THE SITE
Howard Smith Wharves (HSW) is on the edge of four distinct areas.
This includes: Brisbane City (CBD / Up Town shown yellow) , Fortitude Valley (Down Town shown in red) , New Farm ( Mainly Low Rise Residential Area shown in green) and Kangaroo Point ( High Rise Residential Area shown in blue). The sites original purpose was as Brisbane’s main port. It was constructed in the 1930’s and was used as such until the 1960’s. In the 1940’s air raid shelters were constructed beside the cliff face, and remain there today.
HSW became desolate in the 1960’s when the the port was moved further down stream to new facilities. The Brisbane Water Police took over one of the buildings as their headquarters. The council attempted to develop the site in the 1990’s however were unsuccessful. The have since re-submitted and recieved confirmation that the site can now be developed . The link to our local council website is :
http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/planning-building/local-plans/inner-city/brisbane-city-centre-master-plan/howard-smith-wharves/proposed-plan/index.htm
The floods in January 2011 have caused significant damage to the site, and as a result we can’t access the area at the moment. However, the images above will hopefully provide you with some idea on the extent of the flooding in this region.
A few years ago the council improved access to this area through constructing a floating boardwalk that connected New Farm and the CBD together. This was a success and was frequently used for people cycling , running, walking etc between areas. A friend of mine who moved to Brisbane from Sydney immediately established the boardwalk as his favorite area in the city, other university students have also expressed that cycling along the boardwalk to university was always a highlight of their day. Unfortunately, the floods the boardwalk was destroyed which I assume is a large reason to why they have blocked off the site. There hasn’t been a decision as of yet if they will rebuild the walkway.
Reading One
The reading on Tschumi's folie's in a Paris was influential in generating some conceptual ideas for the folie I will be designing in the coming weeks. The idea of creating an object that has a sole function of activating space is something I look forward to developing. From the reading I took several notes of ideas and concepts that I found to be relevant to my project and site.
http://www.travelfranceonline.com/Paris/La_Villette_Park.html
Reading Notes
- "In the park the city should not exist."
- Concept "space, event + movement"
- "activators of space," rather than sculptural objects
- buildings occupy space, generate movement and amplify action.
