ARCHITECTURAL ENTITY BRIEF:

The following are a list of factors which the design needs to adhere to to be both functional and justifiable:

1.      The entity needs to appeal to all ages of people (children to the elderly) and different interest groups (tourists, community of Canberra, politicians). The entity is to do this by incorporating a number of different functions to be user friendly:

-        Eating

-        Play/interaction

-        Seating/relaxing

-        Exhibition/entertaining/education

2.      The entity needs to work in conjunction with the light rail network and cater for the influx of people in different areas of Canberra at different times of the year. The entity needs to be available as a ‘support service’ to act as a cultural/ tourism hub at the light rail stations, but also available for all members of the public to use, even when not using the light rail to get to attractions around Canberra. The cultural entity can be used for a number of activities like an event, show, music performance, gallery, open forum, Q and A session, press conference, information/education experience that relates to a festival, the parliament, or just for general entertainment/use in Canberra. While this ‘event’ is occurring in the entity, there is to always be a seating area, food source, and interactive/fun space incorporated into the entity to make it a travelling cultural centre that is adaptable to any context and condition.

3.      The entity needs to be flexible and able to be used at all times of the year, and throughout most of the day. When it is not in use due to no festival or event at parliament, the travelling cultural centre can be planted anywhere within Canberra as an attraction in itself, like in the parklands, in the civic, or at the airport as a ‘cultural gateway’ into the capital.  If not all spaces are needed, then the design must be flexible enough to change, add and rearrange different aspects of the design to suit the current function. The entity can be used throughout the day, and also at night depending on the function (musical entertainment). Security and safety will be a big issue, so the design needs to be able to be secured to some extent at night to avoid any damage to the entity.

4.      The entity needs to be able to be transported around Canberra efficiently (packed up and set up in 2 days via a truck) and possibly to outside of Canberra. The travelling cultural centre can be used in the future for events outside of Canberra, used at schools and universities, or used as a ‘travelling information centre’ that contains information about the government in a fun and appealing way.

5.      The entity needs to create a ‘representation’ of Australian culture, and enhance Canberra as the capital. The centre needs to act as a cultural icon for the capital of Australia through artwork, patterns, material use, construction type and form. The entity needs to act as an attraction in itself to the people of Canberra, tourists to the area, and Politian’s.