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.

is a space a sum of all its parts?

Computer Aided Design. Year two.

In this project I took the café I worked at, recorded the sounds of the space and photographed the interior and then I built a virtual copy of it in the Meadows.



The project was so different and so interesting on many levels. I think we all thought we would be learning AutoCAD but instead this module was all about finding new ways to display a project. We got taught the basics of many programs but I focused my project on MediaScape. It gave me a new understanding of how a landscape or a piece of architecture is more than the structure or the space it takes up. It’s about the people moving through. The sounds of the passing cars, the wind, and the espresso machine making a cappuccino. It’s about the visible obstacles as much as the invisible ones. And it also made me wonder about what a space actually is if you can’t see all the parts or if the parts are moved and distorted. Is it still the same thing? I know I could have analyzed the retrieved information more and made connections to other designs and artists and if more time would have been given I think I would have made more of an effort representing the actual building in a better way than the extremely poor SketchUp drawing I made. This method though is definitely something I’ll use again in my future projects to show clients an onsite experience of the proposed design.

As an extra fun note, I think Chris Speed used my project in an article he and Dermott McMeel wrote for a landscape architecture journal!



Feedback from Chris Speed:
Fascinating piece of work that warrants further exploration in your studio practice. you sustained a strong line of enquiry and brought a lot to the module that has enabled you to deliver a fascinatig experience. The final production is strong and allows you to reflect upon the work with insight and interest. It would be interesting to continue to explore the use of mediascape and in particular exploring the resolutions of GPS and the construction of invisible landscapes.



Grades:
Demonstrate a broad understanding of CAD & its relevance to landscape architecture: A
Perform simple 2D & 3D drafting, editing & modelling operations: B
Employ simple computer presentation techniques: A*