5.0
Landscape Design Considerations
Leader: Chenshuo Li By: Chenshuo Li
Landscape architecture is an outdoor area, landmark and structure designed to achieve environmental, social behaviour or aesthetic effects (Jellicoe & Geoffrey,1995). It involves the planning, design, management, and nurturing of the built, natural environments, investigation of existing social and soil conditions and processes in the landscape, and the design of other interventions that will produce desired outcomes. In the context of Senegal, there is a high degree of vulnerability to environmental shocks, especially floods and droughts. Due to climate variability, its magnitude and duration are expected to increase. These challenges have exacerbated the current pressure on small farmhouses, which have been under pressure due to land overexploitation, short rainfall periods, and soil degradation. Permaculture, as a holistic approach for the gardening design in the landscape, which was originally developed by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in Australia in the 1970s described as an integrated and advanced production system inspired by natural ecosystems (Mannen, et al, 2012). The best part is that all the work can be done with a minimum of labor without destroying the land. Permanent agriculture is primarily formed on the utilization and promotion of the surrounding and farm biodiversity. Farmers also strive to be as self-sufficient by implementing low energy consumption systems. Therefore, this kind of agriculture is suitable to be adopted for this project. The landscape design of the women’s house is to provide the ability to learn new skills and knowledge based on agriculture as both a social and economic resource. To achieve this, the design incorporates a demonstration farm at the rear of the plot, to provide a sustainable source of nutritious vegetables; the purpose of the farm is to equip women with the skills of food production, nutrition, whilst providing a source of income through marketing the crops. By planting a variety of different main local crops in the demonstration farm, the user of the Women House can be more effective to understand and learn useful agricultural knowledge through farming activities. For example, Mongo trees, as the most common fruit tree in Baghere, are selected to be planted in front of the project. Because they prefer low rainfall, low relative humidity at flowering, fruit set, and harvest, with hot temperatures during fruiting. They also tolerate dry conditions, waterlogging and moderate salinity. Surrounding sections of the building envelope are garden beds where the women can plant trees to act as a cooling and shading device once grown. Finally, a rainwater cistern system will be placed at the middle of the animal pens situated at the rear of the plot, where rainwater will be harvested from the pen roofs to provide a sustainable source of water for the demonstration farm and live animals. It also allows the water sourced from the Women’s House to solely be for the use of the community.
ABPL2077 Humanitarian Construction 2021
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