is a project undertaken during the ladn412 paper, the final design project of a 4 year design degree majoring in landscape architecture at victoria university of wellington in new zealand. the project ran over 12 weeks. 6 weeks was used as site and theory research and development while the second 6 weeks focused on establishing a position to then drive a design concept. had an early focus of exploring the meaning of a democratic space and how this can drive design. as

grew as a project the ideas of a design by democracy evolved with site response in climate/sun/shade/wind/visual/axis/cultural/religious/pedestrian/vehicular/scale. developed through several different media. mapping/hand sketching/computer graphics were the initial medias mostly used. the first conceptual design was hand drawn diagramatically and as a very simple plan supported with hand sketches. beyond this developed purely in the 3D. each stage was physically modelled. this was also my first project in using the sketchup application which supported design communication/design logic/solar analysis/spatial scale. the design was ultimately presented with 4 large boards, a walk through video from the sketchup model and with the physical model for visual support.

connecting spatial diversity

Cathedral Square is the most formal and iconic space in Christchurch with strong religious, historical and visual qualities.

With time and redesign the Square has been stripped of much of its spatial diversity and potential. challenges how the introdution of spatial diversity can amplify the every day uses of the

site and respect and give prominance to the Cathdral.

spaces of the site derived from symbolic/axis/vehicular/pedestrian/solar/climate/use mapping research and design trial

arly thoughts of climate control/furniture

quare within the square - first conceptual plan responding to 3 spaces/spatial scale/spatial connection/n-s e-w axis/cathedral/retention of road in ne quadrant

evelopment beyond this point was done in 3d through physical modelling and sketchup

evelopment of in physical model form. all plans based off photographing the physical model.

evelopment one was in response to scaling the initial concept on site/creation of spaces/spatial program/program creation. the main move was the square within the square was rotated on the cathedral spire. this relaxed the formallity of the original design concept. elevated and sunken levels began to break the site up spacially.

evelopment two worked to make the e-w axis be more about the pedestrian and in doing so started to show ceremonial qualities towards the cathedral. the meeting steps also became more about the cathedral. attempts to loosen up space three were not very successful while space one became lost with the return of the tram to existing ground level. concern also came towards the spaces being disjointed from one another.

evelopment three became about linking the three spaces together and to start treating them as one design rather than three seperate entities of a design. the introduction of a linking wall happened. space one remained ceremonial/cathedral/religion based with emphasis on the e-w pedestrian axis and the meeting steps. spaces two and three still need to relax relax relax. a move in the right direction happened with the introduction of green space for recreation and observation.

he big moves made in the final plan

of tied together the design of the spaces. the biggest move was the development of the linking wall which became a beautiful fluid tension wall pulling together the spaces and creating flow through the site. the e-w axis and meeting steps addressed the cathedral while the tension wall ensured the pedestrian was pulled though into the relaxed everyday use space created for recreation/hangout/observation. the n-s axis was protected to also help the pedestrian through the site.

‘Cathedral Square is the most formal and iconic space in Christchurch with its strong religious, historic and visual qualities.

Over time the Square has been stripped of spatial diversity. How can the introduction of useable everyday spaces occur whilst still respecting the prominence of the cathedral?’