Text Drafts

Panel 1:
This new addition to the buildings of UNSW is to serve
the purpose of a new Graduate School. The form was
inspired by Frank Gehry’s famous Vitra Design Museum.
The structure will stand at around 50 metres in height,
and the area above ground will be completely sustainable.
The area below ground is accessible through a spiral
staircase, and will contain areas for tutorials to be held.
The Vitra Graduate School will be a great asset to both
postgraduate students and lecturers at the University of
New South Wales.

Panel 2:
The forms that will be located above ground have been inspired and
directly taken from the forms that were prodruding from the original
Vitra Design Museum by Frank Gehry. These new designs have been
modified slightly to harmonize with the building’s surroundings and
context.
These spaces sit between 30 and 50 metres above ground level, held up
by cylindrical forms covered in natural tree bark. This choice of
material was deliberately chosen because it is a natural and
sustainablematerial, and the spaces themselves are completely
environmentally friendly. The rooms have plenty of windows so
that the sun serves as the only light source for the space.
To get up to the spaces there are spiral staircases, enclosed in the
cylindrical organic forms holding them up so there is no need for
energy used by elevators (that would probably be as slow as the ones
in the Red Centre anyway).
These spaces will be able to be used for meetings between lecturers and
tutors, and perhaps students and lecturers. Some of the forms will be
large enough to contain around ten offices for lecturers and others will
be only be able to hold one or two large meeting rooms.
These rooms will be spacious, light and environmentally friendly, a very
important part of the design because it is one of the most important
issues the world is facing today.

Panel 3:
The spiral staircase is an important
recurring theme in this re-envision of
Frank Gehry’s Vitra Design Museum.The
spiral staircase in his building is one of the
most memorable protruding elements of the
whole design, so in this re-envision of the
museum spiral staircases are used in several
areas.
The underground part of the design
is made from similar
materials to the spaces
above ground, in keeping with the
theme of environmentally friendly and
sustainable working spaces. The walls are
made from planks of wood, with the ends
of them facing the inside of the space. This
will be a good natural source of insulation
for the space below ground. The floor will
be made from the same
natural and unpolished
wood that has been chosen
for the outside of the forms above the
ground. The spiral staircase is also covered
with the same bark that covers the organic
cylindrical shapes that hold up the spaces
above ground. These hold the other spiral
staircases of the building, and this connection
between the different staircases creates integrity in the
design of the Vitra Graduate School for UNSW.