Project Utopia 2021
Project Utopia
Project Utopia is an opportunity to suggest ideas for the harbour port region to be a liveable community once the Fremantle Port is relocated to Kwinana in 2030. We combined our learning in Humanities, English and InnovatED elements to create a Vision Board that reflects our idea. As part of the project, we visited the Fremantle Port so we could view the area we were going to redesign.
The UN Global Goals
After reading “The Giver” it enhances me to think of the importance of The UN Global Goals. It shares similarities that are connected to the future world. The UN Global Goals comprises 17 goals that the world wants to achieve by 2030. Our group focus on the following UN Global Goals: Health and Well-being (Goal 3), Decent Work and Economic Growth (Goal 8), Climate Action (Goal 13) and Life Below Underwater (Goal 14). Guided by the goals, our idea was initially to preserve and rehabilitate life below water in the harbour region. We realised that just having an underwater viewing platform would fall short of the UN Global Goals. So we pivoted our idea to include a restaurant and a conference space in reference to UN Global Goal 8. This unique restaurant will offer a fine dining experience with panoramic underwater views. On the top of the restaurant, there will be a garden/green space where people can gather together. The project will also have an open plan working space where people can meet and have conferences in a calm, peaceful and relaxing environment by creating corporate conference rooms. The rationale for our idea was to generate income for the region and attract more tourists by having a unique dining experience. My favourite part of the restaurant is while the diners enjoy the delicious dishes, they can also view the stunning and panoramic underwater view. I personally will prefer the Conference Space to be a multi-functional area which can also be hired for other purposes such as party, wedding, ceremony and mini singing concert. More hires mean more income can be generated which improve economic growth. Hence, the space there would be more community-friendly to be used by different groups of people.
ASC Capabilities
As a team member, I learnt to work collaboratively with others and respect everyone’s opinions. The main hurdle is resolving our different opinions to an agreeable solution. As we worked together, I realised each of my team members has his/her strengths which culminate in our group completion with creativity and position vibes. Upon self-reflection, I think sometimes I was overly serious and I need to remind myself to have fun when working with others. My leadership skill comes into play when we could not reach a consensus whereby I proposed an alternative solution and it was considered by the group. I also used effective communication skills to listen to other team members and contributed my suggestions. I am always self-aware of my role as part of the team and to get along ethically with other members of the group. Through this project, I learnt to be more organised as there were datelines to meet so as to not affect other members of the team. I picked up many useful skills in participating in this project which can be applied in real life skills.
The ASC capabilities serve as a long life skill to help me to apply myself to become a better person in the world, in my community and as an individual. These traits are aligned with learning to be a part of the UN Global Goals so as to make a positive difference for our future world.
Project – Geographical Concepts
We all had some general knowledge about Fremantle Port before we started this project. We knew things such as its location and functions, but that is inadequate. We needed more information so we know how suitable it is for certain purposes. We used seven geographical concepts to assist us to investigate and understand more; they are place, space, environment, interconnection, sustainability, scale and change. We learned that Fremantle Port is located on the west of Perth CBD, right at the exit of Swan River. It has a long coastline that sits along either the ocean or the river. Most of its land is plain and is isolated from others, and has a peninsula-like shape. There are several main roads nearby, such as the Stirling Highway, Canning Highway, Leach Highway and Cockburn Road, conveniently connecting it to Perth CBD, other eastern, northern and southern suburbs. It has some fundamental infrastructure such as railway, roads, street lights and sewage system, but is not quite there yet to be used for other purposes, so some transformations are needed. A unique feature that makes Fremantle Port special is it suits where the Indian Ocean and the Swan River meet. We seemed to understand Fremantle Port better as we continued in our investigation. All team members were thrilled with creativity and excitement which directed us to the project design, as well as decision making. We put in great enthusiasm and effort, and it was all worthwhile. I felt a sense of great satisfaction with my contribution towards the completion of this project.
Project – The Restaurant
The restaurant that is included has a fine dining experience with panoramic views. We were faced with some challenges about how to build the restaurant. Through research, we found that we will need to use acrylic based equipment to build our idea. Acrylic glass is 17 times stronger than the normal glass used in restaurants. Over sixty per cent of our restaurant’s walls will be covered in acrylic glass. For the areas not covered in acrylic glass, there would be a layer of dry concrete, then there would be a layer of acrylic to prevent water from leaking into our restaurant. It would also decrease the speed of algae and mould growing onto it to eliminate regular cleaning. This restaurant will not only appeal to adults but children as well as they will enjoy the views while eating with their families. Our menu will cater to a diverse range of people groups. There will be weekly special to attract customers to patronise the restaurant. Ultimately, the restaurant would be envisioned to generate social-economical growth, as well as the provision of decent work availability (UN Global Goal 8).
