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…