Project Strategy: Con-ver-gence

"Paddington is all about convergence"

I found some really insightful articles in the September issue of Brisbane Magazine that talked about the character and identity of Brisbane's inner city cultural hot spots such as The Barracks, James Street Markets, Wooloongabba, West End and Paddington/Rosalie. The article about Paddington included a brief narrative that summarised some of Paddington's unique qualities and destinations. One part of the story that caught my eye was the statement that Paddington was all about convergence with book stores blending with cafes and gallaries merged with espresso bars. I think the notion of convergence can be taken further to include the harmonisation of the affluent and low income residents. How these two demographics can be live, work and play together is the question at hand. I see my architectural entity as the common ground where this convergence can occur and I'm currently thinking about what spaces and architectural devices can enable this strategy.

WK09 Tutorial Reflection: A day at the Depot

A day at the Depot refers to my future use of my proposed architectural entity. What would I do there and how would I move through the spaces? What would it be like?

I've started sketching some spaces and circulation through the site. I want to make sure that the people can move around the edges of the building in an informal manner and come and go without having to engage with the interior of the building.


Retail Plan - Ground Level




Central atrium space at ground level

Performance space on Cultural level




Market Perspective





Exhibition Space

WK09 Lecture Reflection: Architecture as Assistive Devices

The lecture had me thinking about my architectural entity as an assistive device the opportunities it will create for people in my future scenario.

My entity will be a depot for cultural artefacts
It will be a stage for village activities
It will be a container for cultural diversity
It will be a catalyst for creativity + collaboration


It will create opportunities to...

Make 
Create
Express
Play
Act
Dwell
Watch
Loiter
Share
Collaborate
Relax
Reflect
Discover
Learn
Present

WK08 Tutorial Reflection: Community needs

Although my tutor Cameron couldn't make it this week I have continued to think about my mixed use concept and how it will respond to community needs in the year 2027.

Community Needs

Paddington locals still require access to fresh food and groceries, however, very high fuel prices, logistical innovations and technological advances has seen a large increase in residents shopping online and having groceries delivered via small hybrid trucks. This is also the system used for many other goods purchased by residents and has seen retail centres respond with adaptable strategies and spaces that cater for change.

WK08 Lecture Reflection: 'Green' Sustainability

This weeks lecture gave me some good insights into adaptable strategies which I can apply to my retail and cultural centre in Paddington. I have begun to think about adaptable retail centres and how my project can respond to a variety of retail modes now and in the future.

I did some quick brainstorming on retail modes and looked at rigid (store), flexible (cart) and semi-flexible (market stall) modes. For my project I wanted to incorporate all of these modes in order to have a diverse range of merchants/goods and constantly changing retail landscape. Having these flexible options also makes the retail rent more affordable and may reintroduce merchants that have been pushed out of Paddington due to the forces of gentrification and high retail rents.

Retail Modes

Retail 'Staging'

I want to rethink the retail shop along with the act of fitting it out (forming) and merchandising (staging).

Retail shops are in essence a form of theatre. The front window and interior act as a stage where a scene is presented. The mannequins are the main characters who are dressed in a particular style and positioned as if they are engaging in an activity.

5 parts Retail, 1 part Culture?

img ref - http://www.big.dk/#projects-utr

I'm currently thinking about the mix of uses that would best form my architectural response to the densification and gentrification of Paddington. Considering the medium scale of the project, nearby cultural precinct and the sites current use as a retail shopping centre I want to keep the focus on retail and have affordable housing and cultural elements as secondary functions. Having said this the cultural functions will play a very important role and will be specific to the needs of Paddington. The retail component will have flexible and fixed elements that involve a carefully chosen mix of food, clothing, home wares and services. The main memorable space will involve an open market area that can be reconfigured as a public square and event space.

img ref - http://www.big.dk/#projects-utr

UTRECHT LIBRARY AND HOUSING

I came across this project by BIG architects as an typological example of how housing can be integrated with cultural programs. Although my response won't include a library I can learn from the integration of public and private spaces through a vertical strategy.

http://www.big.dk/#projects-utr

Antique Shops as cultural 'Depot'

Antique shops are rich in cultural heritage and act as musem or 'depot' for cultural artefacts. Each item tells a story about a particular time in history and when passed on to a new customer the narrative continues for the current generation. It may be easy for younger generations to dismiss these antique stores as boring, dated and dank, however, they play a significant role in keeping a suburbs cultural heritage alive. If culture at large is to be respected and fostered then we need to look carefully at the retail outlets that contribute to the eclitic cultural mix.

