Grace Ruddick LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE MA
graceruddick@hotmail.co.uk
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FINAL PROJECT - Re-imagining Syrian Refugee Camps, Alexandreia
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LOLA Landscape Architects - De Groene Kaap and Groningen City Plan
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ALFREDO JAAR INSTALLATION - Yorkshire Sculpture Park
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SUSTAINABLE HOUSING DEVELOPMENT - Abbeydale Road, Sheffield
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URBAN REGENERATION - Crookes Cemetery, Sheffield
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OPEN HOUSE - Teddington, London
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CONTACT
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MA
final project
RE-IMAGINING SYRIAN REFUGEE CAMPS
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Alexandreia Introduction My Final Project site is on the boundary of a city called Alexandreia in Central Macedonia. The site is owned by the Hellenic army but was left derelict for 12 years until it was opened as a Syrian refugee camp in April 2016. I’ve not been to the site, but my sister volunteered there. Prior to her going, although I was aware of the refugee crisis I wasn’t sure what I could really offer; but what she expressed as her main question was what happens when these families outgrow the tents or cabins that are UN’s emergency response. Syria is in its 7th year of conflict, with the possibility of continuing for same again. It’s clearly not enough to leave it at emergency response and expect a whole generation to be brought up in of grids of containers. Around 91% of Syrians have avoided camps because they don’t have the housing for their situation’s time frame. This project is a proposition for an accommodation strategy for Syria’s longer term refugee crisis, the next step from emergency response. With an overall aim to create somewhere of an actual refuge for that time between a refugee’s fleeing and repatriation.
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E XIST IN G BAS E PL A N
0m
KEY ENTRANCE
EXISTING BUILDING UNOCCUPIED
EXISTING BUILDING OCCUPIED
CONTAINERS
CONTAINERS - UNDER OPEN STRUCTURE
500m
Theory Looking to Urban Design theory for guidance on how to go about designing a place with a sense of wholeness, across the board it’s the word organic that’s being repeated. It’s the opposite of ‘machines for living in,’ instead full of layers human ingenuity and expressions of personality. Jane Jacobs compared organic urbanism to the insides of a dissected animal saying that there is chaos without understanding, so to most the animal insides or the place look like a big mess but a vet or a resident understands all the connecting networks responding to each other. Kaplan describes development as a life process or biological process which is the sister theme to ‘organic’ repeated all over, this stress of the process as the only way to get the organic is through the process. Kind of journey over destination. In his book Small Change, Hamdi says the role of the designer is not to finalise a masterplan, the masterplan being the destination, but instead design strategic interventions to kick off the process. Christopher Alexander’s writing was extremely helpful in this project, as a role model in implementing the organic process, with two books in particular, A Pattern Language and The Production of Housing. In the latter, he points out the mistake in our current development system where we separate decision makers, with firstly
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design being the architect’s domain, building stage done solely by the contractor, then finally occupying. This structure means the architect never meets the occupier. This is the opposite model of any biological process. If we want organic we have bodies that are continuously communicating and responsive of each other throughout maturity, not separate participants at each stage. We want interdependence rather than what we see in the existing structure - independence.
Pattern Language Booklet Therefore, for this proposal the architects and builders are on site, making decisions with the families from the start. This is the approach of the project described in The Production of Houses where Alexander did a housing project in Mexico. He and his team are working with the families and designing and building altogether.
He uses his earlier book, A Pattern Language, to guide the process, as a kind of toolbox. A single Pattern Language effectively being a single tool. Using the same approach, I have written a set of tools for this project’s development process, compiling these into a Pattern Language Booklet. The content has come from a mixture of urban design theory in particular Alexander’s, psychology and well-being theories in particular psychological effects of being a refugee, relevant parts of the UN’s camp strategy and other reading of Syrian culture.
