space laboratory for architectural
research and design
A collaborative Studio project with participation of Civil Engineering (Structures/Transport).
Brisbane is a river city. Brisbane is pressured as a result of its urban growth, sprawling suburbs with the demands of transportation and connectivity. There are a large number of questions and challenges that Brisbane will need to address in the near future.
Brisbane is a city that loves its cars; - can pedestrians reclaim the city?
In this Studio, all projects deal with Brisbane, which is in many ways, an extraordinary city. The skyline of the Central Business District (CBD), right in the middle of the river bends, the magnificent Botanical Gardens, and the few bridge crossings dominate and characterise the cityscape. The CBD shows traces of a hurried, unreflected development. The connectivity between the two bank sides is, for the size of the city, relatively poor.
Circulation, movement and linkage is the key to how we use the city. The design of major infrastructure elements like motorways, tunnels and bridges is an important design task of our built environment. Consider the energy and skyline that an elegant, beautiful bridge could create. Think of the different experience of being on a bridge compared to using a tunnel.
Designing the paths / movement through the city: People observe the city while moving through it. The paths, the network of habitual or potential lines of movement through the urban complex, are the most potent means by which a city can be ordered. These paths should have some unique quality which marks them off from the surrounding environment - a concentration of some special use or activity along the margins, a special texture of floor, a particular lighting pattern. We want to investigate new possible paths for pedestrians and cyclists to move through Brisbane. A bridge, as a part of such a path, is perceived as a connecting element which leads toward something. Objects along the path, crossing a bridge, can be arranged to sharpen the effect of motion parallax or perspective, and the course of the path ahead may be made visible. The dynamic shaping of the movement line will give identity and will produce a continuous experience over time.
Such a path can possess a 'cinematographic' quality, like in a film, with a sense of motion along it - turning, rising, crossing, and falling - with the speed of a bike.
Cities used to have walls, not only for defence but to separate the urban from the non-urban realm. Entry to the city was through a gate left open during daylight hours and closed at night. Like all thresholds, the gate became an important focus for activities other than acts of arrival or departure. Although the Industrial Revolution changed the form of cities, the schema of wall and gate remains embedded in our subconscious. In the 19 th century, the city gate was replaced by the bridge and the railway station.
This Design Studio in this semester is about the design of 'large objects', towers and bridges.
It is a risky engagement: The 'shape of objects' is not our prime concern, however, as designers we have to develop and decide about the shape of the object at some point. Designing means deciding. We will not only talk about how to do these things, but why we do them. There should be no separation between shape, function, structure, technology, and science.
The intention of the project is to make the CBD more accessible, to reduce the disruptive influence of the river as a barrier in the city fabric, and to alleviate the pressure on car parking provision in the city. Car parking facilities associated with the non-city end of the bridge should be included.
- What are the symbolic and political functions of a new linkage for a city like Brisbane?
- Is a bridge a building, or a room, or a road or pathway, observation deck, gateway, roof, or a monument?
Bridges can be unpopular until they open. The 'Goodwill Bridge', opened in 2001, is a convincing argument for suggesting more pedestrian and bicycle bridges. Pedestrian traffic on " Goodwill Bridge " has already exceeded expectations, meaning fewer cars on inner-city roads. It is well accepted and used by thousands daily.
The construction of a new bridge link between Dutton Park and St Lucia Campus (the 'Green Bridge') has recently been decided and will be built by 2005. In addition to this, at least two more new foot and bicycle bridges are being considered by the authorities.
In preparation for this studio project, several options for other cross-river links have been studied and five locations for new foot bridges have evolved out of discussions with local architects and engineers, Brisbane City Council, and politicians.
The proposed links will make getting from one bank side to the other a lot easier, cut travel time, and reduce the amount of cars entering the City Centre. There is a need to overcome the river, but which is the best route to take? The footbridge could become a meeting point between two neighbourhoods.
Our schemes will be dealing with a specific response to a specific place. The student will develop their individual proposals for one of the following 5 locations:
Site 1: West End to St Lucia (extension of Boundary Road ); West End to Auchenflower (extension of Vulture Street ).
Site 2: Connection of the new GOMA precinct to Tank Street (CBD); Connection of the new GOMA (Gallery of Modern Art) precinct to Spring Hill, parallel to William Jolly Bridge .
Site 3: Kangaroo Point to Edward Street (Botanical Gardens); Kangaroo Point to New Farm ( Merthyr Road).
Site 4: New Farm to Norman Park (extension of Brunswick Street ).
Site 5: Bulimba to Newstead (at Oxford Street ); Bulimba to Newstead (extension of Merthyr Road ).
Our new foot bridges will preferably have a minimal suspended structure, keeping the fine views across the sweeping curves of the Brisbane River unobstructed. Walking across at these five locations would give users new, fantastic river and city views.