Estelle's Antiques and Collectables Paddington

"You walk through a series of connecting rooms, each with a variety of antique items. Some are large, elaborate and expensive. Some are kitsch and quite cheap. It's all arranged in a fairly ramshackle way for the most part, which actually has an appeal to it. You feel like you're discovering things." Karene A. Queensland (Estelle's customer)

The Latrobe Tce shop front adding to Paddington's cultural character

img references - http://www.yelp.com.au/biz/estelles-antiques-and-collectables-paddington

Hey Hey Its Yesterday's Thrift Shop

Hey Hey It's Yesterday's Thrift Shop in it's original Paddington location. (google maps)

I came across these anecdotal gems while researching thrift shops in Paddington. The comments are about the pictured thrift shop and support my concerns about gentrification and rising real estate prices.  


"The great thing about having a thrift store in a suburb filled with trendy and rich people is that they get some of the most awesome stuff"


"Hooray for Hey Hey's!  This great little old lady thrift shop used to be up on Latrobe Terrace, but was pushed out a few years ago (no doubt due to rising rents)."


"the profits from these items don't even benefit the shop owners, they all go to benefit brain-injured children. You 
can't get more selfless than that."

Quote references - http://www.yelp.com.au/biz/yestedays-thrift-shop-paddington

Paddington Retail 'Scenes'

ref - http://www.paddingtonantiquecentre.blogspot.com.au/

Retail shops often create 'scenes' on the interior and become part of the wider scene on the exterior.

Shops play an important role in forming a suburbs cultural identity and someone can get a feel for a suburb or town by driving past the main strip of shops which often represents the suburban centre. The shop fronts form a collective street 'stage' through their individual characters and tell stories of the local culture through their merchandising.

WK07 Project Two Development: Project Direction

After receiving feedback from project one I am now re-examining the local and contextual issues for the suburb of Paddington and narrowing my focus on the issues of densification, gentrification and the topographical challenges of the site. I am concerned about rising real estate prices and the effect this has on low income residents and shop owners in the area. Paddington identity is intertwined with low income students and creative types who utilise and contribute to the retail shops that respond to their needs. Paddington's demographic has shifted due to real estate prices and 73% of locals are now non-students with 19% of those being professionals. My future scenario will look at this increasing rental price trend in about 15 years time when traditional housing stock will be largely unaffordable for low and even medium income residents. Many of the existing specialty thrift, craft and antique shops will have been forced to relocate or  close to make way for the generic and boutique.

Project Direction


Typology

My architectural response will be in the form of a mixed use building with a retail shopping centre, restaurant, cafes, cultural spaces (music, art, theatre, digital), antique centre, event space, market place, commercial spaces and residential apartments.

Scale

The shopping centre component will be approx 4-5 stories high and the residential towers will 7-8 stories.
The building foot print will be reduced to allow for an outdoor public to wrap around the north west corner of the building.

Target Users

The target users are 20 to 30 year old creative professionals and students of low to medium income. Other users that are catered for include 35 to 45 yo creative types who have an appreciation for the eclectic, diverse, retrospective and urban cultures.

Possible Scenarios

One scenario I am interested in is the future of character retail outlets such as the Paddington Antique Centre. The year is 2027 and the gentrification of Paddington has seen many antique and 2nd hand shops fold due to high rental prices. The significant land values and population spike of inner city Brisbane has resulted in the densification of Paddington's main ridge lines with the focus on Given and Latrobe Terraces.
Many of the older Queenslander style homes have been renovated leaving a small percentage of affordable homes for low income residents such as students, artists and musicians. The cultural character of Paddington has been slowly diluted as more high end boutique shops replace home-style cafes and thrift outlets. The demographic shift towards the affluent has eroded the cultural diversity that Paddington was once synonymous with.

