A project that required us to analyse the site (Lyall Bay, Wellington) and its context in preparation for designing with respect to climate and existing environmental conditions. This project comprised of 3 phases:
1. Site and Context Analysis – Done in a groups of 12 to address:
- The historical development of Lyall Bay.
- The social, economic context.
- The landforms, site boundaries, and building conditions.
- The cadastral plans and planning regulations.
- The design data for establishing and assessing environmental performance targets (weather data, tidal movements, solar access, sund paths, etc.).
- The target environmental design conditions (temperature, lighting levels, solar access, ventilation rates etc.)
2. Concept design – Done in pairs to basically churn out design concepts and explore the various possibilities.. sure there may be specific problems to solve but there are a countless number of design solutions that address those problems!
3. Final Design Development – An Individual phase to bring together all the analysis and conceptual work done to produce a holistic and unique design.
In terms of preparing us as students for the marketplace, this project has definitely been the most complete by the fact that we were given such a realistic situation to design for. A real site with building code restrictions, extreme weather conditions and environmental analysis done to address these problems, as well as social, economic, historical, topographical, and sustainable issues to be considered.
I have learned a great deal in terms of the importance of incorporating solid analysis and research in our designs. We all want workable buildings that performs its function; huge wind speeds blowing into a BBQ area just doesn’t make it usable, sun that directly shines into your eyes as you are eating in a cafe just doesn’t make that place usable, a changing room placed in an area un-accessible to those who need to change just doesn’t serve its purpose either! This is my attempt to address such a wide range problems, weighing out and prioritising solutions that are most important to create a coherent and holistic surf club for the Lyall bay community.
