MARC5001 Graduation Studio S2, 2013

Sublime Australia, Collective Conscious Nicole Larkin SID 308152875

33.8913S + 151.2752E: Beach Cities, Bondi Beach Sydney - Dagmar Rhienhardt

INTRODUCTION ABSTRACT Sublime Australia, Collective Conscious

This project is the culmination of a Masters of Architecture graduation studio from the University of Sydney. It examines the nature of architecture, a personal stance in the discipline and experimentation of various thematic frameworks and concepts. As such it is not only the exploration and design of a complex architectural proposal but also the formation of an individual approach in the profession. Alain de Botton, architectural writer and historian quotes John Ruskin as to the purpose of this; Part of what a building should do is to reflect its locality, there is a lovely quote from John Ruskin, he says a good building must do two things, firstly it must shelter us, secondly it must speak to us and he says it must speak to us of all the things that we think are most important, that we need reminding of today. One of the things we need to be reminded of is where we are.
Alain de Botton, The Architecture of Happiness

Consequently the departure point of this project has been to research the relationship between Australian culture and our coastal landscape. This has been conducted through contextual analysis, historical time lines, thesis readings and a study of Australian art, literature, film and architecture. Together these elements reveal underlying aspects of the Australian psyche. We live by the sea not simply because it is more pleasant to be a lazy nation, but because of the two mysteries the sea is more forthcoming; its miracles and wonders are occasionally more palpable, however inexplicable they be.There is more bounty, more possibility for us in a vista that moves, rolls, surges, twists, rears up and changes from minute to minute. The innate human feeling from the veranda is that if you look out to sea long enough, something will turn up...The beach, in Australia, is the landscape equivalent of the veranda, a veranda at the edge of the continent.
Tim Winton A Coastal Memoir

The focus of this studio and proposal is Bondi Beach - in a global context, as a precinct and of Bondi Pavilion itself. Globally and nationally, Bondi Beach is both an icon of Australia and of the Australian lifestyle. In this sense the site speaks of our social fabric and of the connection we have with the beach.

The project title, Sublime Australia, Collective Concious, describes the architectural ambitions for this studio. It aspires to frame the collective memories, experiences and associations that paint a picture of the Australian soul and its sublime affair with our coastal landscape.

PORTFOLIO Contents
01 Line of Enquiry Studio and Site Themes Conceptual Reading Thematic Framework Coastal Dwellers Sand in Our Souls The Sublime in Modern Architecture Context & Site Historical Time line Urban Analysis Built Context Analysis Topographical Analysis Existing Built Fabric Architectural Precedents ThermeVals Church of Light Havana Project The Sydney Opera House Architectural Ambitions The Australian Soul Collective Conscious The Sublime 04 05 06 07 Design Strategy Topographical Radius Intervention Scales Retention of Existing Fabric Solid -Void Massing Programmatic Approach Delineation of Sectional Space Form and Composition Construction System Detailing Rock Platform Intervention Proposed Scheme Plans Sections Details Sketch Renders Conceptual Models Design Phases Mapping Preliminary Design Interim Final Presentation Bibliography

02

03

01 Studio and site themes Cultural and Social Reading

The allure of the edge in an Australian psyche For Australians and foreigners alike, Bondi is an icon of the Australian lifestyle both domestically and abroad. Its a symbol of our culture and our love of the coast. The outline of our nation is what defines us. Its one of the most discernible continents on a map of the world. Historically white Australia has developed as an extro-spective nation, an edge dwelling colony that looked out across the ocean to the mother country. Today 85% of our population lives within 50km of the coastline. Geotag mapping from social networking sites in Sydney (see adjacent page) depict concentrations of photographic activity within the CBD and along the Coogee-Bondi walk. This reflects our attraction to the coast as an edge and a fault line, it is a plane of transition that fascinates us. We can divine the importance of the beach in Australian culture through its reflection and representation in art, film, photography and literature. These depictions of the landscape are grounded in the sublime, which was introduced by the likes of Joseph Addison, an early explorer in the 18th century. The sublime celebrates the beauty and majesty of nature but also the insignificance of man in the face of its raw power and vastness
Australian population densities - Australian Bureau of Statistics 2012 Census Data The World Ranked Armelle Carron

