MARIETA NG: Exercise 3

A1 Sheets presented on 13/10/08

Theoretical agenda

Community center, the "center" of the community.
The place that holds everyone together, providing opportunity and places for the community to gather, to interact with each other and visitors of the community.

The concept comes from the idea of a bunch of wires being hold together by band; is the symbolization of how the force of the community comes together at one point, hence the center connects everyone that is in the community or visiting this community.

Design proposition and Materiality

In exercise 1, 5 words: reciprocity, materiality, threshold, insertion and infrastructure are discussed.

In this particular site, materiality, threshold and infrastructure are the words that I have considered in the design. This is because around the Coogee Oval, there are a lot of residential buildings that are only few levels high; so it will be suitable to see how design can minimize the effects caused by the center's height to the residents in the community, while not losing any functions of the center.

On materiality, the buildings around the site mainly were built in bricks and timber. I have chosen timber strips for the roof to symbolize the connection within the community and also to connect up the Grand stand, which is precious to the community.

Looking at threshold, community center should always be a place that opened to everyone within the community; thus, its boundary should be retained at a minimum stage but without losing its own identity, where it turns out to be a welcoming place for everyone. To achieve this, it is designed in the way that the center of the community center is a semi-enclosed space, so that visitors can walk in either to stay in the center, or to go to the Oval.

Infrastructure is considered where the center acts as a place that people will come over after work to do some sport, gathering everyone, connecting them to the oval by providing the central space for them to walk through to the Oval.

Progress