IFLA50 World Congress Student Competition by RDavies

Redemptive Landscape Architecture – the 2013 IFLA International Student Design Competition By Competition Convenor: Dr Jacky Bowring, Associate Professor and Head of School of Landscape Architecture, Lincoln University, New Zealand The brief for this year’s IFLA Student Design Competition evolved from two important threads. One was the theme chosen for IFLA 2013 World Congress: Shared Wisdom in an Age of Change. This immediately suggested a potent focus for the competition, an opportunity for students to demonstrate how shared wisdom could be utilised to transform landscapes. The second theme arose out of the post-earthquake situation in Christchurch, Canterbury. Through our research, and our work in communities, the School of Landscape Architecture at Lincoln University had developed an acute awareness of the opportunities for landscape architecture in post-disaster settings. There is a body of literature developing on the role of landscape architecture in post-disaster recovery. Lincoln University MLA student Hannah Ayres undertook a study of the role played by landscape architects in recovering from the earthquakes in Canterbury, and found that “few cities are truly prepared for the initial impact, devastation, grief, and the seemingly formidable challenge of recovery.” Ayres was keen to identify the proactive role that landscape architects could take in the recovery process, rather than awaiting direction from other professions. Landscape architecture’s multi-scalar understanding of the environment, and potential for incorporating a wide range of fields, holds the potential for dealing with the kinds of situations that arise after disasters. It was anticipated that the Student Design Competition would offer further thinking on the topic of post-disaster recovery. Further background on the role of landscape architecture in post-disaster situations was gathered together in a recent special issue of the international peer-reviewed journal published by the School of Landscape Architecture at Lincoln University, Landscape Review: A Southern Hemisphere Journal of Landscape Architecture. Issue 14(2) of the journal is themed Post-disaster Landscapes, and includes James Wescoat and Shun Kanda’s work on Rapid Visual Site Analysis in the tsunami-affected landscapes of Japan; Shenglin Elijah Chan and Pochun Huang’s research on a Taiwanese village affected by periodic mud slides; Paula Villagra and Eduardo Jaramillo’s study of the effects of the volcanic eruption of the Puyehue-Cordón Caulle Volcanic Complex on the Landscape of Southern Chile; Joern Langhorst’s investigation of the recovery process in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina; Karen Wilson Baptist’s exploration of the role of the sublime in remembering, particularly at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin; and Stewart Williams poetic study of the landscape of bush fires in Australia. The huge diversity of examples is a stark reminder of the multiple and extreme ways in which disasters – both natural and cultural – can affect the landscape. And, importantly, it illustrates how these disasters are brought into a particular focus through the lens of landscape architecture. In the particular context of Christchurch, the city experienced two major earthquakes in the past two and a half years, as well as over 14,000 aftershocks, some of which have also been damaging. Since the time of the first earthquake on 4 September 2010 staff and students at Lincoln University were actively engaged with the landscape response. At one extreme landscape architecture’s potential at the site scape was explored through the design and build of temporary parks. And at the other extreme staff were involved in providing insight into issues of broad conceptual and spatial scale, including environmental planning, bi-cultural landscape needs, and memory and landscape. We became increasingly aware of the work done internationally on landscape architecture’s role in post-disaster settings, and realised that it would provide a fertile core for the competition brief. All manner of disasters were imagined as the inspiration for students to realise landscape architecture’s potency in recovery. On one hand natural disasters challenge the relationship between people and their environments around the world. Many recent natural disasters came to mind as possible topics for student design projects: earthquakes, flooding, tsunami, hurricanes and bush fires. Beyond these perhaps more tangible disasters were the tragedies taking place as a consequence of human action and inaction: urban sprawl, oil spills, diaspora, the global financial crisis, and terrorism. The challenge was: How can landscape architecture assist in the redemption of landscapes afflicted by disaster? How can landscape architects assist with rebuilding, rehabilitation, restoration? What wisdom can be shared? Entrants were asked to focus on one site that has experienced significant impacts as a result of a major natural or cultural crisis. We also asked students to consider how changes would happen over time, as post-disaster recovery involves a number of phases, rather than a single static solution. References Ayres, Hannah Mary (2011) Disaster by design: the role of Landscape Architects in the Canterbury earthquake recovery. Unpublished MLA Dissertation, Lincoln University, Christchurch, New Zealand. Landscape Review (2012) Post-Disaster Landscapes, http://journals.lincoln.ac.nz/index.php/lr/issue/current