Sydney Geotag data drawn from social media images -Eric Fisher, Flickr

Donald Gregor Grant,Coast at Ben Buckler, Bondi 1889

Julian Ashton Tamarama Beach, summer morning 1899

Casper David Friedrich,Wanderer above the Sea of Fog 1818

01 contextual Reading The Beach in Australian Culture

Representation Through the Arts The Beach Scape and Infinite Horizons series by Australian artist Fred Williams portrays landscapes at different times of the day. It is exemplary for the way it captures changes in the tide, colour, light, sky, and the movement of people around the edge. Williams work focuses on these subtle elements which define our collective impression of the beach at a fundamental level. The Australian beach has been depicted in popular culture through film productions such as Home and Away and Puberty Blues. To the right is arguably the most famous poster from the Australian National Travel Association, Percy Trompfs Bondi: The Playground of the Pacific. Trompf noticeably pushes the beach to the background and places it within the scope of a veranda. This introduces the significance of the veranda as a frame of reference for the landscape and an architecture of the sublime, Australias timber eye socket.
Beach Scape and Infinite Horizons, FredWilliams 1971

Puberty Blues Bruce Beresford

Home and Away Alan Bateman

Bondi - the Playground of the Pacific Percy Trompf (ANTA)

01 Thematic FRAMEWORK Line of enquiry and project ambitions

Departure Point Bondi beach is an icon of the Australian lifestyle both nationally and abroad. Despite this, the surrounding built environment doesnt reflect any of these cultural sub tones. Yet it has become a poster beach in the collective conscious of Australian culture and of a relationship with our coastline. How is does this play out along the beach? What are the physical manifestations of this and how can the Australian psyche begin to be explored and implemented on site? When people attempt to explain the appeal of the beach it is in terms of a retreat, a means of getting away from the stresses of work and city life. At the beach we draw closer to our inner selves. It offers a special form of privacy, a chance to commune with nature, a quiet place characterized by sets of simple pleasures talking around the barbeque, walking, fishing, surfing elemental experiences that draw us back to a more primitive, simpler, less complex type of existence. The eschewing of form, reducing everything to all but the most basic conveniences, its openness and lack of internal barriers is almost a physiological model of our own nakedness, an admission of vulnerability and smallness before nature. In this way the architecture of our coastal landscapes can paint a picture of the Australian soul
- Philip Drew Coastal dwellers

Line of Enquiry Its from this reading of the site and Australian culture that the ambitions of the project come forward. The proposal for this site seeks to create a pallet that captures the experiences, memories and elements which colour our collective concious, and, through architecture, cast it into the landscape. This will touch on the following themes and concepts which support this conceptual approach; Architectural manifestations of the Australian Soul in relation to Bondi, as an icon of Australian culture Rights of passage Representation and memory of beach culture in the arts The sublime and escapism into the landscape Elemental experiences The horizon, a flat continuous country, the infinite Humility and extrospection Temporality and materiality Collective conscious and the Australian psyche Reclusion and attrition

01 principal readings Referenced literature and theses

Coastal Dwellers - Philip Drew Drews thesis investigates Australian culture through the architectural lens of a verandah. He argues that Australians are a fringe dwelling people who identify with the continental boundary between land and sea that defines our country. The thesis outlines the reasons and ways in which we look out wards to gain a sense of self and to understand our place in the world. Through this the significance of the coastal landscape and its influence in shaping the Australian identity is explored in detail through the arts and architecture. Externalism or outwardness is an abiding characteristic of Australian culture as it is of Australian life. When we venture up or down the coast we temporarily turn our backs on society and all of its constraints and mores.We escape, and the beach becomes a sanctuary. This reading has been the back bone of many theoretical and conceptual ideas that are explored through this architectural proposal. It has given an extremely detailed insight into an aspect of our culture that Bondi beach represents in the hearts and minds of many Australians.
Philip Drew,The coastal dwellers : Australians living on the edge Penguin Books Australia, 1994 Leone Huntsman, Sand in our Souls:The Beach in Australian History Melbourne University Press, 2001

