Return Brief 

Research Poster 

Site Condition 

SWOT

Ideation Process 

Schematic Analysis 

Design Solution 

Forming Spacial Compositions 

Design Concept 

Design Reflection 

Drafting  

Client Description: The target audience is directed at older couples that have higher paying salaries. Aged between 35 - 65 both male and female. As the regatta is perceived to be a luxury hotel and exclusive as it only has four rooms. 

Client Needs: While the guest stays at the Regatta they seek a pleasurable place that can maintain all their physiological needs, such as food, water, shelter, sleep and clothing. 

Guest Spaces:  The guest has their own room, a dining room, an underground bar space, lobby, multiple balconies, roof top and surrounding cafes and shopping centres in the area. 

Proposed Experience:  The Regatta Hotel will highlight the history of Brisbane and the building itself through the choice of furniture, materials, colours and textures throughout the building but also the staff will be dressed in traditional clothing from 1874 when the building was constructed. Rather than involving lots of technology to create an atmosphere, the hotel aims to provide an escape of that. As the building has a hollow centre and provides good natural light, a range of plants will be placed to assist with the look and also remind the guests that the grounds were covered in flora and fauna before we had the high-ries, roads and cites.    

LOCATION: The building is located on 543 Coronation Drive, Toowong QLD, 4066. Corner of Sylvan street and Coronation Drive. On the Brisbane River and the Toowong Soldier Memorial and park. 

HISTORY: First established as a modest, single-story affair in 1874, the Regatta Hotel has witnessed some of Australia’s most memorable moments in time. Home to legendary sporting achievements and one of the first feminist insurgencies, our Grand Lady of the Brisbane River has withstood flood, fire and more than a century of change. Despite her evolution over the years, some things remained the same: her love for a cold beer, a great steak and the people who shared in her history. 

NEIGHBOURHOOD CONTEXT: The building itself is renovated and modern inside but the outside still has its original structure, colour and design. Obviously repainted over the years and now looks in good condition with some rust spots. The building has three levels with different decks, used for entertaining social events. There is very strong vehicle and pedestrian traffic around the building due to the local football field, the Regatta ferry stop right in front, the riverside walkway that runs all the way along the river and Coronation drive the main road. Coronation drive runs from Toowong village shopping centre to the centre of the city, there are multiple bus routes along the road. Lots of street lighting. The Regatta is a historical building built in 1874 and originally called the ‘Grand Lady’. The location has access to full sun and is shaded by the surrounding trees and buildings. 

NATURAL FEATURES: The Regatta is located on flat ground with the only change in level being the drop down to the river. The building is surrounded by jacarandas. The site has a very high risk of flood and has actually been flooded before in 1887, 1893 and the 2011 floods.  

MAN MADE FEATURES AND CIRCULATION: The building is in full use already as a pub/bar, restaurant and function area. It is easy to get too and from the site for both pedestrians and cars. There are many walk ways for pedestrians and also car parks, main roads, busses, taxis and services such as uber. There is wheel chair access in place already on one entrance and also an elevator inside. Thus the existing pedestrian and car movement needs to be preserved. The peak times in the area is peak hour on Coronation drive everyday and the Regatta is busy on weekends and Thursday and Friday afternoons. The travel time to walk across the site is 3 minutes and including walking up and down stairs between levels is longer.    

UTILITIES: All services such as electricity, gas, water, sewer and telephone are already in place and included. These services are hidden and are not in line of site for customers. Except, there are power poles lining all the streets and there are two directly in front of the building. There are drainage systems in place for the average rain fall but there is not enough to sustain flood waters and avoid damage.   

SENSORY: The Regatta is located right on the Brisbane river, making for sensational views of the water and clear view down to the city. The negative views are the main road in between the building and the river, it being a busy section can create unwanted views of cars. The front view of the building is the best, when approaching it from the corner. The location of the building is on a corner, these views would not change long term unless major changes were made to the surrounding roads. There is no major pollution or odour but due to the location, the area is noisy due to the roads and cars. 

HUMAN AND CULTURAL: Towong and the suburbs surrounding is a well develop area and has a high class reputation due to its location on the river. Making the houses and developing buildings expensive. Generally a safe area, the only major crimes are low key theft from cars or hoses. Toowong is a family area due to its many surrounding parks and larger houses but the University of Queensland is also located down the road, so many share houses containing university students are being rented out.
 
