Adaptive Reuse Studio Notes

Introduction

  • Overview of the unit, focusing on adaptive reuse of high-rise buildings, specifically office-to-housing conversions.
  • The brief is co-designed with industry, especially the City of Perth, addressing global trends and the Australian housing crisis.

Unit Focus and Scope

  • The unit focuses on sustainable approaches to adaptive reuse.
  • Design options and development are based on case studies and precedents relevant to the Western Australian context.
  • Reviewing and comparing precedents is a major analytical activity.

Site and Context Analysis

  • The case study is the King Square 5 development in Perth city center.
  • Review existing site analysis and conduct context analysis including social demographics.
  • Understand the city's agenda to increase residents and transform the CBD into a vibrant city.

Professional Competencies

  • The unit aligns with master's level professional competencies.
  • Focus on undertaking site, cultural, and contextual analysis through preliminary design research.
  • Design response considers sustainability and the needs of future inhabitants.

Acknowledgment of Country + Cultural Significance

  • The project site is on Noongar land. Acknowledge the past, present, and emerging leaders.
  • Consultation with Aboriginal consultants during the unit's face-to-face version, with a recording available featuring Jay Conway, a senior cultural advisor.
  • Discussion of the Aboriginal Act of 1905 and the prohibited area established in 1927 by Chief Protector O'Neville, lasting until 1954.
  • The site's east border coincides with the prohibited line, offering an opportunity to acknowledge this history through design.

Social Sustainability and Housing

  • Address social sustainability by responding to the housing problem.
  • The City of Perth aims to increase its population to create a sustainable urban economy.
  • Convert underutilized office space into housing to support services like schools and healthcare.

Circular Thinking and Building Systems

  • Consider the entire chain of actions from ideation to the building's end of life.
  • Apply circular thinking to determine what can be done with the building after its initial use.
  • This influences choices in building systems and materials.
  • Provide three design options to discuss different levels of building reuse.

Research Question

  • Increase urban resiliency and facilitate access to city living through innovative design responses to changing housing and office demands.
  • Refurbishing buildings should enable diverse groups to access the city.
  • The city's current model of accommodating only singles and young couples is unsustainable.
  • Consider essential workers, students, and families in design propositions.
  • The Perth City Link project aims to reconnect Northbridge (housing) with the Perth CBD (offices).
  • Consider the City of Perth's strategy to expand the types of city inhabitants.
  • Explore co-housing opportunities.

Sustainability Brief

  • The goal is to reduce carbon emissions.
  • Consider what happens before, during, and at the end of the building's life cycle.
  • King Square 5 has a five-story podium and about 20 stories of commercial office space.
  • Challenges exist in converting office space to housing due to the building's original design.

Key Topics for Analysis and Design Response

  • Mixed-use building (Class 2 and Class 5 under the NCC).
  • Be aware of NCC requirements, but innovative solutions are encouraged with strong rationale.
  • Consider regulations concerning siting established by the Perth City Link plan and city planning scheme.
  • Floor-to-floor height is higher than typical residential spaces (3.85 meters), allowing for deeper apartments.

Return Brief and Design Objectives

  • Define who the design is for and specific design objectives.
  • Review site analysis, select precedents, and study the case study (King Square 5).
  • Site analysis will be a group effort
  • President analysis will be one president per group member
  • Context has evolved with new constructions like the ECU building.
  • Comparison with precedents can offer strategies for converting building types into housing.

Five Basic Problems to Investigate

  1. Site, Context, and Design Brief Response: Who are we designing for?
  2. Circulation Space: Apartment needs versus office space needs.
  3. Structural Geometry and Core System: Hard core (elevators, staircases) and soft core (services, toilets).
  4. Natural Light and Ventilation: Addressing the depth of the floor plate.
  5. Building Envelope: Adapting it for apartments versus office buildings.
  6. Green and Water Infrastructure: Harvesting water and providing green areas for cooling and ventilation.

Carbon Footprint Analysis

*Consider the five principles when it comes to the object, to the buildings, these five main categories can assist with organizing analysis for both the case study and the president.

Design Options and Approaches

  • Three design options are required, each with a SWOT analysis.

  • Option 1: Keep everything (floor plate, core, soft core) - most conservative in terms of carbon footprint.

  • Option 2: Demolish up to half the floor plate and rebuild with sustainable technologies.

  • Option 3: Demolish everything but the core and rebuild with lighter materials.

Deliverables

*Total of nine panels

  • Three A3 panels per option: typical plan, section, and basic 3D model.
  • Development metrics: data on apartments, amenities, and analysis of light and overshadowing.
  • One page per option plus the site and precedent analysis page
  • Analysis of three design responses against the five principles and carbon footprint.

Site Regulations and Context

  • Regulations of Western Asutralia and the Irish are to be used in the project. Such as the relationship between solid and void.
    Building Depth - the depth of the department as 3x the height must be considered in the design phases. The height of the case study building is 3.6, however with consideration the height might be downsized.

In relation to an apartment, the solid includes the services which includes the kitchen and wet area. The layout of space transitions for public and private must be diagramed and considered. The minimum size of living rooms are considered, 3.3 for 1-bedroom and 3.8 for 2+ bedrooms.

The consideration will be for the layout of the department to be accessible to a wheelchair with the measurement of space between doorways, bathrooms and rotations.

The liverable standards, super level, gold and platinum are to be considered at a minimum level.