A 2nd Year Industrial Design Studio envisaging a cohesive community which has a closer, visible, connection to energy and water use.
Broadmeadows is a growing hub that will be a major city in the near future. It is also an industrial centre with greater than 100 nationalities, countless religions and a car culture that does little to foster human interaction. There is a dearth of public spaces that promote a sense of neighbourhood, and the few areas that do exist appear neglected. The metaphor of a lounge room has been deliberately chosen to suggest the possible nature of the regenerated sites. As with lounge rooms, these sites should be seen as places for people to gather and places that encourage interaction. There are currently several disparate cultures that populate these sites and we want to cultivate social exchange in order to build a greater sense of openness and community. Two sites were chosen as having great potential as blueprints for future sites.
A suite of elements is needed to create this “lounge room” – a system of parts that can be used to connect seemingly independent sites throughout the locality. These public sites can also be perceived as “oases”. Oases are traditionally places of rest and refreshment as well as places that draw together different living beings. They are places of refuge and are strongly linked – and sensitive to – the surrounding environment. Like oases, the designed objects need to be sensitive to the environment, incorporating sustainable aspects such as energy (wind or solar), water conservation or shelter from the elements (sun, wind and rain).