pattern languages A TOOLKIT FOR SYRIAN REFUGEE NEIGHBOURHOODS
GRACE RUDDICK
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clusters
D E S I G N A N D C O N ST RUCT IO N
As in traditional Syrian settlements, homes will be arranged in irregular but recognisable clusters around a shared common space
public edge
sizes
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(Stanford, 2018). Each cluster is to have one outward, busier edge for families who prefer a position closer to public activity with a greater degree of privacy progressing as one moves deeper into the cluster until discovering families preferring the quietest corners (Alexander, 1985, p.137). Optimum cluster size is between 8 and 12 homes, with
Family Plot (4 persons)
Cluster
70m 2
neighbouring cluster
8 -12 plots
equal numbers of public, semi-public and private plots (Alexander, 1977, p.200). A single Family Plot, is to be 70m2 (Alexander, 1985,
Communal Space
25% of total cluster
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p.175). Plots should be marked approximately in squares, avoiding extending narrow shapes, sharing one boundary with the common space.
communal space
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intimacy levels of rooms, ensuring a sequence with gradual gradient from public to private. At the most public is a transitional realm on the plot’s boundary shared with the common space such as a porch or veranda where there is ambiguity in what is shared and what is out neighbouring cluster
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and indoors. An entrance in this realm may lead into a living space welcome to guests, into the eating space, to the kitchen, workrooms and finally into the bedrooms, keeping these as the most intimate parts of the home, the family’s most private territory. Such a sequence proves welcoming to visitors (Alexander, 1977, p.610) and therefore most accommodating to social development.
neighbouring cluster
Number of plots
x
70m 2
= 3
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Homes - When designing homes, families must be made aware of
Number of plots x 70m 2
)
+
communal space
=
physical criteria
communal space
total cluster size
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Shared Space - The shared central space accounts for one quarter
Private Space - Each family must
of the cluster’s area (Alexander, 1977, p.340). Its functions are to be
allocate space for a private outdoor
determined by the immediate neighbours; these may include sports,
area. This gives balance to the
outdoor rooms or vegetable garden. It is vital that children are
cluster’s communal and allows
welcome whatever the functions and that each cluster provides at least
for solitude, reflection and private
one element to interest them, such as a climbing tree, swing or pond.
conversations. The garden must
Each cluster’s space is to be connected to adjacent spaces through
be partly enclosed and half-hidden
secondary pedestrian paths, separate to the main streets (Alexander,
from view, not fully at the front
1977, p.345). This network of back ways acts as the children’s realm
or back of the house. Ideally, the
where they can safely roam, exploring their different environments
private space has a view to the
and interacting with children from neighbouring clusters.
house entrance.
Example of a half-hidden garden with a view to the house entrance
house
garden
(Alexander, 1977, p.546)
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Each Pattern Language or ‘tool’ may include specification on sizing, direction for the process in which that spatial typology is designed and built and further detailing on the elements that should be included within each. For example in the “Clusters” pattern language, there are specifications on size of plots, number of plots in a group and sizing of the communal space they are arranged around. There is instruction in the order in which elements should be introduced in the building process, communal space being the first allocated and then families deciding on their exact positioning around it with each plot sharing one boundary with the shared. Other elements detailed in this Pattern Language include a secondary network of pedestrian paths separate to the main streets. This network of back ways acts as the children’s realm where they can safely roam, explore and interact with other children.
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Each Pattern Language is illustrated with an axonometric example. These are illustrative diagrams rather than designs. Because they are a set of instructions that direct the design process rather than a predetermined masterplan, the control of remains in the hands of the people on the site, therefore the toolbox is both sensitive and universal.
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Animation The majority of Pattern Languages are to be applied on site. These I illustrated and tested in the making of a 1:50 model. Because the stress in on the process over final design, this has been recorded throughout the building and presented in a stop motion animation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFIyKriarSk&feature=youtu.be
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Presentation The assessment was a maximum of only ten minutes, delivered to lecturers and visitors in pitch style presentation. I put forward my tutor and asked to present again and to make a recording for the university website. An exhibition for employers, friends and family a week later. My project won the ‘Most Creative’ prize, awarded by one of the visiting practices.
