| Virtual

"As technology has improved and had a greater impact on our lives, more and more energy has been devoted to the development of automatic systems that make things happen faster and with greater efficiency" (Kronenbury, 2007, p. 209).

Technology has grown rapidly in the past 10 years, from radio to television, from computer to lap top, from fax to e-mail, from telephone to mobile. Our day -to-day activities are heavily depending on technologies nowadays, which provide a more efficient way for people to interact to each other. i-phone and i-pad offer instant communication without face-to-face meeting. It is not suprising to predict , which offer a different experience to the public.

| Distributed

Mass production

Sharing Information

Communicate

Technologies and living patterns

Powerful tool when communicating new ideas

| Mobile

Definition: "Movable architecture can be defined as buildings specifically designed to move from place to place so that they can fulfil their function better" (Kronenbury, 2007, p. 175).

 - Transitory
 - Consistently advancing
 - Necessary in order to fulfil their function

Advantage:
 - Instantly available for use once it arrives at its new location
 - Economy
 - Construction

Limitation:
 - Size

Kookaburra River Queens is one of the examples which demonstrate movable architecture. People can enjoy the constantly changable scenary while dining, dancing and entertaining.

Caravan is another common example for the users to expand their experience of place dramatically. It is both buildings and vehicles, which provides shelter and safety for human while meeting their needs and requirements in an anaspirational way. Location and time are not restricted, hence it gives a lot of freedom to the users to create their memories while travelling.

Strandbeest mobile sculptures is designed by artist Theo Jansen. It is powered by wind and can be set in motion by one person.

It is common to see Gallery and Festival are designed in a portable way due to their nature of wanting to attract variety of people. Karim Muallem is a semi-permenent pavilion and Mobile Museums both demonstrate contempary function.

All of the exemplars above use the strategies of portable, demountable and modular. Wide range of construction forms can be used and are either transported as complete buildings, break it down to part of buildings, or flat-pack.

| Flexible

"If we want to build in a more flexible and varied manner, the architect must give up the idea of being personally responsible for every detail of every building he designs. He must design at a higher level of abstraction -- specify rules and boundary conditions, and leave the concrete instantiation to the end user or to chance".

Source: http://iaaa.nl/rs/autrearcE.html

"Flexible architecture adapts to new uses, responds to change rather than stagnating, and is motive rather than static".

Understanding how it has been conceived, designed, made, and used helps us understand its potential in solving current and future problems associated with technological, social, and economic change.

Flexible architecture: Geographical, chronological and cultural.

Contemporary design and Architecture is shaped by historical, cultural and social context.
The author used yurt (Mongolic home) and tatami as examples to demonstrate the use of flexible furnitures that can be responded to the users' living needs.

Source: http://we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/2007/07/book-review-fle.php

| Adapt

"Architecture that is designed for adaptation recognizes that the future is not finite, that change is inevitable...... Adaptable buildings are intended to respond readily to different functions, patterns of use and specific users' requirements" (p. 115).

Two components are required in order to adapt to the flexible future and constantly changable environment.
Sensor  - To identify what is happening
Actuator - That carries out an appropriate action in response

It is a process, collaborating by the occupants who use the space. It is to built from time to time, history can be seen in the building, therefore it is a continuous and an on going process.

However, a building that is well designed can still "retain relevance and usefulness as time passes and circumstances change" (p. 116), occupants are needed to be constantly involved in the process and be participated in the change. Hence, users of the building are influencing the design decisions. Meanwhile, an adaptable space is necessiry to accommodate other users. I was reminded in Yasu's first week lecture, a completely different mind set is needed when designing spaces for one person, a family, a community and an entire city.

"Flexible" Exemplars: Theatre, gallery and museum

Amsterdam Arts Metropole: The Netherlands, project 2005: Weil Arets

Open floor plan is one of the design strategies for flexible buildings. Amsterdam Arts Metropole has no internal columns which miximise the function of the internal space. "The facade shifts in appearance from an obscure screen to a transparent window, depending on the perspective from which it is viewed" (p. 117).

