Latrobe Terrace Elevation.

The Latrobe Terrace Elevation shows how the new roof structure tucks in neatly behind the traditional front facade. maintaining the traditional paddington look. Notice also the Flame logo in prime position on the entry to the center.

Summer View

This is a view from the car park level looking up through a hole in the Latrobe terrace level to the roof space in summer.

Autumn View

This view shows contextual changes that the roof could create. For example, a view from the Latrobe terrace walkway space in Autumn.

Latrobe Level View

This view shows the Latrobe terrace level retail space, looking up to the deck above.

Car park level Render.

This level show one of the three entries on the car park level looking up to the roof over. I decided that using a photo with real people and providing a glimpse into their experience, shown by the area around each of them, may help to communicate the experiential nature of the space.

Stair Entry Section

This closer section shows the front of the stairs running along the end wall of the retail stores. this improves flow of movement from the north side of the building. and also makes the entry more visible from the north.

North Elevation

Due to a change in entry points and a rework of vertical access in Paddington Home, the rear of the building becomes more accessible and thus, could use a makeover to align it with the values presented by the front façade. By reworking the roof, and pushing the lower wall in by about a meter, the rear of Paddington Home takes on the look of the iconic Queenslander home that is so common throughout Paddington.

Paddington Home Employees

Given that the Paddington Home application can perform transactions, employees are no longer anchored to their stores. The staff of Latrobe terrace and Paddington Home do not work for any one store. Instead, the employees help out along the street and inside Paddington home. They become part of the connection options that the retail application can access and connect to customers, while also acting similarly to Olympic volunteers in directing, organising and conversing.

Paddington Home

Paddington Home gets its name from A: the comfortable place in which you live. and B: In a digital world the concept of a Home button is one that takes you out of one program before entering into another. As a major Node in the density strategy of Brisbane, the Paddington Home becomes a transition space for residents where people can step back and reload before shifting paradigm. 

Walkway Section

This Section from West to East, shows the extent of the roof along the walkway space. It also shows the length of the new retail spaces on the car park level and the openings in the floor above to allow viewing from above and natural light down into the space.

Stairway Section.

The vertical access has been reconfigured to provide better flow between the levels and also to integrate with the new roof structure. The section from South to North shows an entry to the new set of retail stores on the car park level and the stairs from the car park level up to the Latrobe terrace level and up again to the overlooking deck.

Paddington Home

The roof structure is also a physical avatar for the digital being that is your Paddington Home. An application that tracks your interests and connections based on your activity within the precinct. The information is not used for sales or advertising but is instead used to connect you with others of similar circumstance or encourage you to explore new experiences. This is completely voluntary and users will only use the system if they can trust that their information will not be exploited. Thus, you can accurately track the growth in trust based on the amount of information someone is willing to share. And In return, higher feedback creates more interaction and connection.

This is the difference between the digital environment of today, and the digital environment of tomorrow, a willingness to extend information about yourself and a trust that it will not be exploited.

The Paddington Home app – represented by the iphone helps you to discover new experiences and connect with new people. Rather than solely relying on the advice of sales staff, the app can connect with other users to give honest feedback. Meaning effectively everyone in the centre becomes a database of information and feedback that the Paddington Home can access. For example, the rendering shows two people visually connected by a digitally augmented environment and an example of why the app may connect them.

North South Section

This section shows the center Sectioned along North South. The shows how the roof structure wraps over the latrobe terrace level and the deck above. and how the roof curves downward to encase the stairs. The roof also curves to provide a barrier between the cafe and staff areas on the car park level.

Floor Plans

Due to the increase of online markets, the remaining advantage that physical stores have is the novelty of new experiences and the sensory aspects of products. Packaged products and processed foods are likely to become an online purchase leaving space for more experiential retail.

Keeping with the theme of experience and novelty, Retail stores are encouraged to share and swap spaces, creating an adaptable retail environment that can change based on demand or trends. This encourages users to expect new and novel experiences.

Latrobe Terrace Master Plan Concept

An outdoor retail precinct could be established around this new brand, that would initially run from the site, down to the edge of given terrace. A logical boundary due to a convergence of access and because the last building at the round-about used to be the power station for the old tram depot. But, because this is merely a branding and identity exercise, and keeping with our themes of preservation and retrofitting, future expansion in either direction would be relatively cheap.

Thickening the landscaping and reclaiming the street parking will create a more integrated shared traffic and pedestrian zone.

Due high accessibility in public transport between nodal points throughout the city, the lowered reliance on cars can justify reclaiming the street parking along Latrobe. However, there is a difference between lowering reliance and discarding them completely. Aside from the addition of bike stalls, the carpark of Paddington central will remain.