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Community Building
City Connection
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Clusters
Summary The main point to take away from this project is the philosophy that the outsider’s role is to catalyse the process and offer guidance, not to masterplan. There are two final reasons why I believe this approach to be the most suitable for this problem: The first is that these people are in a window of peace between fleeing destruction and having to return and rebuild to a destroyed country. In this little window they need from us the most restorative option possible. This is the wholesome, organic place. And finally, the second reason is a look to the future. We don’t know when Syria’s conflict will end so we don’t know when refugees can make their way home. Therefore our solution needs to have a flexible time frame. In nature, the most adaptable, the most responsive to change that is the most resilient. Only with organic process can we create a responsive environment and therefore the most resilient.
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LoLA LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS INTERNSHIP
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De Groene Kaap ROTTERDAM
De Groene Kaap preliminary design is for an apartment development in Rotterdam’s Katendrecht an area of the old port. The site’s southern edge is shared with the Maashaven giving views of the river on all sides. For this asset, focus was on the development’s roofscape. A circular route beginning at ground level and progressing up through a series of connected shared spaces via staircases gradually leads to the highest roof and a Panoramic Viewpoint across the harbour. Naturalistic planting, pollinator preferred species and habitats for small mammals hope to encourage and support biodiversity. I was brought in after design decisions for this project’s for visualisations. Freedom was given to experiment with graphics and eventually a new style developed for the office using my work on this project as precedent.
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City Plan GRONINGEN
Commissioned by the Municipality, together with TOPOTEK 1, LOLA’s job was to create a guidebook for the development of the city’s public realm over the next ten years. The plan provides a tool kit with instructions for various space typologies found throughout the city. As spaces are developed one by one, residents are to refer to the guidebook and its aims. This project directly followed De Groene Kaap for me and I was used again for visualisations. Implementing the new style, instructing others and creating a library of PNG material.
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MA
Alfredo Jaar Installation YORKSHIRE SCULPTURE PARK
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Alfredo Jaar Installation YORKSIRE SCULPTURE PARK
This assignment required a long term plan for a set of donated trees from an Alfredo Jaar work at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, tying in their placement with the Park’s plan for a new visitor’s centre. The tree grid has been reshaped to create a threshold from the new visitor’s centre. The U-shape and chosen location are intended to emphasise the feelings of depth and enclosure created by the installation. The shape allows for a gradual transition into the work then with sudden exposure upon exit, accentuated by the open, expansive views across the park and towards Bretton Hall. As an alteration to the installation’s shape is already a large change, other elements and effects should be kept as the artist intended: •Distribution of tree species will remain random •Density of the grid will remain at 3m between each trunk •The experience of walking level with the lowest branches currently provided by the planting boxes, will be preserved through maintenance plan
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EXISTING
NEW
VISITORS
VISITORS
CENTRE
CENTRE
Pinus strobus
Ilex aquifolium
Pinus sylvestris
Pinus nigra
Taxus baccata
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Section
BA
sustainable housing development ABBEYDALE ROAD SHEFFIELD
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Abbeydale Road
HEDEBYGADE, COPENHAGEN
The aim of this project was to create a socially sustainable housing development with design decisions responsive to survey data, precedent, theory and an accompanying urban design lecture series. Information from analysis surveys showed the neighbourhood to mostly consist of well-educated, middle-aged, employed professionals, owning their own properties. Therefore a mixture of affordable housing aimed at young professionals, families and the elderly would prove most desired. Vision is of a close-knit diverse community where neighbours know and provide mutual support for each other, for example, parents of young families acting as guardians to older residents whilst the elderly offer natural surveillance over children. With multiple public green spaces nearby another public area is not a necessity here. Dwellings will be positioned surrounding a communal garden, open to the public but through small pedestrian passage making it semi-private. This shared space will maximise the sense of belonging to residents and safety of the area. And, as proven successful in both precedent studies, small private gardens will be provided for individual homes.
plan
KINGO, HELSINGĂ˜R
Theory stressed the need for meeting opportunities between neighbours should be maximised to catalyse social networking. This is been realised in the design through shared pedestrian routes, shared facilities including bike shed, second hand shed and recycling point, gathering spaces within the communal garden and separations between shared and private indicated with material, typography or planting changes, rather than boundaries.
Plan
SEMI DETACHED BUNGALOWS Semi-detached bungalows are for older residents and designed for people watching. Building footprints and orientation maximises views across communal garden. Each home includes a small patio area with access to communal garden through back gate.