Given the objectives of minimising the impact on the scenery and respecting the sometimes differing topography and greenery on either side of the river, a light and transparent structure, which means either a cable-stayed or suspension bridge, would give most benefits.
Firstly, analyse: What is the impact of a new foot bridge on the neighbourhood and the traffic pattern? Is the bridge a continuation of an existing street?
Conceptual diagrams to introduce the urban strategies, site analysis, and observation of the urban situation are expected. Small scale organisational and structural diagrams and structural working models (physical or CAD-based) are required in the early stage; present your structural study in Week 2. Create a composition that has a strong urban presence yet responds to changing conditions of scale, view and context.
How are the parts interconnected? How are the pieces interwoven and how does each of the functions express themselves differently? - Study different steel structures and common profiles.
In the 19th Century, the history of engineering was often a chronicle of risk-taking with structure and construction on an extraordinary scale, for instance for cathedrals, tunnels and bridges. Most engineers are working from structural first principles which, following the old Modernist belief, are a sure recipe for beauty.
During the last 20 years the relationship between innovative architects and their structural engineers has become more collaborative than the architect simply handing over concept drawings for stability calculations. This applies especially to bridge design, since the introduction of non-regular geometries (eg. cable nets, suspension structures, etc.), which require a very high level of coordination and collaboration between both disciplines.
The different but equally important roles of the architect and the engineer have to be well understood before we can appreciate the full significance of an engineer's work and profession. For instance: The engineer-architect Santiago Calatrava has built, in the last few decades, a large series of spectacular skeletal bridges, which became possible in the computer-era, and which effectively re-wrote the lexicon of bridge forms.
Study the work of the following famous Engineer-Architects:
- What is the appropriate level of expressive engineering structure for your bridge?
- How will you span the distance in the most elegant and economic manner?
Bridges are more usually considered to be part of the engineer's realm rather than the architect's. However, the architecture of infrastructure is very powerful in terms of its impact on the environment. This is why we are particularly interested in the bridge's architectural and sculptural conception.
Rivers like the Brisbane River require deep caisson foundations to resist scour. Thus for standard girder bridges, requiring piers at frequent intervals, the foundations would be extremely costly. Widely-spaced piers are more economical, and this leads to the use of larger spans with cable-stayed or suspension decks.
- What is the impact of a new bridge on both sides of the river?
- What is the visual impact of the new bridge? How can we achieve 'lightness' and 'readability of load-bearing structures'?
- Study the pedestrian and cyclists' movement.
- Spatial sequences: Which configuration do you choose?
- Is the pedestrian walkway separated from the bicycle lane?
- Composition: We are especially interested in new spatial orderings and in a variety of different site arrangements. Produce a figure-ground drawing; how do you formulate the edges?
- What is the view of the bridge from the water, being in a boat underneath it?
- Improvement to the traffic network: Consider issues of the larger traffic / transport network.
- Economic efficiency and the optimal use of material are essential.
- Tension - Compression: Do the deck and the sides of the walkway form a channel profile?
- Are the suspension cables anchored to heavy abutments, such as concrete pillars/blocks?
- Is the pedestrian route a ramp, or are long steps following the curve of an arch (as at the two-level Solferino Bridge in Paris )?
- Design the edge trim, handrails, balustrades, wooden benches, prefabricated concrete deck - all the things that one touches when crossing the bridge. Is there a protective wind-screen or roof cover for shading, so that you will feel more sheltered as you cross?
- Is it possible to cross the river without the necessity of any supports within the water?
- Is there a stop place / observation deck / cafe from which you can see Brisbane from a new vantage point?
- Consider the lighting concept of the bridge: At night, when the appearance of the bridge is reduced to a
silhouette with only a very thin profile, special lighting might come for instance from the centre, illuminating the bundled cables rising steeply above the water.
- The required length and construction method used for the main span are the major factors in bridge costs.
- Can we transfer a technical problem into a poetic solution?
Indooroopilly Railway Bridge (1896) survives today as the oldest bridge crossing across the Brisbane River ; next to it the Walter Taylor Bridge (1936), at the time of its opening the longest span of any suspension bridge in Australia .
William Jolly Bridge (originally called ' Grey Street Bridge ', 1928-32; Engineer: A. Harding Frew): A bold graphic expression of structural form, with its three looping spans of arched ribs rising through the roadway deck.
Story Bridge (1940; Engineer: J.J. Bradfield): Built during the Depression as a State Government employment initiative, the Story Bridge was designed by the principal engineer for the Sydney Harbour Bridge (completed 1932). The steel-truss framework is in the tradition of British railway bridges, with a main span of 282 metres. The Story Bridge, today a major landmark, was a far-sighted attempt to solve Brisbane 's early motor traffic problems when it was first planned in the early 1930s, at a time when the percentage of car ownership was still small. Opened in 1940, initially as a toll bridge, the 'Story' took pressure off the other two inner-city traffic bridges.