Sand in Our Souls - Leone Huntsman This thesis traces the relationship between society and the beach in Australia and strives to pinpoint the influence of the beach on the Australian psyche. Huntsman argues that the beach represents a spectrum of shared qualities and experiences which are a defining factor of our cultural identity. Her analysis of this details the evolution of the Australian beach, its representations in the Twentieth Century and influences of the beach in Australian culture. The beaches of our coastline define Australias margin: an apparently clear cut edge, a tangible boundary, but also an in between space, a site where disparity is accommodated and where creative potential resides. Appropriate to this studio focus, the thesis heavily concentrates on examples originating from Sydney where beach culture is arguably most prominent in our social fabric.While this can be seen as a weakness of the thesis, it acts to reinforce the relevance of beach culture to the subject site of this project.

The Sublime & Modern Architecture - Kate Nesbitt The sublime has been traced by Nesbitt in her thesis as an art movement and architectural typology through history. She explores its theoretical background and manifestations in depth to give a rich understanding of the wide-reaching and depth of this thematic framework. The significance of the sublime as an aesthetic subject of art and architecture seems to lie in its conceptual reach, or in the case of the religious sublime, in its spiritual dimension. Nesbitt argues that the discourse of the sublime and the beautiful seems to have gone underground in architecture in the twentieth century. This is an argument which resonates not only with my individual stance in the profession, but with my reading of Australian culture. Through a detailed analysis of the sublime in this reading I have been able to apply it to the design process and proposed intervention.

Nesbitt, Kate The Sublime & Modern Architecture Unmasking (An Aesthetic of) Source: New Literary History,Vol. 26, No. 1, Narratives of Literature, the Arts, and Memory (Winter, 1995), pp. 95-110Published

02 historical timeline Time line originally compiled by Thomas Murray and Dominic Broadhurst

02 urban analysis Demographics and Urban Analysis

Urban Analysis
Bondi as a precinct presents a complex and dense built environment. The demographics of the area are diverse bring comprised of long standing residents, financially proficient young professionals and transient backpackers. Yet the most defining influence on the built environment of Bondi is the natural environment and topography towards which most of the urban fabric is oriented or affected by. Cultural influences have reinforced this with an attitude of conservation towards our beaches, with Bondi Beach classed as a national treasure. The beach is a place of equality in Australia, an open space in the public domain. The built structure which do infringe on this open space are landmarks including Ice Bergs, the skate ramp, the Pavilion, the surf club, the ocean baths and fishing club. All of these structures have been given a significance and have programs which begin to paint a picture of the Australian soul. They also surrender to the natural radius of the bay which has been carved out by centuries of erosion in submission to the forces of nature at play.
Significant Landmarks along Bondi foreshore

Suburb extents

Mean high water mark

Coogee-Bondi Coastal walk

Density of surrounding lots

Public Green Space

Extent of proposal scope

02 built context ANALYSIS Figure Ground Study

Bondi precinct site plan

Bondi precinct allotments

Figure ground study

Figure ground ordered by size

Istanbul

NewYork

Tamarac

Berlin

Paris

Montpelier

Tout Bien Range Armelle Caron

02 topographical analysis Natural topography and datums

Design Process - Definition of the natural topographic radius of the bay

Movement of body through space - navigation of the rock platform relative to elevation from the horizon

North Bondi Rock Platform Memory Scape cast bronze interventions

North Bondi Rock Platform and Ben Bucklers Head - Plan

North Bondi Rock Platform and Ben Bucklers Head - Elevation

02 Existing built fabric Analysis and deconstruction of Bondi Pavilion

Column Grid System

Existing Bondi Pavilion Floor Plan

Sagrada Familia, Spain

St Peters Basilica,Vatican City

Alhumbra, Spain

Edinburgh Cathedral, UK

Analysis of significant historical religious structures - deconstruction of solid-void massing in plan and section