TERRACED HOMES Terraced homes on the quieter Hastings Road host young families. Set up includes a small patio garden immediately behind the house for washing, eating outside etc and larger plots behind these, proposed for allotments.
APARTMENTS Flats on Abbeydale Road are intended for young professionals. Buildings are set back from the road with a small front garden and three floors in total: A basement for storage of bins, bikes etc, ground floor with small patio opening onto the communal garden and first floor apartments with balconies.
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Axonometric
Bungalows at top of hill orientated to have views from both living rooms and outdoor patio area Allotments beyond back gardens providing transition between private and shared Shared facilities at entrance increase meeting opportunities between neighbours
Entrance slightly off main road to tuck away and make feel more private
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Larger lawn for games with south-facing slope and seating area looking over. Path network around creates circular route for bikes/ rollerskates Retention pond with surrounding grass planting
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PLANTING
STRATEGY
The cemetery masterplan is structured by dense Taxus baccata hedges. Burial rooms are enclosed with narrow corridors between. The width of corridors (approx. 1.5m) intends for transition to be experienced in single file to quieten conversation and keep a sombre atmosphere. The passages are shady with the Yew at approximately 2.5-3m high but cut into and sculpted in specific place allowing view points over the valley or windows peeking into burial spaces. Besides these hints, rooms are kept hidden by the Taxus. Each room to be explored varies in character depending on the age of graves. Stages of reuse rotate symbolising the cycle of life with maintenance reducing with each stage representing the fading memory of the deceased in that particular cycle. Recent rooms, containing more regularly visited graves, have a sense of being tended to, hedges surrounding are clipped and grass mown. Bulbs are provided to be planted by each funeral goer in the fresh soil. After 10 years, rooms move into the secondary phase. Hedges are clipped less often and grass replaced with meadow to be mown annually. Stones have been removed though grave locations still legible in spring when bulbs appear.
In the final stage rooms are left to grow wild, now inhabited by wildlife instead of visitors. When ready for reuse, the overgrown is cut back and prepared. New graves begin again at the first phase, though a different bulb chosen to be added to those turned over from the previous cycle, allowing an element to remain. (Bulbs chosen must be naturally occurring species instead of cultivars, to ensure they multiply sufficiently so as to last the 30 year cycle). A reuse strategy ensures that whenever a room is being cleared and prepared for reuse, at least one neighbouring room is about to enter the final stage, so wildlife can rotate from room to room without being displaced. Within the network of corridors and hidden between burial spaces is the detailed Reflective Sensory Garden to be discovered. A solitary porch swing looks out across a bed of late flowering perennials and through a cut out in the Taxus to the valley beyond. Plants chosen flower at the warmest time of year when the bench is likely to be used most. Rooms enclosing the detailed area demonstrate the cycle of grave reuse. As wildlife progresses from one room to the next it may also inhabit the Reflective Garden. Pollinator friendly species, bug hotels and specific maintenance create a wildlife refuge. In a time of mourning, the visitor is surrounded by life.
SECTION 1:50 at A3
S U M M E R
BA
urban regeneration CROOKES CEMETERY SHEFFIELD
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Crookes Cemetery CONCEPT
The vision aims to allow the cemetery to evolve elegantly with passing fashions and personalities without a feeling of fragmentation. Underlying is a theme of surprise and discovery. The existing grid pattern is used as a base with added angular forms to break down the expanse into smaller rooms enclosed by evergreen hedging (Taxus baccata) with narrow corridors between. The width of the corridors are approximately 1.5m, intended to be walked in single file to quieten conversation and be experienced alone. The height and density of the Yew means these transitional spaces are shaded with limited vision. Hedging is cut into and sculpted in specific places allowing view points over the valley or windows peeking into burial spaces. Besides these hints, the rooms are kept hidden by the Taxus. Each room to be discovered varies in character depending on the age of the graves. Stages of reuse rotate symbolising the cycle of life with maintenance reducing with each stage representing the fading memory of the deceased in that particular cycle. Recent rooms, containing more regularly visited graves, have a sense of being tended to, hedges surrounding are clipped and grass mown. Bulbs are provided to be planted by each funeral goer in the fresh soil.
