[9] Mobile Architecture: SENTRY

Initial conceptualisation of a Mobile Architecture:

[8] Outpost + Sentry

I began to further think about and conceptualise the relationship between the outpost and sentry - the base and the mobile architecture. I hope to now begin work on the conceptualisation and design of a mobile architecture responsive to the environment and adaptable depending on function, context and cultural insertion. Below is the initiation of this process recognising the relationship between context [outpost] and mobile unit [sentry].

[8] Outpost Spatial Relationships

I outlined a series of spaces that need to be included in the design for the outpost and how they interrelate. This diagram illustrates possible spatial arrangements through recognising links and relative proximities/sizes of spaces.

[8] Mobile Precedent

"Daily life has been transformed by the arrival of technologies such as the internet, flat-screen television, and wireless phones as well as by improvements in domestic appliances like micro-wave ovens, fridge freezers and LED lights.  In addition, building technologies are advancing in the wake of aerospace, marine and auto industries, enabling new opportunities for living spaces with higher performance and less material.

It is now possible to live much better on a smaller scale.  The storage for books was once an essential part of learning or research, and the ownership of objects and rooms to store them in an essential expression of wealth.  Today we acquire knowledge from the internet and wealth is expressed by a high degree of physical and intellectual mobility. The luxury is in the compact technologies that allow us the greatest freedom of movement.

We can now touch and be touched by the world from a tiny space.  The 'm-ch' is both a luxury and necessity on a small scale, a high quality home space for short stay living.

By January 2011 there have been fifteen micro compact homes built. Installations have been made for The Museum of Modern Art in New York, UBS Bank in Zurich Switzerland, O2 Telecom in Germany and for various private clients with sites overlooking Lake Zurich and now planned for Lake Maggiore near Ascona and at Millbrook in New York State."

Hordon Cherry Lee Architects 

QuaDror a New Structural Support System.

[8] Outpost form studies

The outpost need to become a retreat from the hostile desert environment of the Australian Outback for all those who require or request salvation. As such, it needs to be both offensive and defensive to overcome the extreme climatic conditions, temperatures and lack of infrastructural support. The architecture must have a presence of both culture and parliamentary status - dominance and recession. In achieving this the outpost needs to emerge from the landscape sensitively and express a sense of power through tectonic materiality and architectural icon. The sequence of images below explores possible cross-sectional cuts through the outpost which could give the form a more dynamic desert lighting effect and sensitive formation in response to the context / terrain.

[8] Outpost Schematic Design

[7] Outpost Schematic Design

[7] Outpost Contextualisation

The sequence below presents a basic development of ideas to outline the relationship between architecture and terrain. This core concept will be further explored to enable optimisation of these fundamental ideas including thermal coupling, context sensitivity, mobile access and general climatic responsiveness. 

Further exploration:

[7] Outpost Investigations

[6] Outpost conceptualisation

The image below shows the first stages of development made towards a mobile architecture network within the Australian outback. I have decided to begin work on the 'outposts' which create the main infrastructure for the 'mobile architecture'. Establishing this network will give direction to the function, purpose and overall composition of the mobile units. 

[6] Inspiration

Before the conceptualisation process begins I would like to examine some precedents and architectural manifestations of desert type/military architecture. The following images are a compilation of ideas and exemplary designs which exhibit an element or concept I wish to produce within the final design project. This list of images will continue to be added to as the semester progresses.

[6] Interim Presentation

The three A3 panels produced for the mid semester project presentations as well as the artist statement; this will become the framework for developing an individual response to a mobile agent of parliament.

[6] 'Desert Assault' [Individual]

as·sault n.

1. Make a physical attack on.

at·tack v. at·tacked, at·tack·ing, at·tacks v.tr. 1. To set upon with violent force. 2. To criticize strongly or in a hostile manner. 3. To start work on with purpose and vigor.

'Desert Assault' is the theme I have developed for approaching the individual component of the mobile architecture design project. It is based on strategically infiltrating the centre of Australia to establish a network of outposts and sentries. Further investigation, conceptualisation and realisation will be conducted throughout the semester, see the image below for the idea as it is currently:

Nodes of political and social interaction

[6] Exemplar [Individual]

Rick Joy

"Award winning American architect Rick Joy is renowned for this climate responsive and landscape sensitive work, based mostly in the desert region of Arizona. Using a robust palette of materials, including rammed earth, hardwoods and rusted steel, Joy’s work looks as much from the earth, as sitting within it. Joy’s practice predominantly includes residential work, with Tubac House being his most celebrated. Joy’s work has been both published and exhibited widely with a group of architectural experts recently choosing a Rick Joy house as one of five most influential and inspiring homes in recent times, alongside work by Rem Koolhaas and Shigeru Ban."
- http://www.architecture.org.au/255-aaa-black-talk-rick-joy (accessed September 2, 2011)

[6] Individual design [Desert Context]

I started to generate more specific interest in the Desert Context and outlined key parameters associated with this sector of Australia. From here I was able to develop an initial design strategy for project 02; I will be able to develop this further after the presentations on Friday and begin to formulate a strategy for a desert inhabiting, resilient and mobile architecture.

[6] Week 6 Development [Individual]

I have progressed quite a bit individually over the past few days, not so much in terms of a conceptual design or representation of an architecture, but more so in the creation of a strategy for beginning the process of developing a mobile architecture. I have established some parameters for the project which will help to form my individual project brief. Precedents have also been investigated to help generate a set of opportunities extending those provided by the context specific issues of a mobile architecture located in the desert. 

Below is a sequence of sketches which illustrate my development individually.

[6] Parasite [Individual]

"Parasitic architecture can be defined as an adaptable, transient and exploitive form of architecture that forces relationships with host buildings in order to complete themselves. Parasites cannot sustain their own existence without siphoning energy from the surplus supply demonstrated in host buildings."
- http://www.freewebs.com/parasitic-architecture/ (accessed August, 28)

[6] Architectural Purpose

Below are the 4 sectors of 'Australian Identity' with an architectural purpose layered over each.

Desert Sector:

Coastal Sector:

Bushland Sector:

Rural Sector:

[6] Capital Infrastructure and Presence

 Existing Infrastructure:

 Proposed Infrastructure:

 Distribution map: