Site Survey- King George Square

King George Square

King George Square is located in the centre of the CBD very close to Queen Street Mall. It is home of the Brisbane City Hall and is a major gateway for public entering and exiting the city with a large bus station beneath it. The square has a lot of open space which is a possible site for implementation of an installation. The site is the centre of the square where people walk through.

The bus station is reason for much human traffic especially during peak hours including early mornings and late afternoons. People also pass through in groups according to the traffic lights at the Adelaide street crossing.

 

King George Square is used by the public as a meeting space and is also a tourist attraction including statues.  The area also includes some seating and a restaurant which attract people to wait, rest or eat.

There are a variety of people who pass through King George Square at different times of day. The early morning between 7:30 and 9am would be business people and city staff. They are most likely tired and in a rush to get to work on time. 

During the day the area would be filled with adults having coffee or families exploring the city. There would also be university students coming to the city after their class or in a break. These people would be more relaxed and will not have time major time constraints allowing them to dedicate their time to paying attention to detail and observation and investigating an installation if one were to be installed.  At lunch time the square would be busier with people walking to the city for lunch. This would be a good time to use as there is a high level of walkbys and they have time to spare.

Late afternoon is very busy for King George Square with a large variety of people including adults finishing work, school students coming to the city, university students, families still in the city and people going home on buses. This would be a good time to target young school aged kids as they would have time and are not rushing to get home.

The square is not very busy at night although it does attract some people with the lights that decorate the area. These people include couples going for dinner in the city or people finishing work late. These types of people would be eager to look or interact with an installation as they have nowhere to be and would be intrigued.

This site has most relevance to the thesis: “Public spaces are anti-social spaces”. The site is seen to support this statement as the space is referred to as ‘public’ and many people use this space. Although most people are alone while walking through this space or are in a rush and like to mind their own business. They don’t have time to stop and interact with the many people around them that most likely have a lot in common with them. The square does not offer anything to bring people together and is not an ideal venue for a social gathering, especially in the day time when it is very sunny and there is no shade.  The people that have been observed in these spaces walk alone although in a group of people. It can be seen in the pictures that many people have earphones in or are on their phones further preventing social interaction.