Week Three - Infrastructure, Strategy & Presence

Questions from lecture to be answered - 

What makes your strategy possible and viable?

Consider:

- INFRASTRUCTURE



- IDENTITY & PRESENCE

Firstly, considering theme selection is yet to be determined, a specific strategy can not be explored alone.


These are hypothetical situations that our group came up with during the tutorial to answer the four specific theme suggestions to replace or enhance one specific function of parliament house - 


FLEXIBLE:


What if the house of representatives chamber was designed to flexibly adjust to differing parties who have been elected to power? Would they chose the placement of parties differently? What reasoning would they have to do it? 




- The identity and presence of the parliamentary sitting that people have become to know and adjust to could confuse the system...


- People of power could chose to collaborate with each other more...


- Modern technology could enhance the environment


- Question time could become more interactive with the aid of modern    technology


- Could flexibility mean that politicians don't have to travel all the way to Canberra and could communicate virtually...


VIRTUAL:


What if there was an uprising (anarchy) in Australia to take down the government? How could parliament control this situation virtually?


- Would the parties come together as a nation? Or would they still be gunning for their own political agenda?


- Who has the complete military control? Does the Prime Minister finalise the militaries position? What is her duty? Run and hide? 


- People effected: How would they gather information? Use of technology?


- What if people had no access to technology? Where would they go to find help? Where would they know where to be safe?


-  The virtual world of mobile/portable technology could play a huge role in both the calming of the situation, but it could also lead to further conflict...


- What identity/presence could a virtual system of parliament have? 




MOBILE:


What if parliament became more mobile, in the sense of spreading the capital to the wider nation?


- Aside from each state already having a parliament, these usually are congregated around the capital cities. How does that help the cities and towns that are too far out of reach?


- Mobile town halls? Bring back the community sense of organisation of politics and laws etc. They come visit you...


(We didn't progress any further with the mobile suggestion. Aside from the use of mobile technology, which would then lead into a virtual sense...)






DISTRIBUTED: 


What if our nations capital was distributed between different capital cities?


- Again this leads into the mobile, flexible, and even virtual themes which have already been discussed. No further discussion was made on this topic.

Week Two - Research

http://www.peo.gov.au/students/now_parl.html


The following research was discovered post tutorial leading up to week three.

Useful websites -


http://www.aph.gov.au/information/index.htm


http://australia.gov.au/topics/government-and-parliament/parliament-of-australia


http://www.peo.gov.au/students/now_parl.html

Today's parliament:



http://www.peo.gov.au/students/now_parl.html

The Senate and the House of Reps hold the power of our capital, and our nation. This gathering of politics was forged from the British form of Government. It has slowly adapted to change, and has had 43 different elections of power. Divided mainly between Labour and the Liberals, although made up of many more parties, who fight for regulations, laws, improvement, often clashing with differing views and opinion, parliament can become quite heated. 




SO how could the government of Australia be adapted to a Flexible, Mobile, Distributed or Virtual environment?


Would you focus on the government as a whole? Or improve/add to a specific area of politics? Or add a new system...to the system...


Interesting information that arose from the group tutorials were -


- What if World War Three was to happen?


- What if their was an uprising of anarchy like we are seeing in the Middle East, in Australia?




How would the nations capital adapt to these hypothetical situations?


Social networking has played a large part in the transfer of information and communications between people... (London Riots). How could this form of technology be used in a political sense? (Virtual?)

Week Two - Flexible, Mobile, Distributed & Virtual

Week two asked us to explore the four strategies proposed for our project -


-Flexible
-Mobile
-Distributed
-Virtual


These are the mind maps of our note taking - 

Hopefully from these discussions and notes, further research will inspire a specific theme to pursue for the following project.

Week One - Capital, Parliament and Government

cap·i·tal

adjective /ˈkapitl/

 - Of greatest political importance

   - The capital city

noun /ˈkapitl/ capitals, plural

The most important city or town of a country or region, usually its seat of government and administrative center

A place associated more than any other with a specified activity or product

• - Milan is the fashion capital of the world

par·lia·ment

noun /ˈpärləmənt/  parliaments, plural (in the UK) The highest legislature, consisting of the sovereign, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons - the Secretary of State will lay proposals before Parliament The members of this legislature for a particular period, esp. between one dissolution and the next - the act was passed by the last parliament of the reign A similar legislature in other nations and states - the Russian parliament "A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French parlement, the action of parler (to speak): a parlement is a discussion".  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament gov·ern·ment noun /ˈgəvər(n)mənt/  governments, plural The governing body of a nation, state, or community - an agency of the federal government - government controls The system by which a nation, state, or community is governed - a secular, pluralistic, democratic government The action or manner of controlling or regulating a nation, organization, or people - rules for the government of the infirmary The group of people in office at a particular time; administration - the election of the new government All bonds issued by the US Treasury or other federal agencies The relation between a governed and a governing word "A government is the organization, or agency through which a political unit exercises its authority, controls and administers public policy, and directs and controls the actions of its members or subjects". en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government *[Definitions sourced from Google Dictionary]

