Week Five - Project Development

From our identifide issues with Australian Federal Parliament we meet up to talk about how this could create a design brief and how it related to the elements we need to present.

We first started looking at the broader scale of Canberra as a city

-Transport is lacking

-Gas, electricity and water are easily available

-Interenet is widely available with good coverage

After talking with our tutor we decided we were still being to broad as most of these elements weren't directly impacting our design. We continued to discuss each panel for the upcoming presentation and defined what would be on each.

Vision for Australian Capital - Capital Strategy
- public presence our key issue
- public presence and interaction with parliament (how this may happen possibly a forum/Q&A)
- a need for better connection between the federal government and the public (interested public?)
- how this will manifest into a form/function

Vision for Australian Capital - Capital Infrastructure & Presence
- looking at building infrastructure and immediate surroundings
- how this structure can be used in opening up parliament
- how using flexiblity will influence the capital presense
- modifying elements to create connectivity
- altering the function of the forum

Architectural Investigation – Architectural Types & Purposes
- presence is the people what we are proposeing is to bring parliament to the people and make a louder public presence 
- How will we be forming our public forum
- What spaces may/will be needed to facilitate our ideas

Architectural Investigation – Architectural Presence & Identity
- how our new insertion will create publicity
- our design should be sympathetic to the original symbology of capital hill
- BUT this will also allow for the push into the 21st century
- Building fabric: adding to it – layers of time 

The 'Beehive' New Zealand Parliament House

After our tutorial I looked at some examples simillar to what we are propsing. Bowen house in New Zealand was the temporary home for their parliament, to be able to function as a parliament house it went through some refurbishments includeing;

-two large select committee rooms that can be joined to create a single large space by withdrawing the wall between them 

-glassed-in viewing galleries where the public can watch and listen to select committees at work in the select committee rooms 

-function areas for both formal and informal gatherings 

-conference and meeting rooms 

-large waiting areas and new restrooms.

The original plan for the Beehive by Sir Basil Spence

The top floor is occupied by the Cabinet room, with the Prime Minister's offices on the ninth floor (and part of the eighth). Other floors contain the offices of cabinet ministers.

Other facilities within the building include function rooms and a banqueting hall on the first floor of the Beehive, which is the largest function room in the parliamentary complex. 

Other facilities include a theatrette and a swimming pool. restaurants. The building also houses, in its basement, the country’s
The parliament building is used by MPs who hold meetings or are discussing bills or new laws.