adelaide climate refuge

Project Description

The Adelaide Climate Refuge (gen1) is to be used in the City of Adelaide and North Terrace Campus of the University of Adelaide. It is a cooling station to be used in hot days of summer for public space users to retreat from the heat stress.
This studio is expected to result in a collection of case studies of temporary shading structures, feasible concept designs, proposal model making in 1:10 to be displayed to stakeholders (i.e. UofA, CoA and community representatives). And two working prototypes in 1:5 scale. The prototypes will be tested and further developed to 1:1 scale in a follow up workshop.

Learning Methodology

This project aims to give students experience of the reality of a live projects where the council and other stakeholders are keen to engage in design brief, evaluation and implementation. It allows students to be creative and practice their design and construction skills. It is also an opportunity to develop complimentary placemaking skills especially the “soft skills” of engagement, negotiation, listening and interpreting differing standpoints and reconciling sometimes conflicting aims within a single design solution.

Students will work collaboratively in small groups to plan, design and implement strategies for prototype making and community engagement. Then, their designs will reflect and respond to the community perceptions gathered during the engagement event. Each group will be expected to manage their provided budget during the project.

How does this studio match PlaceAgency Objectives?

This studio is intended to result in a collection of case studies of temporary shading structures(W1-3), feasible concept designs, proposal model making in 1:10 (W4-9) to be displayed to stakeholders (i.e. UofA, CoA and community representatives). Two best design proposals will be further developed in the studio (W10-12) and will be built in 1:5 scale. The prototypes will be tested and further developed to 1:1 scale in follow up workshop. The resulted pop-up climate refuge is expected to activate public life in Adelaide CBD during the hot summer days.