IFLA Student Competition 2013 New Zealand Dr. Beverly A. Sandalack, Chair of the Jury The IFLA Student Landscape Architecture Design Competition has been an important part of the IFLA World Congress for some time. This year the competition was organized in conjunction with the 50th IFLA World Congress in Auckland, New Zealand. The jury process took place in advance of the congress on 13-14 December 2012 at Lincoln University School of Landscape Architecture, Lincoln, New Zealand. The competition protocols call for an international jury, reflecting the global nature of IFLA. This yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s jury was composed of three members: Mike Thomas, landscape architect with wide-ranging experience nationally and internationally, and representative of the sponsoring firm, Jasmax, Auckland, New Zealand Neil Challenger, experienced landscape architect and educator, and representative of the hosting institution; immediate past chair of the NZILA Canterbury Westland Branch, Lincoln, New Zealand Dr. Beverly Sandalack, Chair of the Jury, Chair of the IFLA Competitions Committee; landscape architect, professor and Associate Dean (Academic), University of Calgary, Canada A total of 139 submissions from 18 countries were received electronically in response to the call for submissions, somewhat down from previous years, and likely due to the brief time between this competition and IFLAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Capetown congress in September 2012. As well, this was the first time that an entry fee was assessed, which may have eliminated some of the more casual entrants. A total of 58 entries were found to be ineligible, for various reasons, including late submission, incomplete submissions, incorrect format from what was specified in the brief, or declined credit cards. (Entrants (and their professors) are urged to carefully read the competition brief and requirements, and also to be conscious that the deadlines refer to the date and time in the host country, and not that of the submitting country.) Through a process of successive rounds of elimination, the jury eventually selected the top 15 projects, and determined by consensus the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prize winners, as well as two additional projects for non-monetary jury awards, and 10 projects for commendation.

1st Place – IFLA Group Han Prize for Student Landscape Architecture

“Blue Pray: restoration of Golbahar post-war zone by new water-centred planning mode” Lin Chensong Jia Ying Liu Jijao Xiao Yao Zhang Haitian Beijing Forestry University This proposal has taken a very real and important issue and manifested a valid, well researched and very well resolved design proposal for a war-ravaged town in Afghanistan. The restoration and recovery of the subterranean aquifer system and the meshing of this with the war remains of bomb craters has produced a surprisingly elegant, appropriate and in some respects a delightful solution. Thoroughly researched, well-expressed through time, grounded in site, and expressed in a clear and accessible manner.

2nd Place – IFLA Zvi Miller Prize “Terra Nova Ayiti: a landscape between urbanization & agriculture - Port au Prince, Haiti” Florian Strauss TU Munich, Faculty of Architecture, Department of Landscape Architecture Addressing an earthquake ravaged and poor neighbourhood in Port au Prince, Haiti, this proposal is a thoroughly researched and well resolved design evocation of landscape opportunities. It is grounded in broad-based and comprehensive research and the developmental opportunity has been clearly articulated. It has been well developed through time, to produce a fulsome and potentially viable structure for the redevelopment of this quake-ravaged community. The presentation is particularly effective for the analytical diagrams, and the clear and expressive illustrations

3rd Place â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Merit Award â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Tidal Landscape of the Eemsdamâ&#x20AC;? Roeland Meek University of Applied Sciences, Van Hall Larenstein, Tuin en landschapsinrichting Wageningen UR, Netherlands A very real project exploring opportunities for ecological restoration along the edge of the North Sea. This Netherlands-based project proposes the restoration of an ecologically significant wetland and the creation of recreational opportunities and wind farms to create a deeply grounded and potentially viable design proposal in northern Europe. The presentation is very well supported by excellent diagrams and sketches, clear and well expressed diagrams, and illustrates a deep understanding of not only the ecology but also the coastal geomorphology and hydrology of this region. A thoroughly believable proposal, appropriately vested in site and the opportunities and issues thereof.

