BIG architects: loop city film

'from finger plan to loop city' film by BIG architectspresented at the 12th international architecture biennale at the danish pavilion.

This is a good graphic presentation for the loop city which focus on connecting the suburb to the centre. It proposes to continue to connect the area around in a sustainable spine of public transport, energy exchange and electric car infrastructure.


Energy loop of the new proposal.

The Union Street Urban Orchard Publication

I have already posted about this project during the fucus week. I knew of this project from Heather Ring who desinged the Union street urban orchard. Unfortunately, the Union street urban orchard has finished. The site was 100 union street in SE1, which had been transformed into an urban orchard and community garden. All these trees and plants have found new homes and been located onto local estates and existing community garden.
They suggested to create the book about what was achived this summer.

Monty Don's " Italian Gardens " BBC Preview

This is Monty Don's personal grand garden tour around Italy. He is a British television presenter, writer and speaker on horticulture. Also he is well known for presenting the BBC series 'Gardener's World'.
This program includes the retreats of the affluent north and horticultural gems of the south.

Available full version is below link...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b010nrgf/

PAYSAGES EN EXIL

I found an experimental installation in Toulouse, France. This is a unique blend of architecture and nature. The “cloud” brings a level of abstraction to those wandering on the path to the garden, almost containing people in this experience and separating them from the rest of the world for the duration of the walk.


The project finds its genesis in the description of “wandering plants phenomenon” made by Gilles Clément who is gardener.




This project invites visitors to participate in the journey of a seedling. Upon entering, people are encouraged to randomly select a medicinal seedling from one of five continents. Continuing their journey through the greenhouse, over a mist-covered footbridge, they are welcomed by a garden where the seedling could be planted.

Lexicon of Garden and Landscape Architecture : Meto J. Vroom (Author)

It is very useful and easy to use reference guide to landscape design. It serves to clarify important tems and expressions that designers use on a daily basis.

[Restoration project]

Ballast Point Park

The Ballast Point Park is situated on the Birchgrove Peninsula in the inner reaches of Sydney harbour, Australia. The site was contaminated by former industrial lubricant production site.
The design uses world leading sustainability principles to minimise the project’s carbon footprint and ecologically rehabilitate the site. The environmental approach is further underpinned by site-wide stormwater biofiltration, recycled materials, and wind turbines for on-site energy production.



8 vertical axis wind turbines and an extract from a Les Murray poem, carved into recycled tank panels, forms a sculptural re-interpretation of the site’s former largest storage tank. The wind turbines symbolise the future, a step away from our fossil fuelled past towards more sustainable renewable energy forms.




Dominant new terrace walls sit atop the sandstone cliffs but these walls are not made of precious sandstone excavated from another site, rather from the rubble of our past. What once was called rubbish is now called beautiful. It is the new ballast. But it is more than this at play: It is the total composition of these recycled rubber filled cages, off set with concrete coping panels topped with fine grain railing, that allow these walls to sit confidently at the portal to the inner harbour.

Tree Museum in Switzerland

Have ever heard that tree museum? This is the World's first tree museum in Rapperswill-Jona, Switzerland. It would be interesting to note that the museum will include over 2,000 trees that will beautify the lands of a 14th century monastery. The 22 species of trees will grow on a territory of 2.5 acres. The list of species includes English yew and Scotch pine.

Focus week IV

Ecobuild Exhibition: 1-3 Mar, 2011 at Excel, London

Ecobuild opens for three days of eco-friendly building ideas, products and innovations. It's upgraded that compared to last year into the larger venue of Excel. I looked at the exhibition on the ground floor and attended seminar programmes. The most interesting subject was sustainable design in the city and green infrastructure.


Seminar 1- How green is my city: This session considered international examples of cities which are leading the way in striving for sustainable development.

12:30-13:00 Learing from leading European eco-towns ( Nicholas Falk, Founder Director, Urbed)

Ecotown:

- offering huge attractions and community, including schools and open spaces.

- well linked to job and service

- developing around railway station

- well connected

- sustainable drainage system

Seminar 2- Building biodiversity: This session presented what can be done to create a greener urban environment and what should be done to support biodiversity in urban areas.

14:15-14:40 Making the case for biodiversity ( Caroline Birchall, Adviser, Green Infrastructure & climate change adaptation)

Green Infrastructure:

-Network of high quality green spaces and other environmental features
-Designed and managed as a multifunctional resource
-Capable of delivering a wide range of environmental and quality of life benefits for local
communities.

