Week Two & Three :: Project One Development

The idea of the site as an anchor - in the sense that there is always a "constant" but other elements are also always changing, kept coming through in group discussions. There is a direct association with the river when we talk about changing elements at the site, but as a group we all agreed we need a far stronger and more in depth concept so we will explore this further.

The Learning Experience - how is the folie going to work as 'an activator of space'?
- To determine this we looked at what happens directly along the shore and in the river. The main "action" that appears to take place is that of the movement of CityCats and passenger ferries along the river. There is also the variation that occurs with the ingoing and outgoing tides as well as pedestrian movement around the site (i.e. at Captain Burke Park across at Kangaroo Point, along the Floating River walk before the floods and at Eagle Street Pier around to the bottom of the Story Bridge).
We started to determine just how fundamental the river is and has been in the development of Brisbane. While we understand the role it has played in allowing our city to develop historically - i.e. Brisbane has developed as a capital city because the river meant shipments could be received and released with key trading able to occur from the beginning, and now, with the river attracting tourism and much of our social activities (such as dining) centring  around the river, we are still yet to recognise its natural significance and the important role it plays in preserving many different ecosystems. This drew us to the mangroves (seen below) and their role in the function and preservation of our river ecosystem.