Studio D/03
Gatherings
Lucinda McLean
Studio Description
A series of small community halls lie across the Mornington Peninsula, each with a history that has evolved with the surrounding community using these buildings for gatherings. As the population, land use and needs of the community change over time, the Mornington Peninsula Shire council is considering the future of these halls along with contemporary and future additional needs. This studio will imagine possible future ‘Gatherings’ of the halls along with new complementary spaces.
‘Gathering’ asks how these community spaces and the land between them can work both individually and collectively as a network or catchment of spaces that entwines the local uses and larger scale use, linking shorter events with longer term environmental concerns. This requires a rigorous investigation of the typology of community halls and associated programs, seeking ways to design rich spaces that can gather, and layer community use over time.
Studio Outcomes
Students will develop skills to observe and analyze existing conditions and structures, in order to work with and design complementary public spaces. This requires thinking and working across scales, both spatial and temporal.
Deliverables will be prepared through both group work and individual work. The initial group work will be analyzing and documenting the history, construction, and materiality of the existing halls. Parallel group work will be the development of a proposal for a network that gathers the halls and complementary spaces. Individually, students will undertake typology studies and resolve a piece(s) of the overall gathering network.
Learning outcomes are the capacity to consider and learn from what exists and the organization of space to allow for programmatic complexity. This will all be tested and used to design spaces that can be enjoyed by a diverse community across different times of the day, the week and the year.
Studio Leaders
Lucinda McLean is a founding director of N M B W Architecture Studio, established in Melbourne in 1997. The practice design methodology is place-based with a strong focus on materiality and cultural experience. The focus on the relationships between things allows us to strategically link large and small actions in each environment, focus on both buildings and landscapes and create holistic, inclusive and culturally deep design responses.
Design teaching and research with an ongoing focus on the Mornington Peninsula and Westernport is entwined with practice work, engaging students directly with firsthand research, the community, stakeholders, and contemporary issues.
Readings & References
The works and writings of Peter and Alison Smithson
The work and drawings by Enric Miralles
Writing by Tim Ingold
The work of advvt architects
The work of Gion Caminada architect
Local history studies of the Mornington Peninsula and Westernport
Firsthand careful observations and attending
Schedule:
Tuesday 2:15pm-5:15pm in MSD 140
Thursday 9:00am-12:00pm in MSD 140
Off-Site Activities:
Site visit located in the Mornington Peninsula