PORTFOLIO OF WEEKLY DESIGN EXERCISES SUSTAINABLE URBANISM: THE CONCRETE LAWN JARROD WARD | 267761
CONTENTS cognitive mapping.......................................................1 sense of place photomontage.....................................2 site data - plans, cross sections, 3D models...............3 colour analysis............................................................4 Kevin Lynch site analysis............................................5 bubble diagram...........................................................6 program relationship plan...........................................7 precedents of environmental design...........................8 Kandinsky and abstract spatial analysis.....................9 vegetation plan...........................................................10 story board for final.....................................................11
COGNITIVE MAPPING
1.
PHOTOMONTAGE
2.
SITE DATA: PLANS, CROSS-SECTION, 3D MODELS BALDWIN SPENCER
VEGETATION
UNION BUILDING CONCRETE LAWN
BUILT MSD
RAYMOND PRIESTLEY
SURFACE PLAN
3.
COLOUR ANALYSIS
MONOCHROMATIC
ANALOGOUS
TRIADIC
COMPLEMENTARY
MONOCHROMATIC
COMPLEMENTARY
ANALOGOUS
TRIADIC
4.
KEVIN LYNCH SITE ANALYSIS
5.
BUBBLE DIAGRAM OF SITE FEATURES
Occasional
Native vegetation
Car parking
Public art sculpture ‘Sun Ribbon’
Water treatment
Dining
Planter beds Open lawn
MSD gallery exhibitions
Protest Concrete lawn
Ecological
Faculty and Union Social club gatherings
Built Cafe Bike parking
Farmers’ markets
Shaded lawn
Buildings
Animal habitat
Exotic vegetation
Permanent
6.
PROGRAM RELATIONSHIP PLAN
MATERIALS
CUT AND FILL EQUALLY BALANCED. WASTE MATERIALS AND UTILISED RETAINED ON SITE
UV WATER TREATMENT
WATER
ENERGY
STORM AND GREY WATER HARVESTED STREAM
GABION WALL TERRACED SEATING
WASTE
GARDEN WATERED BY STREAM
ECOSYSTEMS
COMMUNITY
NATIVE PERENNIAL AND SHRUB GARDEN BIOPHILIC DESIGN
WABI SABI IN EMBRACING DISORDERLINESS, DEATH AND DECAY
EXHIBITION SPACE
CHALLENGING PERCEPTIONS OF BEAUTY
SUITABLE BUILDING SURFACES UTILISED FOR CAPTURING SOLAR ENERGY
CLIMATE TOLERANT PLANT SPECIES. NO POTABLE WATER DEMAND UTILISE THE GRAVITATIONAL ENERGY OF WASTE WATER
BICYCLE PARKING RACKS
7.
PRECEDENTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN
Park Moulon and the Carré des Sciences, Paris, France Park Moulon and the Carré des Sciences was selected as a precedent study for, like the redesign of the concrete lawn, it sits amongst buildings and is a central square of a University campus within a public realm. The site’s design centred on the natural arboreal, hydraulic and topographical heritage of the site. The site’s redevelopment uses curvelinear forms and undulating topography.
Yagan Square, Perth, Australia Yagan Square sits atop a site that once formed part of an extensive wetland system that was an important food-gathering and meeting space for the Whadjuk Nyoongar people. The project incorporates endemic tree and wind-flower species, and the use of local geographical materials, such as the 170m water feature of Western Australian granite referencing the site’s wetland ecology.
Australian Gardens, Cranbourne, Australia The Australian Gardens in Cranbourne features 10-acreas of bushland, with plant species arranged according to their geographical habitat. The gardens provide habitat for native birds, mammals, and reptiles, some of which are rare or endangered.
8.
KANDINSKY AND ABSTRACT SPATIAL ANALYSIS
TIN ALLEY
9.
VEGETATION
Ulmus procera | English Elm Cinnamon camphora | Camphor Laurel Koelreuteria paniculata | Golden Rain Tree Picea abies | Norway Spruce Ginkgo biloba | Maindenhair Tree Juniperus sabina | Savin Juniper Corymbia citradora | Lemon-scented Gum Corymbia maculata | Spotted Gum Araucaria heterophylla | Norfolk Island pine Agonis flexuosa | Willow Myrtle Lophostemon confertus | Queensland Box Brachichiton populneus | Kurrajong Bursaria spinosa | Sweet Bursaria Melaleuca linariifolia | Snow in Summer Aadenanthos sericeus | Wooly Bush
10.
PLAN
STORY BOARD
FINAL
CONNECTION AND ADAPTATION MASTERPLAN
DESIGN RATIONAL
SUSTAINABLE URBANISM DETAILED DESIGN
MASTERPLAN AND DETAILS
CONNECTION AND ADAPTATION The garden aesthetic that dominated 1900s public plantings in Australian towns and cities centered around the English tradition of formality, with green lawns, defined edges and a select scope of well-manicured species. Adjusted to the European climate, such plantings were water intensive and required heavy maintenance to ensure the preservation of an aesthetic that would not have otherwise survived. In a world increasingly sensitive to the manifestations of climate change, recent decades have brought the necessity for such gardens into question. Connection and Adaptation aims to reconcile the concrete lawn and its users with the multifaceted history’s of the site since and prior to European invasion. In doing so, it aims to celebrate an Australian nature. Materials aim to enhance the site’s thermal comfort through increased albedo and lower thermal mass, while also being sustainable: balanced cut and fill; use of felled elm wood in seating and ground surface; use of recycled materials from the concrete lawn in gabion seating. The design addresses elements of the University’s Sustainability Plan in relation to water and energy usage, waste and recycling, and transport. Vegetation species have been chosen based on their capacity to adapt to an increasingly warming and dryer climate without a reliance on potable water supplies.
