City Re-read!

“City Re-read” speculates the evolution of civic space in a high-density metropolis - Melbourne with the assumption that cars will be eliminated from the street. The three main focuses of this project are projecting the collective identity of Melbourne cultures and characters onto the main street; flipping the relationship between interior and exterior of city buildings; and amplifying the quality of urban palimpsest. As a response to overpopulation and shrinking of public space.

Design methodology of this project adapts the model of Palimpsest- “multi-layer record” to drive the form. The process started by creating a palimpsest of Melbourne city, superimposing drawings of the inside of the public building and their spatial quality onto the street. The drawings are later re-palimpsest in multiple directions to enrich the formal quality. Outcomes from multiple palimpsests are then served as a large structure to inhabit civic activities.

This major project emphasises the important of civic right by proposing a series of newly invented civic related programs that are driven by the 4 tenets of civic space which are people’s right to information, expression, conversation, and assembly. By interacting with the existing buildings along the street, this project reactivates heritage towers and provides a 24-hour civic structure to serve different activities across different periods of time.