Architecture - Honours

Hall of Democracy – MAGNA CARTA

trophy Awarded

The final assessment comprised of creating a Hall of Democracy for the city of Brisbane. Magna Carta is Latin for the “Great Charter” which is a symbol of justice, fairness, and human rights. Chrisela Denamarca (original designer of the building ) and I were able to produce presentation panels, physical model and construction drawings to support the final design.

Dhiya Ann Philip

MAGNA CARTA / HALL OF DEMOCRACY

The Hall of Democracy is to display transparency and openness. It is a building where everyone is welcome to debate, discuss, work, gather, study, protest and perform. Magna Carta aims at an analogy between architectural and political openness, with glass reflecting the transparency and accessibility of democracy. The physical transparency of glass reflects the transparency of a democratic state.

Magna Carta is an illuminating orange box within a glass box symbolising change that demands attention without being as overpowering as red. The “inner box” consists of an undulating concrete surface whereas inside, activity spaces are open, well lit, transparent, and observable, ensuring good communication between departments and promoting a sense of community. Magna Carta is designed by its translucent and cloudy architecture that fails to clearly reveal what is going on in their interiors, symbolising the current political scenario as such a challenging monument for democracy and human rights, there is no doubt Magna Carta can harbour authoritarian, transparency and openness.

Magna Carta’s spatial planning is derived from a grid of various rectilinear shapes reflecting programmatic adjacencies with room-to-room connections each in its own climate achieved by curving glass surfaces. The structure of Magna Carta was strategically designed in its interiors to conceal its supporting structure within its voids best to utilise the usable spaces for human activity without obstructions. Glass is wrapping the spaces forming continuous elevations and uninterrupted by corners. The visitor flows with the form through a series of interconnected bubbles. Each space is enclosed in switch glass encasing buffer zones between climates, conceived as an open-plan space using tempered glass to create transparency with technologies to also provide privacy when needed.

MAGNA CARTA / DESIGN VIDEO

MAGNA CARTA / RENDERS

MAGNA CARTA / pRESENTATION PANNELS

MAGNA CARTA / PHYSICAL MODEL

Dhiya Ann Philip

Dhiya is a fourth year Architecture student at QUT who is expecting to finish her Bachelor’s in design (Architecture) Honours by the end of 2021. She is a passionate student who is hardworking and humble in nature with generosity in her approach. She is willing to work hard and take on challenges while imparting her personal creative flare.