DESA1002 'Nine Quarter City' - <Bonnie Murdoch>

Abstract

I wanted to connect all the buildings within my site in the same way Central Park unifies New York City. I created a public ‘secret’ rooftop garden in which all the buildings on my site could view. The garden contains many different types of trees, shrubs and flowers, and also contains a circular bar/coffee cart. The wall of the connecting office building has a screen on which movies can be projected – allowing for regular moonlight cinema events to be held in the garden. My main building is an office block, constructed with two central concrete cores, holding up the nine floor slabs. The concrete floor slabs are reinforced with two sections of wall, placed in a vertical pattern to maximise both the stability of the structure and the leaning nature of the overall shape of the building. The façade is created out of glass curtain walls, bolted onto the main structure. The face of the building which leans down towards the rooftop garden, has a highly reflective glass façade – so people in the street can also see and experience the garden. The low connecting building on which the garden is situated, is constructed from cast concrete. It passes directly beneath the office building – which is raised 4 metres above – and becomes the main entry level for the office building. I cut small rectangular windows into the side of the building to display selected views – the inside of the building remains a mystery as people walk past and are allowed only snippets of sight and sound. The window shape and ‘clustered’ positions are inspired from dotted city lights and stars in the sky.