Project – The Conference Space
The Conference Space which has three different sized rooms aim to entice corporate functions. Nowadays, workplaces have great emphasis on employees’ health and wellbeing. We have created the Conference Space not only to generate income from corporations but also, provide the opportunity to work away from workplaces. Therefore, our design for the conference room would provide an opportunity for companies to promote health/wellbeing criteria (UN Global Goal 3). Each of the conference rooms has a panoramic view since it is also underwater. The rooms will be built under the restaurant in the hope that companies will generate more income with the restaurant service. We have incorporated a lift from the ground level to the conference rooms below, hence it is disability friendly.
Project – The Roof-Top Garden
The roof-top garden is a place where people can relax and have fresh air while appreciating the beautiful sea. The garden would be planted with native plants for environmental sustainability (UN Global Goal 13) due to its drought resistance. If we can redo this part of the idea, I will replace the campfire with a water fountain and a solar panel roof to capture the Sun’s resources. The idea of the water fountain is to beautify the roof area, as well as to reduce humidity. There are benches all around the roof-top garden.
Project – The Shipwreck
The group’s idea of the Shipwreck is a structure that attracts underwater creatures. Researchers have found that by providing a habitat, a greater variety of water creatures would be drawn to it (UN Global Goal 14). That might become a major attraction of the underwater region. The shipwreck is about 210 m in perimeter and an area of 2,712 m2 in the Swan River.
Project – Vision Board
The Vision Board is another aspect of our project. It transpired our idea on what the final design looks like and other elements such as the material or structure we will need to use. It also helped us to think of improvements and changes that might be needed over time. The process of making a Vision Board guided our understanding of the project and assisted us in summarising our ideas. Our Vision Board included images with minimal words to describe our ideas. To attract peoples’ visual interest, we had creatively and cleverly attached origami sea creatures and origami fine dining food to the display. Local shells from Fremantle Beach were also collected and used because they are connected to our underwater theme. Our vision board was painted in blue because the colour blue represents both the sea and the sky which is associated with open spaces and freedom. To apply our ASC capabilities, our group collaborated and communicated effectively during the lessons in class and by ‘Teams’ when we were at our homes. We shared and divided the tasks with each person taking an aspect of the research work. After the project completion, I realised being organised is an essential part in a group work. The importance of being proactive had definitely helped me to be responsible in this project as part of teamwork.
If I can improve on the Vision Board, I will make the drawing more realistic by providing appropriate real-life samples, such as seaweeds, the thickness of glass and native flowers. In addition, having labels would make it clearer and also to have the restaurant title bigger for emphasis. I also think that renaming the names of the restaurant and the conference space would attract more people. For the origami that I made, I think I can put extra effort by drawing some fish scales and also add some googly eyes to catch the audience’s attention.
Project – Public Speaking Skills in My Speech
After the completion of our Vision Board, we spoke to invited parents and guests about our ideas and design. One goal I set for myself, based on Ms Shaw’s recommendation, was to learn my speech with minimal use of palm cards. The skills that I have learned during this part of the task have included how to cooperate with the group and to have confidence in delivering the message to an audience. I have gained more confidence since we did it first in front of the class and then later to an audience of unknown adults. I persevered with practice every day to ensure improvement. I also have learnt about co-operation because we need to effectively communicate among our group members. We also learnt how to deliver the oral presentation to the audience using appropriate vocabulary and correct grammar with the right intonation.
Presenting orally in front of an adult target audience is a challenge for many people. For me, presenting in front of peers is something I am born with but not to an adult group. I gained confidence with the saying “Practice makes Perfect!” I would love to improve my public speaking skills with humour adhered to it. I will also have props that would help my speech be more entertaining.
Finally …
I cannot wait to be twenty-two years old as that will be 2030! I wonder what the final design of the Project Utopia would be like. Perhaps, I should consider architecture and engineering to be my career pathway to utilise my vision for Project Utopia.
References:
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Freda, A. (2021). Rooftop Garden Guide [Online image]. Home & Garden Design. https://www.gardendesign.com/rooftop/guide.html
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