The Waverley Valley landscape is shared by The New Town and Old Town, crossed by North Bridge. It is a component of both strong connection and fragile dependency, a site of negotiation and consolidation of different urban expansion paradigms. The project explores this condition, considering how a new sheltered route and self-sufficient building may not only be engineered infrastructure, but a field of social and environmental cultivation- a hydroponic garden supported by rainwater and solar harvesting that may sustain future possible expansions or contractions of occupation.
An initial reading of this distinct urban topography recognised the vertical expansion of the Old Town and the horizontal impetus of New Town development. Old Town dwellings were organized to prioritise mid storeys as the prime level. The New Town continued to privilege grand first floor rooms, with serviced areas directly connected with the street or in attic reaches. Similarly, the New Club’s main foyer was positioned on the level of the elevated Princes Street walkway deck. This separation was found to be nuanced through a series of designed thresholds: the single street entrance door; a compressed lower foyer; the reception desk choreography: the main top lit atrium. Tactical separation terms were identified and guided the organization of the project as a series of ‘open’ and ‘closed’ shells creating a sanctuary in the midst of the contested Valley edges: control – anchors within the city; compress – points of intensity, overload; suspense – thresholds of intrigue; flow – physical or intangible processes and rhythms.
