Thursday, 12 April 2012

Week Five & Six :: Project 2


Learning Centre Exemplar Analysis

Caboolture Hub [Peddle Thorp Architects]

-       Hub is to be a community meeting place with a library, art gallery, learning and business centre, café, retail outlet and creative studios all within the precinct.
-       Activities and features of the library include family and local history area – genealogy and local heritage resources, an area dedicated to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture known as the Welcoming Place, study spaces with in corners and pockets of the library’s main resource and collection area, meeting rooms, and a computer classroom that can be hired out, a teen zone with online gaming facilities, reading collections and “chill-out” space and a children’s area with educational toys and resources as well as an interactive tree – “which brings the outside into the library”.

















- The hub was born out of the need to develop a “life long learning” facility for the Caboolture area that uses space efficiently and effectively. The hub was developed on the site of the town square with the idea that it would be prominent and accessible to the community. 


- The building has been designed -     so that it meets a number of different needs to facilitate the entire community – from young children to retirees.
    -  The spaces are designed to be flexible and somewhat ambiguous in their uses, with the building being      largely open plan and easy to move through. 




 - Building was to  “promote life-long learning and play an important role in the cultural fabric of this region”.
-       A number of free events and workshops are also offered through the library – for everyone from babies through the seniors.


- A number of energy efficient features incorporated within the building including the use of a lot of natural light, water recycling facilities, the use of materials suited to the environment and climate of the area and low energy consumption (with quality equipment selection and passive design principles). 






My Reflection:
The Caboolture Hub is one of the most relevant exemplars to our design project. The building; although designed on a much larger scale and as a complete learning centre precinct, can be drawn from extensively to gain ideas and inspiration for our learning centre. The library incorporates a number of different resources and flexible spaces in which to learn. There are a number of organised and disorganised activity spaces; particularly for young children and teenagers; I will draw on these ideas when researching activities to incorporate into my library.  One particular space mentioned very briefly is the “interactive tree” in the childrens area. From what I can deduce the tree functions as a cubby space with desks to draw, colour and read at and as a storage area for books. As my folie concept and learning experience is based around the mangroves, I feel as though incorporating something similar to this tree into my library’s children’s centre would work well.  I also like the aesthetic of the hub and the variety of spaces (both indoor and outdoor) that the building provides. As my concept is so linked to the natural environment I do feel it will be important to have both indoor and outdoor spaces; perhaps combine the two.




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