Seminar 3- People-first design: sustainable urban placement: This session takes a people centric view of planning and place making.

15:45-16:10 Sustainable city making via evidence-informed design and planning (Dr Kayvan Karimi, Director, Space Syntax)

-Spatial accessibility can be linked to any other urban attribute.

-Fundamental concepts of city making: visibility and movement

-Cities are created by spatial patterns

16:10-16:35 Creating public places as if people mattered ( Henry Shaftoe, Senior Lecturer, University of West England)

-We need to start a design for people and what they want to do at public space.

As part of the exhibition, Kingston University launched sustainable materials that was renewed. They displayed products from sustainable materials at Ecobuild. The recent Kingston University project is advising Marks & Spencer pic on the use of appropriate sustainable materials.

Focus week IV

Merrist Wood College Horticulture Class: 2 Mar, 2011

During the last focus week, the horticulture class was arranged. We arrived early in the morning at Guildford and we met Ellen Sivell who worked for some years at Wisley garden. She introduced how to sow seeds as different sizes and origins and we looked at container grown plant and was given tips on how to specify plant successfully. It provided some of the most satisfying gardening experience.


Starting plants from seed indoors is a great way to get a jump-start.




In the afternoon we met Brian Rodger. Before looking at the hedges we studied about advantages of hedgerows, loss of hedgerows and how to the rescue.
After that we had a practice for cutting and laying trees. It was very hard work to cut and make hedgerows but it provides valuable habitat for flowers, birds, insects and other wildlife.

[Restoration project]

Cheonggyecheon Restoration Project: Seoul, Korea

This project is one of the influential project in Korea. I live not far from here so I have a chance to go there sometimes. I remember that the site was fully covered as a four-lane overpass and the site next to the overpass housed a dence warren of small business. It had caused heavy traffic jam and the area was polluted.


The project required the dismantling and demolition of an elevated highway, and the uncovering of the historic 5.8 km waterway that ran underneath. This was transformed into an ecologically sensitive green pedestrian corridor.


Zone 1: History
The Japanese colonial administration first began dredging Cheonggyecheon stream.
National and imperial motifs highlight this zone’s emphasis on history. The foundations and stones of earlier bridges were included as decorative elements.

Zone 2: Urban+Culture
The middle zone has recreation areas, waterfront decks, and stepping stones that bridge the two banks. Its design focused on using environmentally friendly materials.

Zone 3: Nature
The stream widens as it enters the final zone, which was designed to look overgrown and untamed.



They used a very smart and interactive design which included 22 different intersections and bridges. The developers and urban planner also looked at the cultural activities that took place at this site decades before the expressway existed and integrated them with effective lighting.
It has benefits included, increased tourism, increased pedestrian traffic resulting in boosting health, and the redevelopment of old streets within Seoul that boosted business, economy and real estate.

Field trip in Sweden: 15-18 Jan

Skogskyrkogården (UNESCO World Heritage Site)

Skogskyrkogården is located in the Enskededalen district south of central Stockholm. Skogskyrkogården means woodland cementery which reflects the development of architecture from national romantic style to mature functionalism.

It uses the natural landscape created an extraordinary environment of tranquil beauty that had a profound influence on cemetery design throughout the world.

[Restoration project]

Houtan Park, Shanghai: Landscape as a living system

My final third year project site is Greenwich peninsula in south east London. As you know that the site includes the Dome also known by the O2 arena as landmark. Nevertheless, much of the buiding and many of the site lies vacant and nearby waterfont is dominated by industrial wharves. These characters of site remind me to look at a restoration project. I found very interesting regenerative design which was promoted by 2010 shangjai world expo.


The site is a brownfield littered with industrial and construction debris. The water of Huangpu River is highly polluted and is considered unsafe for swimming and recreation and devoid of aquatic life.


Regenerative design strategies used to transform the site into a living system that offer comprehensive ecological services included: food production, flood, water treatment, and habitat creation combined in an educational and aesthetic form


Through the center of the park, a linear constructed wetland, 1.7 kilometers (one mile) long and 5- 30 meters (16.5 – 100 feet) wide was designed to create a reinvigorated waterfront as a living machine to treat contaminated water from the Huangpu River. Cascades and terraces are used to oxygenate the nutrient rich water, remove and retain nutrients and reduce suspended sediments while creating pleasant water features; Different species of wetland plants were selected and designed to absorb different pollutants from the water.

