Week 5 - Site analysis

The image above shows the location of the site in relation to surrounding suburbs. As you can see, it's pretty much the center point between the surrounding areas. This would mean that it is an excellent through-point for people in the city, which could be used to the advantage of the folie design.

Also note that that the different suburbs have different "functions":

• CBD: businesses/high-rises, shops, some apartment living (mainly closer to the rivers edge)
• Kangaroo point: residential/apartments, some parkland, some cafes/dining
• New Farm: residential/housing, cafes/dining and boutiques, primary school, some parkland
• Fortitude Valley: businesses, shops, dining, clubs, some apartment living
• Spring Hill (not really as close to the site, but still relevant): residential, businesses, schools, cafes

This image shows the main roads in the suburbs surrounding the site.

This image shows the levels of traffic congestion (cars and buses) on the main roads surrounding the site on a normal day. The green roads show normal flow of traffic, yellow shows medium congestion and red shows a high amount of congestion. Note the most congested roads are within the CBD itself and lead into The Valley.

This image (from the Australian Government website) shows the estimated water levels from the December 2010/January 2011 floods. The orange lines show suburbs dividers, while the blue patches represent areas which were inundated with flood water. Its visible that the whole of the Howard Smith Wharves was under water (the extent of which can be seen in the image below).

Through research into the site, it was found that there was initially a proposal to turn it into a commercial district (hotel, sports and entertainment facilities), but was rejected by the local community. It was then proposed to be turned into greater public/green space, but was denied by council on concerns of flooding. In my research, I found there to be 3 major problems with this site:

1. Physical: the site has a high likelihood of flooding with heavy rainfall, as it is on the edge of the river
2. Historic: there are 5 existing air-raid shelters on the site which are heritage listed, locals have also expressed concern of commercialization ruining the historic sense of the site
3. Cultural: as this is close to residential suburbs, the community has expressed concerns about what impacts a new development will have on the area and also about new buildings affecting the view from their suburbs (the project brief states that the new structure/s be no higher than the cliff, this should reduce the problem of view obstruction).

It is assumed (for the purpose of this project) that the site will be a parkland area, that there will be a functioning ferry terminal somewhere within/near to the site and that the walkway connecting New Farm to the CBD is fully functional. With this in mind, some concerns from the public (before the floods) were that the walkway was a bit daunting at night through the stretch of Howard Smith Wharves and that having some kind of development there would be beneficial to public safety.