INTRODUCTION

The following are design triggers for the studio of University of Melbourne.

“Ruined by Design”. “Don’t blame the pangolins.” “Coupled urban and natural systems.”

Looking toward the Anthropocene. The Urban Grassland attempts to create a framework that responds to such triggers, whilst introduced by other influences regarding the Dominant Social Paradigm, where mankind superiority is compared to other species and a belief that Earth has unlimited resources.

The other destructive influence is that of the Conservation Phase wherein there is certainty and stability following a flow however this compromises on resilience and versatility, which can manifest in a more dramatic collapse. The Urban Grassland. What happens if the grassland invades the city? Will the nature of Australia finally consume that which rid of it in the first place, or will it forgive mankind’s terror upon it?

We will investigate the conditions of the existing native flora, vulnerable fauna, and attempt to recreate a comfortable space for them. Water placements, future grassland site context exploration and transportation limits will be analysed alongside this. Natural land and agriculture will play significant roles in managing the composition of the scheme, encroaching in the designated urban area by subdivision and suburbs. The newly introduced landscape can then provide self-sufficiency in at a community level.

Man and Nature.

Collaborative efforts.

A new sense of togetherness.

We will give back what we once took away, with our own hands.

Digital illustration by Joo Liew, done in Procreate on iPad. Lewis Caroll’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’, a literature classic, is a prime example of communicating a design message, although text-based, about the open-endedness of design. That there will always be paradigm shifts in the way the world works, and the events of yesterday are not always interpreted similarly to the events of ‘today’. Wonderland however, has a consequential system; that there is always a result to every action-- essentially a cycle would occur. As Alice has her daydreams, she lingers between sanity and insanity, though this serves as a measure of balance, similar to dystopian and utopian focused designs in architecture. When two is placed in a single composition a system is sustained.

This ‘sustainability’ is the core that remains consistent throughout the project.