New Retail Orientation

By re-orientating the stores of Paddington central outward towards the street. The site becomes less like a shopping center and supports the retail stores along the street. This Warmington Street elevation shows three new retail stores facing out towards the street.

Latrobe Terrace Logo

The symbol of the flame draws on the destructive fire on the site, but is instead meant to represent life, renewal and community. Hence the tag line ‘Fuel the Fire’. Contribute and celebrate community. 

Mapping Diagrams.

The Diagrams are part of the basic mapping exercises that were performed on the initiation of project 2. The diagrams progress from Identifying retail stores along Latrobe terrace, creating a link along the street and changing the orientation of the Paddington central shops in order to make the center work with the precinct.

The last diagram identifies HUB's of high activity throughout Brisbane. Paddington Central is included in the density strategy.

Final Presentation posts.

I've redone three diagrams from earlier weeks that reinforce my concept for my final presentation. These will be placed on my concept panel.

The first Diagram is based on our original fundamental principles diagram from week 3. Murry's lecture definitely changed the way I attacked this project. and any potential projects in the future. These fundamental principles formed the backbone of my final proposal.

The second Diagram follows the same direction as the first. breaking down the urban sprawl of paddington and online profiling into fundamental concepts behind current public perception. The diagram also explores potential changes in output should a shift occur in fundamental thinking.

 The Third Diagram sets out key targets based for generating value based on the three fundamental principles.

Roof Structure - Paddington Identity

I've taken a snippet of paddington and the surrounding area and will use the patterns of the streets to create a roof structure for over the new walkway area.

The roof will engulf the walkway spaces and provide a canvas for a digital overlay to support the experiences.. here is a quick render of what I've got so far.

Existing Modelling - Done!

Time to begin modelling the changes!

Roof Rework.

The Front Facade of Paddington Central sits comfortably within its surroundings and has a strong visual appeal. This is partly due to the roof shape that is designed to support the queenslander style that is so strong along latrobe and paddington.

along the sides and across the back of the center however, the building discards its sympathetic style and transitions back to project supermarket.

Should the paddington home room be developed, This will change the movement of people into Paddington Central and will make the rear of the building significantly more public.

Because of this fact, A rework of the roof line at the rear and sides are required. To strengthen its ties with the queenslander style of the area and to simply improve the overall visual appeal.

Thankfully, I have managed to acquire some experience in working with queenslander style roofs with work and should be able to use this knowledge effectively in this area.

By breaking up the facade with smaller roofs that conjoin and overlap, similar to the work on the latrobe side. The rear of the building should become more approachable and open up the focus of the building out to the roads rather then the classic internal shopping center feel.

Space Planning - No More Woolies!

My future scenario sees supermarket giants like woolworths and coles becoming more online based - to the point where supermarket stores are no longer a viable solution in the market.. All of their trade will become digitally based. with delivery orders from a central location. So what does that mean for the Paddington central Shopping Center?

Based on observing traffic and by observing the layout of the center it becomes clear that the woolworths store is currently an entity unto itself. The Woolworths draws people into the shopping center but quite often the people that come for the supermarket do not stay for any of the other retail stores. 

A similar story can be told in reverse. where the majority of shoppers who choose to visit the retail stores along Latrobe and in the center don't often stop in at the woollies.

The space that the woolworths leaves behind can be reconfigured to support more retail stores that would suit the same style and theme of the rest of Latrobe terrace.

And Paddington Central loses an aspect of its Clientele. No, it actually doesn't.

Should this scenario take place, and woolworths shifts to online sales, The Paddington Home Room can become a main seller. As highlighted in earlier posts, the home room is capable of recommending items of interest. This too can extend to taking care of the everyday shopping requirements. and potentially automating recurring sales.

Thus Paddington Central gains space for several new and interesting shopping experiences, without losing the blue chip Woolworths.

Space planning bubbles

Diagramming Paddington home room.

Project 2 KPI's

My project will:
Establish a Community HUB which facilitates Connection and creates a sense of Belonging.

Has a strong sense of Identity.

Becomes a catalyst for Interaction, Experience, Learning and Understanding.

Embraces Vulnerabilities, Encourages Discovery and Demonstrates Trust.

Sound Good?

Computing Power and Behavior.

According to Moore's Law, Computing power is currently capable of doubling in capacity every 2 years. Based on this fact, the idea of a server farm to house information becomes irrelevant.

So what would a computer in the year 2026 look like? who cares!
How would a computer in the year 2026 behave?

