Overview
Pop art place was a short project looking at the development of the former rail corridor and the activation of Newcastles harbour font public space. As beautiful as the harbour is to watch, the key problem this project addresses is to provide locals and tourists with ‘something to do in the CBD’.
Each student in the year chose a block of land. The site chosen in this instance was to be cut by a new road and was consumed entirely by an existing building. The idea was to re use most of the existing bones of the building to create a theatrical space that blended with its new surrounding streetscape.
The concept of ‘pop art place’ came from a desire to juxtapose the existing buildings response to the street, a faceless glass facade, with a new architectural theatre and vibrancy often associated with pop art graphic design.
The reality of this meant ripping off the facade on all sides, slicing one side of the building off for the new street, cutting a large square hole in each floor plate and then literally connecting the city and streets with the harbour by cutting an inlet to flow under the majority of the building. Converting a ‘building designed in space’ to a urban element captured by its context.
To draw people in from the street, back stage elements like sets and props where hung over the footpath below and the central mechanical stage would lower from the building down to the water level so performers where visible from the street.
