To start our research on Monday 18th for our second project we went on a site visit to Albert park through to the gallery site.

On our walk from uni to the park, and then around the park I made a few sketches of different notable spots and made notes on the sounds, movement, sun patterns, history, atmosphere, human interaction and other observations to reference later when creating a site map. Whilst in the park I thought about the experience and purpose of a park, being a place to pause, an escape and a sanctuary, it provides space in a compact area but is also contained in a way, as the city has imposed edges to the spread of nature of the park.

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When moving towards the gallery site and entering into the lobby space I noted how the experience and atmosphere was very different than that of the park and the effect of the threshold transition from outside to inside.

I noticed the smell was stuffy and heavier inside, the light was dim and artificial but in a warm tone making the space feel more intimate, there was a slight echo around the lobby, and the temperature was cool rolling off the concrete walls.

Moving inside also effected the social protocols within our group causing people to be quieter, move in a more restrained manor and created a sense of privacy from being outside and feeling more public.

On Wednesday, in a group, we had a go at creating a site map out of our collective sketches and research, thinking about the relationship between our information and trying to make sure it was cohesive and was easily understood when presenting it to the class. Our threshold relationships we were exploring were: Open space to Enclosed space, Light to Dark and Movement to Stasis. The layout of our site map followed our journey from the park to the gallery site. I think these threshold moments are very relevant to the gallery site in relation to sleep/wake and will consider them when creating my own site map.

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Over the rest of the week I researched Albert park and the area surrounding the gallery site. I learnt more about the history and how the 2nd world war lead to the development of the tunnels under Albert park. They were built incase of an air raid to provide shelter to the city.

The topography has been affected my volcanic activity over time and the general landscape has been affected by the development of infrastructure massively. Albert park is made from volcanic ash from an eruption years ago. The development of Auckland City’s infrastructure has lead to much busier roads surrounding the gallery space and a lot less space surrounding St Pauls gallery, this will have affected natural light access to the space.

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On my final site map I focused on open/closed, loud/muted, movement/stasis, light/dark. I used sketches to communicate the sound in Albert park vs the gallery space and to communicate the atmosphere in the different spaces. I used a layered drop down layout for my images to communicate the passage of time and atmosphere in the different areas of Albert park and the gallery site.

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