INTROSPECTION
ANDREW BELCHER Portfolio of Works 2016-2019 Queensland University of Technology School of Design
INTROSPECTION noun The examination or observation of one’s own mental and emotional processes.
ANDREW BELCHER GRADUATE LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT
PHILOSOPHY
EDUCATION + ACHEVEMENTS
To begin, I should state that when I say ‘Nature’, I refer to the non-human.
QUT
ACHIEVEMENTS
2016 - 2019
2019 Karl Langer Award Nominee
Bachelor of Design (Majoring in Landscape Architecture) With 2nd Class Honours
Masterclass attendee for the Powerhouse Project
It took a few years for me to realise what I was subconsciously favouring in my design work, until I stumbled upon 2 very powerful concepts: MUTUALISM To work together for mutual gain
Landscape Architecture Students-as-Partners representative
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2019 Creative Industries Design Festival Student Coordinator - Landscape Architecture
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINISM The doctrine that human growth, development and activities are controlled by the physical environment
WORK EXPERIENCE
v
Though these are both pre-existing concepts, together through the mind of a passionate Landscape Architect; I see them as powerful tools for positive change, and a strong back bone for my guiding philosophy
DESIGN
ABOUT ME
JW CONCEPTS 06.17 - 07.18 STUDENT LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT
As a country boy, I developed a love for nature that manifested during my time studying Landscape Architecture; fuelling a passion that has lead me this point.
DAN YOUNG LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE 07.18 - 02.19 STUDENT/CONTRACT LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT
I crave the brutal honesty of all landscapes and strive to understand their inumerous intricacies from large scale systems-based design to an inner city parkland to a highly detailed residential planting scheme.
JFP URBAN CONSULTING 02.19 - PRESENT GRADUATE LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT
CONTACT
So at it’s core, my ideology dictates that Humans are not above nature and nature isn’t separate from Humans; we are apart of the natural world and we need it for our survival and both eed to be considered when designing, no matter how irrelevant they might sometimes seem.
HORTICULTURAL KNOWLEDGE
COLLABORATION
This is where I see our ability as educated professionals (and future professionals) to communicate and organise and DESIGN the very fabric of the world we live in is and to foster change in the world on a large scale, to affect the lives of millions. VARIETY
ADMIN
SO LETS DO IT TOGETHER, arm in arm with the ecological world we so desperately want to break free of but so desperately rely on for survival. So the questions I ask myself before every design choice I make is:
NATURE PLAY QLD 04.20 - PRESENT CONSULTANT LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT
8 Cordelia St, South Brisbane
I’m a consultant Landscape Architect under the the new Nature Play Spaces program - I’m also responsible for all of the program’s resourcing and fact sheets
abellandscapedesign@gmail.com ADOBE Suite
AutoCAD
Is there a solution to this problem that already exists in the natural world? and Am I reacting to the environment as an outsider looking in or am I adapting with the environment as a participant in an active system?
SKILLS
0437531883
Andrew Belcher
Unfortunately, we’ve grown so powerful as a species that our perception of nature and it’s important role in all of our lives has been lost; I strive constantly to recapture that.
Lumion
Sketchup
Revit
GIS
I strongly believe that I’ve set myself a firm philosophical basis for future contributions to Landscape Architecture in Australia and abroad. By tackling difficult topics of sustainable agriculture, coexistence with nature and large scale water management; I now see all global issues as a intricate arrangement of systems waiting to be picked apart to find the core issues, and in turn, the best solutions that consider, in equal parts, the needs of MAN and the needs of NATURE.
THE REDLANDS EPIPHANY
RETROSPECTION
SHAW PARK
EXPERIMENTATION
CHENNAI
3rd Year EPIPHANY
THE REDLANDS
URBAN AGROECOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK
By implementing a MUTUALISTIC AGROECOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK in the Redland City Council LGA that works harmoniously with NATURAL SYSTEMS and LOCAL POLICY, we can create ongoing food security for the Redlands and South-East Queensland
INTRODUCTION I decided early on that I was going to look at unsustainable agriculture as my topic for 700, it’s an area of Landscape Architecture that interests me greatly; yet I’ve not seen a lot of in practice.