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After 10 years, rooms move into the secondary phase. Hedges are clipped less often and grass replaced with meadow to be mown annually. Stones have been removed though grave locations still legible in spring when bulbs appear. In the final stage rooms are left to grow wild, now inhabited by wildlife instead of visitors. When ready for reuse, the overgrown is cut back and prepared. New graves begin again at the first phase, though a different bulb chosen to be added to those turned over from the previous cycle, allowing an element to remain. (Bulbs chosen must be naturally occurring species instead of cultivars, to ensure they multiply sufficiently so as to last the 30 year cycle).
GRAVE REUSE STRATEGY
Stages in the cycle progress every 10 years with graves reused every 30.The map shows the plan for the first 10 years. Rooms to begin at the first ‘Initial Burial’ stage, shown in the palest grey, are those currently in use. These areas will continue to be used and filled for the first ten years. Rooms in the second phase, ‘Meadow Burial,’ are shown in the middle shade and the rooms left without maintenance to become the Wilderness stage are shown in the darkest grey. Many of the graves in these rooms are already older than 30 years so could potentially be reused straight away. However, to guarantee rooms across the cemetery are at varying stages in the future, some rooms will need
to wait until other areas have matured. As mentioned, in the third and final ‘Wilderness’ stage the rooms become small habitats. The reuse strategy ensures that whenever a room is being cleared and prepared for reuse, at least one neighbouring room is about to enter the final stage, so wildlife can rotate from room to room without being displaced.
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The site’s lower down, northern area stands a field and popular place for dog walkers. This use remains in the redesign but the area now prosed as ground for woodland burial. A new track through the woodland connects with an existing trail down to the Rivelin Valley.
Existing paths are reused the maximise the reuse of graves but made narrow with Box planting either side and diverted views through the hedge at chosen moments. Within this area is the chosen site for the detailed design proposal, an unexpected reflective garden.
Planting from the cemetery entrance to the chapel has been altered to adjust the journey of the Hurst. An area of woodland burial becomes more progressively more dense and dark before opening up into the bright chapel court yard. Hedges and woodland enclose the courtyard to give privacy during services. A secondary gate at the entrance of the woodland planting is closed in during events, leading other visitors around the courtyard into other areas of the cemetery.
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Detailed Design
The detailed area is a Reflective Sensory Garden hidden within burial spaces and intended to be a surprise. On approach, views to the space are diverted to give nothing away. Allowing the garden this element increases the feeling of privacy when inside. Visitors come here to escape, somewhere they can mourn quietly on their own. Little seating is
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provided to emphasise this intention. When sat on the porch swing-style bench, the user looks over the planting and out to the distant views through the cut out Taxus hedging. As the bench is most likely to get its use at the warmest time of year, plants chosen for the bed coincide and are mostly late flowering perennials.
Rooms enclosing the detailed area demonstrate the cycle of grave reuse. As wildlife progresses from one room to the next it may also inhabit the Reflective Garden. As well as offering a sensory experience at the right time of year, species chosen are those favoured by pollinators, intended to act as a wildlife refuge. The user sits alone but in the company of wildlife.
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2018
open house
RICHMOND UPON THAMES
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Open House Art Studios EVENT
In Richmond Borough’s Open House Art Studios, partakers follow booklet containing information on the artists taking part and a map of the whereabouts of their studios. It was an event I had enjoyed as a teenager, finding meeting the artists and seeing their workshops extremely inspirational. 2018 was my first time opening, done in my parent’s house alongside a friend who makes pottery in his retirement. It was a challenge to prepare for as the Open House was only three weeks after my Master’s Final Project deadline. However, it was interesting to experience another kind of exhibition outside of studies, hear feedback and extremely rewarding.
SUBJECT
During the Masters year I displayed and sold paintings in cafés around Sheffield. One of these was the Botanical Gardens café, for which I painted small A5 trees. I particularly enjoyed making these and decided to continue and expand on the series for the open house. I have since continued to paint, give and sell them.
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contact TEL :
+44 7857651234
EMAIL :
graceruddick@hotmail.co.uk
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