Virtual Meeting Room

Now looking at how I am going to design these meeting spaces, I am still unsure about the layout of each meeting space. Each meeting space must be able to be seen from the people outside the actual meeting. As well as, what king of technology is going to be used?

Will it be a higher level of virtual experience? Hologram image? Cameras from each angle? Many question to solve that will shape these meeting rooms and how people will interact within them and beyond them, for those that are watching these meetings.

Zone of Transport Elements

Some research was able to provide me with the approximate size required by a semi trailer to allow a complete u-turn. A number of sources displayed a radium requirement of between 18 - 21 metres.

Incorporation of a Bus Stop

When I Began looking at placing a bus stop at the site, I was worried about how accessible it would be for buses to get to Queen Victoria Tce. So I immediately began looking at placing a station on State Circle, on the same level as the road. After having a look at the accessibility for buses and cars to Queen Victoria Tce, I realised that its not too bad, its not a direct route, but its not a route which involves back streets or driving through a residential area. I also began to think of the amount of fumes that would be collecting if that opening over the State Circle is closed and a bus station was imbedded under the existing turfed area. I also realised that this is a large 4 lane round about around New Parliament house, meaning a high level of traffic, high levels of noise, dangerous conditions to be placing a bus stop and drop off zone at. The Site location being studied is shown below.

By keeping the design location where it is, and using Queen Victoria Tce as the bus stop and drop off zone, there is a lower level of complexity involved with providing a bus stop. This also means that the pods can be dropped off , by trucks to each side of Federation Mall (with some extra road provided.)

Further Reseach

Further questions were brought up during the tutorial on Friday, these Included:

• How do people get to Parliament?
• What kind of Parking facilities are available to visitors?
• Where are the parking facilities if there are some?
• Are there bike facilities?

Parking

A large underground car park beneath the Forecourt of the building—time limit three hours—is available for the use of visitors.

There are also extensive surface car park areas for visitors located between Parliament House and the rear of Old Parliament House .

Parking spaces for bicycles are also available in these areas.

Parking is free of charge.

Other methods of transport to Parliament House

There are other ways of getting to Parliament house, which includes buses which are part of the public transport network, and of course Taxi's.

Viewing Parliament House Proceedings

Visitors to Parliament House may view the proceedings of both the House of Representatives and the Senate from the Public Galleries in the Chambers whenever the Houses are in session. At other times when Parliament House is open visitors may visit the Public Galleries.

There are 388 seats available for the public to view proceedings in the House of Representatives Public Galleries. It is possible to book tickets for Question Time in the House of Representatives which is generally held at 2.00pm each sitting day. Tickets can be obtained for individuals and groups. There is no charge for this service and tickets can be booked in advance at any time by telephoning the Serjeant-at-Arm's Office on 6277 4889. Bookings close at 12:30 pm on the day of attendance. Tickets can then be collected between 1.15pm and 1.45pm from the Cloak Room on the first floor near the House of Representatives Chamber. Visitors who do not book tickets are generally able to view Question Time by arriving prior to 2.00pm. There may be a delay because of security screening before entering the galleries.

It is not necessary to book to view Question Time in the Senate.

My First Sketch Design

I thought I would post these quick little renders I did to show the process this building will take to get to the final design. This was my first quick sketch design of my building, As mentioned in week 13 feedback, there are many thing that will be changing dramatically.

3d Imagery on a 2d Image

Just a quick look at what can be done on a 2D screen. Its something that can be looked at for the pods, if required. Same technology could be used for a video stream from one virtual pod to the other.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6Nj-yi5IMI

Week 13 Feed Back

After talking Yasu, it has become obvious to myself now that I have designed a major element of this building for reasons of symbolic nature. The two walls which hold the building together were an initial thought to symbolise the current parliament house, and mimic that design. Refer to images posted on blog directly after this blog. I am going to completely revisit the existing design, and provide functional reasoning to why design decisions have been made. For example, I am now going to look at how this site can provide a public transport hub for people wishing to visit the Parliamentary area, which can include Old Parliament, New Parliament, and the Virtual parliament.

Incorporating Robs pods into the building, we can provide an example of how this pods will be delivered into the hot spots around Australia.

How do people get there? Do they drive, take public transport, walk…

This building will as much become a transport hub for the entire parliamentary area. Local transport hub for this area, they can start their journey here.

