Week 4 Group Discussion

• Instead of focusing on Parliament, the focus could be on the distribution of the capital city (capturing a sense of Identity)
• Sustainability/ Permaculture/ embodied energy
• Sustainable through usefulness.
• What makes a city successful? The inbetween spaces: public spaces & Parks
• European cities are centred around the 'Square' as a gathering place and celebration place

Transprogramming: Overlapping uses

• activity on the edge
• maximising time the space is used (eg. Jane Jacobs)

Is the symbolism of a capital Building still relevant today?

• The parliament house serves a purpose, however, Canberra isn't exactly a successful city, as beyond the educational value, it doesn't really draw people to the place like Melbourne or Sydney.  Also, with modern day technology, people don't really have to gather physically in one place; they could be dispersed world-wide and still beable to achieve the same results.

Is the parliament connected to the people?

• There is a disconnection between parliament and the population of Australia.  You often hear people saying that they are not interested in Politics because they feel they really can't influence anything.  
• How can architecture re-connect politics and parliament to the people to make Parliament House relevant today?
• New technology could be the answer, where people are able to go to a 'local'  Branch of Parliament House and interact or partake in discussions with politicians.  Skype!
• Like Christopher Alexander talks about in 'A Pattern Language', there could be an optimum size (population) for a successful city or town.
• Canberra's population: about 350 000 people as per http://abs.gov.au
• Melbournes population: about 4 000 000 

Distribution Methods

• Population Density
• Topography
• Demographics
• Edge analysis
• Patterned
• Resources

Depending on what you were designing would impact the dispersion method.  For example if you were designing a centre for learning on sustainable practice, the dispersion method of resources would work well.  Population density is a good method to start with,  as it will benefit the most people, esspecially in developing areas such as southeast QLD.  Edge analysis is interesting, even on the small scale of the city, where the edge is the street, which can have layers of activity; making it an exciting place (when designed for the pedestrian).