IZOLYATSIA Regeneration Project

Project: Izolyatsia Landscape Park Masterplan
Landscape Architect: FoRM Associates
Location: Donetsk, Ukraine
Area: Unspecified
Dates: 2010 - 2011 completion

The Izolyatsia project site was formerly an industrial site in Donetsk, transformed into a Landscape Masterplan by FoRM Associates & AID architects. The area was an important industrial centre for steel & coal throughout Ukraine. The project has been split into phases; the first phase is for a new circular park that incorporates a 45m high slag heap, & an experimental Arts centre.

The main aim of this project is to create a "hub of cultural excellence" (FoRM Associates), as well as creating a social, ecological & economic transformation of the post industrial landscape. "The Izolyatsia project aims to foster a dynamic environment emphasising the creative process, investigation & cultural production" (World Landscape Architecture).

The phased regeneration of the industrial complex will reclaim a lot of the 'grey' & abandoned site & transform it to make it 'green'; having the implications of literal environmental improvement & metaphorically as a place for new growth & positive change.

The slag heap, in phase one of the project, will be adopted for two purposes; a platform for large scale art installations & the centre of a new green public realm. The slag heap - the Terrikon - is completely man-made & has become a defining feature of the city, the transformation into a green space will continue its prominance, creating more of a sense of definition, boundary & community connections.

The project will deliver a bio diverse landscape in the centre of the city, contrasting to the current landscape of Donetsk, which was based on Soviet style "mass greening". The new public realm will incorporate open spaces with natural enclosed spaces, creating the ability for nature & art to coexist & interact. The transformation will form the basis for future developments of other aspects of the industrial site.

Images courtesy of World Landscape Architecture

Landscape Restoration

Project: Landscape Restoration of Landfill - La Vall d'en Joan
Landscape Architect: Batlle i Roig (Architects)
Location: El Garraf Natural Park, Barcelona, Spain
Area: 150 ha
Completion: 2008
Cost: 26,000,000 Euros

A 150 hectare land fill site, south-west of Barcelona, has been transformed into a green terraced agricultural landscape by Spanish architects Batlle i Roig. The project named La Vall D'en Joan (Valley of Joan) was started in 2000 & completed in 2008, in which year it won the Energy, Waste & Recycling category at the World Architecture Festival, which was held in Barcelona.

Joan Roig of Batlle i Roig Architects has said: "The idea was to create a system of hills and banks in a way that would avoid erosion from water and to give the rubbish dump back to nature with a natural design." (CNN)

The landfill site had been used by the whole of Barcelona's metropolitan area for the last 30 years, with over 20 million tonnes of waste spread across the site. In some areas they had to dig down over 100 metres before they reached soil. The whole site has now been made very sustainable; there is an underground drainage system used to remove contaminated waste fluids from the rubbish & filter it so that the water can be used to irrigate the park. Bio gas emitted from the rubbish is also used on site to create energy.

Part of the design was to keep some of the rubbish above ground, contained in steel cages, marking the entrance to the park. These act as a constant reminder to visitors of the history of the site. The project was described by the World Architecture Festival judges as being: "a perfect example of bringing dead nature back to life by converting rubbish into a beautiful piece of landscape architecture...using few and humble means". (CNN)

Images courtesy of Landezine.com

HASSELL - Practice Profile

HASSELL is a multidisciplinary design practice with studios in Asia & Australia, working with disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture, interior design, planning & urban design, all integrated with the idea of sustainability. Design work is informed by all areas of the practices' disciplines, creating well rounded & effect designs.

HASSELL have won many awards across the design field, "Recognition of our sustained and diverse output is illustrated by the more than 450 design awards HASSELL has received from peer groups and industry bodies." (HASSELL - Practice Profile)

The practice aim to create exciting, diverse places & spaces whilst also considering environmental & sustainable issues. Informing their designs with knowledge of environmental conditions, shapes, forms & function.

Landscape Architecture is not their most developed discipline, projects mainly consist of small spaces, outside buildings (offices, universities), there is no large scale public spaces or parks in their design portfolio.

