BOTANICAL BURTON
REWILDING BURTON-UPON-TRENT Olivia Hellman Y6 MALA Studio Landscape & Urbanism
BOTANICAL BURTON Cities & Towns : Monoculture Hanging baskets
Singular Specimen Tree
In 2016 The State of Nature Report identified the UK to be one of the most nature depleted countries in the World. Our towns and cities contribute towards a lack of biodiversity by presenting a highly sanitised image of greenspace dictated by our perceptions of landscape aesthetics.
Plastic protection to newly planted trees
Mown grass
Hard surfaces
Clipped hedgerows
‘A neat, orderly landscape seldom enhances the ecological function of the landscape’
BURTON : EXISTING MONOCULTURE
Ecological quality however tends to look messy. People perceive landscapes that exhibit this level of biodiversity as weedy and unkempt. What is good may not look good and what looks good may not be good.
BOTANICAL BURTON The National Forest : Current Tree Cover Burton is the largest town that sits within The National Forest, ironically however the town’s existing tree cover is lower than that of the UK average. Future climate uncertainty implores the need for exploration into radical and alternative natural approaches to landscape creation in order to reframe our attitudes.
TREE COVER
BURTON -UPON- TRENT ‘Capital of The National Forest’
UK : 13% Burton-upon-Trent : 9%
ARTIFICIAL METHODS
CCC Recommendation: 19%
BOTANICAL BURTON Burton-upon-Trent : Capital of The National Forest The thesis project identifies an opportunity to challenge Burton’s past identity and the evolution of a new one. A Burton without brewing and a town which seeks to redefine its dwindling industrial identity to evolve a new one as the ‘Capital’ of the National Forest.
Existing
Burton without Brewing
Burton-upon-Trent : Capital of The National Forest
BOTANICAL BURTON Urban Rewilding Burton-upon-Trent
Integration of the landscape back into the town
Rewilding leads to growth in endangered species
Retention of existing buildings to form new functions
Light touch structures to allow access to landscape
To combat present artificial methods, rewilding as an experimental approach is explored. Providing the opportunity for the creation of a novel and dynamic public landscape within the heart of the town. Shifting an image from one of production to one of vegetation and climate change mitigation to develop future resilience for Burton and its inhabitants.
Small interventions, large impact
Removal of engineered defences and rewilding of river corridor promotes natural flood management
Acceptance of rewilding as a new aesthetic, engagement with the wider public to facilitate this acceptance is necessary participation & cues to care
Use of specific plants to remediate the soil
Animal to disturb ground & offer a new form of production
BOTANICAL BURTON Site Programme The proposal continues the former industrial brewery’s cycle of change considering the decay, rebirth and growth of the novel landscape, seeking to reference elements of the past while adding new layers as the site evolves.
DECAY
REBIRTH
GROWTH
BOTANICAL BURTON Inhabiting Existing Frames : Messy Ecosystem Orderly Frames
1. Existing
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9. Proposed
BOTANICAL BURTON Botanical Gardens Site Axo KEY 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15.
Rewilding Research Institute Gateway Grid of Trees Market Square Natural Succession Square Controlled Frame Contamination Planting Chaos Frame Semi Controlled Frame Wetland Green Bridge Green / Blue Corridor Historic Brewery Centre Magistrates Court Station
11
8
14
1 13
6
9
5
15
7
4 2 3
12
BOTANICAL BURTON Proposed Masterplan
Tow n
hal l
Was hlan ds
KEY Primary Route Secondary Route
Hig hst re
et
Control / Formality Semi Controlled Chaotic Blue Infrastructure Washlands
0m
100m
Molson Coors Ownership Boundary
200m
ION S TREE
T
BOTANICAL BURTON Model 1: Entrance Gateway
STAT
Cobbles
Textured Paving Blossom
Cobbles
Movement under Silos
Prunus ‘Umineko’
Glimpse of Blossom
FURNITURE STRATEGY
VEGETATION STRATEGY
SURFACE STRATEGY
High Level View
Ribbed Paving
Exposed Cobbles
Street Bike Parking
KEY
BOTANICAL BURTON Model 2: Grid of Trees
Dense grove Tracing Past Railway Path
S
T TA
IO
N
R ST
EE
T
Dense Grove
Line of Beech Building trace Seating
High Level View
Form: Grid
Fagus Sylvatica (pleached)
Betula utilis var. jacquemonti (single stemmed)
Tracing the Past: Pleached Beech Bridge
FURNITURE STRATEGY
VEGETATION STRATEGY
SURFACE STRATEGY
Depressed Seating Squares
Crushed Aggregate
Exposed Railway Track
Sunken Square
Raised Platform
KEY
BOTANICAL BURTON Model 3: Market Square
Ornate Facades
Tracing Past Channels Ornate Facade Exposed Cobbles
Temporal Use
Seating Area
Seating Grove
Bustling Animated Market
Liquidambar styraciflua
Form: Grove Seating Area
Tracing the Past: Rail Water Channels
FURNITURE STRATEGY
VEGETATION STRATEGY
SURFACE STRATEGY
High Level View
Crushed Aggregate
Drainage Channel
Exposed Cobbles
Fixed Seating
Flexible Market Furniture
KEY
BOTANICAL BURTON Model 4: Natural Succession Square
Poplar Silos
Extension to create active edge
Groves
Raised Walkway
Grassland
Raised Disorder
Tracing the Past: Poplar Silos
Populus tremula (reference silos)
Natural Succession
FURNITURE STRATEGY
VEGETATION STRATEGY
SURFACE STRATEGY
High Level View
Existing Concrete
Rubble
Level Variation
Elevated Metal Walkway
Viewing Platform
KEY
BOTANICAL BURTON Rewilding Research Institute : Mysterious & Playful At the heart of the site sits the proposed new architecture, the Rewilding Research Institute. The proposal explores elements of temporality, lightweight, solid, permanent, mysterious and playful.
BOTANICAL BURTON Walk to Wilderness : Rewilding Research Institute A series of insertions within one of the site’s existing warehouse frames acts as a vital source of rewilding research and information dissemination including a seedbank for The National Forest.
1 Suspended Auditorium
2 Patchwork Research Pods & Experimental Laboratories
1
3 Monolithic Seed Vaults
2
3
4
4 Haha : Diversion off Axis
BOTANICAL BURTON Controlled Wilderness : The Dynamic Landscape Disorder
Freedom of Movement
Controlled Decay Wild-flowers Spontaneous Colour Shimmering Leaves
Temporality vs. Perpetuity
Autumn Vibrance Order Shadows Animate
Captured Blossom
The concept of controlled wilderness is maintained by a vegetation strategy which dictates the level of intervention. This includes continuous maintenance which keeps planting at the earlier stages of succession to minimal maintenance which allows the planting to establish into a woodland, the aim being to generate a landscape which is rich in biodiversity. Shifting the image of the site from one of industry to one of vegetation. The ‘messy’, disorderly and rich ecosystem is set within a deliberate and orderly framework which seeks to capture the transient nature of landscape and highlight moments of serendipity.
BOTANICAL BURTON Looking from Botanical Landscape towards Rewilding Research Institute