Provide streamline access to the building, and streamline direction to the function of the building.

This building will be acting as an educational facility to the general public, this is a new system which must be learned by the public, they must be able to see what occurs when a a pod is activated and used by members. There can be public meetings, private meetings, which provide different levels of privacy, and function. those which are private, can show people who is in there, however they can not hear what is being said. The public ones, they can see, hear and even talk in if possible.

Upstairs will provide conventional office space.

• Ground floor will provide completely unconventional style meeting rooms, will display the pods working...
• Education of the new system, provide information about meetings occurring, outcomes of meetings, maybe on large screens, request of information (public information only).
• This public area will allow public to walk with big name politicians, mix the public with those who they will be working with.
• Provide an area of semi leisure, for eating etc. For those that are working there as well.
• Provide an access hub to the area, must be functional to public transport.

This buildings shape will be dominated by the requirement to provide seamless access to the building, which will then provide seamless direction to the function of both this building as well as the function of the initial idea.

Wind Direction and Intensity

This diagram shows the wind direction and intensity in relation to the axis of the site.

RAIN FALL

Another aspect to include is the amount of rainfall that Canberra receives each year. It would be worth it to look at how rainwater can be harvested.

Climate Specific Design

Having not designed a building in a climate such as canberra in a while, and being surrounded by building which spend most of the year attempting to stay cool, designing a building in Canberra will be a unusual for me, also exciting, to expand my knowledge of climate specific design.

Mr first point of call is how the location, orientation of my building is completely determined by existing infrastructure. So to ensure the building still encompasses passive design techniques, a creative element of innovation will have to be added to this building to see what I can come up with.

Images I have already placed on this blog help me with wind direction, high and low temperatures as well as the angle of the sun at time of days etc.

Further Site Analysis

Want the building to be green, I want to incorporate the bike paths directly into the building.

I can also recover the lost space where the building is going by extending the landscaping over the road, which will also slightly reduce noise. I will also be able to gain extra parking for the users by placing a parking lot directly under the building, access will come from State Circle.

ACT - Canberra: Weather Statistics

Site Photos

Looking towards Old Parliament, on Federation Mall: (west side)

Looking towards Old Parliament, on Federation Mall: (east side)

Looking towards the New Parliament House, from Queen Victoria Tce: (west side)

Looking towards the New Parliament House, from Queen Victoria Tce: (west side)

View to Old Parliament House on Queen Victoria Tce: (east end)

Chosen Site Location

I have found a site which suits me down to the ground, its very close to the existing parliamentary infrastructure, it has a great axial line which gives great relation to Parliament House. Its got space to breath, as well as the ability of access from existing road infrastructure.

I was originally not looking at this location as I thought our tutors wouldn't appreciate how much is would be impeding into the current Parliament House, however with great reason, comes great location.

This is a famous view looking back towards Parliament House lawns.

Study to Find Sites

Here are some very quick mappings I did to help myself understand / study / find a site.

Sites that could possibly suit quite well, are some what distorted off the very strong axial connection the city has been designed around.

Building Influence

The major aspects that will have huge effects on the aesthetics and program of the building will be:

The Australian Government is now focusing on improving sustainability by:

• more energy efficient government buildings;
• strong policy on energy efficiency in government;

Bringing about a huge aspect such as sustainable building design,  will greatly effect the shape, orientation, and character of spaces and rooms within the building as well as external works around the building, and its landscaping. 

The huge aerial placed on the roof will also have a huge impact of the buildings aesthetics. To enhance the buildings initial function as the main hot spot where all information will be relayed, the virtual element will be embraced here. 

Another Major aspect will be the existing parliamentary infrastructure, the style of the building and its landscaping will have a huge influence on me as the designer.  

Site Options

Site Location 1:

The first site option I have found is close very, very close to parliament. Here is it...

There is obvious building implication that would definitely effect the build ability of this location, I am not too sure how supportive the general public would be to build in this location.

Site location 2:

Obviously a site that has much more to offer in terms of how likely it would be to build. Its currently a few fenced off trees. As shown by google street view on google maps.

Site Option 3:

This site is that same as site 1, although a fantastic place to build and design a building. Although a great site to design a building for, it wouldn't be easy to achieve.

One thing to remember is that this is a Hypothetical situation.

What if this site was allocated for this building? Would be have a problem with that?

