Mid-Semester Break: Further Research

As I continued researching I started to come across elements of different designs that interested me. One was a Visitor Centre in the Cairns Botanic Gardens.

The aspect of this design that interests me is its reflective exterior. The architects have said that this design choice was to create a camouflage by reflecting the garden onto the exterior surface and was inspired by the visual effects of the alien hunter suit in the original Predator film. I like this reflective effect not in terms of camouflage, but in terms of relation and connection to surroundings. I have talked about how there was disregard to the surrounding area ecologically when the Auckland Wintergardens was designed and built. Purpose built gardens and glasshouses also have disregard to true nature as they are often curated and articulated versions of nature that will attract people. I like the idea of recognizing and highlighting surroundings and not looking at the gardens as the curated bubble they were made to be with little influence of the land beyond its walls. I think this idea of using a reflective surface would help in creating this effect and highlight this point.

Another idea that has interested me throughout the last few weeks is this idea and relationship between interior and exterior. While doing some visual research on glasshouses, I came across some images of the structures that had been abandoned. I really like the visual quality that the glass creates. The missing glass panels and the way the light reflects off the remaining panels creates a delicate visual that connects the inside and outside of the structure together.

I also looked into some overgrown greenhouses.

What I like about these images is the challenging of thresholds on the plants’ behalf. Like I mentioned in my site analysis, something that really intrigued me about the site was the way the plats inside the glasshouse pushed and challenged the physical constraints of the structure in an attempt of escaping. These images of these unmaintained glasshouses not only show the plants challenging the manmade structure, but also the results of this.

Information Sources:
– https://www.wrightarchitects.com.au/cairns-botanic-gardens