Final Design Proposal: Coogee Community Centre

Introduction:

The brief requires that a community centre be proposed at the site adjacent to the Coogee Oval which currently houses the grandstand, the main entrance as well as the senior citizen hall. New programs are to be introduced, which will make the centre as well as Coogee Bay Road the heart of the suburb.

Existing Site:

The existing structures were looked at, and problems were identified which would later be used as guiding principles for the proposal.

1. The Granstand as a public building, and being the largest and most dominating structure within the site, has its back facing the public which does not seem welcoming to the people entering the site.

2. The circulation between each of the independent structures was a problem, especially during rain, as the connection paths are not sheltered.
Hence, for my proposal, the existing Grandstand is to be removed to create space for a more engaging structure which will recognize the buildings surrounding the site, rather than to shut them off. All the programs will be housed under a single structure, creating a microenvironment in which each of the programs will be contained and easily accessible.

Framework of proposal

Proposal:

The approach was to allow the community centre to become a connection between the public and the oval, to set up a threshold for the transition from street, to oval.
The first step was to look at signaling. A problem identified was that the roads directly adjacent to the site were quiet, and had little traffic, which would prove to be a problem later on for the community centre, but there were 2 major roads within range (Coogee Bay Road + Arden St), which could be used to direct traffic to the site. Brook St was used as the vital threshold, to divert the pedestrians along Coogee Bay Road towards the site.

Form was used as a tool to break the continuity of the planar facade of Brook St.

The first level houses the administration offices, giving it a certain hierarchy over the other programs.
The ground level is designed as an open-plan arrangement, containing the portable storage units, café seatings, kitchen as well as the newly designed grandstand.
The lower ground level, which is underground, houses the changing rooms, workshop, small gym, as well as the large gym hall.
Section A

Section B

Elevation

The new grandstand which replaces the existing grandstand is designed with 2 faces, to respond to two different programs. One face responds to the oval, for fans to watch matches, while another face, responds to the interior, facing the hall where activities such as children’s painting exhibition, local plays, performances and so on. This allows the grandstand to be used not only during the day, but during the night as well.
Hall space during normal day use, showing one face of the new grandstand

Hall space during a performance
Grandstand during a match

The portable storage units are designed as such so that they may be rearranged to suit different functions within the centre. They may even be used as props for the activities taking place in the hall.One of the 4 portable storage units
Placement within the community centre

Glass:

Glass was used with care in the design proposal, used to open up space, to enclose, to confuse and to create a sense of ambiguity. Clear glass is used at both ends of the centre (one facing Brook St, the other facing the oval), to allow uninterrupted views from the street, right through the centre, into the oval and beyond that. The glass also allows the structural supports to frame the landscape, bringing the landscape right up to the centre, as though it were a huge painting which became the backdrop for the activities which occurred within the centre.

Semi-opaque glass was used for the administration centre, for the storage units and the kitchen. During the day, they hide the activities within the spaces they confine, but maintains a sense of lightness, contrasting itself against the concrete shell which covers the community centre.

Night Architecture:

The design approach also took into account the community centre not only when it was in use during the day, but also during the night. When the sky turns dark, the community centre comes alive by the activity within. Each program is lit by different forms of lighting, and the centre is lit by various spots of activity within the large space.

Trees within the landscape are highlighted as spots of activity

Main entrance to community centre is lit by a single light

Cafe opening during day, and night.

Cafe seatings, where each table is lit and becomes a "spot of activity". A change of scale is played out, where these activities become much more intimate, conversations between 2 or 3 people.

When lit, the semi-opaque glass changes its character, becoming even lighter. They maintain a level of privacy, revealing only the silhouette of the activities within.

Semi-opaque glass around the administration office allows transparency, but still maintains the privacy of the users within.
Interior of admin office.
Night scenes.

Landscape:

Stairs and ramps are used to alter the experience of entering and exiting the lower ground. The ramp engages with the park adjacent to the site, allowing a slower ascend to the ground level, the landscape slowly revealing itself to the user. This means that not every part of the site is used for construction; some is allowed to compliment the adjacent playground, which in turn brings both sites together. The stairs also allows the user to experience a change in elevation, similar to the alternating heights of the surrounding landscape.

Model:

Site model

View on Brook St, from Coogee Bay Road

Opening onto adjacent garden

Massing model.
Structural model

1:100 model, with partially removed roof

Entrance from Brook St

Cafe opening at the side of the community centre
Structures with portable storage units

Ramp opening

Load relief

Opening onto the oval

Night simulation
View from oval

Kitchen unit with semi-opaque walls

Redesigned grandstand

Construction model

Mapping : Revisited + Restructured

A deeper analysis from the previous threshold analysis, both ends of the oval, on Brook Street and Arden Street, was now studied. The end facing Arden Street is seen as an area which filters the transition from natural to oval, such as the sea, the beach, and the breeze; while the end facing Brook Street becomes the filter for the transition from built to oval, which are primarily the residential and commercial premises. Before, the study was mainly focused on the transition from main road to community centre, where Brook Street becomes the threshold between Coogee Bay Road to the site. Here, the study looked at the transition from a broader scope of influences to the oval itself. This means that the proposal should respond by not only being a structure which terminates within itself, but serves to filter movement from the broad surrounding, through itself into the oval, to allow continuation.

Restructured to show a sequence of investigations.

On the theme of insertion, sectional views were used to focus the analysis on the site. Any form of intervention to the existing site is a form of insertion. The analysis is then focused on the size of the insertion, specifically the height of the proposal. Taking cues from the existing structures, building and vegetation, the heights of each element were taken into account, and it was decided that the appropriate insertion should be based on vegetation heights, to blend in with the landscape of the adjacent playground, rather than to compete against the surrounding buildings. In essence, the proposal can be seen as taking one of the surrounding buildings, and pressing it into the ground, until it is the same height as the lowest tree in the adjacent playground.

From the earlier study of materiality, where just the surface materials of buildings surrounding the oval were studied and identified, a deeper analysis was carried out. Each surface material is linked together based on their category, where each building acts as an anchor point, or a node, on which a network is set up. The network lines formed from the connections then form this web, which has a quality of depth to it, when seen from above. The pockets of space created, is then further categorized into respective categories, based on the lines which bound the space. This changes the orientation of surface materials, from a vertical position (surrounding buildings), to a horizontal orientation across the oval. The resultant layering effect which is formed, informs the approach to the material selection for the proposal, where, existing materials of concrete and timber are used as expressed surfaces. Brickwork is not used as a surface precedence, but as a constructional method, where pre-cast concrete panels are placed against one another to form the shell structure.

For reciprocity, the study looked at the functions of each existing building within the surrounding site. Each building was given a height, which in no way relates to their existing physical height, but is a measure of the number of functions occurring within a single plot of land. The more functions occurring within a plot of land, the higher it is. In a way, this changed the topography of the environment surrounding the oval, with Coogee Bay Road now being higher than the residential plots of land. Alongside the list of required programs for the proposal, a random mass was created as the proposal, onto which a series of programs with their corresponding heights were imposed onto the mass, based on random divisions of plots of land. This study suggests the multiplicity and complexity of various elements coming together onto a single piece of land.