Architecture Design: Project in Murwillumbah

After 7 weeks working in the class of Architecture Design, here is some progression.

The assignment is to design a Visitor Center at Wollumbin Street in the city of Murwillumbah in Australia. The site is around 19 x 51m and is located near the center of the city. Nearby is a river and next to the site are a park and parking spot.

The environment.

At first we did research about the functions, contents and possibilities of visitor centers by looking for existing references. Other information, such as the history, climate, culture, tradition and typical architecture of Australia was also gathered by everyone.

Discussing the information.

A large part of the class actually went to Australia to examine the site and the location. Based on their findings and information from the internet, we built a scale model of the environment.

The working space for the architecture students.

A series of cars.

For the design of the Visitor Center, a number of requirements were set:

- Reception Area
- Orientation Space
- Exhibition Space
- Cafe
- Kitchen
- Kitchen Store
- Staff Room
- Shop
- Art Gallery
- Meeting Room
- Offices
- Store Room
- Garage
- Public Toilets

First plan: playing around with connections between each space.

After the first plan, I decided to separate most of the spaces and create small buildings that are connected with bridges. The concept is to make a passage between the park on the front and the shopping street at the back. By elevating these island-like buildings on poles and creating a lot of spaces with sunlight, the area will be more inviting to enter. The poles are an important element since this area of Australia floods almost every year.

My rough, second design (in blue) placed in the scale model 1:100.

The bridge that connects the park with the back street. The buildings are along that path.

Third model in which some roofing is added.

For the next time, research must be done about the angle of the light coming in and the difference in height since the area is sloping and has a small hill. Other details are the construction and the style (decorations) in which the buildings will be made.