The Water Elements - Making it Work

As the water used for the walls will pass through open air and grass (using a suds drainage system) it will quickly become dirty and will need to be treated.

instantaneously when the space is required. The
operation of these spaces will be by the staff so that
there is no confusion in how they function.
The flexible elements of the space are designed in a
way that they can function as a whole or individually
or incorporating any number in between.
The elements are also identical so that they can be
put together in any order (each does not have a
specific place such as the corner or the centre) also
production of the elements will be made slightly
easier as each will just be an identical replication of
the last.

 

The design will be situated on the roof of parliament house
centred between the flagpole over looking the senate and the
house of representatives. The core of the structure (permanent
rooms) will be located under the flagpole.
The central part of the structure will be placed directly on top of
the current building with the outer meeting areas being
supported above the senate and house of representatives.
The structure will use the two large curved walls of parliament
as support as well as columns extending to the ground beneath
the meeting areas.
Storage for the water will be in the basement of parliament
house to keep the weight on the roof to a minimum. Filtration
systems and pumps will also be located in the basement
directly below the proposed structure with pipes running along
the outside of the curved walls of parliament house.

The Overall Experience

The over arching idea for the design is a structure that is very minimally visible when not in use.

There are many different areas for users to experience once they are in the

space. As the strategy for this design is ‘flexible’ the use of the areas is also

flexible in an integrated manner.

There are two main users for this space, the staff and the public.

Areas for the public are located on the first level and easily accessible. The staff

areas are mainly located on the second level adding a degree of privacy.

When entering the space for a public meeting or conference you would head

straight to the reception which is visible from all entrances, here they would issue

you with a key card to access the room you are allocated. Different cards will allow

access to different meeting rooms depending on the level of privacy required, this

will be by a sensor in the water curtain system which will create a door into the

space for those holding the correct pass.

Information on what the meeting or conference is about will be provided by the

staff, the meeting leader and the recorder.

Any audio visual aids that are needed (ie live streaming from the house of

representatives) will be provided as a projection on the water curtains, either

within the room or on separate walls.

 

Atrium like centre of the core buildings

 

Water Meeting Rooms

Restaruant

Bar Area

Cafe

 Reception

One of the four functions of parliament is legislation - the making of laws. This
occurs through the legislative process involving the proposed Bills to go through
either the House of Representatives or the Senate.
Currently, senators and members are involved within the discussions to wether the
bill passes or not, while the only approach Australian citizens have are visiting their
local members of parliament to influence legislation and laws prior to the
parliament sitting. This lack of public presence within the system of the legislative
process excludes public consultation that is vital to the functioning of the country.
The function of the proposed design will be to accommodate the public who wish to
have a say in certain matters being passed through the house of representatives
and the senate. To be eligible to participate in the discussions you must register
online, be willing to travel to Canberra by your own means or apply for finical
assistance if you are chosen. Applicants will be chosen by random with a minimum
of 20 people per topic and a maximum of 350.
A secondary function for the spaces will be hireable conference areas for when
parliament is not sitting.

Current and New Infastructure

The design will be situated on the roof of parliament house centred between the flagpole over looking the senate and the house of representatives.

Massing of area

The core of the structure (permanent rooms) will be located under the flagpole.

Storage for the water will be in the basement of parliament house to keep the weight to a minimum. As the weight of the pavilion will be more than the current structure of parliament house can support, support straight to the ground will be used.

Accessing the structure will be via the existing elevators

Access

Access

Floor Plan

Floor Plan

 

 

 

Floor Plan

Areas that need to be altered

Areas that need to be altered

Demolision of walls will be kept to a minimum with just a few cuts in the curved walls and the glass skylight needed to add in the new structure,

Support for the new structure will be from new colums to the ground between the curved walls and the house of reps/senate.

Areas of Flexibility

The areas of flexibility that I am proposing to focus on in my design are that of stucture and space.

The Structure
As my addition to parliament house will not always be in use I am planning it to be able to function differently when it is not needed for public forums. I also plan that the core stucture of the spaces will be permanent, and the disscussion areas (the majority of the space) be semi permanent, retractable stuctures, so that when they are not needed they are not there.

Retractable Roof

Sliding Roof

Vertical Pool

The Spaces
As there will be varrying numbers of people interested in different issues the size and number of spaces for discussion will be different each time. I propose that the spaces are flexible so they can create the required space for each meeting. To do this I plan on making the walls non permanent. External walls of glass that can be floded down from the roof when required, internal walls of water to make private and semi private spaces.

The overriding concept for the design is presence only when in use, this means that the entity will be minimally visible when not in use. The roof structure over the meeting areas will retract and the core room will remain.

 As these core rooms can not be physically removed the structure cannot disappear  completely however there is open spaces between these rooms that can be removed.

The core rooms will act like a jigsaw puzzle.

Different shapes interlock in different ways and can be moved out in many different ways.

The ways in which the rooms move create the spaces in between.

As the rooms in the core will be over two levels, level on being the publicly accessible areas and storage, level two the private offices and administration, the way in which the shapes interlock becomes a lot more three dimensional as rooms on each floor require different amounts of space.

Refining The Brief

For a more specific brief the number, size and types of rooms as well as the amount of people who will need to use each needed to be defined,

 

The rooms and areas that are needed for the space are

• Entrance (with Security)
•  Reception/ Lobby
• Staff offices (recorders and discussion leader)
• Data Base (physical and virtual records)
• Tech Support
• Coffee Shop
• Bar
• Amenities (male, female, disabled bathrooms - no showers required)
• Furniture Storage? (or could the furniture be permanent)
• Dissucsion rooms

The space will have a maximum capacity of 200people with the projected average of 160people

Space capacity and area

• Entrance                          2 staff                                                    30sqm?
•  Reception                       2 staff (as kiosk)                                      3sqm
• Staff offices                     10 staff (office 2per room)                    100sqm
• Data Base                       1 staff (computer room/library)                30sqm
• Tech Support                  2 staff (office 2per room)                         20sqm
  
• Coffee Shop                   2 staff (as a shop)                                    10sqm
• Bar                                 3 staff (as a shop)                                    15sqm
• Amenities                        no staff                                                   20sqm?
• Furniture Storage            no staff (storage space)                           30sqm
• Dissucsion rooms            max 200 guests (board room 2sqm/pp) 400sqm

Total = min 655sqm

Other areas of the design will inculde a water treatment facility similar to one for a large swimming pool, tanks for storing the water and possibly a system for harvesting the water, either from the lake or rain. These areas need not be directly adjacent to the new structure but must be within a workable distance.