Jury Awards “Bottoms Up: towards healthier people and landscapes through establishing autonomous sanitation in Dharvi, India” David Heymann Chris Flawn Sean Lont University of Melbourne, Master of Landscape Architecture This project excitingly takes the problem of sanitation and grounds it firmly in the discipline of landscape architecture. It develops appropriate techniques to ameliorate the reality that 2.6 billion people do not have access to a toilet, by proposing systems for effluent management and reuse in a way that will be ecologically beneficial and contributes significantly to health and other outcomes. The work was well developed through analysis and well and clearly expressed in a series of diagrams and illustrations. This team is to be commended for making accessible a topic that would not ordinarily be considered by landscape architecture, and for the witty and entirely appropriate way in which they presented this project. “Sumner Village: between a rock and a wet place” Ksenia Aleksandrova Lincoln University, School of Landscape Architecture A lovely design proposal for a quake-damaged coastal suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand. This design makes full use of clear analysis to develop an exciting and innovative design proposal. The project very aptly explores approaches to mitigating and managing rising sea level, expressing memory through earthquake-based memorials, and through redevelopment of a village centre badly damaged through recent earthquakes suffered by the community.

The jury made the following general comments following the jury process: students addressed a reasonably wide range of disaster situations, including natural catastrophes as well as humaninduced situations. It was noted that many students/groups chose to address issues in a country other than where they were living and studying. Although it is certainly possible to obtain a great deal of data on places through web searches, the jury wonders if the personal and detailed knowledge of local places that is often integral to developing appropriate and place-specific design might be lost. the jury appreciated that many projects attempted to deal with social in addition to environment issues, however convincing responses to these issues were not always proposed, possibly due to the difficulty of understanding the complex cultural backgrounds in places other than oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s locale. the jury noted the large number of projects that relied on overly technical solutions, often at the expense of a spatiallyexplicit design solution that would be more expressive of the practice of landscape architecture. the jury noted that relatively few entries exhibited a clear design process. Entrants are encouraged to include a rationale for their concepts, and some diagrammatic indication of site analysis, issue definition and conceptual development . many of the projects stopped short of having well developed spatial design, rendering them more conceptual explorations than developed proposals. This was particularly noticeable for projects carried out be teams from universities hundreds and sometimes thousands of kilometers from the studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; sit - which they clearly had not visited. This lends these designs a very speculative character in which the clear lack of detailed site knowledge allowed many freedoms that would not exist in the real world, while at the same time preventing them from being translated into meaningful spatial designs. The jury believes that the competition should promote design work grounded in exploration of ideas and concepts, and this aspect needs to be encouraged in the schools.

Benjamin Kronenberg

Cairang Dazhou, Yang Liu, Jingqi Zhang, Yiyue Mao, Xing Guo

Chen hu, Li Qi, Ma Zhen, Jiang Yi Hui, Meng Chuang

David Heymann, Chris Flawn, Sean Lont

Florian Strauss

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Ksenia Aleksandrova

Lin Chensong, Jia Ying, Liu Jijiao, Xiao Yaho, Zhang Haitian

Olivia Bird, Jack Earl

Pang Yuxi, Liu Miao, Liu Xinya, Tian Yun, Ma Mengyu

Roeland Meek

Sin Zhan, Zheng Zijia, Miao Qing, Wang Chenha, Ye Xiaoyang

Veronica Carrasco, Mark Rodriguez

Wu Ran Zhang Wei, Niu Lin, Bai Jing, Hu Nan

Xijie Ma, Jianping Luo, Yiwen Ruan, Shaoxuan Zhou

Zhang Changbin, Wu Longfeng, Sun Yan, Feng Yijia, Li Xuan