Week Eight : Refined Architectural Idea

Every geographical and cultural region has a distinct language which has evolved from the life, pulse, and substance of its community. Within the medium of this shared language, people create a common image of their lives together and experience the union of belonging to a distinct subculture. Many patterns within a precinct define its language, and in essence emerge through the people, place and infrastructure of that community.

Patterns are felt, created and maintained by people whose actions shape and define the precinct; as cultural shifts occur however physical spaces must come to converse with these emerging ideologies in order to create the conditions for community empowerment and the actualisation of both local and regional coexistence. For Paddington this means a future in which patterns do not merely overlap but relate and transact with other another through a process of enrichment.

These notions consolidate all of my research and analysis thus far and the entity which I believe most aptly addresses this emergence of Paddington in 2022 is a contemporary urban market for co-existence. This complex would be comprised of flexible workshop - come retail spaces, all pertaining to a common programmatic objective, the practise of collaboration; a process of meaningful engagement and transaction between community citizens to create and exchange.

Core long term retail services will form the backbone of emergent pop-up markets which create a culture of sharing both space and resources, leveraging connections and enriching the community. The entity will act to create new behaviours, to prompt, visualise and encourage emergent thinking and act as an advocate through communication and interaction with surrounding precincts. It will be enlivened through social and cultural animation and travel out into the language of it neighbours returning again with fresh ideas and innovation. Inspired by the humble community notice board Paddington Centre will bring this passive communication alive in real time. Below is intial consideration of the types of space necessary for such an entity and the connections between both varying services and the greater context.