(Kronenburg, 2007)

Wk 4 Reflection

Australian Capital Vision

Problem that our group members came up with:
Citizens feel left out of policy making resulting in a sense of a lack of democratic legitimacy
 - "Problems of perceived national policy legitimacy are exacerbated in nations with fairly weak nationalist-collecive identities, as in Australia." (Hantz-Karp et al)

Solution
 - It has been shown that active citizen participation results in a greater understanding of policy and a sense of shared identity. "A connection between the emergence of a shared identity and the apparent enhanced participant understanding of and commitment to the common good"
 - A flexible citizens layer of parliament in addition to the two houses (citizens parliamentn 2009).

| Presence

In Wk 3 lecture, Yasu stated that use of Colour & Repeating the same pattern could symbolise the presence of a country, without using the flag as an identity.

Unfortunatly, in most of the research that I have found in the past few weeks for the existing parliament house, it seems that the "Australia Flag" is the identity.

"The most striking thing about Parliament House is the 81 metre high flagmast. This is one of the world's largest steel structures and is a central landmark of Canberra".

 - http://www.nationalcapital.gov.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=201&Itemid=218

"The flagmast structure was intended as a sculpture of symbolic significance, in identifying the cardinal point of Griffin’s Parliamentary Triangle, as well as within the totality of the ingenious building concept of Romaldo Giurgola. It towers 75 metres above Parliament and is constructed entirely of stainless steel plate, with a linished finish, providing a changing appearance in the varying patterns of light and weather. The flagmast structure won the Construction Category Award at the 1989 BHP Steel Awards".

- http://www.engineer.org.au/chapter13.html

This is a starting point to ponder and I will keep on exploring the potential to capture the presence of Australia.

| Governent Issues

1. Prime Minister is appointed by the Governor-General, not elected the public / representative. Do we really need a Prime Minister in the next 100 years?
2. The State law is vague / not specific enough. When emergency situations come (such as flood crisis), other states are required to get approval from the state who need help. Victims are often not rescued due to current "state laws", not lack of material or people.
3. Too much sovereignty each state.
4. Representatives have to constantly fly back and forth within their states, which results in waste of time, money and man power.

| Governent Systems

Table to be uploaded soon

Wk 3 Reflection

In the tutorial discussion, our group agreed that Parliament House becomes a REPRESENTATION nowadays.

 - It overloads with opinion.

 - Majority wins

 - How do you moderate the system?

Q: Is it relevent to today's sociaty?

Parliament House needs to be CHANGED at some point in time. Here are some considerations:

 - A dramatic change?

 - Planning: A consistent change?

 - What happen if the systems go down if we rely too much on one system?!

We cannot go back to the History, but we can learn from it. It is the fact that once we know the information, we won't go back to the past. But how can we take it forword?

FLEXIBLE

 - How it can be provided?

 - How to prepare this flexibility? Does it happen everyday / week / year / once occation?

 - What needs to be supported?

Below is the diagram to sum up our discussion on Flexible. A few of the senario has listed out, they are Natural Disaster, Community, Globolism and Ground Zero, we then further discussed on the issue of Globalism. We believe the citizens are losing trust of authority and losing faith to the government who lead the country. Should we design people to run their own system in the future? We also believe currency will not work in the future, therefore we came up with the idea of objects can be exchanged to another objects, and whoever come up with good ideas / solutions can get the money, becuase ideas are worth something!

Questions we came across:

 - What if the economic collapse?

 - How will the system be flexible to maintain?

 - File to be kept?

 - Water? Food? Shelter? It is an issue nowadays to take 30 yrs to pay for our "shelter"! Whereas it only took 3 yrs / 8 yrs to pay for our "shelter" 20 yrs ago! Should they kick you out if we cannot afford? And who will kick you out? The bank will be corrupted in the future.

 - What if the government have a Plan B? What is the Plan B?

 - If the city is bankrupt, what do people do everyday?

 - Why do we allow people to think how much a country is worth?

 - In South Africa, why do we pay money to tell people how much you worth? We need someone to regulate it.

 - Democracy is the ability to motivate people to change!

 - Can architecture provide an answer? PLATFORM can be distributed to the community. What connection could it be? What scale is it? Accessibility? Who would access it? How would they access it? How often do they access it? Is it something static / permanent? What can be made solid?

 - How does it fit within the large network?

 - In the reading, it states that Architecture is the fecilitator. Is there an alternative way for business to conduct services?

 - Accusation - Urbanisation. Population. Should we put a cap --> Consultative.

 - Cohesive. How should the social environment be? (See diagrams below). In Korea, the whole infrastructure will support the whole country.

