to timbuktu and back

Architecture and the City. Year three.

This was a class I took in Brisbane and it was called Architecture and the City. It was urban planning, architecture and landscape architecture all mixed into one. And oh how fun it was! A big class with over 200 students and we all got divided into groups of three or four and were all assigned a city each to analyse. We got Timbuktu, a small city in the middle of the Malian desert, a city with great historical influence that has since the French colonalisation deteriorated into a just fraction of it’s former glory.

We analysed and researched and researched and researched some more. I was in charge of making all the maps and the layout of the final poster whilst Fiona and Jessica wrote the text and we all made the scale model together. The nolli map was a fun thing to learn how to do as it really shows the open and enclosed space for the people of a city, a way of mapping I haven’t heard of before but that I will really keep working with in the future.

It was a tricky project since there are little to no information on Timbuktu in libraries and on the internet but we were told to make the most of what we had so we all lowered our expectations and I do think we managed to make a really good project in the end. I learnt how to be patient when working in a group and also when to say no. This project gave me a greater love for urban planning, a greater interest in Africa and foremost two lovely friends that I hope I will keep in contact with in the future.

Feedback from Helena Piha:
Excellent nolli map and neat presentation. Timeline could be more complete.

Grade:
6 out of 7.

shelter from the sun

Design 5: Land Art. Year three.

This was the first project that I did in Brisbane and it was so totally different from anything I have ever done before. First of all working with a place that we couldn’t visit and also the fact that the brief was that from a real competition. The project was about creating a piece of land art in the desert outside of Dubai and the land art itself was supposed to be some sort of renewable energy. The groups were told to be bold and almost vulgar since the surroundings of the growing city of Dubai is so extreme in every way we had to match that and make something to fit into the context.

Our group focused on shadows on the sand and shelter from the harsh winds and strong sun. Dubai’s wealth is created on oil so we had this idea to imitate oil cisterns but with a more modern and sharp edges as a thought and a provocation to the oil industry with its renewable energy built into the shapes. Put in the landscape they look like they have been sunken into the sand and they themselves create a skyline by themselves almost like the one of the big city.

We had a good dynamic in our group and were able to divide the tasks but also help each other out when someone was stuck. It was a stressful couple of weeks before the handing but it was a fun project to make. On request from our tutor we let him send our project in to the competition. So fun, both to send something away to a real competition and also to have that gratification from our tutors that they really believed in our project and us.

Feedback from Ian Weir:
Interesting philosophical standpoint. We get a strong sense of the built landscape and ideas behind the scheme in the presentation. You have created a somewhat apocalyptic yet intriguing landscape. The design seems to have stopped too soon. Energy story is quite secondary regarding the comments in your text: not having direct physical experience with a site does not preclude site-specificity. Many international competitions and commissions
been won by designers who have never been to the site. The key is to uncover from the available information qualities that are particular to a place/brief (its all just information)
Very good graphics - though 'sameish' - eg it is a little too reliant on the one digital model - from which you generate most of your views. You don’t make it clear enough that the red crystaline roofs are the solar PV panels. Good idea to include your design process graphics on the bottom - some explanatory text on these might help judges.

Grade:
7 out of 7.

"i'm in the grip of a hurricane, i'm gonna blow myself away"

I'm doing two projects right now that both are about Islamic cultures.

One is for my architecture and the City class, my group have been assigned Timbuktu in Mali. We're analyzing the structure and the grid of the town. History, demographics, traffic flows. Everything. And just as we speak I'm doing my first ever Nolli Map. Interesting stuff.

The second project is the one in Dubai. The design project. Every group has to come up with one site specific sculpture that includes some form of renewable energy. So much fun.

That's why I'm so happy I found this film on youtube. It's in 10 parts but it's so worth watching each one.

"the flowers you gave me are rotting and still i refuse to throw them away"

It's fun studying here in Brisbane! Right now I'm doing research on both Timbuktu and Abu Dhabi. A little bit different from Inverness to say the least. For the Abu Dhabi project the whole class is divided into research groups and then one from each group are joining a new design group for next week. Super fun. The brief for the project is from an actual competition. Definitely different.

My research group is investigating solar panels and photovoltaics, my task is to find examples of renewable energy in art. Just love Sara Hall's projects. And ZM Architects Solar Lilly for Glasgow City Council is really refreshing.

The research on Timbuktu is for the class Architecture And The City, one of the most interesting classes I have ever taken. And on the lecture the other day I won a large chocolate bar because I was the first out of 200 students to identify a picture on the slideshow as Paris! Haha.

I'll keep you posted on my progress in the different subjects.