Powerpoint Presentation

Final Presentation Posters

Final Presentation Boards

Summary Board for Exhibition

Grounding

During the presentation Ruwan mentioned that I hadn't thought about how the megastructure meets the ground. That's true, generally I hadn't thought of enough detail for the megastructure, it was still more of a concept while I had thought more about the Citizens' House.

Thinking about it now I missed a great opportunity as I was looking the Metropol Parasol in Seville by J. Mayer H. Architects and really admired that was they had detailed the transition from the lightweight looking timber structure to the hard stone ground.

My design of course would be different as the transition is from a heavy futuristic megastructure to the soft grassy slopes and mosaic around parliament house.

Model

I chose to make two models, one to show the overall shape of the megastructure and one to show how the Citizens' House can change from a large deliberative chamber to intimate brainstorming spaces.

I was originally going to make the megastructure model with the rapid prototype machine, as I had never used it before. In the end I wasted a day and a half trying to get my model into a watertight STL file. I probably moved too much of it around in 3DS Max and there were gaps that I couldn't see.

After this I found some DAS Modelling Clay in an art store and tried to use that. It was very successful for this type of shape, though I needed to do more work to get it to a final presentation model standard. It can be sanded and painted but my model was only just dry when I had to take it to the presentation.

I realise now that this clay would have been ideal for making models throughout the design process. I should have been using it to help me design the megastructure rather than to make the final model. Next time I try to design a complex shape like this I will definitely use clay. I'm not very quick at making these kind of forms in CAD programs so clay would be ideal.

My detail model was intended to show the flexibility of the Citizens' House. The model is a section taken through the Citizens' House with one side showing the deliberative chamber mode and the other the brainstorming/small group mode.

To make this model I printed a 1:100 section from my Revit model and taped that to the back of a piece of acrylic. I then used that as a template to cut out and glue card onto the front of the acrylic. I was really happy with this model as it only took a couple of hours and I think it was very effective in showing the detail I wanted.

As with the megastructure model, after building this model I realised I could have been building these types of model throughout the design process rather than just at the end. It gives a better feeling of 3D space than a sketch or a computer model and would probably take me the same amount of time as a computer model.

Script for Presentation

The Citizens House of Australia

Background

Active citizen participation is increasingly being recognised as essential to effective policy making, it not only improves the political process but educates and engages ordinary citizens. Citizens have a greater sense of representation when they are involved in the policy making process and bring a greater diversity to the political discussion.

My design proposal is to create a third house of parliament, “The Citizens’ House”

Solution

A large group of randomly selected citizens will come together to listen, learn, reflect on and discuss issues of public importance. Reflecting the carefully considered views of the broader community, they will form a deliberative assembly which recommends policy to be passed by the upper and lower houses.

The logistics of the Citizens’ House are based on a one off event held in 2009 called the Citizens Assembly. While the citizens’ assembly was successful in the way it worked and in generating ideas for policy, it was unsuccessful in a number of ways. Firstly the citizens were housed in student accommodation, making it only possible to do this outside the school semester. Secondly the assembly was held in old parliament house, away from where decisions are actually made, and thirdly it was not taken seriously by the government.

I propose to create a new space above parliament house, inside a megastructure, which will provide a space for the Citizens’ House.

How it will work

Every 3 months, randomly selected citizens are invited and the first 150 selected to become Citizen Parliamentarians, one from each electorate. They are sent a parliamentarian introductory kit with information and a tablet computer they will use throughout the process and keep afterwards.

The Citizen Parliamentarians participate in a special online forum with each other where they research and discuss topics that are important to the nation at that time and into the future. They are encouraged to do their own research into topics discussed in the forum and to talk with their family and friends and meet other Citizen Parliamentarians. As they are participating in the forum they vote on topics they believe to be most important. A small number of the highest rated topics are then selected to become the focus of a 5 day deliberative assembly in the Citizens’ House in Canberra.

