Monica Bainbridge
Landscape Architecture Portfolio
Projects urban confrontation: activating interstitial territory 4th year negotiated study
how does is work? 4th year studio
mt albert train station and civic space 3rd year studio
swanson subdivision 3rd year studio
westmere park
3rd year history b a study of how a person moves through a space
painting
Negotiated Study Urban Confrontation Activating Interstitial Territory How can the principles of Surrealism and the notion of the unexpected create a large impact on three small scale and‘forgotten’spaces within Auckland’s CBD?
Research project, year 4 Supervisor: Penny Cliffin Interstitial territory exists within cities; it is often seen as left over space or secondary to surrounding structural form. These spaces empower negative elements such as criminal activity, disregard for aesthetic neglect and dampened mental impressions. These interstitial territories harbour the potential to work together with the nature of an interlacing network of design elements.
E x i s t i n g
Fort St Carpark
“Turning to focus on inner reality”.
Art in Theory, 1900 – 2000: An Anthology of Changing Ideas (Eds) Charles Harrison & Paul Wood (2003). Pg 457
Layers
Cruise Lane, Fort Street Car Park and Fort Lane each hold their own qualities yet exist in a banal way deeming them unseen and somewhat forgotten. At present each site is overshadowed by architecture, window displays, restaurants and high-rises making space for opportunistic weeds, vandals and homeless alike, lack of visual inspiration and uplifting qualities.
Cruise Lane
Function
Historical ruins
Opportunity
Temporary
Colour and vibrancy through reflection
This project sets out to; confront visitors to these three neglected spaces; to surprise and delight them; to unlock potential and experiential space for Auckland CBD. Fort Lane
Event Poster
Opportunistic plants
pedestrian echoing of impact movement
exploration of the narrow nature of the two lanes and the slight topography change. The dip within the centre of Fort Lane and Cruise Lane both contributed to the overall disconnection from the cityscape
interlacing public space, function and cultural urban fabric linking with intervention
power of small space, uplifting
Site Analysis
P r e c e d e n t s Vache Noire, Paris
Small scale, sudden and confronting.
Impacting the pedestrian, nature in the urban realm
Caixa Forum, Madrid
Unexpected confrontation of nature.
Vertical space flourishing under extreme condition
Blue Forest, Detroit
Sensation of walking underneath a forested promenade. Branches blend with colour of sky creating bewilderment
Parque de Juventude, São Paula
Low main tenance design within an old prison grounds. Terrain Vague. Open pergolas covered in climbers. Effortless beauty.
Barclays Bank Headquarters, London Poetic juxtaposition between architectural form and natural form. Relaxing. Creates a sense of escape.
Grand Canal Square
Draws on playful childlike subcon scious. Altered perspective of scale and space.
Blue Stick Garden, Quebec
Perception and appear ance change depending on approach. Colour used as pure representation.
Lost Gardens of Heligan, Cornwall Dreamlike and surreal, man's touch being engulfed by nature.
E x p l o r a t i o n Initial exploration of applying loose and rough concepts was done through different mediums, this allowed me to quickly visualise the affect of abstracted notions.
Green and red have been used as juxtapositioning elements, material had not been considered at this point, it was the overall affect that was the priority
The carpark exploration was aimed at creating a design which would either physically or psychologically 'move' into the space and fill the void left behind from neglect
A similar approach was taken with Cruise Lane as seen in Fort Lane where a colour juxtaposition was played out. Here I also apď€ plied a colour to the ground plane and perhaps an overhead canopy
The idea of creating a space with the use of colour was looked at but this was disregarded as that would involve colouring across shop fronts and privately owned buildings, a concepts which would not come to fruition
“The whole fauna of human fantasies, their marine vegetation, drifts and luxuriates in the dimly lit zones of human activity, as though plaiting thick tresses of darkness”. Art in Theory, 1900 – 2000: An Anthology of Changing Ideas (Eds) Charles Harrison & Paul Wood (2003). Pg 456
“What landscape architects can contribute are social ideas that combine art and function in spatial realizations� (Corbin, 2003)
Abstracting the basic involuntary sense of being surrounded by natural elements
“deliberately provocative, with some using dissonance to provoke reactions� (Crewe & Forsyth, 2003)
4th Year Studio HOW DOES IT WORK? Studio project, year 4 Lecturers: Pete Griffiths, Hamish Foote
La folie des grandeurs II, Rene Magritte (1962)
The idea of this project was to employ a series of research techniques to help you understand the existing richness and the potential richness of a site or series of sites. My focus was within smaller sites hidden in Auckland's CBD through which I began to discover potentials the impact of the element of surprise and creating severe juxtapositions using relatively simple design techniques and installations. Through these notions a side study within surrealism gave me a greater understanding. This study was an initial set up site analysis to assist with the continuation of my negotiated study research project. Le Blanc-Seing, Rene Magritte (1965)
Cruise Lane held energy within the linear form running from end to end. At the point at the centre of the lane a strong sense of removal combined with insecurity was discovered. This raised potential for creating a space with heightened elements of security whilst playing on the nature of removal.
Fort Street Carpark harbours an unusual sense of uplifting where the upper level from Shortland St overlooks the actual carpark; the two flanking bare walls further contribute forming a cavity within the city.
Fort Lane collectively gathers at the central point, the flanking walls are of similar proportion and a slight dip which shallows in the middle provides a sense of lowering and removal from the surrounding busy context.
Peaks of design and installations have the possibility to form at intermittent territories, embodying an effect of greater impact
Impacting movement snakes across the landscape with a rhizomatic nature linking outwardly where there are hints, this can be done with visual cues.
A mixture of elements induce a mixture stir of senses, while the green represents nature the red forms ideas of strength and energy
Mt Albert
TRAIN STATION AND CIVIC SPACE Studio project, year 3 Lecturers: Matthew Bradbury, Penny Cliffin
Mt Albert train station, Auckland, is a well used facility in a growing community. The site drops significantly disconnecting it from the main road to a bare, tired platform lacking any significant design merit. Adjacent to the cross roads of the main arterial routes into the village this site displays potential to enliven the area by using a combination of basic landscape features and ecological integrity.
A design intervention driven by the power of water.
A 30ha catchment feeds toward the station presenting an
interrupt the storm water runoff with a opportunity to
series of wetland and rain garden features before meeting Oakley Creek further down the line.
Ribboning rivers
Development Sketches
Swanson Subdivision Studio project, year 3
A medium to high density subdivision master plan to cater for Auckland's growing population and issues surrounding urban sprawl. The overall plan is based on a series of semi attached houses and low-rise apartment buildings surrounded by features with ecological integrity. Buffer zones line the ephemeral streams creating ecological corridors for native species to move across the landscape. The design provides community interaction, passive heating, revegetation and shared space.
Westmere Park
A study of how a person moves through a space. History B project, year 3
Painting Painting with acrylic and other mediums is a passion for me. I love making observations on subjects and interpreting them into an image which can express and begin to understand the essence of its nature. I like to combine the fluidity and freedom of painting into my designs as an extension of my expression and understanding of a space and its dynamics.