The Harrington Grove Country Club: this project focus was on the building & interior, the landscape surrounding completed the design. The landscaped grass terraces "wrap around" the building, each terrace creating opportunity for multi-use spaces, including an amphitheatre.

Darwin Waterfront (work in progress): this project is a masterplan redesign of an old industrial port into a public, mixed-use urban community. A new extensive park area has been proposed, which is to include an all year round public swimming beach, public promenades, picnic areas, art & cultural facilities.

Cairnlea: 460 hectare new residential suburb in the north-west of Melbourne. The site was previously an explosives plant, & so was heavily contaminated. The redevelopment of the area used existing natural features, including large areas of remnant grassland, two creeks & an array of native trees; all situated on an active floodplain. The project was also aimed at creating a community hub, with schools, community facilities & a commercial zone.

HASSELL addressed the importance of sustainability & environmental land management; due to the nature of the site, being a floodplain & having two major waterways traversing it, they created an extensive storm water re-use system (potentially saving upto 160,000 kilolitres of water per year). Some of the water is treated & used in irrigation, other water is used to create habitats & wetland areas.

Deck walkways cross the wetland zones, creating paths & circulation within the site.

A pavilion besides the wetland creates a public space element to the project, inviting people to enjoy the wildlife & habitats that surround them.

All images courtesy of HASSELL

Tudela (Club Med) Restoration - Spain

Project: Tudela (Club Med) Restoration
Landscape Architect: EMF Landscape Architects
Location: Cap de Creus, Catalunya, Spain
Area: 200 ha
Completion: 2010
Project Type: Restoration, nature







Image courtesy of Landezine

Post-Industrial Landscapes - China

The site of Millenium Mills, London Docklands, which I chose as the site for my final third year studio project, has pushed me to look into more post-industrial designs. These types of site are very interesting as there is far more involved than just design, like with many projects, as the sites are often contaminated, covered in rubble, in difficult areas, & many other factors. The whole process is far more indepth & time consuming, involving many teams of expertise. I will be continuing to post about post-industrial landscape when I come across any that catch my eye. Here is the first one:

Project: Tianjin Bridged Gardens
Landscape Architect: Turenscape (Beijing Turen Design Institute)
Location: Tianjin City, China
Area: 22ha
Completion: 2008
Project Type: Urban regeneration/renewal

Regenerative design transformed this former derelict shooting range, used as a rubbish dump, into a low maintenance urban park. Rapid urbanisation in the area turned the former shooting range into a rubbish dump & storm water drainage basin for the city, making it a heavily polluted, deserted, littered site. The overall aim for the designers was to create a park that provided a large diversity of nature for the city & its residents; including the ability for the site to purify urban storm water, improve the saline-alkali soil, provide educational opportunities (environmental issues, native landscapes, natural systems, landscape sustainability & storm water management).

The regional landscape is typically flat & used to be rich in wetlands & marshes before it was all destroyed by large scale urban development. The design for the park was inspired by the adaptive vegetation communities that used to cover this landscape & the region. The park was designed in such a way that it is very low maintenance & it just allows nature to work. The top image shows the site at the top centre, surrounded by high density urban sprawl. The second image shows more clearly the state of the site before its regeneration.

The transformed park is unrecognisable from its former derelict, rubble strewn state. Twenty-one "pond cavities" were dug in the landscape, varying in size from ten to forty meters in diameter, & from one to five meters in depth. Depending on the weather, & the height above ground level, the cavities all take on different appearances, some becoming seasonal pools, some water ponds, some wetlands, & some remain as dry cavities. There are wooden platforms stretching out across some of the cavities, enabling visitors to see right inside them.

Storm water is collected in the water cavities, allowing vegetation to grow & creating diverse water communities. Mixed seeds of native plant species were sowed initially to get the vegetation started, but after this plant species were allowed to grow & develop wherever they naturally occured. Different seasons provide different appearances as plant species establish at different times depending on the states of the cavities, whether they are wet or dry during the seasonal changes.

