Instead of the usual Studio/Tutorial class this week, we were asked to proceed on a walk to the designated site for the upcoming projects - Howard Smith Wharves, while recording our experiences along the way. I had previously done the 'Walk' via bus last year, in my DAB525 class, so this year, I decided to walk, to gather new and different experiences.
I began my journey at QUT's botanical gardens, along the "hard edge" path. Walking through the gardens, I look at the sculpture near the entrance, and realise it could possibly be considered a 'folie', a design term, about to be used alot through out the next 3 projects. I had never seen this sculpture like this before, I have looked, but never seen.
I made my way through the city, noticing and watching how people react in different places in the city. The changes between green spaces and concrete space are enormous. One minute I see trees, the next, pure concrete.
Below are some images of Howard Smith Wharves:
Whilst on site, some major observations were recognised as crucial elements, making up the history of the site. Such observations include the pill boxes, storage sheds, bridge struts, and overhanging cliff fronts. In visiting the Wharves, first impressions were of isolation and estrangement from the city, which seems so close, yet feels so far.
:: Howard Smith Wharves :: HISTORY ::
- This site is listed as STATE heritage
- Construction began in the 1930's
- The site illustrates the EVOLUTION and DEVELOPMENT of QLD history, providing rare surviving evidence of the port of Brisbane in the central city
- It is important in DEOMONSTRATING the range of employment generating and INFRASTRUCTURE-BUILDING projects undertaken by the Forgan-Smith government during the 1930's DEPRESSION
- Contained on site are 'Second World War Air-Raid Shelters' - they are the most intact shelters surviving in Brisbane!
- The "PILLBOX" (built by the City Council) are significant for their rarity value - unlike other known survivng shelters in Brisbane
- The location of the shelters adjacent Howard Smith Wharves and Story Bridge illustrates the STRATEGIC importance of the wharves and brigde in 1941-42 and act as an EVOCATIVE ILLUSTRATION of how closely the war impacted Brisbane workers
- Howard Smith Wharves was originally built to provide work during the depression years
- Brisbane was declared as a port of entry in 1846 meaning a customs house was needing to be built nearby - Queen Street
- Howard Smith signed a 21 year lease over to Brisbane City Council in 1936. After the lease expired the company made a move to better facilities downstream in the early 1960's
- The water police then occupied the site and the QLD workers department used the site for storage
- Impounded vehicles were alse stored here
:: Howard Smith Wharves :: LOCATION ::
- Howard Smith Wharves is located on the Northern Bank of the Brisbane river at Petrie Bight, between the Town and Shafston Reaches
- The BOUNDARY of the site is formed by cliffs along the northern, eastern and south-eastern perimetre
- The site is entered from the WEST off Boundary Street, and passes under the northern section of the STORY BRIDGE, with the northern pylons of the bridge located on the site
- The site includes a series of buildings, including a two-storeyed concrete office building, currently occupied by the water police, near the western entrance of the site
- There are 4 sheds located across the site. The sheds are single storeyed
- The Air-Raid shelters are located at the base of the cliffs
- A CONCRETE roadway runs behind the sheds, with ramps accessing the ends of the sheds.
Info Received from :
Queensland Government, State of QLD (Department of Environment and resource management)(2009)www.epa.qld.gov.au/chims/placeDetail.html?siteId=16518. Accessed on 05 March, 2012
PARIS/LA VILLETTE
an urban park
- A place, that is a space occupied by a body
- SPACE EVENT and MOVEMENT
- Architecture as a form of knowledge, rather that a knowledge of form
- JOYCES GARDEN + THE SCREENPLAYS + THE MANHATTAN TRANSCRIPTS
- In a park the city SHOULD not exist
- Readability, rigour and simplicity of expression
- Buildings occupy space, generate movement and amplify action!
- The folies are ACTIVATED by the rhythm of programmed functions
- Folies - as activated space, rather than as sculptural objects
- - symbolically exceed their respective functions as usable space, signage or visual markers
- Intense areas of activity INTERRUPTING ZONES OF SILENCE
- Folies are MULTI-FUNCTIONAL, NON-FUNCTIONAL or designed to 'COLLIDE' with or 'RESPOND' to other facilities or aspects of the space
- PLAYFUL
- DISCONTINUOUS + DISASSOCIATED + DISLOCATED + DISMANTLED + DISJOINTED + DEREGULATED + DECONSTRUCTED = negative grammar
Use the Folie as a model for the way in why I view the state of ARCHITECTURE at the time!
