Post Presention, what needed fixing and what got changed.

The parts of my design I had to change based on the feed-back from the presentation were:
- Make significant changes to the form
- Increase access from the top of the cliff face to the main structure and bottom of the cliff
-Make the building more noticeable from the North, to draw people in. Mostly for night.

I went back to the layout of the main structures design to see what I could do to meet the above criteria. I turned the design upside-down, so the cave access point was at the top of the cliff instead of the bottom. I then extended the main access shaft to the ground and spread the accommodation from a radial formation to running parallel to the cliff face.
I also added an organic roof form that with mimic the rocky cliff face. This form would spread around the structure and partially down the walls. It would be constructed out of metal sheeting allow light to enter and exit between the edges of the plates. This would create an interesting shadow pattern for the interiors during the day and the coloured light shining out from the entertainment areas at the top of the cliff will make the structure attract attention at night.

Giving form

I have begun to design the aesthetics of the concepts. Below is the first concept drawings of what the structure and the ferry terminal might look like.

Combining the pods with the hanging structure

While laying out the spaces in the hanging I added the pod concept to the design. This would allow the clients to have their own private "home" without impacting on the green space. This pods will be attached to the circular tower of the hanging structure.

The "Hanging" Structure Concept

One problem I continue to run into in terms of this site is the restraints the size puts on the amount of green space available. To maximize the parkland, my new design will be a single structure raised above the ground on pillars to minimize its footprint and to have it attached, or at least backed on to the cliff face. Access to the structure will be through a lobby in the cliff itself. There is an opportunity to place a bar next to the lobby as well.

From 5 Star to no star, and the Island Concept

I came to the conclusion that having an upper-class hotel at the site may not be the best use of the location. Therefore I have changed the purpose of the residential component to a short stay, small scale accommodation. To do so I have split up each apartment into single person "pods". The rest of the design so far remains unchanged. I still want to maximize the amount of green space on the site. There are two strong traffic flows on the site, both of which surround the site. The makes the main building similar to any island. This current concept is based around this idea, with the accommodation pods representing trees, resting on the base of the "island".

Hotel design, what goes where?

My next task was to experiment with different layouts of the spaces involved with a hotel complex. The first relationship I looked at was the placement of the retail side (stores, bars ect..) and the accommodation. I cut out slips of paper to represent each space and placed them on a sectional of the site. There was a strong theme of keeping the accommodation above and in some cases separated from the retail side. This made the retail areas a central point, either visitors would go there from outside the sight with interfering with the residents, or the residents would decend to the retail space. Both occupants of the space would mingle there but wouldn't interfere with the residents private spaces.

Site Analysis and the HOTEL concept

My research into the location and distances of various facilities showed that there were plently of apartment spaces area the area, the closest being 100m away from the site. This shows that there isn't an immediate need for this style of accommodation. There were two large areas containing bars, cafes and restaurants around 350-450m away, so there was an opportunity to create more of these places at the site. The closest retail block was 450-500m so there was no real problems with adding retail spaces to Howard Smith wharf. Taking all of these into consideration I decided the best complex to take involve accommodation, entertainment, eating spaces and commercial spaces would be a hotel/resort complex.
I have begun to analyses the space and separate it into what spaces can go where in the following diagrams.