Victoria Bridge (1968-69): The first permanent Victoria Bridge, opened in 1874, was washed away by the 1893 flood and replaced in 1897. The new concrete structure, a smaller copy of ' Waterloo Bridge ' in London, replaced the old, archaic steel structure.
The students are asked to investigate and consider notions such as:
Technical aspects in tectonics, construction method, technical systems, materials, sun shading devices, etc. can be further developed as a Technical Submission. There might be a focus on the control of light and shade (day and night view).
During this project members of the Studio will meet local city planners, engineers, and architects for discussion. Visiting critics will be invited to contribute to the Studio and to present various aspects of 'Bridges'.
Study the history of Bridge Design, the key engineering developments, the variety of basic design types, and the re-emergence of the foot bridge.
Analyse the following 20 precedents and discuss these within your tutorial group.
These are all iconic bridges with a particular design solution:
Study the different structural principles, plans and sections of these bridges. What defines the particular public and metropolitan character of these elements of infrastructure?
Professor Steffen Lehmann will be offering optional and additional tutorials on 2 Thursday evenings, between 6.00pm and 9.00pm (see list to sign up, available during Wednesday afternoon tutorials).
To help in the evolution of an independent approach, the unit will meet each week to review work, with weekly in-class reviews (pin-ups) of the project work. Special focus is given to the development of the work in the early stage and the inclusion of comments on the work from the previous week. You will be issued with a tutorial Feedback Sheet to record weekly discussions. This feedback is formative and tutorial attendance will be part of the overall assessment. Visiting critics will be invited to contribute to the Studio.
Our goal is to help students to start 'thinking like an architect' in the sense in which we understand that term, and to help in applying this way of thinking when designing. Therefore, architecture is understood as an assembly of formally related parts whose relations with each other are not arbitrary. To develop compositional skills, we intend to introduce strategies to a) interpret works of other architects as compositions, and b) develop students' own compositional skills.
The intention of the unit is to guide students to a point where they start to enjoy designing because they trust their own judgement and possess the confidence on which this trust depends. It is expected that in this project, students will apply their basic understanding of architectural vocabulary and be developing a language of their own.
The 5th Year projects are a student's ultimate opportunity to exploit the Studio as a 'laboratory' for intensive design inquiry. We want to develop individual architectural proposals, with relationships and scenarios to be seen as structuring devices for new programs, while sharing an understanding of city life. The students are expected to demonstrate their ability in collecting, diagramming and utilising various data.
There are no out-of-the-ordinary risks or health and safety issues associated with this unit in its day-to day experience.
The unit may require you to partake in a field trip to the site and to Melbourne, of either a supervised or self-guided nature. A risk assessment for these trips has identified only low impact risks. You will be provided with relevant safely guidelines prior to any field trip. You will be required to obey all safety guidelines and directions while attending field trips.
This unit also requires you to attend tutorial sessions in the school workshop facility for model making. Participation will require previous attendance at an induction course offered by the school workshop staff. You will be required to comply with safety clothing requirements, and with safety directions given by the workshop staff.
The tutors will facilitate tutorial groups of approximately 15 students.
Please ensure that you attend all tutorial sessions and discuss the progress of your work with your respective tutor. Tutorial groups will rotate once after the Phase 01 - Final Crit, so that each student will be exposed to the input and guidance of at least two tutors during the course of the Studio.
Students are expected to produce sketches of the bridge, and to find an appropriate name/theme (max. 1 phrase) for their proposal. Use photomontage technique with river scape photos and aerial photos of the site. A site plan in scale 1:500 and a complete set of standard drawings in scale 1:200 or 1:250 is expected for submission. Develop a set of standard details to appropriate scale.
All drawings to be submitted in the same set format (A1).
A model is part of the requirements: early massing and structural models (several alternatives) and a final presentation model in scale 1:250. These are the minimum submission requirements:
Start to discuss your proposal and concept at an early stage with your tutor, not later than 05th May.
25th May: pin-up session with structural model in scale 1:250.
Interim Crit - Wednesday 25th May 2004, starting at 2.00pm. Pin-up at 1:00pm in 3 groups.
Final Crit - Wednesday, 9th June 2004, starting at 2.00pm. Pin-up at 1:00pm in 3 groups.
For this Final Crit presentation with invited guests, students will present their schemes in a five minute summary to the jury.
The crits are important events and students are asked to pin-up their work in time, to attend the entire crit session, and to engage in discussion.
elective advanced studio
year 5 collaborative