MArch Thesis Project: Botanical Burton, Rewilding Burton-upon-Trent

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

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9. Proposed

BOTANICAL BURTON Botanical Gardens Site Axo KEY 1.

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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

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BOTANICAL BURTON Proposed Masterplan

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Was hlan ds

KEY Primary Route Secondary Route

Hig hst re

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Control / Formality Semi Controlled Chaotic Blue Infrastructure Washlands

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100m

Molson Coors Ownership Boundary

200m

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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

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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

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3 Monolithic Seed Vaults

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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