DESIGN CONCEPT 3: SITE ANALYSIS Although the first two design concepts failed to satisfy the needed criterias, they provide good feedback and information that we find helpful and worth developing. The need to create a form that enables the viewer’s line of sight to be able to trace the structure upwards proved to be a an interesting feature to include while the gradation of ball joints can be used to amplify the sense of suspension and instability, hence effectively conveying the structural properties of the overall form. As such, in the third attempt we tried to incorporate all the data collected. The gradation effect demonstrated by design concept 2 also encouraged us to begin analyzing and understanding the site and the roads. The curving path of the Princes Freeway which leads to Wyndham City is the most interesting aspect of the site as it will encourage the use of expressive forms that are not static and straight if designed and built along it. This can also be used as a major component in assisting in creating a stronger immersion effect as we realized that due to the turn, our stereoscopic vision will naturally notice and focus on the front and left side of the freeway more compared to the right because for the drivers they are straight ahead. This meant that when we create our design, we should place supports at the right side of the road in order to maximize the effects of floating and immersion as the structure will be more easily to be perceived as so. The images and diagrams on the right showcases our analysis of the site and how we found the specific sweet spot that best assist with our design concept.
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The image on the right shows the site and the area of interest which is the curving road in between site A and site B. The image below illustrates the driver’s point of view while driving on the specific area towards Wyndham City.
This diagram shows the field of visual focus of drivers while driving along the curving road of the freeway. It shows that most of the focus will be directed towards the left and frontal side of the road especially when the driver is driving along the left lane, while the focus will be roughly the same if the driver drives at the right lane.
Here we conducted a simple experiment using Rhinoceros in testing the focus of vision compared to the road curvature. It confirms our idea that by positioning the supporting parts of the structure on the right side of the road, it better emphasizes our concept. We find that without a vertical column in front of the visual focus, the roofing structure will interact better to the surrounding environment and the sky, hence making the suspended effect possible. On the other hand, by of positioning structure on the left, it will act as a distracting visual barrier to the surrounding landscape hence eliminating the visual floating and immersion effect.