 - How can we link this to the current Parliament?

 - It would be a problem to implement the systems now to accomodate the flexible future.

SUSTAINABILITY

 - is a long journey

 - shifts our lifes

 - accrue locally and up

What makes Australia? What are they?

 - Good quality of life

 - Motivation made people exist

 - Seminor, government, visitors, art, exhibition, flag

 - Kangaroo?

 - Should we maintain the existing infrustructure or improve it?

 - Is the current parliament still relevant?

 - The following diagrams indicate what makes the existing parliament.

Q: Does the existing parliament house represent Australia?

A: YES!

 - flag

 - high publiccize

 - Big festival and events

 - Form. And the form represent the city (See diagram below)

  - Ppl are not allowed to go to the grass area due to security reason, but the original design was to allow people to hang around there.

 - Identity

If the answer is "No". Does it need to be Internationally recognise?

Q: What layer can we add on to make it globally recognisable? VIRTUAL?

| Current Issues

Advanced Technologies could be implemented more.

Technologies:
Even the advance technologies can bring more transparency and openess to the public, the elderly are excluded due to lack of technologies skill.

http://www.aph.gov.au/house/house_news/Index.asp

| Services Provided

Image from National capital Development Commission, 1974, p. 7

Chambers: accommodation for the Parliamentary Departments

Offices: for Ministers and their stafs, for Senators and Members and supporting staff
Room: for meetings, refreshment, amenities etc

Occupants: The 1500 or more ppl working in Parliament House have the normal requirements of residence, recreation, shopping, child minding & personal services
Visitors: accommodation, transport, tourists, foreign delegations, employer & union delegations & distinguished visitor.

(National capital Development Commission, 1974, p. 7)

| Initial Design Concept of the House of Parliament, Canberra

Initial design concept for the House of Parliament, Canberra

The winning entry 177: Mitchell / Giurgola and thorp archites, New York Nominated architec; Richard Thorp.

The National Triangle

Diagrams showing the Topography, Linkages and Land available in the future.

Diagrams showing the Access, Sequence of building and Staging.

Diagrams showing Access, connection to the triangle and land bridge.

Diagrams showing the Building seen from all sides, capital hill vs. the present building and view from mt ainslie.

 Diagrams showing the Public access to the summit, sequence of building and staging.

(Left): A Vestibule, complex, precedes the entrance. The terrace overlooks the this space and the Vestibule's upper walls support a sculptural frieze providing a narrative of the people of Australia and their land.

(Mid): High ceiling Foyer, marble columns and filtered light from the roof monitor symbolise a closer relation between the occupants and the building.

(Right): The Reception Hall

The Senate Chamber. Its roof has an oval configuration which allows discreet daylight through a multi-faceted glass monitor and skylights.

House of Representatives. Four pairs of columns support the roof. Again, daylight can be entered through the glazed roof, and filtered through glass monitors.

Images from:
Australia's Parliament House, 1988, Parliament House Construction Authority
A Report on the sitting, planning and design of the houses of parliament, Canberra. National Capital Developmetn Commission.

| History of the Parliament House

Here is a timeline showing the development of the Australian Parliament House.

Wk 2 Reflection

This is the overall diagram to sum up our wk 2's discussion. I believe some categories can be integrated with other themes; where as certain categories have to stand alone in that theme. The question is where do we draw the boundary of crossing over or not??

Flexible:

Space can be flexible, but yet we do not want a "multi-purpose space". How can be design a public space where children can play, people can interact with each other, a place to build up their memories, a place that is secure, safe and lively?

Examplar: Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank Headquarters designed by Norman Foster

Mobile:

Moveable Architecture. Our group discussed the way it moves around. Should it be spreading out from the centre? Rotating around? And what is the purpose of moving around?

Distributed:
We discussed the way of distributing our daily lifes, whether the city, home and work place be integrated to each other or they should be seperated. We also discussed distributing services, whether services can be distributed in one single line. In that way people are ensured to reach all the services, but the cons is that people cannot "skip" that services if they don't need that services. Or could services be distributed around where you live?

Virtual:
What is 'Virtual'?
 - Non physical state
 - Unreal
 - Abstract
 - Diagramatic
 - Imaginative World
 - Transparent / Openness

People are able to communicate without being there (eg. twitter, blog, TV, Inernet, Mobile). People are able to enjoy the services without paying money (eg. media, park, education, exhibition), the place will be able to attract more artist to gather there, and the city will develop the sense of cultural identity.
The questions are where do the artists come from and do we need artists in the city?


