March Theme of the Month - Water!

Celebrate World Water Day on 22nd March by reading the latest Water research in the free access collection by Taylor & Francis.

Discover over 35 articles on; Water Education; Water Equality; Water Innovation; Water Policies and Schemes; Water Quality; and Water Use. 

http://www.tandfonline.com/action/showCategory?categoryId=43983507#link9

 

Transiting Cities

A group of ex MA students, Sophie Lewis, David Wilkinson and Kate Johnson, orking with Ian Fisher, have produced an exciting entry for this international competition, run by the Office of Urban Transformations Research, RIMT University, Melbourne, Australia: www.transitingcities.com

The competition aims to create informed visions of new, innovative and alternative

cities of the near future by defining opportunities for transition into a low carbon,

prosperous and vibrant communities. The intention is to produce strategies for an adaptive and resilient regional centre, which can respond to the variable scales and conditions of change that effect life in the Latrobe City; enhancing the existing and future qualities of this urban environment, the rehabilitated mines, associated infrastructures and define opportunities for growth.

Their proposal is entitled, Dendrite City, an urban form that is responsive to the terrain that it occupies; its  physical ground plane is devolved but is informationally involved; it is a net producer of knowledge and resources, a negative carbon producer and a positive contributor to ecological diversity and connectivity. It is a city that defies the logic and wisdom of theoretical models that favour density and complexity of form. It reinterprets the essential qualities of urbanism as an anthropocentrically aggregated response of environmental opportunity, multiplicity and performance, networked through information and exchange, globally and locally.

Shared Space

How excited was I when on a recent visit to London I discovered a ‘Home Zone’ style street setting smack bang in the middle of the city, Exhibition Road, South Kensington to be precise. Home Zone is a concept that originates from the Netherlands and something that I became aware of on a recent trip to Amsterdam. 

The idea of the pedestrian pavement and vehicular road blending together is a bold move forward. By using textured surfaces and creating ‘obstacles’ such as parking spaces on a diagonal and altering the road layout to a snaking effect, the intention is to reduce the speed of traffic by forcing the drivers to take more care and pay attention, allowing the space to be shared by everyone.

Though here the road still follows a linear format and therefore didn’t really reduce the speed of traffic as much as I would have anticipated. Also, as a pedestrian it was easy to lose the definition of the edge as there is no level change, perhaps I was subconsciously following one of the visually enticing diagonal line. Designed by Dixon Jones, the project was completed ahead of the London 2012 Olympic Games and sets a new standard in urban street design. If you’d like to find out more then click here.

Sian Bury - Landscape Architecture Student

Online Seminar: Design with Water - Coastal Adaption Strategies

Gertjan Jobse will talk about design with water: coastal adaptation strategies in the Netherlands. The seminar starts at 18 pm (17pm in England!), on the 4th of December 2012, and you can join as a guest by using the link given.

https://webconf.vc.dfn.de/onlineseminar/

The High Line, New York: Objet Trouve and Form as Provocation

The Landscape Programme at Manchester School of Architecture are pleased to announce details of the next Experience Lecture:


The High Line, New York: Objet Trouve and Form as Provocation
Dr Raymond Lucas, Manchester School of Architecture
Thursday 29th November, 5.30. MMU Business School, G.27
  

The purpose of the Highline is to offer opportunities. To enable wandering and musing, to escape functionalism and allow people to make what they will of the city, experiencing the height from the ground, appropriating industrial space, controlled and closed off to most. The High Line is a provocation, a pure form suddenly made available to the everyday experience of the New Yorker. This is Architecture, Landscape, and Urbanism Trouvé as in the manner of Duchamp’s Objet Trouvé, but the key here is the form and its celebration.

The New York Highline has very quickly become that rare thing, a piece of landscape architecture which transcends its professional field and community context to become a media phenomenon and new icon. Ray Lucas will consider the reasons for the global impact of this Highline and explore themes of relevance to contemporary urban space-making through the particular prism of this project.

 

De Nieuwe Ooster Cemetery

When planning a Landscape Architecture study tour in Holland, you would not normally expect a visit to a cemetery to be on the agenda. Though surprisingly, this was possibly one of the highlights of the week. 

As soon as we arrived at the cemetery, instantly people's moods changed, they became quiet and contemplative, slowly strolling through the setting and reflecting on the surroundings. Karres en Brands, the Landscape Architects behind the design, have clearly succeeded in incorporating a contemporary design, whilst still maintaining a sympathetic link to the original site.

Clipped hedging provide a form of privacy for visitors and defines the zones created by the designers. Grasses and perennials are woven through the setting, hanging over the pathways, allowing people to make contact, whether it be intentional or not. I couldn't help but feel that there was a ghostly quality to the planting, perhaps this was intentional to evoke this emotion. The trees commanded height and were spiritually uplifting.

Water is known to be a calming element and people are naturally drawn to it. The reflective surface of water mirrors the surrounding landscape, while at the same time creating a mood of contemplation. There were mixed feelings in response to the lily pad sculptures, some felt that they were a distraction and rather brash, while others believed that they portrayed the avant-garde confidence of the Dutch designers.

Alongside the gravestones were contemporary steel structures that housed individual shrines. Personally I felt quite uncomfortable in this space and it felt as though I was invading someone's sacred place.

In my opinion the De Nieuwe Ooster Cemetery really works. It has a formal quality combined with a calm character. It is a serene and soothing setting that offers solace to those that walk amongst its grounds. 

New London Landscape

Shortlisted entries for an LI competition, entitled, 'A Highline for London' are now being exhibited at City Hall, London until 30th November, if anyone is in the capital before then. A website has also now gone live with shortlisted and winning entries currently uploaded. Among these is an entry by MMU MA student, Scott Badham with Ian Fisher, '[Re]structure'. It will soon contain all 170 entries and further contextual information about the theme and context. Some intriguing ideas and great visuals. Pushing the boundaries of landscape architecture. Highly recommended!

http://www.newlondonlandscape.org/