Feng Zaho, a computer scientist at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center, "Proposes equipping machinery and structures with 'collaborating sensors' reminiscent of neurons. These sensors would respond and adapt to the physical environment, infer the needs of their human operators, share information within the network, and filter our unimportant details. A building containing these sensors would behave almost organically." (Ask Nature, 2012. Sensing and sharing information: neurons)

Generating Value - Trust & Connection

Similarly to the urban sprawl and the online experience theories that our group worked on in project 1, The economic value will build upon the trust generated by the database.

The main purpose of the database of information is to help people. Not to push products or services.

Previously, a database would hold user information. a user had no choice in the matter. and such, products that fit their description are forced upon them. what can they do.

This new system gives the information back to the user.. the database must ask for it, and display honesty in the way that it is used.

In this system, the database can track a user. but the user can also track the database.

growing suspicion and a lack of trust may lead them to remove their profile. lowering your client list making businesses less likely to commit.

The community value that it has the potential to deliver also stems from this trust. the database becomes a community hub of activity that facilitates connection.

Each person has the ability to physically shape the spaces within the database, creating a sense of belonging and identity.

the database becomes a catalyst for interaction, experience and understanding, a facilitator of vulnerability and trust.

Generating Value - Businesses

The one question that came from last weeks tutorial was that I needed to show how the new online experience would generate value, either economically or otherwise.

Firstly to take a business sense.

The database (which is completely transparent) holds information firstly of local businesses. businesses can add their information for free to create a stockpile of places of interest or specific services. Failing any reliable sources locally, the database would the search more broadly for information if asked.

The difference here is that businesses do not pay to sign up. neither do they pay for adds to spray across the users. The database uses the information to make recommendations to people who are seeking similar sources of information. eg. customer that has recently finished reading a good book would be introduced to a local book store to find their next great read. The book store is charged for the recommendation after it is given and notified who and why it was given. The book store can set a limit on their recommendations but the database controls how many recommendations it makes. (if the database makes 0 recommendations - the book store isn't charged)

The database also logs and reports feedback to the business and to other potential customers.

Every person and business is notified when their information is used and the purpose of its use. Creating a bond of trust.

The database can also automate online purchases for products on the registry like groceries and also arrange delivery.

Silk Reblog

A Reblog of an earlier post. Revolutionary technologies inside a remarkable material.

Paddington Home Concept Drawings

Plan of the home room concept overlaying the top level of the car park.

Section of Home Room and existing Carpark

Oracle

Your Leaf - contains information about you.
Is used to help make better life choices, improve well being and lifestyle.
challenges you to improve and discover.
gives you the option of removing your online data from the digital environment but encourages trust by challenging you to leave your leaf connected to the online realm.

Paddington Home Room

Home Room Spaces, Integrated with the server vines + leaves to create a space designed for use in both the digital and physical realm simultaneously.

The Power of Vulnerability

This video displays the power of vulnerability.
Brown describes how her research into happy living changed her life.

Internet Servers Integrated into built environment

Initial Development of a new age Server Farm.. where personal online information is stored and is physically accessible in a personal 'leaf'. the aim is to develop a trust in the digital environment. by leaving your leaf on the vine your information is accessible to the online community creating vulnerability and promoting trust.

the digital leaves belong to the individual, and contain the online profile that was originally used for personalised advertising. but has been re-purposed for tracking personal development, maintaining health and well being and encouraging learning and discovery.

Reconfigure Warmington Street Level

Experimenting with layout on warmington street level.
Definitely more work required.

Reconfigure Vertical Access

The vertical access points in the center can be greatly improved.
A quick sketch section beginning to experiment with different alternatives.

Scale of Experiences

Experience and attachment at different levels.
Latrobe Terrace = strong sense of experience.
Paddington Central = low sense of experience
Retail Stores = Varied sense of experience

Paddington central needs to create a stronger sense of experience and attraction.

Late night breakdown of themes

Shopping Center Fundamental Themes:
Connection, Identity, Community, Belonging

Retail Success
Experience, Emotional Memory/ Attachment

Fundamental Theme
Ownership.

Developing Physical Space for a digital environment

Exemplar Images for a physical space to be shared by both the online environment and the human environment.

A sustainable Building

I always believe that the most sustainable building is the one that you don't have to build. If you can make use of existing spaces then a renovated and re-purposed building. Personally I find this type of building much more attractive for use as you can see a history and character that can tell a story about the place and the people.

The following images are an example of experimental architecture that makes use of the existing building - http://www.evolo.us/architecture/asemic-forest-spontaneous-order-and-architecture/

I also believe that this type of building will be much more effective in sustaining our current built environment.

The existing spaces in paddington central should not be demolished lightly. Architectural interventions and and overlays can be a much more sustainable way to reshape a building while maintaining the character of the original and preserving the story of the building.