This weeks lecture discussed the concept of memory and place and how we create a sense of place from our own personal experiences. An interesting concept was mentioned about sense of place about if you've never been somewhere where the culture and lifestyle is different you'll take a long time to regain a sense of place. However if you move from Brisbane to Hobart for example, your sense of place won't take as long to develop as your already adjusted to the culture.
Another important topic covered in this weeks lecture was history and how every place has its own historical background. Since architecture is a four-dimensional element (with time being the fourth dimension), all structures carry a sense of time with them and time can age them badly if they aren't correctly cared for. In an attempt to preserve our history cities use the following methods:
- Reproduce damaged structures
- Copy the previous morphology
- Maintain or preserve the existing structure
- Relocate nearby and keep the original structures
An example of preservation is the Coliseum in Rome as shown in the image below. The coliseum has been restored in various ways after being destroyed in order to create other structures. A part of the coliseum has been reproduced as can be seen below, while on the other side a part of the structure was reinforced in order to preserve it.
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| Rome - Coliseum |
Project #3
This week in our tutorial group we had the chance to look at the 1:500 Brisbane City Model in D-block and choose a building that we would like to model and discuss in our final piece of assessment. I chose to do the St Johns Cathedral, a 100 year old piece of Brisbane City heritage. Below shows the Brisbane City Model and the Cathedrals location and surroundings.
Over the weekend I took a trip into the city to analyse the context of the city around the St Johns Cathedral. Catching the train to Central Station and walking to the Cathedral allowed me to take in the rich context that surrounds the site. A lot of old churches and buildings are found along this route, making it rich in historical context which will be excellent for my creative essay. Below is an image of the St Johns Cathedral.
Over the weekend I took a trip into the city to analyse the context of the city around the St Johns Cathedral. Catching the train to Central Station and walking to the Cathedral allowed me to take in the rich context that surrounds the site. A lot of old churches and buildings are found along this route, making it rich in historical context which will be excellent for my creative essay. Below is an image of the St Johns Cathedral.
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| St Johns Cathedral |
Reflections
The idea of preserving our heritage is something that young architects today will have to embrace as time goes on. Brisbane is a good example of this, as we continue to expand our infrastructure we consume land at an alarming rate. Today it is becoming more important to reuse previously neglected spaces, such as old buildings and refit them to be more sustainable and modern. As an architecture student I'm very focused on sustainable design and believe that it will be more important in the future to reuse rather then rebuild, saving both our heritage and our land from being consumed.