02 architectural Precedents Exemplary projects referenced in the proposal

Therme Vals 2009 - Peter Zumthor Therme Vals in the Graubnden canton, Switzerland exhibits an exemplary use of architecture to create a dialogue between occupant and landscape. This highly detailed, controlled design uses water and light through materiality to create a visceral connection with the land on which it is built. Notions of the sublime are deeply embedded in its conceptual groundings which has been drawn on for key architectural moves in the subject proposal. Particularly, Zumthors execution of a spatial continuum to achieves a sense of vastness has been studied in depth. The composition of solid-void in plan and section and how they dictate circulation and vistas for the occupant were key architectural moves used to achieve this. These formal moves have been observed and reinterpreted in the proposed work convey a similar sense of nakedness in the face of nature. Tadao Ando 1989 - Chuch of Light Similarly, Ando has carefully crafted fantastic moments of light and dark, introspection and extrospection in his Church of Light. This project was commisioned by the Ibaraki Kasugaoka Church as their main chapel in Ibaraki, Osaka Prefecture. The stark material palette almost exclusively comprises of exposed pre-cast concrete. This unfinished, unassuming finish is a hallmark of Andos underlying concepts. Highly evident in this example Andos concept of a space where one can with draw and centre themselves with earth, life and god. This is an environment, in which Ando would argue, facilitates spirituality. When analysed in tandem with his project Church of Water one can the projects as an inversion of one another and gain a sense of the careful way the landscape, interior and exterior have been addressed.

Images: Peter Zumthor,

Image:Tadao Ando

Havana Project Sea Wall 1994 - Lebbeus Woods

This proposal is the design for a new, continuous terrace along the entire six kilometers of the Malecon, the wide boulevard along the Carribean. The terrace, cantilevered over the sea, serves as a public terrace during good weather. During hurricanes, the force of the tide tilts the terrace up to form a seawall against potentially damaging flood tides.

Sydney Opera House 1958 - Jorn Utzon The Opera House has been chosen as a precedent for this project as an iconic piece of architecture and an Australian landmark. In addition to this, it bears many parallels to the context, cultural importance and physical landscape of the subject site, being situated on a significant piece of land by the water. In this, Uztons treatment and use of concrete to create soaring roof structures has been closely observed. The material palette established throughout the Opera House is dominated by exposed concrete that expresses the form work from which it was cast. This honest and raw detailing has been adopted to mirror the robust language which is now associated with the iconic structure. Referencing this architectural language seeks to create a continuation of Sydneys iconic material pallet and tie these culturally

Woods unrealised project along the Malecon in Havana has been used as a precedent for the way it interacted and celebrated the sublime forces of nature while also facilitating a spectacular public space. His use of a single steadfast gesture which elegantly resolved a complex issue in the built environment inspired the cantilevered roof forms from the proposed works. This bold yet unassuming response resonates with notions of the humility in the face of sublime nature and unpretentious Australian values.

Images: LebbeusWoods

Images: Max Dupain, Dragi Markovic, Emerald City

03 architectural ambitions Thematic Grounding & Design Approach

Introduction Cohesively, the following architectural proposal echoes unique experiences, memories and qualities which reflect the coastal landscape and its significance to the Australian psyche. The scheme for this site seeks to create a pallet that captures the experiences, memories and elements which colour our collective conscious, and, through architecture, cast it into the landscape. The elements which make up this pallet have been informed by the historical research, cultural critique, readings and analysis of how Australian culture is depicted in the arts. The following themes are the conceptual framework and design strategies which inform these architectural moves in the final proposal.
Insofar as buildings speak to us, they also do so through quotation that is, by referring to, and triggering memories of, the contexts in which we have previously seen them, their counterparts or their models. They communicate by prompting associations - Alain de Botton,The Architecture of Happiness The sea draws it to us for rest and relaxation. Its a place where we can empty our minds and restore our spirits. Perhaps the endlessness of the horizon is what rejuvenates us, or the enormous reserve of restless energy that is the sea. As Tim Winton says, looking out at sea is as close to infinity as well ever get. Its vastness puts human existence and concerns into perspective. - Philip Drew, Coastal Dwellers

The Australian Soul Extro-spection Temporality A Horizontal Country Irreverence/Classless Paradigm/Eternity The Horizon The Collective Conscious Elemental Experiences Rights of passage Collective memories The Sublime, Romanticism and Escapism Relevance to context (Australian Culture) Relevance to site (Coastal Landscapes) The Edge, a plane of transition Vastness - Spatial Continuum Vastness - Intimate Encounters