Humans adapt TO the Environment around them
After dabbling in the realm of pollinators, I rather quickly came to the conclusion that the numerous benefits of a pollinator are only a part of a larger whole; and if I wanted to fully grasp ‘sustainable agriculture’, than I would need to take a step back; and look at the BIG picture.
MUTUALISM
RURAL
The Redlands was an obvious choice for a large scale strategic intervention, as the whole LGA is blessed with (what is widely regarded) as some of the most fertile soil in the world (FIG 1). Unfortunately, a rapidly growing population and a desire for a coastal lifestyle has lead to the vast majority of these soils being trapped under residential and commercial development (FIG 2) By implementing a 50 year strategy, I proposed the reclamation of lost soils through land reclamation, extensive rezoning, new transport infrastructure and the construction of Agroecological communities and educational facilities to tackle the GROWING AGRICULTURAL DEMANDS of an increasing population within SouthEast Queensland
FIG 1
DEVELOPED
FIG 2
MUTUALISTIC
VALUING NATURE (Natalie Jeremijenko et al)
AGROECOLOGICAL
REGENERATIVE FARMING (Charles Massy)
RAPID URBANISATION REDUCED BIODIVERSITY
CURRENT PARADIGM
Humans adapt WITH the Environment around them
NEW PARADIGM
UNSUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE FRAMEWORK
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINISM (David E. Alexander)
MUTUALISTIC AGROECOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK
REACTIVE
PROACTIVE
LEGEND LGA Boundary
VEGETATION ENHANCEMENT
Proposed CONSERVATION zone
Proposed ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT Zone EMERGING AGROECOLOGICAL COMMUNITY
URBAN LAND RECLAMATION ZONE
MEDIUM DENSITY RESIDENTIAL + COMMERCIAL/MIXED USE ZONE
PHASE 1 5.
HIGH DENSITY TRANSIT ORIENTATED RESIDENTIAL ZONE PROPOSED RAILWAY STATION
12. URBAN LAND RECLAMATION
SOIL REHABILITATION
VEGETATION ENHANCEMENT
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION FACILITIES
Using Environmental Determinism as tool for regaining VALUABLE AGRICULTURAL LAND
Reversing years of damage to prepare the soil for it’s new purpose
Utilising pollinators as a natural booster to crop yield while rehabilitating damaged ecosystems.
Educating a new generation of farmers and communities to work WITH the land and not dominate it.
This is creating a MUTUALISTIC relationship between MAN and NATURE
PHASE 2
0km
5km
PHASE 3
2nd Year Retrospection
KEDRON VALLEY SACRED FOREST
INTRODUCTION Kedron valley was a project that required a massive step up in application and analysis. With such a huge site to process, I started with a landuse analysis to dictate how the fabric of the Valley was broken down. It was also around this time that it came to my attention that modern day burials and cremation were incredibly unsustainable and damaging to local ecosystems. This lead me to map and break down the location, size and overall viability of cemeteries in the Kedron valley. I determined that cemetries hosted an outdated burial method that had a vast array of negative environmental and social consequences; including: $14,000 - $18,000 per burial EXTREME amounts of toxic Formalin are used as embalming fluid. This substance is a known carcinogen which is washed into drainage systems regularly during the embalming process. Over 4 million acres of forest is required for wood to build coffins and caskets annually The alternative? A product concept that could encapsulate a human corpse and utilise it’s nutrients after death to grow a tree; as an alternative to cremation and burial. (FIG 3). So instead of TAKING from the earth, we GIVE back. Working WITH nature instead of against it...
As the population of the Kedron Valley increases, the divide between the natural and urban scapes also increases Cemetries are an outdated land use typology that, through the use of green burials, can combat an increasingly impermeable landscape through a contemporary form of revegtation that will be sustainable until 2050 and beyond
STAGE 1
Burial Tree By providing a fresh approach to a common need, this site utilised the concept of MUTUALISM by providing a sacred space for the grieving, while revegetating the Kedron Valley for years to come.