DETAIL 1 PLAN
Detail 1 places greater emphasis on connection of the site with its prior histories, while Detail 2 relates to adapting the site to can cope and thrive in a 2050 Melbourne climate, which is predicted to be similar to that of present-day Wagga Wagga. Northern feature: Detail 1 (daylighting Townsend creek) Southern feature: Detail 2 (recreating the Plains Grassy Woodland)
DETAIL 1 - DAYLIGHTING TOWNSEND CREEK While concrete forms the stream’s bed for much of its daylighted section, sandstone and concrete aggregate textured patterns cover part of the concrete surface, as can be faintly seen beneath the water above. This aims to add a more natural feel for users who walk in the shallow stream (~20cm). Water from the stream passes through a UV-filter to ensure prior to it opening into the daylighted section. Narrow-leafed Paper Bark (Melaleuca linariifolia) are maintained outside the Baldwin Spencer Building entrance, while a She-oak (Allocasuarina torulosa) forest grows along the undulating lawn running adjacent the stream; northerly winds passing threw this planting create the distinct sounds produced from this species as nettles rustle against one another.
VEGETATION SPECIES
DETAIL 1 RENDER 1
DETAIL 1 SECTION
Phormium tenax Sweet Mist
Xerochrysum viscosum Sticky Everlasting
Liriope muscar Turf Lily
Allocasuarina torulosa Melaleuca linariifolia Forest Oak Narrow-leafed Paper Bark Design detail of seating with side details of Eucalyptus leaf and flower engravings | Dyed-cement rendering
Trees
Perennials
The shade structure is made from knitted polyethylene fabric triangles dyed in earthly tones referencing the colours of the Australian Aboriginal flag and mirroring those below it of the dye-rendered concrete blocks along the stream. In the summer months when the sun casts a more-northerly arc across the site, a dappled shade extends to the first rows of blocks through the most intense hours of heat, offering shade to users sitting along the stream’s edge.
DETAIL 1 RENDER 2 DETAIL 1 PLANTING PALETTE Concrete blocks are 40cm squared and range from 20 to 60cm in height to allow comfortable seating for users. The metal pylons that support the shade structure have a limestone-dyed polyurethane insulation to prevent their becoming overly hot to touch; in this way, they also provide a comfortable leaning space.
Detail 1 connects the site with its pre-colonial hydrological history, to a time when Townsend Creek flowed through the site, while also referencing its recent history through the concrete squares cascading down to the water’s edge. Concrete blocks dye-rendered in ocre, sienna and sand tones are interspersed amongst the concrete seating forms. Planter boxes occupy other blocks, with drought-tolerant perennials species planted within them.
DETAIL 2 - RECREATING A PLAINS GRASSY WOODLAND
DETAIL 2 PLAN
DETAIL 2 RENDER 1 This detail places greater emphasis on adapting the site to an increasingly warming and drying climate. Prior to European invasion, a Plains Grassy Woodland (EVC) Ecological Vegetation Class occupied the site. The second detail simulates this through its design and the chosen species. A Plains Grass Woodland (Ecological Vegetation Class (EVC) 55) is defined by species-rich grassy and herbaceous ground cover occupying 45% of the landscape, with sparse shrubs and trees to 15m tall. Tree cover is roughly 10%, with shrubs and herbs also featuring in fewer numbers. The topography features gentle undulating plains.
This space is fitting for a Plains Grassy Woodland in that the open elevated undercroft of the Raymond Priestly building allows for visual performance of the grasses as southern winds pass through this area. Limestone paths weave through the undulating landscape of the site. Herb, graminoid, and small and large tree species feature. The gabion seating form above capitalises on the re-use of materials from the concrete lawn. To allow a comfortable sitting experience, a lime render covers the top of the seat.
PLAINS GRASSY WOODLAND SPECIES
DETAIL 2 PLANTING PALETTE
Oxalis perennans Gonocarpus tetragynus Grassland Wood-sorrel Common Raspwort
Herbs
DETAIL 2 SECTION
Austrostipa mollis Supple Spear-grass
Austrostipa bigeniculata Kneed Spear-grass
Themeda triandra Kangaroo Grass
Graminoids
Elymus scaber Common Wheat-grass
Corymbia maculata Spotted Gum
Acacia pycnantha Eucalyptus camaldulensis River Red Gum Golden Wattle
Trees
DETAIL 2 RENDER 2
11.
While the 20th-Century saw European-style gardens dominate Australian public plantings, their high maintenance demands and reliance on potable water makes them unsuitable for an increasingly drying and warming climate moving forward. In simulating a Plains Grassy Woodland EVC, the Japanese concept of Wabi Sabi is adopted, where imperfections and decay are embraced.
Jarrod Ward, 267761