At the end of the 3 months, the 150 Citizen Parliamentarians travel to Canberra where they live in accommodation within the parliamentary megastructure. During the 5 day assembly they attend presentations and Q and A sessions by experts on the topics chosen from the forum. The citizen parliamentarians, guided by facilitators, participate in small group discussions and brainstorming, full panel discussions and debates and informal casual conversations with each other. At the end of each day a report is written on the days activities and distributed to the media.

Together with professional facilitators The CPs develop a set of policy proposals based on their activities during the week. These policy proposals are then formally presented to a representative of the government who tables them in the upper and lower houses of parliament to be voted on.

The design

The Citizens’ House is built within the parliamentary megastructure. This megastructure is designed to fulfil the initial brief given to participants in the competition to design new parliament house. The megastructure allows for future, as yet undefined, physical growth and changes to parliament, without encroaching on services and circulation patterns. It provides a long term flexibility allowing parliament to evolve and change in the future. The public entry to the megastructure incorporates the mosaic in the parliament forecourt. Once inside a series of escalators and diagonal elevators transport visitors over 4 levels to a viewing platform where they can look down into the house of representatives or the senate. Two other entries are provided adjacent to the house of reps and senate entries for future expansions of parliament.

The Citizens’ House itself provides another level of short term flexibility. The central space is designed to assist the parliamentarians and facilitators in many different activities. It is a space that needs to change rapidly from a large formal chamber where debates and full panel discussions are held involving more than 150 people, to a series of small intimate informal spaces where groups of 6 or 7 people can chat and brainstorm ideas while facilitators move from group to group helping the discussions flow.

Spaces are provided for casual conversations around an interior courtyard where Citizen Parliamentarians share a coffee while the central space is being transformed. A control centre is provided for multimedia and the operation of the flexible floor and ceiling. Staff who work at facilitating the assembly during the 5 day sitting and arranging invitations and facilitating online forums and media promotion are provided with offices. At night the Citizen Parliamentarians return to accommodation and social spaces provided in another part of the megastructure.

Logistics

The central chamber has a floor and ceiling system that change quickly when the activities require. Pneumatic lifts below the floor raise platforms and benches to create tiered “in the round” seating for more than 150 people, while blocks in the ceiling, which also contain services such as lighting, air and sound, are raised to create a higher ceiling and a ring of blocks are dropped down to create a surface for projecting video allowing people in any seat to see the speaker or presentation. When smaller intimate spaces are required the floor is lowered to a level surface and the ceiling tubes are lowered to provide more private spaces and task lighting.

Symbolism

The megastructure and Citizens’ House are designed to be iconic and instantly recognisable. Extending from the mural in the parliament forecourt, the shape of the megastructure is designed to represent a modern interpretation of the symbols expressed in the mural, wavy lines represent paths of travel, while the oval shapes represent meeting places. The Citizens’ House is deliberately placed above the other houses of parliament in order to symbolise its importance. The viewing areas of the megastructure funnel into the exitsing house of parliament, representing a connection between the people above and the elected parliamentarians below, while also providing support for the structure. The futuristic shapes represents the ability for parliament to evolve.

On a larger scale, the megastructure retains the Griffins initial idea of Capitol Hill being a place for the people to be above parliament. The gentle curve of the megastructure reflects the landscape around Canberra and aligns to Mount Ainslie, Mount Stromlo and Mount Mugga Mugga. Not all spaces are filled in, allowing the grass to continue to grow beneath.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the design of the Citizens’ House of Australia and the parliamentary megastructure will assist in active citizen participation in government and allow for the citizens to feel more a part of the parliamentary process, while allowing citizens to have a better understanding of parliament and Australia’s capital.