04 Design strategy Execution of Architectural Ambitions

Introduction The following formal architectural moves seeks to captures the experiences, memories and elements which colour our collective concious, and cast them into the landscape. Topographic Radius The crafting of these ambitions is proposed firstly in consideration of Bondis vast foreshore and topography. This looks at how the natural formation of the beach subtly determines the location and orientation of built form. The contours and shape of the bay define a natural radius that the foreshore structures each observe. Within this radius are significant landmarks such as Ice Bergs, the surf club, skate ramp, coastal walk, northern baths, fishing club and Marks Park. All programs which begin to paint a picture of the Australian soul. At the centre of this, a bronze prism has been sunk to the ocean floor becoming a place marker to the topographic geometry and of our extro-spection to the horizon. Intervention Scales The proposed works are grounded in the pavilion for this proposal however small interventions are also dotted along the north Bondi rock platform. This creates a tension between anchor point and sprawl, vast landscapes and intimate encounters.
North Bondi Rock Platform memory scape

Bronze Prism sunk at the centre point of the bay

Retention of Existing Fabric Philip Drew speaks of the coastal experience as a return to simplicity and honesty of self. He describes the beach house typology to explain this in architectural terms;
The eschewing of form, reducing everything to all but the most basic conveniences, its openness and lack of internal barriers or compartments is almost a psychological model of our own nakedness, an admission of vulnerability and smallness before nature.

01

Existing Bondi Pavilion floor plan

04

Fine grain column grid : monolithic masonry supports

This ideological approach has been applied to the Bondi Pavilion. All but its structural skeleton has been stripped in a process of attrition, leaving behind a column grid system that yields to the topographic axis of the bay. This establishes a fine grain solid-void ratio and therefore an openness to the landscape. It also remains as an echoing memory of the Pavilions iconic form and its cultural and historical significance. Solid-Void Massing Reinforced concrete supports have then been introduced among the grid, contrasting the fine grain domestic columns with super scale solid forms. The scale of these supports allows them to define circulation and vistas through the site, as well impress a sense of the monolithic upon the occupant. The form and location of each support has been used to create a spatial continuum. In this the occupant gains a suggestion of the beach and horizon beyond, although there is no direct visual connection.

02

Stripped and appropriated existing column grid

05

Proposed Roof Plan

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Solid masonry supports

06

Proposed Level 01 Plan - Beach Level

04 Design strategy Execution of Architectural Ambitions

Programmatic Approach The program of the Pavilion has been reimagined for greater facilitation of the arts, through which the importance of the beach is represented and remembered in our culture. Artists in residence quarters have been expanded in the south corner of the pavilion, with the addition of studio or workshop space and outdoor exhibition areas. Occupying the northern half of the Pavilion are stalls and facilities as a new space to accommodate the Bondi Markets. Artist in residence quarters, outdoor exhibition areas and the markets are transparent spaces open to the public. The ebb and flow of their use is fleeting. The outdoor exhibition areas reflect this as sculptural pieces take shape, are exhibited and then sold or transported on. The lightweight, open structure encasing these spaces and their transient occupation touches on the temporality of our presence in the landscape. The existing theatre has also been expanded and then dropped to the level of the beach. Seating is cut and carved into the concrete podium of the Pavilion, stepping out and down to below sand level. Spectators are seated directly on the concrete slab where they come into contact with its robust, tactile and unassuming surface. The stage is an undefined and unenclosed area of sand that stretches out in front of the seating. In this way, Bondi Beach itself becomes the stage on which lifes drama are played out, both while a production runs and when it is used as seating to observe the theatrics of beach life.

