The Issue of Scale

The issue of identity and the icon were touched on today in class when the lecturer brought up the plan to build a 90 storey residential tower in Parramatta. Scale of the built form, it seems, was being used to construct a sense of identity for Parramatta, and the justaposition of such a large scale tower in comparison to the lower buildings of Parramatta was seen as a positive move. 

This reminded me of my observation of Redfern, where the juxtaposition of two scales creates a sense of identity, but not necessarily a positive one. This takes the form of the RSL residential tower, the police tower (12 and 13 storeys respectively) and the social housing towers which stand out among the low rise residential buildings around them. Each building is visible from multiple angles around the suburb, and the relationship of the buildings to the observer is while they may provide a landmark to orientate oneself and contribute to the sense of identity within Redfern, it may not be a positive one.