Week Eight: Site Identification

I have decided that the best place for a community centre within the Myer Centre site is Burnett Lane which runs parallel to Queen Street.

Burnett Lane serves as a suitable location for a community centre as it is close to Queen St - which means it is a populated site, but also provides a "calmer" scene than the rest of the site - which is beneficial to a community centre. With its laneway vibe, Burnett Lane creates a place for social gathering and meeting - creating a destination, rather than something that is passed by. 

At the moment I am considering this site in Burnett Lane: 

Burnett Lane Site = 44 x 20 m

Currently this site is quite run down on the Burnett Lane side, and is a JB HI-FI store on the Adelaide St side. This site presents opportunity for a new development and some retrofitting of the current building.

I am interested in the idea of designing a building that goes from Burnett Lane right through to Adelaide St, possibly with some sort of walkway through the building. By spanning the building right through the block, this allows for a new connection to be made between the streets, as well as creating two public access points / interfaces for the building.

 This transparency of the site also creates a new axis within the site, connecting on the lane behind the City Hall which leads onto Ann St. Through connections on both the ground and "mezzanine" levels, this axis could be continued into Queen St Mall. The community centre also functionally connects to City Hall, as both can be public gathering spaces, as well as King George Square, which can also transform into an area of social activity. 

As proposed in Project One, the new social hub will be just one of many new social activity centres popping up around the CBD. These areas are important in retaining the aspect of social inclusion in society, in a world where increasing technology hinders physical interaction and activity. Another proposed hub can be seen at the intersection of Albert and Queen Streets.