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.

oh scotland ye beautiful.

Design: Landscape Reclamation. Year three.

In this project I tried to distil and reconstruct the landscape that makes the Highlands what it is. To take all the components and separate them to them put them back together again but in a slightly different order. The plants are so much what make Scotland so special and I wanted to showcase them and bring them into focus. And at first plant them in a strict pattern to then let them grow and spread, as they want. To let Scotland take over and be what it once was. So you can see the change from year to year and have evolution happen right in front of your eyes.

For this project I also made a quilt that symbolised my thought processes and what Scotland represents for me.

Overall this was an emotionally loaded project for me, whilst struggling with the thought that I am not right for Landscape Architecture I had to produce a new piece of landscape and be just what I couldn’t identify myself as; a landscape architect.


Feedback from Lisa Mackenzie:
You present a rich array of concepts in this project, during the crit the external visitors felt that a further explanation of the way you apply concepts to structure and form for the site could have been addressed more clearly. It is important that you let analysis and investigation inform some of your design moves.

For example – How might some of your ideas been applied to the south west of the city?
What is the relationship of your ideas to the edge of the water?

You have an ability to pick up on intriguing and curious external inspiration, if you can also apply principles from an understanding and reading of the site and context you will sharpen yours skills and make better projects.

This is often about thinking about scale and the difference between MICRO and MACRO.
I appreciate that you found the project a challenge and I am glad that you pulled together your work towards the end of the semester. I particularly liked the ideas about management with sheep and the strips of gorse.

Grades:
Demonstrate a knowledge of a range of complex issues associated with derelict land: C
Demonstrate a basic understanding of ecosystem restoration using the principles of landscape engineering: C
Design at a range of scales, strategically and a over time: C

"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.

"sittin' on the dock of a bay. wastin' time."

Oh! I'm so excited about this year. First of all just being in Australia has opened up so many things in me. Hopefully I can figure out how to utilize them to their fullest!

The classes I take here are so totally different from the ones at ECA. First of all there are so much more people. (One class I take has more than 200 students in it..) And secondly, it seems that they are more theoretical. I have one design course and it's as big as the other three. Interesting.

I'm taking Landscape Design 5, Architecture And The City, Landscape Construction and Interior Design History. The last one I had to change to just because my first choice of Environments In Transition clashed with Construction... Hrm.

Today second week of classes start and I'm as excited as ever! Will upload more portfolio stuff soon, first I need to write a reflective review on the Industrial Revolution.