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DDOOUUBBLLEEFFRRAAMMEES A National Film Archive

Part 2 Project 2003
Phillip Kwong
David Kofford
University of Auckland Auckland | New Zealand
Film Archive.

Urban Parti – Silence and Noise

The architecture of the film archive is expressed as a linear series of frames or frozen moments. These moments are held/protected within a fold in the landscape, a gently curving axis defining two urban spaces one of silence, one of noise.

Silence – on the basin side the fold forms a gently sloping natural grass amphitheatre holding and shielding the basin a space for the city to relax and breathe.

Noise – on the free ambulance side the film archive reveals itself within the fold defining a vibrant urban plaza. A series of photochromatic glass panes enclose the ‘colonnade / veranda’ to both provide much needed protection from Wellington weather and a continuous video installation providing the plaza with backdrop of live commentary of lived experience.


Circulation and Structure – Frames and Frozen Moments

Upon entry the film archive reveals itself as a linear sequence, a series of frames and frozen moments expressed both through structure and experience. The archive seeks to reinforce the continual dialogue between the space of film and its media.

Experience – spatial and programmatic sequencing within the film archive seeks to create a filmic rhythm through the continual revealing and interplay of solid/void, light/shadow, public/private, inside/outside, play/pause. Architecture lives as experience.

Structure – framing and repetition form the basic structural system. The ‘modular’ construction seeks to create a ‘format’ to house experience.

concept:

this fold in the landscape defining the silence and noise. a new path towards waterfront designing to inform is not about being didactic; it’s about making spaces in which people can make up their own minds and atmosphere inside and outside

theatre:

the photochromatic glass panes enclose the theatre and provide a function of projection screen. the moment of view capture from Wellington harbour will continuously display within the theatre. the delicate moment will vary by time, weather, mood, motion and numeral of inhabitants. communication through entertainment relies on making an emotional connection with the audience, through its reaction to the drama and atmosphere of the experience.

site:

the new extension of landscape will grow and fold from the existing hill in wellington. its protecting the film in physical and mental approach. provide a sustainable thermal function of storing heats and release it at night. its also provide a sea water heat exchange system for cooling all the machine rooms and plant rooms. These moments are held/protected within a fold in the landscape, a gently curving axis defining two urban spaces one of silence, one of noise.






Phillip Kwong
David Kofford


DDOOUUBBLLEEFFRRAAMMEESS was a final year design project from the University of Auckland School of Architecture. The project explores the relationship between film, architecture and digital media and thus focuses on the intersection between the three types of representation rather than working within the conventions of any single form.

Students were encouraged to present their schemes in a filmic language. They undertook preliminary video studies engaging with elementary film techniques such as lighting, camera angles, composition, continuity, shot coverage, editing pace, montage and narrative forms. They then designed a building to house a National Film Archive on the Wellington waterfront using ideas from architectural and film theory. The final product of the studio was a film of each student's building that demonstrates the film knowledge gained in the early phases of the project. A basic programme of spaces for the building included archival storage space, administration offices and meeting rooms, cinemas of different sizes [both indoor and outdoor], reception and café areas, editing suites/conservation areas, and viewing and reference areas.

Phillip's scheme takes two existing conditions of the site [noise and silence] and 'architecturalises' them. Noise is articulated in the urban square in front of the Free Ambulance Building. Silence dominates the mound facing the lagoon. The building is a series of frames/sectional cuts mediating between the two conditions. The concrete structural web undulates to define major spaces and encapsulate the flow of activity within the landform nd the building. Photochromatic screens dissolve at the end of film screenings to reveal magnificent harbour views from the major cinema space.

Tutor(s)


2003
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