Andrew Belcher - Landscape Architecture - INTROSPECTION

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