The owner of the Antique Centre has formed a community group dedicated to restoring and preserving Paddington's cultural heritage who have lobbied the Brisbane City Council to assist through development regulation. The developer of the Paddington Central site has not only accepted BCC's without amendment but has gone much further to embrace the idea of fostering cultural heritage through a mixed use building. The Antique Centre has been recommissioned and relocated within the new development as a not-for-profit organisation with a rent subsidy provided by local government. The mixed use centre has been affectionatly called 'the Depot' as a reference to the sites original use as Paddingtons tram depot. The name also refers to the developers vision of the building as a 'depot' for Paddington's culture, manifest through an eclectic mix of people and the artefacts discovered within the retail centre.

WK07 Lecture Reflection

Video 1
Video 2

WK07 Tutorial Reflection

During the Tutorial I discussed the direction of project two with my tutor Cameron. We established that some of the main challenges of the Paddington Central Site was the densification and gentrification of the area combined with the steep topography. I wanted to further investigate these issues within the context of Paddington and inner city Brisbane while working towards an architectural entity that responded in kind to th e local conditions. I also wanted to explore the notion of 'generous' architecture in response to the thrift sub culture manifest in specialty second hand and antique shops through out Paddington. If the idea of thrift was to stay alive as part of Paddington's culture then these kinds of shops are to be preserved when real estate prices become extremely high in the not too distant future.

I have been doing some post presentation research in order to gain insight into the Paddington retail culture and have found shops like the Paddington Antique Centre to be a rich source of cultural heritage that makes a significant contribution to the suburbs identity. The site was originally home to the Plaza Theatre in 1930 and was converted to an indoor basketball court in the early 1960's before becoming an antique centre in 1985.

ref- http://www.paddingtonantiquecentre.com.au/

WK06 Reading: Environmental Adaptability

Creating flexible and adaptable buildings that can accomodate future activities seems to be one of the most challenging issues for architects to date. The distinction between flexibility and adaptability that the reading makes is an important one if we are to move towards a truly sustainable future. I am sceptical of the readings suggestion of fixed and fluid regions within a building or city as it seems that cities are formed and organised by economical, political, social and incremental organic forces that make it difficult to stage the infrastructure in a fixed/fluid arrangement. It seems that flexibility is an important principle for a design concept and the degree of flexibiltiy suitable for a particular project is the where many complexities arise.

I am interested in the flexibility requirements of different building typologies such as hospitals compared to medium density housing blocks. Essentially a future projection of these typologies looks at dwelling habits, lifestyle and family unit trends for housing requirements and at the administrative, economical and technological changes for the hospital, to name a few. It would seem the housing projection does not involve the same complexity and difficulty as the hospital therefore the problem of flexibility is not as relevant for typologies that involve a limited number of well established activities.


Thought Bytes

Flexibility
unknown future
Adaptability
Flexibility is not Adaptability
Fixed and Fluid regions
Architecture is fixed by nature

WK05 Reading: Architecture as a dissident practise

"an empherical mechanism to test our perceptions of the boundaries of space"

DS+R describing the blur building. Does this example of architecture along with the philosophical description of it represent 'new' architectural practice or is it just a novel reconfiguration of existing technologies mascarding as the avante garde? If it is in fact meant to test peoples perception are the results of the 'test' being recorded, measured, anaylsed and discussed?

Aside from my initial questions about the Blur Building project I am interested in the current architec

theoretical meltdown
collapse of certainties and orthodoxies
transitional moment in architecture
is it 'new' architecture or just new rhetoric?

thick understanding
discourse propels the dicipline forward

what then is architecture?
creating experiences?

WK05 Reading: Erasing Architecture into the system

Tupperware City
a collection of architectural containers

Cedric's architectural philosophies have me thinking about the gap between imagining and creating and the roles of the 'thinkers' and the 'doers'.

