Topic: Scenario letter

Order Description

This assessment task and the accompanying tutorial exercises are designed to enable you to discuss and determine an appropriate professional course of action to situations an architect may encounter during the design, documentation and construction phases of an architectural project. They will introduce and/or expand on important concepts and practices. To situate the topics introduced an imagined architectural commission is used. The scale of the project and the complex relationships and dynamics of the key stakeholders while fictitious are entirely representative of what lays ahead in your professional career. Each scenario is not only completely possible but will have most certainly occurred and as such it is reasonable to think of this exercise as a real life event. “Real life” here implies the situations are quite convoluted and a myriad of right and wrong answers exists. Indeed, when questions like this are asked in the AACA registration exams, they function somewhat as “trick questions” to ensure you are thinking precisely and that you are measured in terms of the depth and sophistication of your understanding of the problem. In short, they are not a yes/no answer.
THE ARCHITECTURAL PROJECT
On-site
[2.4] Extension of time
[2.5] Architect’s instruction
[2.6] Are we there yet? Practical completion
St Mary Magdalen is a very prestigious private girls school set in delightful grounds in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs. With
a long tradition of high quality education and turning out excellent graduates, the school continues to grow year-on- year. While this is great news for the school’s board, the continual expansion exerts significant pressure on the school’s constrained urban campus. This reality was very apparent during the construction of the school’s most recent science and mathematics buildings which not only occupy the last -most obvious- development sites but also drew the ire of neighbouring residential population who feel the school’s ‘rampant’ expansion is placing the neighbourhood’s largely Victorian character at risk.Nevertheless, growing demand and successful fundraising over recent years now allows the board to commission the design and construction of a new indoor sports facility consisting of a multi-purpose hall (court sports), 25m swimming pool, weights and cardio rooms, physio and rehab spaces, and showering and changing rooms.
WHO ARE YOU?
You are a founding-director of Tinker & Modify Architects Pty Ltd (TMA), a small-medium sized practice in Sydney with aspirations to become a design-based practice of national and international prominence. TMA is a member of the Australian Institute of Architects (AIA) and operates through a ‘Pty Ltd’ company structure. You are Alex Tinker, the nominated architect.
THE CLIENT
The Client is the St Mary Magdalen Board (SMMB) chaired by Principal Wendy Indecision while other members of the school board include some rather prominent and influential local people. Key individuals include the very charismatic NSW State MP Frank Turnback whose daughter is the School Captain and local Councillor Charlotte Jones whose son is in year 2, while the remaining members include host of successful local business people, professionals and doting parents. It is in many ways a dream cast of stakeholders for your practice which now finds itself in the room with some real movers and shakers – surely this is the start of bigger and better things!