Portfolio - Monc & factory

MONC & FACTORY
Museum of interactive clay on wetlands
Tutor: Laura Harper
Studio: Museum of old and new clay
Year: 2021
Location: Melbourne
Team member: Kolkateka Khun, Kheng Hong Ly, Jijing Chen, Difeiyang Lei (Reddy)
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The project aims to shed light on the significance of brick as a sustainable building block, along with the material’s affiliation to the past and future growth of the Melbourne city. Situated on the flood-prone site of the Arden Metro Tunnel and the Pre-existing West Melbourne Pottery Kilns. The site surfaces both issues and opportunities in which the project is established upon:
1. The Arden metro tunnel is set to excavated a total of 2 million metric tons of soil, giving rise to the opportunity to utilize the excess clay for the on-site production of brick - significantly cutting down on the fuel consumption of up to 3 million liters of diesel - that would be otherwise needed to fuel the displacement of soil to a distant landfill.
2. Secondly, The archeological finding of a once-existing brick kiln, establishes a starting point for the brick museum . an opportunity to showcase Melbourne's brick heritage.
3. Lastly, the rapid urbanization through the demolition of west Melbourne wetland had reduced the once existing reservoir of the Moonee creek pond - and consequently increasing the chance of flood within the site.

To reply to the given issues and opportunities we are proposing the project in 4 incremental phases:
1. Firstly, we propose the brick factory alongside the slurry treatment, to kick start the on-site brick production with raw clay derived from the metro excavation.
2. Following this, the entry to the ruins will be constructed solely from the site produced brick, to directly respond to the archeological findings and establish it as the initial starting point for the museum proposal.
3. Next, the Interactive Clay Showroom will be constructed along with re-introduction of the Wetlands: .to spread awareness of the pre-existing brick heritage of Melbourne .and to respond to the reoccurring flood within the area, reinforcing the coexistence between clay quarries and wetlands.
4. And lastly we will finish off the project with the Artisan brick factory: establishing the museum as West Melbourne’s first industrial tourism destination and to market the site-made artisan brick to the surrounding suburb. Such incremental project development is a quality we aim to capture within this brick studio. The development opts for momentum to be built within the project while also having strong relation to the narrative of construction with brick.