The Park demonstrates a living system where ecological infrastructure can provide multiple services for society and nature and new ecological water treatment and flood control methods. The post-industrial design demonstrates a unique productive landscape evoking the memories of past and the future of the ecological civilization, paying homage to a new aesthetics based low maintenance and high performance landscapes.

Project: Shanghai Houtan Park: Landscape as a living system
Location: Shanghai, 2010 Shanghai Expo Park, China
Size: 14 hectares
Project Type: Park, ecological restoration
Landscape Architect: Turenscape (Beijing Turen Design Institute) http://www.turenscape.com/
Date of Completion: 2010

Field trip in Sweden: 15-18 Jan

Streetscape

Field trip in Sweden: 15-18 Jan

Hammarby Sjöstad

Hammarby Sjöstad is Stockholm's biggest urban development project. Hammarby Sjöstad means ‘city surrounding Hammarby Lake’ and this 200 ha brownfield development was conceived to expand the inner city with a focus on the water, while converting an old industrial and harbour area into a modern, sustainable neighbourhood. This project very similar to my final work, including ecology and environmental sustainability.


When I visited the site already covered in snow everywhere. The view was obstructed by snow but even though it happend the site was the most attractive place.


Key Principles

• Inspiring sustainable development



• Developing an eco system



• Integrating with surroundings

Hammarby Sjöstad is a good example of the Swedish “green welfare state” approach to Eco-towns and shows how it can “promote sustainable development, new jobs, growth and welfare” into the future. As well as being ecologically innovative, it is also socially ambitious inline with the Swedish government mandate that all citizens should be provided with a decent, safe, affordable home that will be sustainable in the long term.

Stadt Lounge, St. Gallen, Switzerland

This is exactly unique public design and good inspiration. This project designed by Carlos Martines collaborated with artist Pipilotti Rist.
The red carpet flows through the space and over everything in its path including seating elements, water features, vehicles and walls. Curvacious benches and water features call out to passersby, encouraging them to sit and linger.




Even the areas designated for cars and bikes is artistic and bold and yet subtle at the same time. No confining lines, just a simple pattern in the shape of the object that should sit within.




I feel like more intimate and very indoor feel.

Focus week III

Graphic communication and techniques in landscape architecture

: 24th Jan, 2011

In focus week I had a short masterclass of three hours as group. The workflow involved bring the line-work from AutoCAD into Photoshop for rendering.

Task 1: New layout, Viewpoint and Exporting to PDF

Task 2: Importing into Photoshop

Focus week III: What is landscape?

[Thursday 27th January]



6. Trenton Oldfield, This is Not A Gateway

He worked for over a decade in non-governmental organisations specialising in urban renewal, cultural and environmental programmes. Their vision was to make it easier to access and share new ideas about cities and urban issues.

Fence project

• Landscape of enclose: social, political, economic history of fences


• How translate this happen in landscape?


• How do we relate to fence with landscape?


• How often do you include boundary in your design?

BBC: Public woodland in England could be sold under plans

Try following this link-http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12262797

BBC: Ancient woodland went to auction

Try following this link-http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8025826.stm

Focus week III: What is landscape?

It is not real but it could be real situation of companies.

[Thursday 27th January]

5. Will Sandy, Three Green Dots

Three Green Dot is a platform that using simple interventions and installations. It will provoke thoughts in order to generate reactions. His presentation was focus on the automation.

• Automation : We are currently living in a controlled environment,where our is becoming increasingly automated.



• Homogenisation



• Greening of detroit (urban garden)

The concept of the projects are intended primarily to make you smile and to take a new look at the built environment in which we live, in order to view day to day situations and places in a different way and change our perception of our surroundings.

Focus week III: What is landscape?

[Thursday 27th January]

4. Sam Johnston, Gustafson Porter

He joined Gustafson Poster and working as a part-time lecture and studio lead at the landscape at Kingston University. So far as I know the Gustafson Poster is well known for winning of the competition to select the design of Diana Memorial Fountain in Hyde park.

He talked about landscape is out there and in here.

• Out there: an understanding of the other
  


• In here: a awareness of self (character, emotion, opinion, collectives, cultrure, history, future, past, present)



• No human world: natural system, habitates, flora, fauna
  


• What I feel?: taste, smell, see



• What is it means: understanding

Hooke Park: How do people interact to forest?

human consciousness and open reality.

Milan city life= ecology+ aesthetics

Woolwich Square: The concept is " Ballroom and Garden", the aime is to provide two new spaces for community use throughout the day and year.

Diana Memorial Fountain, Hyde park