tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7178184459929182520.post5351973621276340870..comments2024-03-09T16:52:15.366+11:00Comments on Steve King about Architecture: Clued in on the heliostatsteve kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01977535985183428085noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7178184459929182520.post-3297368745538373642013-06-04T13:05:53.102+10:002013-06-04T13:05:53.102+10:00Comment 2 of 2
It has also been suggested in the ...Comment 2 of 2<br /><br />It has also been suggested in the post above and in promotional material that the heliostat will serve to provide natural lighting to the retail spaces that are to be houses in the lower six levels of the building itself, via an atrium located between the two vertical portions of the building. <br /><br />How the heliostat will serve the two different spaces (open space and retail) is where I believe the true value of the design lies. When providing lighting to the open space to the south, the mirrors will be aligned to spead the light evenly over the area, with the aim of reducing its directionality and intensity. However, the portion of the heliostat that targets the atrium roof of the retail space with be more intensely focused with the intention to maximize the penetration into the interior spaces. This may have implications such as glare and solar gains, but without any details of the type of roof, or any diffusing devices located below, it is difficult to tell how this has been dealt with. <br /><br />The mystery panels illustrated in the images above, are indeed planter boxes. Several things indicate this to be the case. For one, the thin planters shown on the outward facing north, east and west facades are not continued around to the southern and inward facing facades, thus the only place for these planters to show up on the plans is in these red areas. From discussions with the company responsible for the vegetation design of the project, one of the main issues they were having was one of too much sunlight, as opposed to not enough. I believe that the reason for the increased size of the planters in this area is to maximize planting opportunities on the facades that are most advantageous for it, ie. the southern and inward facing facades. This brings me to another point that Jeremiasz touched upon in his post: making grand claims about yet to be proven design solutions. <br /><br />I was lucky enough to attend some lectures during a summer course, taken by two people responsible for the design and engineering of the green facades. I happened to asked then if they were required to make their facade systems easily removable in case the planting did not take off as planned. They seemed to confirm that a contingency was designed to remove the planter boxes should the plants not survive the harsh conditions, with minimal visual impact to the look of the facade, minus the obvious loss of climbing vegetation. They suggested that nobody involved was really sure if the plants would survive due to wind and sun factors. It is for this reason, the remaining unknowns, that I believe the roles of the heliostat and green facades have not been detailed extensively in advertising material, aside for the glossy renderings. <br /><br />references<br />http://www.centralparksydney.com/heliostat-floats-above-broadway/<br />http://images.gizmag.com/gallery_lrg/onecentralpark-2.jpg<br />http://www.kennovations.com.au/wp-content/themes/case_study_doc/kennovations_case_study_onecentralpark.pdf<br />Jock Sinclairnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7178184459929182520.post-45132338924243104992013-06-04T13:05:06.129+10:002013-06-04T13:05:06.129+10:00Comment 1 of 2
This is an interesting assessment ...Comment 1 of 2<br /><br />This is an interesting assessment of the potential uses of the heliostat and the ways in which it might function. It is probably worth noting that the heliostat currently under construction is allegedly significantly smaller than the initial proposal, and which can be seen in all the pretty the advertising material. My memory is not perfect but I believe I was told of this variation by a member of an engineering company working on the project. <br /><br />Unfortunately, nothing in any of the material printed on this project suggests that the heliostat provides light to the southern facing apartments. A quick look at the geometry makes it seem that the cantilevered panel would have to extend an absurd distance out to the south for this to work, and given that it is attached to a structure located on the northern half of the west facade, makes it more unlikely. Contrary to the suggestion that the reflector mirrors are fixed in place, for the purposes of variation in lighting scemes and the LED light show that is to take place at night, i believe that these will be actuated just the same as those mirrors located on the roof of the western building.<br /><br />I have come to believe that this device might function to different ends than that suggested in the post above. By looking at the 3D renderings of adjacent outdoor spaces, the over-exaggerated "fingers of god" (a reference to Jean Nouvel, not the alleged omnipresent supreme being) seem to suggest that it will be used to provide sunlight to the open space directly to the south of the buildings. This assessment seems to be more or less confirmed when reading through the article linked below. Due to the height of the buildings directly to the north of this area, without the heliostat this area would become much like the rest of Chippendale, dimly lit and pretty crappy.<br /><br />comment continued in next post...Jock Sinclairnoreply@blogger.com