Delineation of Sectional Space The sectional experience has been delineated on site where the roof form and void below, cut and carve into the landscape, pairing back terrain and structure to strike a steadfast form on the land. This is achieved through a series of tectonic plates soaring over the beach. Their shale-like composition resolves complex level changes on site from Campbell parade to the mean high water mark. This spatial continuum allows transient occupants to experience the space as a whole despite being prevented from seeing its full extents, consequently giving way to a sense of vastness in the landscape. Spatial continuum through the section also orients the occupants body in space. Changes in level heights are constant and cross referenced with vistas of the horizon as one moves through each area. This echoes the navigation of a rock platform which is often regulated by the tides. The water level and ensuing horizon are a constant datum of reference for the body in space. Orientation with the horizon as an infinite line of sight implies boundlessness and the eternal. Author Tim Winton reiterates this concept commenting that;
Looking out at see is as close to infinity as well ever get. Its vastness puts human existence and concerns into perspective.
Floor Plan 00 - Theatre opening onto beach

Diagrammatic Section 01

Diagrammatic Section 02

04 Design strategy Execution of Architectural Ambitions

Form and Composition The proposed roof form folds down into ground plane and soars over the sand. Shelves, under crofts, fissures and steps in the form have been created to accommodate multiple design parameters. This can be seen in areas that require privacy such as the outdoor showers where the roof form turns down. Over the public market space, vast roof planes open and ascend up. These planes, and the reinforced concrete plinths that support them also function to frame vistas and the horizon as visitors circulate through the site. Similarly the roof planes alternately create spaces which are protected when southerly busters come through or are open to admit winter sunlight. As a cohesive structure the architecture essentially acts as a large scale veranda. In essence it is an unassuming, protected platform between interior and exterior from which occupants can survey the landscape.
On a sunny day with big swell running from the ocean straight into Broken Bay, he eventually found the shak he wanted... It was built of weatherboard and fibro-cement, painted the colour of pale clay, and it settled on the hillside sheltered from the southerly wind and facing north along the beach.

Robert Drew,The Bodysurfers

Construction Section - Exhibition spaces, artist in residence studios and living quarters

Construction System The proposed construction system is a continued juxtaposition of solid to void, heavy to light, robust to highly finished elements. Zinc cladding wraps over and under the steel structure, shielding it from the brunt of onshore weather. On the protected side of the structure the fine, tapering, lightweight steel frame is exposed below. At the base of the steel members a reinforced concrete plinth anchors each soaring plane to the land. Detailing Structurally this gradation of material density and tapering of member size mirrors the language of Australian coastal headlands. Vegetation in these areas must have strong root systems which anchor it into the rock and fine, tapering branches which are light weight and easily supported in high winds. The anchor point has been detailed with a 300mm return along the top of the concrete plinth. This gives a sense that the planes are floating and reiterates their light weight construction.
D03 - Concrete support connection

D01 - Glazing Detail

D02 - Concrete support connection

04 Design strategy Execution of Architectural Ambitions

Rock Platform Interventions To the north, the wandering rock platform wraps around Ben Bucklers head, exhibiting a spectrum of moments and experiences played out by beach-goers there. It presents a memory scape of moments that paint a picture of the beach in our national psyche. Along the platform, points that constitute a rite of passage, form of privacy, chance to commune with nature or an elemental experience have been identified. At these points one of two extruded bronze profiles are situated on or within the sandstone. The first profile is designed as a seat and edge to the water, the second as a depression in the rock platform for sun bathing.
Many rites of passage happen either on the beach, behind the dunes or in the beach house near by. The seafront is where we establish important friendships and become sensual and often also sexual beings. The beach therefore has a special place in our collective consciousness, imbued with all these memories Robert Drew

Bronze has been selected for its capacity to reveal points of contact with the body over time. The platform interventions become pallets in this way. Through use, Beach goers will collectively and accumulatively leave a mark of the Australian soul on them over time. Further to this exposure and weathering of the metal results in oxidization, an admission to the forces of nature at play. Its subtle coloration blends with the natural palate of wet sandstone, dusk light on the water, turquoise rock pools and the glistening skin of surrounding sun bathers.

