THE DISCONNECTION OF CONNECTION CAVE

During the our second presentation all my research continually lead me back to the fact that providing an intermediate space for the public to communicate, discuss and organise protests at the Howard Smith Wharves was just not as successful a program as the impromptu gatherings in front of Parliament House.

I had unsuccessfully attempted to go ahead with the program anyway but it was difficult to create a contextual understanding of the site in relation to the surrounds that was appropriate given the distance between the parliamentary buildings and the HSW site.

The activities in my project were understood but by the time for the second presentation i had realised just how inappropriate the direction I was taking was for the potential users of the site. The likelihood of the public utilising the site strongly for discussion over changes in policy, land use and other public initiatives was not likely. The site under an intermediary protest space program would more likely to have been underused and utilised for the secondary programs, free Internet access and public flexible space.

The social and cultural relevance was lacking there was no connection to the specific communities local to the site. The HSW are surrounded by schools, clubs, shops and residential units not Parliament and Government buildings. Society in general would only have been benefited if there was a large media circus to bring attention to the site, a cost that could be avoided with the right program.

Biomimicry was hard to match, the cave image was the best i could come up with but it was something that could be applied to any design, seemed slapstick and did not have many benefits except as an analogy of the process.

My communication is something i struggle with especially when i don't believe in what i'm saying .so i did not do the few merits of my program and all my hard work justice.

During my many diagrams, analysis mapping exercises and banging my head against a brick wall I'd started to be draw into the strong correlation between protest against government as well as changes in social and cultural ideologies which was the presence of students especially university students.

A program honoring the process of learning and exposure to new idea that drives students to organise and participate in protests would be both highly suitable for the local area around the HSW but greatly help the larger community immediately and in the future.