Week One - Project One

Assessment 01 - Where Is The Place?: Vision and Strategy Statement

Assessment Criteria Vision for Australian Capital Capital Strategy (25%) : The panel presented and blog posted satisfies the following descriptions. Your chosen strategy (flexible, mobile, distributed or virtual) was well investigated. Your idea creatively identified problems and issues associated with ways capital city / parliament worked today in Australia and a speculation was made to suggest your idea could lead to an innovative solution. You summarised your investigation well and communicated all necessary information clearly and creatively with images and diagrams in your panel. Your blog communicated your idea development well. Outcome: one A2 (landscape) panel prepared by team and blog posts documenting development of individual ideas. Capital Infrastructure and Presence (25%) : The panel presented and blog posted satisfies the following descriptions. Your investigation to identify how your strategy could make use of the existing and/or new infrastructural support was good, unique and innovative. You made a good effort to identify how your chosen strategy could have its own unique presence and identity for people to identify that it constituted Australian Capital. You summarised your investigation well and communicated all necessary Information clearly and creatively with images and diagrams in your panel. Your blog communicated your idea development well. Outcome: one A2 (landscape) panel prepared by team and Blog posts documenting development of individual ideas. Architectural Investigation Architectural Types & Purposes (20%) : The panel presented and blog posted satisfies the following descriptions. Based on your investigation of Australian Capital Vision, you came up with an innovative suggestion to (partially) replace current Australian Parliament. Excellent investigation and speculation are made to propose a range of services that your architectural entity is to provide. You summarised your investigation well and communicated all necessary Information clearly and creatively with images and diagrams in your panel. Your blog communicated your idea development well. Outcome: one A3 (portrait) panel prepared by team and blog posts documenting development of individual ideas. Architectural Presence & Identity (20%) : The panel presented and blog posted satisfies the following descriptions. You conducted a unique and creative investigation into how your architectural entitiy can be identified and perceived as the capital of Australia by residents and visitors. You summarised your investigation well and communicated all necessary Information clearly and creatively with images and diagrams in your panel. Your blog communicates your idea development well. Outcome: one A3 (portrait) panel prepared by team and blog posts documenting development of individual ideas. Written Project Statement (10%) : The panel presented and blog posted satisfies the following descriptions. The statement was creative and imaginative. The statement was well written. Ideas leading to the statement was documented well in your blog. Outcome: one A4 (portrait) sheet with up to 400 words text prepared by team and blog posts documenting development of individual thoughts.

Week One - CAPIThetical

CAPITheticAL Competition Brief - 

THE TASK

• Would you build a new capital today or could the Australian Federation be expressed in a different way?
• Would it be a city in the conventional sense or not? If not, what form might it take?
• What ideas would drive its design and development?
• How would 21^st century social, political and environmental factors influence the nature of the city?
• Of what should our national capital consist?

KEY PROPOSITION

Between Federation in 1901 and the selection of the national capital site in 1908, various pressures particular to the concerns and conditions of the time influenced Canberra’s establishment and growth. Today, those ‘pressures’ seem less compelling.This competition, a hypothetical, invites participants to re-imagine the task faced by those whose job it was to decide how the capital would be created. What kinds of pressures and influences would there be if the city were being planned today?

• Are there relevant security concerns that would influence the location and design of a national capital today?
• Can the design and location of a city influence clarity, compassion and productivity in the thinking of Governments and political representatives?
• What influence would climate change have?
• Can the design of a city influence the life and work of its residents?

PROVOCATIONS

The following provocations are prompts, potential ways of creating a space for thinking through the consequences of bringing Canberra’s past history into our present and very different world. What kind of national capital would we imagine now?

National versus Local: The architecture of a capital is imposing as an expression of nationhood and heritage, values and aspirations. How then should such a city express itself as a place where people also live, work and play?  

Size: Australia is the world’s most urbanised nation, with 57% of its population living in the five largest cities. This figure is close to double that of Europe and the USA. Should a hypothetical capital have ambitions as a sixth metropolis?

What: What is a city?

• event?
• infrastructure?
• home?
• market?
• government?
• landscape?
• object?
• experience?
• commerce?
• community?
• communication?

Is a capital city different?

Whose: Does our changing demographic influence the shape, substance or style of the city?

How: Do social, political and environmental pressures and expectations influence how an Australian capital might be created today?