There is a crack, a crack in everything That's how the light gets in

The past year has allowed us to view the city in a new light. Images of the empty streetscape highlights what is there and prompts the question: What if the footpath and street infrastructure ‘worked’ harder?

This project looks at the space on the street where the buildings are not.

I have operated on the intersection of Bourke and Swanston Street, employing this area as my testing lab. This intersection is potentially the heart of the city and yet there is an absence of identity and place.

This project addresses the importance of the corner block, through reclaiming it as a public territory that is intrinsic to the footpath. This redistribution of value means that advertising and materialism are no longer leading the civic purpose. Instead, a deeper meaning and connection is the dominant driver of this architecture.

If street infrastructure could be as pluralistic as the buildings around it, I believe that there could be a more meaningful and delightful development to the city.

Although Bourke Street is a shopping mall, the footpath does not need to reflect that. This thesis aims to connect people to the urban and stop the detraction and dissociating experience of commercial advertising.