POWER OF 1O - ARCHITECTURAL EXHIBITION AT CUSTOMS HOUSE SYDNEY
Frank Minnaërt: Designer and curator of the exhibition
1O UTS architecture students envision a new Town Hall for Sydney
Location: Customs House Sydney
Stage: Completed
Date: 13/03 > 15/06/2008

POWER OF 1O is an exhibition of prospective architecture displaying ten cutting edge architectural projects designed by third year students from the School of Architecture at the University of Technology Sydney. Under the direction of Frank Minnaërt, coordinator of the subject, their works respond to a hypothetical challenge: to conceive of a major civic building, a new Sydney Town Hall.
Beyond being a showcase for ten projects, the exhibition title "POWER OF 1O" resonates with meaning:
"POWER" "energy" or "force"; "ability to do or accomplish something"; or as "political or national strength".
"O" and "1" alludes to the binary number system, wherein all data can be represented by using two symbols.
"POWER OF 1O" also refers to geography which allows us to understand locations, their relative distance  and scale which gives us the perspective to see all things in terms of relative size and relations.
Based on the fictitious scenario that Sydney Town Hall had been demolished, the disappearance of this iconic building gave the students the opportunity to rethink and redesign a major civic building as a new public space connected to a  multitude of urban networks. The site and brief were chosen to provoke crucial, multiple reflections regarding new ways of thinking about the contemporary city.
These fresh and provocative projects depict innovative ways of planning the contemporary urban environment. They preempt a new wave of thinking that is emerging in the city of Sydney’s future design.
To avoid any confusion amongst the general public or local government, the brief is entirely fictional and is consciously controversial.
Similar to other major international cities, many civic buildings, once strong collective symbols at a certain time, no longer embody the current concept of citizenship. Today, citizenship can also be reflected in places and values other than a "town hall". Consequently, not (re)connecting these civic places with contemporary flows and networks could leave them ending up as static empty shells. In relation to spatial considerations, the possibility of regenerating and amending the existing brief provided the opportunity to tap into and absorb the existing urban flows and moving crowds as well as generating a casual and meaningful social experience through a happy and positive "société du spectacle"1
Mobility (real and virtual) and urban concentration generate new forms of city and place. Spaces of transit and circulation flows favour the emergence of new typologies of public spaces. The future of these emerging places requires professional awareness and vision in order to guarantee a successful design that can be accessed and enjoyed by the citizens.
Sydney Square could be thought of as an architectural environment that also acts as a connector of different scales (i.e. immediate context, city, state, country, world) and of different networks (i.e. transport, information, communication). We cannot deny the fact that virtual networks are public spaces but paradoxically these communication technologies value what cannot be digitally experienced. Citizens are attracted to events that provide an opportunity to meet others and to be together as part of a community: parties, festivals, events, communal rituals. These events define urban life both spatially and temporally. The potential and success of an urban space similarly depends on the richness of multi-sensory physical experiences that it has to offer and the accessibility to them. By renewing programmatic interactions and reconsidering public space as a multi-scale, three dimensional network (not a only a 2D surface or an external space), these emerging public spaces are capable of (re)connecting, challenging or blurring boundaries (intersection, merging, isolation, dissemination, continuity, porosity). Therefore, they play a key role with regards to the fragmentation or cohesion of a dispersed and multi-cultural city by the way they make or not make citizens interact.
These 10 projects were selected based on their diversity of ideas and proposals and the way in which they achieved the objective of the brief: to generate not only design and urban strategies but to also consider the project like a collective laboratory where various hypotheses/solutions can be tested. For example, Andrew Willes’ scheme explored the notion that urban forms could be shaped by mapping the voices of citizens and flow patterns realized through fluid dynamics simulations leading to the creation of anti-hierarchical spaces intermediated by porous boundaries. Domenic Martorano developed an "urban playground" by folding and unfolding the ground aimed at connecting the different levels and networks through a free-flowing, interactive and ambiguous architecture. MediaScape was a response by Ross Pickrell to the increasing invasion of media into society and our reliance on it. The project started out as a series of private "cells" critiquing society and media. The "cells" are not only questioning our need for protection due to our increasing fear of other people, but also our parallel desire to connect with the virtual world. Luke Durack dealt with the process of manipulating and morphing urban typologies in order to generate a relevant urban strategy while Timmy Lum developed a rich urban strategy based on transportation links (hub, subway loop), a dynamic network of programs and never ending community events.These works also demonstrate the students’ ability to fully exploit the potential of digital technology available at UTS : i.e. 3D software for simulations and animations, physical models generated by 3D printers (object built layer by layer in ABS plastic from a CAD file) or by laser cutting.
The coherence between these eclectic projects is guaranteed by the design of the exhibition itself. The works are displayed in a consistent and appealing manner through a series of backlit light boxes to display the 2D representations, a series of screens for the 3D animations, graphics, catalogue and glowing display units (designed by Frank Minnaërt especially for the exhibition) to showcase the physical models. Much more than a provocation, this spunky, inventive and didactical POWER OF 1O exhibition was motivated by the idea of showing to all citizens, its dedication to and interest in the contemporary urban phenomenon.  \\ Frank Minnaërt

1 (Guy Debord, "La Société du Spectacle", 1967).

 

Thanks to: Jennifer Kwok, Manager Customs House, Ramón Lerma, Coordinator Customs House, Sandra Kaji-O’Grady, Head of School of Architecture, UTS