Location

I have decided that I am going to design head quarters within Canberra. Here is why...

• Canberra is the Political Capital of Australia
• Canberra is already the recognised city of political happening
• The decision to design the headquarters in Canberra will further help establish the political presence
• Major political buildings already in Canberra will enable the location of the site to be easier established (around Parliament House)

Now its decided the head quarters will be located within Canberra. A site will need to be established, so what am I looking for with the site?

• Location must be close, but not immediate to Parliament House
• Accessible from current road infrastructure
• Must no impede on current residential area
• must not impede on current political infrastructure
• Building must also compliment current political infrastructure

Thats a few for now. As I continue to search, more possibilities and restraints will arise.

What Element to Design

Its hard to establish a part of this idea that would be the most interesting to document and design. With initial thoughts of designing one of the 'hot spots' quickly becoming a task that would require a lot of research into each location to understand the needs of the town, and what would be required at one of the 'hot spots'.

It would be a reasonable task to design one 'hot spot' for one town, however as its needs would be associated to the town itself, the building may be a very simple architectural element with out much of a challenge.

One element that hasn't been mentioned yet is that there will need to be a head quarters of some sort to process all the information coming from each of the hot spots around Australia. This head quarters would have to be somewhere in Australia with a significant amount of resources as well as the ability to fill the jobs required to run this scheme. A capital city. As Canberra is our Capital City, Canberra it will be.

The Design will be a Control Centre, Constructed in Canberra.

Now to Design the Initial Brief. What could it look like??

Working on Idea 1:

The thought that everyones voice can be heard via these 'Parliamentary Hot Spots' means that not only will this idea require the built infrastructure associated in housing the rooms with the ability to virtually connect to any other room or building associated with this idea, but we will also require a huge amount of staff to act as political representatives which will control the information from each and every 'Parliamentary Hot Spot'.

Each Hot spot will need to be given its own individual brief, as explained in the picture above.

Political Structure

Using the current political system as a basis, thought must be given to how communication is going to be made back to Parliament House in Canberra.

Idea 1:

Everyones voice is heard from each location back to Canberra

Positives:

• Everyone that wishes to speak within Parliament would be able to speak and talk to the head / high level politicians that run Australia,
• The ideas that are currently within each Australian's own head, and talk about with their friends can now be heard within parliament, giving the ability for better policies and organisation,
• The everyday Australians voice would be heard and can voice their opinion.

Negatives

• A lot of information for any system to comprehend, at any one time, there could be 20 million people in Parliament,
• There is not enough time in the world for everyone to have their time to speak,
• Not enough politicians to be allocated to help resolve these issues, specially if the issues are not large enough to be heard within parliament
• There are already issues within parliament about the order that is much of the time not experienced.

Solution: A solution to these issues would be to have a range of levels of that are distinguished by the size of the issue.

Example: An idea / issue about the carbon tax scheme, could first be heard at a very low level virtual meeting room between a few smaller communities. If the idea / issue is judged as relevant and worthy, then it could be taken up to a higher level, where there are a number of regions present at the virtual meeting. If its seen as a worthy idea or the issues couldn't be dealt with, it could then be taken to a state level. Although at a higher level all the communication could be done from each representatives local parliament house, rather then every person heading to Canberra. It could then be taken as high at parliament in Canberra, a national issue.

Progression Since Presentation

Since the last presentation I have began to look at our Idea in a more specific manner.

A major question I have encountered since the presentation of our idea of a distributed parliament is, "What connects ordinary people with politics?". What is going to encourage people to enter into these buildings to voice their word, and if people do use it, are they simply going to use the infrastructure as a soap box?...

Another element is; To what scale are their issues? Are their issues Australia wide or within our their own community?

Can issues that are experienced within small communities be seen from over Australia, to see how these problems were fixed and if they are being experienced anywhere else in Australia…

How can everyone be heard?

How can we organize all information to allow everyone’s voice to be heard?

Structure / layout / format for everyone to be heard

Current government systems and buildings / organizational system

Form of site / location to form the buildings:

• · Scale
• · Shape
• · Style
• · Common elements that occur form one site / location to the other

A major concern with this idea, is the allegations made that this would be providing each community with an up graded town hall...

What kind of rooms will be included into the infrastructure Different rooms for different uses

• · Sizes
• · Layouts
• · Components
• · Equipment

With different rooms we encounter different problems and needs…