ARCH 1201 Studio Submission 3 - Final Submission + Design Approach

For my final design I looked further out at the surrounding streetscape to see how that responded to the cliff that cuts through Potts Point. As the curving rock face clashes with the city grid it creates a number of seemingly random but interesting spaces. I wanted to incorporate this in to my final design by getting the two apartments of the art collector and artist to juxtapose one another much like the city grid and the rock face. The resulting negative space forms the space for my galley. By not actively designing the gallery space and instead letting the surrounding architectural articulation do all the work, is to me the purest form of adapting to the site.

The articulation between the artist and art collector’s apartments was guided by the thought of mutual collaboration. The Arts collector needs the artist to supply works of art for his gallery, but artist needs the financial supports of the arts collector. They are in a sense dependent on one another and their lives revolve around the gallery. I therefor positioned their apartments in a supportive posture around the gallery, where the architectural articulation appears to be sheltering that space.  As the artist and the arts collector are so reliant on one another, the architecture is designed to support both apartments. This is illustrated in the structural design. They both enter through a common staircase that bares the load of the eastern side of the building. On the western side of the building, a structural element from Rem Koolhaas Maison á Bordeaux has been added to support the weight of the building but still have the feel of it floating above the gallery. Although the apartments are of different size, where the art collectors is the bigger, they both sit at the same height, giving the assumption that they are in a sense equal and dependent on one another. 

The lowest floor houses a public garden the ground floor the gallery space, office small display room and storage.  The first floor an intermediary space partly glazed in from shoulder level and upwards which allows the inhabitants to respond to the street but still allows for privacy (like walking around naked if one chooses to). The third floor houses the lower floor of the art collector’s residence featuring a kitchen, dining area, lounge room and balcony. The fourth floor houses the sleeping quarters, laundry and bathroom of the arts collector but also the artist residence. 

The program goes from public in the lower garden, to semi private in the gallery, to a higher level of privacy in the intermediary floor to fully private in the top floors. This compartmentalization is essential in all of Koolhaas designs.

Ceiling heights is something Koolhaas very subtly uses to control space. In the ground floor, the ceiling height is very low to enhance the feeling of moving underground into the mountain. Light in this area is provided by a light well facing the street. This works well in responding to the surrounding buildings, as light wells are an old a common way of getting light to the lower floors. This is design is also found in the buildings surrounding the site. As we move upwards in the structure, ceiling heights successively grow to provide a more airy and light feeling.

The circulation is managed through a series of ramps that respond to the neighboring buildings. Through those ramps, you can access the lower public garden and the semi-private gallery. To further explore the building, you in a sense have to be invited in by the owners, as the three upper floors can only be accessed through the galley space. Having both the arts collector and artist enter and leave by first transitioning through the gallery space adds to the quality of life for the inhabitants as the artist can supply fresh works of art in the morning that the arts collector can enjoy on his way to and from work.

Something that I really wanted to incorporate in the design is Koolhaas was of controlling views. For my design I wanted the view of the Sydney skyline to be restricted from street level forcing people down the ramp to be able to access it. This also provides privacy as it shelters the inhabitants from insight from a westerly direction. This way of stepping down to access a view relates to the stepping down motion behind Victoria St towards Woolloomooloo where the site is located. This is also apparent in the upper two floors. In the art collectors’ residence, he first has to step down to the third floor to be able to access a view of the Sydney skyline and the gallery space below.  In the artists residence the skyline and gallery space below is visible due to a higher ceiling height and a large glazed window, but by looking down he is also awarded a view of the art collectors lounge room, dining room and kitchen. This sharing of views exposes their personal lives to one another and suggests a very intimate relationship between the two, which I believe can only better the artistic exchange. This is further reinforced by the shared staircase and laundry facilities. However, this level of shared privacy forces the arts collector to carefully consider the personality of the artist I residence.