Period of fluidity in which the definition of architecture and architect are reconfigured...This is happening in a context of significant global challenges that requires new strategies from those handling the levers of societal change. Perhaps architects and designers will move strategically into a position where they can directly affect begin to move these societal 'levers' rather than contribute after the fact on a very limited plane.

After reading about Cedric Price's architectural philosophies I began to think of about the range of human activities that occur in a city and the architectural 'containers' that facilitate these. Cedric's Fun Palace embodies notions of flexibility within a tent like container controlled by mechanical systems, however, I wonder whether the structure that allows flexibility actual introduces inflexibility's in other areas. A flexible tent like architecture may be useful for particular uses such as travelling exhibitions, however, the fragility of the structure


I am particularly interested in the ATOM project and the idea of organising architecture around computational systems. If we are in the Information Age what does Informational Architecture look like and how might we re-programme traditional architecture to facilitate the sharing of information?




Paddington narrative



range of activities...accommodating indefinite changes....dynamic, moveable, flexible architecture

What is the right mix of activities?....

flexibility of architecture...too flexible becomes....how much flexibility do we need....

we already have a good idea of the what

'circus tent' architecture....large programmable container...

does flexibility actually become inflexibility?...having a flexible wall fabric may introduce a new range of limitations and problems...

the architecture becomes more concerned with mechanical systems that facilitate reconfiguration

Organisational structure and restructure

centralisation or decentralisation....pros and  cons....Paddington Central strategy?

Topography and land use/densification.....ridges/slopes/valleys

Thought Bytes

Terminal architecture...architecture organised around interactive terminals
Computational architecture...architecture organised by computational networks/terminals/wifi/media
Architect as 'social programmer'

Project Research: Gentrification

"Some are optimistic that the gentrification of Alphabet City will beat the odds by preserving the edge that made the area interesting in the first place"

http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2001-06-10/alphabet-city-the-abcs-of-gentrification

Anti-gentrification graffiti, Lower Park Slope, New York City
Image Reference: http://members.multimania.co.uk/gentrification/


Definitions

"gentrify": convert (a working-class or inner-city district etc.) into an area of middle-class residence. gentrification/gentrifier- Oxford English Dictionary (1993).

"gentrify, -fied, -fying": to convert (an aging area in a city) into a more affluent middle-class neighborhood, as by remodeling dwellings, resulting in increased property values and in displacement of the poor.gentrification - Webster's Dictionary of the American Language (1988).

Patterns

After reading the article "Alphapet City: the ABCs of Gentrification along with some other research papers on the subject I noticed some interesting patterns in the process. The article talks about the gentrification of Avenue C on the south eastern corner of Manhattan and explains some of the drastic changes in demographics, infrastructure, culture and economy that occurred there. I've mentioned some of the patterns below with self titled characterisation of the observations.

The 'Cleaning Trap' 

It seems that early on in the gentry process a period  street 'cleaning' occurs  where local community activists and even squatters drive out drug dealers who contribute to an unsafe environment. Once crime rates drop local investment increases as the area is more desirable. The irony of this situation is that the residents responsible for cleaning up the 'rif raf' are later forced to move elsewhere when the popularity of their district significantly increases rental prices.

The Bohemian Influence

I have noticed in several articles about gentrification that Bohemian type residents inhabit an area once it becomes safe and cultivate an artistic culture that proves to very attractive to the more affluent middle classes who begin to descend on the area. Once this affluent trickle becomes a flood the area has suddenly become 'trendy'.

'A strong neighborhood feeling grew out of the patchwork of communities thrown together on these mean streets. The area became known for its easygoing ambiance. Here everyone, particularly the anti-Establishment, had a home.'
http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2001-06-10/alphabet-city-the-abcs-of-gentrification

It seems the gentrification process goes; cheap rent, housing infrastructure, community activism, safe streets, Bohemian influence, cultural patchwork, sense of community, middle class influx, Renovation and rental increase, 'Trendification' and New development, Poodles replace pit bulls on sidewalk.