After discussing with one of the tutors, he stretched us the idea of intergrating the themes.
Virtual --> Communicate without being there --> TV --> Can TV be flexible? It can be a media for us to communicate. Can 'TV' be in our pocket, and be carried around anywhere and everywhere at anytime? Would that change the way people have their meeting in the future? Since TV is getting cheaper and cheaper, can all the walls in the future parliament be designed with TV panels?

| Capital City?

"Canberra is modern city, set within extensive parks and gardens and enjoys four distinct seasons.
Your nation’s capital is the home of the Australian Story. Discover the national attractions which house our shared history, culture, flora, art, knowledge, law and identity with regular displays, tours and exhibitions".

- Australian Capital Tourism 2010

Relaxation is the feeling that most people have in mind for Canberra, due to the reason of having so many parks in the country. Interestingly, during our tutorial discussion, all the group members agree that Canberra is city that commonly seen as a "drive through" more than a "destination". And later on I found this quote from the following website.

"Canberra is probably one of the most under rated places to visit in Australia".

 - Auinfo Pty Ltd 1999

 http://www.auinfo.com/Canberra.htm

Canberra - a "drive through" city

Capital City?

Another interesting fact is that Canberra is hardly reconise as the capital city for Australia. Tourists are often supprised to hear that Sydney and Melbourne are not choosen to be the capital city. Comparing Canberra to other capital cities such as Beijing (China), Tokyo (Japan) and Washington, DC (America), it has low population density, and it is not the major or focal point economic centre of the country.

How could Canberra change to provoke the identity of Australia, and a place where it can represent Australia?

| Quick Facts on Canberra

Fast Fact:
 - Canberra, an aboriginal word for 'Meeting Place'.
 - Located in the A.C.T. (Australian Capital Territory)
 - Latitude is 35.3°S and longitude is 149.1° E
 - 3 hrs drive from Sydney (300km) and 7 hrs drive from Melbourne (350km)
 - Canberra has four distinct seasons.

 - Climate:

    Approximate Max Average Temperature

    Winter(June-Aug): 12 deg

    Spring(Sep-Nov): 20 deg

    Summer(Dec-Feb): 28 deg

    Autumn(Mar-May): 20 deg

 - Rainfall:

    Approximate Average Monthly Rainfall - mm

    Winter(June-Aug): 40

    Spring(Sep-Nov): 60

    Summer(Dec-Feb): 56

    Autumn(Mar-May): 53

 - Population: 3582223 (31Mar2011)
 - Density: 428.6/km^2
 - Growth rate of A.C.T.: 2% (ABS)
 - The 8th most populated city in Australia

Wk 1 The Place to be

Many people in the past have put a great deal of thought into our future cities. There is a common desire / hope for a city that provides a convenient lifestyle where goals can be achieved easily and quickly.

Here is one example of a futuristic city I have seen recently called "A day made of glass".

Like in the "Day made of glass", technologies have been incorporated into our day-to-day living, including news watching, communication, cooking facilities, photos displays, meetings, sharing information, shopping etc. By using glass panels we will require less space. The only question I have about this is what if natural disaster occurs, such as hail and flood. Are people still able to communicate during the emergencies and evacuation, since their world is reliant on technologies? What if communication break down one day?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Cf7IL_eZ38


Technologies are slowly shaping our day-to-day living style. It is fairly common to see that labtops, i-pads or i-phones are being carried around. It influences the way people work, and how often people meet up, and people expect to communicate or share information INSTANTLY through facebook or twitter etc. The following video indicates technologies are shaping the next generation of shopping for presents.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2QeVO64MX4

Nevertheless, issues such as climate change and limited resources are the biggest challenges that we all have to face in 21st Century. WALL•E is a movie that exaggerated our future in a humorous way. People are lazy to go out, and tend to use technology for communication. Conseqquently, issues such as poor face to face / interpersonal communication skills arise. Like in WALL-E, the world may eventually turn into a place where it's not suitable for living if none of us take actions immediately.

WALL•E is a movie that exaggerated our future in a humorous way.

One thing will never ever change - people are likely to still want to live in a place where they want to be, and a place where they enjoy carrying out their day-to-day activities.