DESIGNING ENVIRONMENTS

ENVS10004

SITE ANALYSIS

SURNAME Name STUDENT NO.

BOYD Jesamine 757726

LIU Bowen 783990

RADUNKOVIC Romana 758087

SHI Zijian (Benny) 784044

PANORAMIC VIEW

10AM

12PM

1PM

3PM

5PM

HISTORY

ACTION

5pm

1pm 9am

CLIMATE

MOVEMENT

9am 4pm 2pm

LEGEND: PEDESTRIANS

BICYCLES

VEHICLES

ANALYSIS

HISTORICAL ANALYSIS

What has been one of the most interesting discoveries I made whilst

examining the history of the site of the ‘Concrete Lawn’ is it has been an

evolving public space since the beginning of the University of

Melbourne that has slowly shrunk in size to accommodate a growing

university population size.

From this I considered how in keeping connected to the past changes

in the site, the site could evolve for future use, still being a public space

but with more interconnectivity between the production of the space

both in materiality and its imagined space and how this benefits its

users.

ACTION ANALYSIS

It has been observed that at 9am there are larger crowds throughout

the centre of the site as it is the main passage between the MSD

building and the Union House. At 12pm, the growing crowds in front of

the MSD and Union House buildings are due to most students finishing

class and going to the Union House to have lunch. At 2pm, most activity

occurs in the lawns, where the crowding shows that people use the

shadows of the trees across the lawn as a place to cool down and

comfortably relax. The site is considerably empty at 5pm, due to most

students leaving campus.

What is interesting about the action within the site is that we can clearly

observe many diverse activities occurring between 12pm and 2pm,

which decreases from 3pm to 5pm. During these peak periods, dog

walking has been observed which is interesting as it shows how vast the

uses for the area are.

TEMPERATURE ANALYSIS

It was found that there are four elements which could affect the temperature:

1. Sun shine - sunshine is the most influential elements of the temperature change

2. Shadow (buildings, vegetation) - temperature difference can be felt where

the area have shadow or not, including not only the shadows of the vegetation but

also the shadows of the buildings

3. Air conditioner inside of the buildings - especially near the entry of the building.

It is very easy to feel cool air out of the air conditioner inside of the building.

4. Wind - the wind is also an important element, which can affect the

temperature of the site. An example is the Raymond Priestley building. People can

always feel the wind on the pathway in front of the building because of how the

structure allows wind to pass underneath it.

MOVEMENT ANALYSIS

What was most interesting about the movement within the site was the change of

pace depending on the time.

Ten minutes before and after each hour mark, many people were observed to be in a

rush, walking at a much quicker pace and not stopping for conversation, taking the

quickest and most direct route to get to the other side of the site. This is likely because

they needed to get to a class on time.

At other times throughout the hour, the people passing through the site were walking

at a leisurely pace, enjoying conversation and the weather. I found this interesting

because by sitting down and observing the way people moved it was clear

determining their intentions.