05 Proposed Scheme Final Presentation Material

The following material is a presentation of the final architectural proposals of this project. It is as reproduction of the technical details and drawings as well as the rendered perspectives which were used to communicate the project ambitions to panel of critics. Material Produced Panels Plans Sections Construction Section Details Perspective Renders Model Sectional Model Conceptual Models Design Book 2 x Hardcopy Digital Copy

Bondi Precinct Topographic Radius

Bondi PrecinctWest Elevation

Site Plan Scale 1:2000

Level 01 Floor Plan - Scale 1:1000

Level 00 Floor Plan - Scale 1:1000

Principal Construction Section, Site Section 01 - Scale 1:200

Site Section 02 - Scale 1:500

Site Section 03 - Scale 1:500

Construction Detail 01 - Scale 1:50

Construction Detail 02 - Scale 1:50

Construction Detail 03 - Scale 1:50

Cast Bronze profiles - palettes to paint the Australian soul

North Bondi Rock Platform Memory Scape

Sketch Render 01 - Looking North along promenade

Sketch Render 02 - Promenade Level looking our to Ben Bucklers head

Sketch Render 03 - Diagrammatic Section looking South

Sketch Render 04 - Diagrammatic Section looking North

Sketch Render 05 - Beach Level looking our to Ice Bergs

Conceptual Models embossed on North Bondu Rock Platform

1:500 Construction Section Model

06 Design phases Project Processes and Stages

01 Mapping The mapping process undertaken gauged the aspects which spoke most of the site and context. This included detailed cultural and historical research and substantial mapping of the topography on site. This began to inform what themes and concepts the site presented and could be explored. 02 Theoretical Background Thematic concepts such as the sublime, collective conscious and Australian culture became apparent through rigorous readings and referencing of key theses. Synthesis of the arguments put forward in these publications and critical analysis of them from the perspective of the Australian psyche allowed the project ambitions and line of enquiry to come forth. Precedents of architectural typologies in this vein were de-constructed to gain a sense formal moves, strategies and concepts which could be adapted or re-imagined in the context of Australia and Bondi. 03 Preliminary Design Preliminary design schemes proposed interventions at a range of scales from precinct wide to intimate details of human contact. This evolved into impressing a sense of vastness on transient occupants through the site - a manifestation of the sublime.They also looked as resolution and a play between significant datums on site 04 Interim Conceptual models were produced for the interim presentation which became a driving force in the design approach of the final proposal. This pursued the concept of the collective conscious and creation of a memory-scape of Australian culture. The models were a literal rubbing-off of Australian culture. Physical parts of the North Bondi rock platform were embossed at distinctive focal points into metal sheeting. Interventions in the final proposal reinterpreted this, seeking to create palettes of bronze. These palettes would expose a literal mark of the Australian soul through repetitive and collective points of contact with beach goers. 05 Final Presentation The final presentation was carefully considered to impress a sense of vastness and therefore the sublime on the critique panel. This was achieved through a deliberate choice to omit representations of the overall scheme. Much like the circulation through the site of the proposal, the critiques could navigate the scheme and move easily from one aspect to the next but never gain an overall mental image of it. In this it minims the spatial continuum of the design.

Embossing metal sheet into the Noth Bondi rock platform

07 bibliography Resources, Citations and References

Bibliography Drew, Philip The Coastal Dwellers Penguin Books Australia, 1994. de Botton, Alain The Architecture of Happiness Vintage, 2008. Drew, Philip & Ando,Tadao Church on theWater, Church of the Light:Tadao Ando Phaidon, 1996. Drewe, Robert The Bodysurfers Penguin Australia, 2008. Huntsman, Leone Sand in Our Souls:The Beach in Australian History Melbourne University Publish 2001. Nesbitt, Kate The Sublime and Modern Architecture: Unmasking (An Aesthetic of)The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995. Noever, Peter The Havana project: Architecture Again : international conference on architecture, Havana, CubaThe University of Michigan, 2007. Winton,Tim Cloudstreet Penguin Australia, 1998. Winton,Tim Lands Edge: A Coastal Memoir Penguin Australia, 2010. Zumthor, Peter ThermeVals University of Chicago Press, 2007.

The University of Sydney Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning Sublime Australia, Collective Conscious Nicole Larkin SID 308152875 33.8913S + 151.2752E: Beach Cities, Bondi Beach Sydney - Dagmar Rhienhardt

Master of Architecture Graduation Studio S2, 2013