Architectural Musings
I spent the morning in Eveleigh wandering around the ATP and
taking pictures for studio. I have to
say, one of the best things about being an architecture student is that you see
parts of a city that others would never venture to. As I mentioned before, the ATP includes a
large selection of 19th Century Rail buildings, and it was a fulfilling
morning exploring in and around them. I
would venture to say they are listed in no tour books, and I would imagine most
people, even that live in the neighborhood, have never ventured through the
compound (for many reason, not least of which is that the planning of the
complex is horrible and does not relate to the surrounding urban condition – it
is not a very welcoming place for a pedestrian). As an architecture student, I tend to go to
places that are off the beaten path, and I feel I get a very different
experience out of cities as compared to another traveler or even any other Uni
student.
I found myself doing quite a bit of thinking about
architecture as I wandered the site. The
concept of a technology park or the archetypical
office park is intriguing. Through the deployment of individual office
buildings in a field, presumably to allow the occupants access to the great
outdoors and respite from the surrounding city, many office parks, ATP
included, actually serve to isolate the inhabitants by compartmentalization
them within the urban fabric. It’s a shame
really, to think that so much time is invested in attempting to suburbanize the
urban experience at the deep cost of discouraging those who work in the
location from actually becoming members of the neighborhood which they spend so
much of their lives in. In time, they
serve to erode the neighborhood, and then themselves erode into nothing more
than a vacuum that is void of activity outside of the workday.
There is quite a bit of empty paved space at ATP, and I
think they would better represent it if they changed the name to Australian
Technology CarPark. The few buildings that currently stand in the
largely undeveloped tracts alongside the historic trains sheds are neither good
nor bad architecture I suppose. Though I
have to say, I was aghast that the defining moment of one of the buildings, the
architectural climax where a glass box punches out from the façade and extends
to allow for (presumably) incredible views of the city and possibly the water
which surrounds Sydney, was used as a place to stick a potted tree. Really?? I’m sure the architect went to great
lengths to keep that moment in the plans, justifying the extra cost for the
glass and structure, only for the grand architectural promenade, the reward for
one who wends their way through the building, to be blocked by a 6’
ficus. I likely audibly sighed, but no
one was around to hear because there are no sidewalks – the complex was built
to be accessed by car, and even at lunch hour there was no one outside enjoying
the beautiful weather. I walked past one
of a handful of cafés that are on the ground floor of some of the
buildings. There were maybe six people
in it… but I can’t blame them. While the
food looked appealing, the view afforded from the plaza of the café was of an
empty paved expanse. And this is why the
world needs [better] architects.
The first assignment of the studio is to make one alteration
to the existing conditions at ATP. That
change, an installation, a manipulation of the existing, is meant to be
jarring. As the site stands it is quite
a depressing place to be. I have an idea
– I’ll share it when the assignment is complete.
After my time at ATP, I wandered back to campus, happy to
have found some beautiful, hidden gems on the site (some exquisite historic
detailing on the train sheds). It did
make me a bit morose, however, as that lovely detail was relegated to an emergency
access drive wedged between the back wall of the sheds and a barbed wire fence
which now separates the Park from the train tracks which had originally
breathed life into the buildings. Ironic
how something so integral to the site is now wholly excluded. I think this will be an interesting semester
as we work to understand the tenuous relationship between public and private
space within the city.
*I posted some pictures on facebook of my walk around ATP –
check them out with the link I sent…
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