Existing vegetation
0
50 100 150 200 250
STAGE 3
Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, My grandfather said. A CHILD or a BOOK or a HOUSE or a WALL BUILT or a PAIR OF SHOES made, or a GARDEN PLANTED. Something your hand touched, somewhere you soul has to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, YOU’RE THERE.
Site preparation through ripping up the existing grass and planting a meadow of grasses for soil remediation
- Ray Bradbury
Light understorey planting around existing trees and vegetation patches
STAGE 2
Recently introduced trees continue to grow and fill the empty space, already creating useable pockets Understorey growth beginning to fill out between trees
Large, mature trees provide shelter and shade as loved ones come to pay homage and enjoy the space
4th Year EXPERIMENTATION
CHENNAI
DICHOTOMOUS LANDSCAPE
RETROSPECTION
INTRODUCTION And finally, after defining my philosophy in 700 and reflecting on 600. 800 was my chance to branch out and experiment with applying my design approach to other parts of the world and on an even larger scale. What I was trying to find out was what effect and what solution could a Landscape Architect provide to an issue that falls well beyond their physical reach, cultural and political experience and familiar landscape. So I chose Chennai, A metropolis on the eastern coast of India that suffers from a recurring fluctuation of flood and drought due to poor planning and the destruction of natural wetlands and green cover.
Water bodies and Rivers
It was a mapping exercise initially that utilised GIS, a program I hadn’t used at all, to produce extensive layers of information to begin extrapolating the areas of greatest vulnerability
‘Green space’
2015 Extreme flood event affected areas
Compiled through GIS and CMA land use pans
Low flood risk
Medium flood risk
Extracted and compiled from a disaster management report
High flood risk
Aquifer Recharge zones
Compiled through GIS and CMA land use pans
Compiled through CMA plans
519 Mcft
344 Mcft
185 Mcft
170 Mcft
1,038 Mcft
689 Mcft
371 Mcft
339 Mcft
GROUNDWATER INFILTRATION
“EVERY EPISODE OF LOCAL FLOODING in the city CAN BE TRACED TO A VANISHED WATER BODY in the neighbourhood”
FLOOD DROUGHT
WATER HARVESTED
1973 51 Wetlands 159 Waterbodies 1991
1980
1931
1941
POP 647,232
1951
POP 777,481
1981
1971
1961
POP 1,416,056
2.4%
3.5%
0.4%
1997 - 2001 Loss of 99% green cover in some districts
1991
POP 3,266,034
POP 2,469,449
POP 1,729,141
2007 17 Wetlands 93 Waterbodies
1997 - 2001 89% increase in PEAK
2.1%
POP 3,841,396
2.1%
2010
2001
2011
POP 4,343,645
POP 4,646,732
2.5%
2019 1.3%
1% 0.6%
0%
WATERBODIES
GREENCOVER
12.6 Sqkm
3.2 Sqkm
57.2 Sqkm
24 Sqkm
POPULATION INCREASE RATE 22.8%
20.1%
82.1%
22.1%
42.8%
32.3%
17.6%
13.1%
6.9%
Extensive information layering led to defined areas that were best suited for combating FLOOD and DROUGHT
BEGINNING OF THE WET SEASON
DRY SEASON
PEAK WET SEASON
I was aware that Chennai had, at one point, several hundred Temple Tanks in use throughout the greater Metro area. Now, as the need for housing rises, the short term regard for the tanks ecological and cultural value is falling drastically Such a simple design, yet so effective at both capturing water during a FLOOD and recharging aquifers for storage during times of DROUGHT
GE RADIUS
RECHAR 5KM AQUIFER
REGULAR MAINTENANCE OF INLETS PRIOR TO THE WET SEASON
CONNECTION TO THE SURROUNDING CATCHMENT TO MAXIMISE HARVEST AND MINIMISE LOCAL FLOODING
DESILTATION OF THE TANK FLOOR STRICT ANTI-DUMPING LEGISLATION SEMI-PERMEABLE ALLUVIAL SOILS
DRY SEASON (WITH RECHARGED AQUIFERS)
THANKS FOR THE CONSIDERATION
8 Cordelia St, South Brisbane 0437531883 abellandscapedesign@gmail.com Andrew Belcher