CLIMATE: The corner of the building, which is the main face is facing north easterly. 
  

The above photos where taken from a site analysis done. 

My idea was to transform the current Regatta hotel, that is currently bars, function rooms and restaurants into a luxury escape. It will consist of four rooms, over two levels. Each room is revolved around a certain era - 1800, 1900, 2000 and the future. The rooms are shaped as an L's - making up the perimeter of the building. 

In order to connect my hyperreality of the history of Brisbane to the site of choice, I wanted to choose a building with dense history. The Regatta Hotel has witnessed some of Australia’s most memorable moments in time. Home to legendary sporting achievements and one of the first feminist insurgencies, our Grand Lady of the Brisbane River has withstood flood, fire and more than a century of change. Despite her evolution over the years, some things remained the same: her love for a cold beer, a great steak and the people who shared in her history. 

Research was done into he surrounding suburb of Toowong and Achenflower and the dense history that made these suburbs to be so popular, to this day. 

Site Searching: 

When choosing a site I wanted to highlight a key feature of Brisbane - The Brisbane River. My site had to have views or an incredibly short walk to the water front. 

Auchenflower Train Station - Auchenflower 4066

Home on Bede St - Full city views and river views - Balmoral 4171

The designs are centred around light and the windows the line the room. The sketches below show the areas where natural light enters the room. A schematic of natural light will be utilised within each room and minimal artificial light will be used.  

Schematic diagram of the current site. As the building is heritage listed all exterior wall will remain the same. Below is the dimensions of one room within the Regatta building. 

Design development and schematic analysis of the space. 

Within the building there are both public and private spaces. This is shown in the diagram below where green is shown as public spaces and red is shown as private spaces - eg the room. 

The above diagrams is a frontal view of the room. It displays featured furniture and the glass windows that align the rooms. Features the kitchen, lounge, deck spaces and the history corner near the entrance. 

These three diagrams display a level of the Regatta. The elevator space is shown and the two L shaped rooms. The arrows in the second diagram represent the flow around the public space. 

The above diagrams are a more detailed observation of the room that outlines the 1900's. It shows how each room would be spaced and placed with furniture. The floating wall that separates the bedroom and the lounge room area is also shown. Features such as the bath with views, bed, plant features and the corner that displays physical artefacts from that era are also shown. 

This diagram displays the hallway in a more detailed way. It also shows that the walls that surround the stairs are glassed so you can see down to the lobby area. The above image shows where the stairs come up to this level and go up to the next.

These images show a birds eye view of one of the rooms. Displays the shape and the details in the furniture layout. The left picture also show the history corner - this particular one is a display from the 1900's. 

The composition lounge room and kitchen spaces main feature is the exterior - featuring full views of the city. The large open windows provide large amounts of light for the interior space. The composition for the whole apartment is minimal furniture and large open spaces. The bedroom is only slightly closed off but still maintains the open space by a floating wall. 

Assignment Two Poster 

Assignment Two Materials Board 

Assignment Two Model 

Based on the 1900's Rooms 

- Cream Paint 

        Name: Scented Candle 63 - Kitchen surfaces 

- Red Shades 

        Name: Paint the Town Red 164 - Artefacts and bedroom features

- Green Shades 

        Name: Brunswick Green 391 - Rugs, lounge and the plants displayed 

- Brown Shades

        Name: Rich Soil 45 - Furniture fitting, benches, tables, wardrobe and chairs 

- Black and White square tiles - Bathroom floor. Taken inspiration from a disco floor 

- Dark brown real timber floors 

The project was a success due to a pixel hotel being created that targeted a particular audience and outlined key features of Brisbane. To improve my future projects I need to allow myself to follow the design process fully and slowly. Due to lack of time I did not allow enough time to fully sketch ideas and allow myself to generate a larger range of ideas and concepts. More time would also allow me to generate a grater understanding of how to digitally sketch diagrams through Sketch Up. Throughout the project I highly enjoyed conducting a site analysis of the Regatta and gaining a greater understanding of Brisbane's history in the area I live in and a building I go to often. For my future projects I would like to improve the quality of my online sketches and how to use the programs and technology. I would also like to improve the quality of my posters and overall making my ideas more clear and easier to understand for the customer. I need to learn how to use online platforms to improve not only the aesthetics of my projects but the quality as well. Further learning into design concepts and compositions would also help improve my projects and knowledge of design. 

Floor Plan 

Below is different way I thought of designing the L shaped room.