I started this project with thinking about the merit of coal
loader. I believe that the merit of coal loader is not only the structure and
scale of the space, but also the environmental role as a habitat for natural
fauna that had lived in residential areas. Especially, the third and fourth tunnels
have been known as significant habit for more than 200 bats. So, I tried to
avoid the big change of internal space. However, the long length of tunnel, 180M,
would be a boring journey for visitors, and I decided to place the exhibition
areas in centre parts of the space.
At the first time, the wet and dark atmosphere of the site
reminded me to think about Piranesi’s work, THE PRISON. The Prison is the
series of the drawings that explains going through each related huge spaces. It
might be sometimes dreamlike or confusing. From this idea, I wanted to make the
internal space like the prison which is not only for the appearance, but also
for the way of leading experiences. Firstly, I chose timber and concrete
materials to create heavy and gloomy sense of spaces. After that, through using
bridges and narrow pathways, I created a series of spaces in second level which
will provide the series of experiences in order. Furthermore, the small
openings will create the dramatic sense of space through providing narrow and
dim light into the ground level.
The strong characteristic of platform is contrasting view of
both sides- urban view of west side and domestic view of east side. Firstly, I
wanted to create several separated spaces to provide various experiences into
the site. For this idea, I employed the various levels into the space which
will provide natural separation of the space as well as allowing circulation in
every direction. Then I placed below pathways going through all parts of
platform, and it will help to people to move around the spaces such as the
artificial garden area in left above side of platform, natural bushland spaces
in right above side of platform and external experimental art space in below
centre area of platform. Furthermore, I tried to make the site disability
friendly. So I employed the ramp to connect platform and tunnel.