Diagrams Needed

Collages BOARD 1
1- person receiving invitation
2- person receiving intro kit
3- person using online forum on ipad
4- list of topics on forum
5- plane flying in to canberra
6- small group of people around a table
7- large group of people in full panel discussion/debate
8- people chatting over coffee
9- a formal presentation
COULD TAKE UP HALF A BOARD

Interior Shots
- inside entry to megastructure, going around and looking at mosaic LEAVE TIL LAST
- courtyard of citizens house showing people talking, trees, tables, standing BOARD 4
- different configurations of main chamber BOARD 3

Exterior Shots
- overall axonometric with parliament house and surrounds FRI MAYBE IN MAX? STILL DONT KNOW BOARD 1

Plans
- diagram, overall with different configurations in megastructure over time THURS BOARD 2
- overall of citizens house, then others showing configurations of chamber 1:200 THURS BOARD 4
- overall of bedrooms 1:200 THURS BOARD 4
- very simplified site plan reduced to aboriginal type symbols  USE SAME BASE AS CONFIGURATIONS
- city scale plan showing alignment to mountains USE SAME BASE AS CONFIGS BOARD 2

Sections
- overall showing circulation through megastructure (or as a wireframe showing this)  INCLUDE IN ELEVATION? BOARD 3
- citizens house showing detail of construction and floor, ceiling 1:200 THURS PLUS ONE BOARD 4
- large scale to lake showing continuation of hill BOARD 2

Elevations
- side elevation showing funnel down to houses COMBINE - FRI EXPORT JPG FROM MAX AND TRACE BOARD 3
- front elevation showing a crane building a space FRI BOARD 2

Time Managment

Working 30 hours a week and having a baby doesn't leave me much time for uni work. I thought I would struggle with this but I think it has actually been an advantage. I have been forced to think each day before I start working about how is the best way to spend my time.

In the past, after I finished designing my building I would have just drawn up everything in Revit, produced a set of drawings and then tried to lay it out in a presentation. This time, after I got through the design stage, I first wrote a script of exactly what I wanted to say in the presentation. I used this script to then make a list of diagrams and drawings I thought would best describe what I wanted to say and how I would lay it out in a presentation, and what physical models I should make. This allowed me to focus my time only on what needed to be done to communicate my design.

There were also other advantages to doing this. I was able to see problems in my design before I had to drawn and redraw it, because writing the script for the presentation made me think about the details. My presentation was also much smoother as a result of this, in the past I would have struggled in presentations because my layouts did not flow or match with what I wanted to say.

Concepts for Ceiling

The ceiling of the chamber is designed to allow a grand powerful feeling for the debating chamber mode and a more intimate feeling for the brainstorming mode. I thought a good way to do this would be to have movable rods or shafts in the ceiling that go up and down individually to create any configuration needed. Some of the would contain lights, when these come down they could be used as task lighting during brainstorming. Some would contain other things like speakers and fresh air vents. In the chamber mode a ring of shafts could be left down providing a backdrop for a projector, showing the person who is talking below or any video that needs to be shown, or voting tallies.

Connection with Parliament

Brett mentioned in the tutorial that my megastructure design needs a sense of connection with the existing parliament house. My idea is to pull down the mid points on either side of the structure so they flow into the skylights of the house of reps and the senate. This would not just literally connect the spaces (providing a viewing area for people above to look down) but it also symbolises the ideas generated in the Citizens' House flowing down into the houses of parliament, a passing of ideas down from the people to the government.

Concepts for Chamber Floor

Ron Arad

Initial Concept

Hydraulic rams move furniture in and out

Desks recess into floor and are covered for protection

The tiered seating levels out to a flat floor

The floor of my chamber needs to quickly change from a large debating chamber to spaces for small groups of people brainstorming or discussing.

Initially I was going to do a concept similar to the Ron Arad furniture in the first image, although the blocks would slide up and down as needed. I did a few variations of this but realised that the citizen parliamentarians will also need proper furniture, like comfortable chairs and desks in order to work effectively. This didn't seem possible so next I looked at set tiered benches which could retract and stack up against the outer wall, leaving the floor flat, similar to a theatre. With the circular shape of my design this would also not work. The third option shows tired benches that can be raised and lowered. The desks also lower inside the benches. Normal work chairs would be shifted around by staff while this was happening, and the citizen parliamentarians would have an opportunity to take a break, have a chat and refresh their brains outside.

General Layouts

initial layout of the citizens house

how the citizens house fits into the megastructure

section showing how the citizens house will be built in the megastructure

Some rough sketches showing how the citizens house and the megastructure will work together.