past societies have the ability to be reignited with the help of technological developments. Though i am by no means hoping that fighting to the death in Colosseum arenas will be brought back into play, the ability to actively participate in festival events through virtual triggers is an exciting proposal.

There was much religious symbolism to many roman festivals which is often the key theme behind the above mentioned meaningful narratives. One example, a simple concept, is the choreography of processions to 'open up' to a heightened space before ending (in order to be closer to god). This simple idea can hold meaning to multiple religions or personal ideals and still holds potential to create a meaningful narration of the festival's spatial experience.

State festivals in Venice were also important occasions for classes to meet, if only to a certain degree, and a time when social barriers were lowered and everyone could praise the city's former greatness. 

Carnival - combined history and myth, traditions and innovation, and represented an uninhibited moment that was open to all social classes in which roles were reversed and everything (almost) was allowed. 

These are both interesting due to my original intent of political statement through the creation of an area where people from different cultural backgrounds can celebrate and learn about each others culture in a positive environment. 

Finally, the link between land and water seems to be a reoccurring theme to many festivals. I believe for multiple reasons the Brisbane river should be better linked to the city and that a festival could provide the catalyst for this change. 

Victims of the City

This is an interesting TED talk which sums up a lot of the ideas and aims i have had for my festival. It is a socially focused notion of architecture privileging typologies that are currently neglected due to the assumed lack of (financial) benefit.  It encourages the city to become equitable and break down the aristocracy of the current city program.

http://www.ted.com/talks/mark_raymond_victims_of_the_city.html

First Animation

One of my aims for the semester was to create my first animation. I ran out of time towards the end of semester to do all that i had hoped :) but managed to still get a simple animation out of photoshop!

Design For Social Activity

These sketches show my thinking (mostly is plan view) in regards to how the design of seating within the food stall component my best facilitate the social interaction between customers and further between the chefs. I like the idea of have different levels of seating (a punch out box creating a 'window' type seat) that then gives a view through to what is happening beyond, as well as seating wrapping around the green wall in different configurations. In hindsight if i was to develop this further i would look at making the seating somewhat adjustable so it could be suited to each festival theme as it changed. 

The second image display my thinking about the form of the green wall. I felt my previous sketched design looked quite chunky and not as aesthetically pleasing. As i played with how to adapt the form i found the main issue i had was the restriction of the leaf catchments being integrated into the form of the wall. I then decided that perhaps hanging the leaves from a high tensile material would provide freedom to tweak the aesthetic look of the structure. I carried this idea through and am happy i did. I also feel the separation between the two elements gives more flexibility in maintenance and retrofitting in the future. 

Crowding vs Spectatorship Solution

http://www.japantrends.com/ernesto-neto-louis-vuitton-espace-tokyo-madness-is-part-of-life/

One of the issues of my future festival occurring in the centre of the CBD is the practicality of crowding. It is already quite crowded at peak times in 2012 - taking rapid population growth into account it is important to consider the conflict between worker's/daily user's practical circulation space and spaces for spectating the festival. I like the concept above as i believe it has the potential to incorporate an opportunistic spectatorship while integrating display of art/lanterns or other important festival elements.

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/06/bonfires-of-saint-john-and-corpus-christi/100093/