Red steel walkways run through the park, allowing higher views across the landscape

All images courtesy of Turenscape.com

Invisible Streetlight

Korean designer Jongoh Lee has come up with this new design concept; artificial leaves that can be wrapped around trees, branches or any other natural material, producing light at night but remaining more or less invisible during the day. The 'leaves' mingle in with the branches of a tree during the day, collecting & storing sunlight, & then at night light up using the stored sunlight, providing an alternative to traditional streetlights, which purely functional & are set to a fixed height.

The 'invisible' lights are made from a double injection of silicone & aluminium; these lightweight materials enable the lights to have flexible movement, enabling them to be wrapped around most solid things. The silicon protects the leaves from water with its high thermal conductivity property, & its semi-transparency allows the LED lights within to shine through in the dark. Inside the silicon & aluminium outer casing is a "photocapacitor", which converts the solar energy from sunlight into electricity, which is then stored in a nano-wire battery. The high technology device is able to utilize indirect sunlight even on rainy or cloudy days, allowing usage every night.

An ingenious new design concept which could be the future of streetlighting in parks & small streets. The lighting, as the design stands, could not be used for inner city roads as not enough light is produced to illuminate large areas sufficiently to provide safe driving conditions. However, it could be progressed to provide a new form lighting to replace the boring functionality of the traditional streetlight.

(images sourced from Why Design Now)

ARC International Wildlife Crossing Infrastructure Design Competition

This is an interesting competition for Landscape Architects, Architects, Engineers & alike. ARC International Wildlife Crossing Infrastructure Design Competition have held the first ever international competition to solve the problem of ensuring safe travel for both humans & animals. In the North of the US there are many accidents between vehicles & animals, increasing in occurance by 50% in the last 15 years. These images show the work from the 5 finalists of the competition.

Zwarts & Jansma (Amsterdam)

The Olin Studio (Philadelphia)

Balmori Associates (New York)

Janet Rosenberg & Associates (Toronto)

HNTB Engineering with Michael Van Valkenburgh & Associates (New York)

Full submissions from the finalists are available at www.arc-competition.com/finalists.php

Images sourced from WLA

Water Saving In Brooklyn, NY

Bikeway Belém

A new 7362-meter bikeway was constructed along the River Tagus in the centre of Lisbon. The project, by P-06 Atelier & Global Landscape Architecture, was designed to provide a wayfinding system to guide users along the waterfront, as well as increase usage & awareness of the wide variety of urban landscapes that it traverses.

Bold, white text has been painted directly onto the new cycle path surface. The text provides cyclists with directions, distances & defines the cycle paths themselves.

Cyclists are drawn further along the waterfront by intervals of graphic & narrative interventions. The image above shows a pier with words from the Portuguese poet Alberto Caeiro's poem about the River Tagus.

The overall idea of the continuing installations along the path is to create a story along the waterfront that people want to follow. This draws them further & further along the waterfront, experiencing new sights & areas of the city that they would otherwise never experience. The project budget was 600,000 Euros for installation & fabrication.

The project won the Merit award in SEGD's (Society For Environmental Graphic Design) Design Awards 2010

Images courtesy of SEGD.org

Burning Man Project

Aerial view of the "temporary city" of Black Rock (the city is arranged in a series of concentric streets in an arc formation, using 2/3 of a circle, with the Burning Man exactly in the centre)

The Burning Man Project is an annual event (festival) held in the Black Rock Desert, North Nevada, USA. It starts on the monday before & finishes on the American Labour Day holiday (end of August). The name is taken from the ritual burning of a large wooden effigy on the saturday night. It is a hard event to describe (even the organisers says this), it is a very free, liberal art festival I would say, others have described it as an experiment in community, radical self expression and radical self-reliance.... I think this sounds a little over the top hippy-ish....I think it is a festival in which you can be however you wish to be (even clothing is optional!). The only criteria is that you contribute in some way to the event, whether it be in a radical way of dressing, an art installation, you must create a world for yourself in that week that you are stranded in the blood boiling heats of the desert. In as much of the event as possible sustainable resources, materials & power is used; there is a no car policy (except for "mutant cars"), no cash transactions are allowed (rely on gift economy), reclaimed cooking oil is used to power many of the generators, participants are commited to a 'leave no trace' event, meaning they should strive to leave the place in a better condition than it was previous to their arrival. It started on a beach in San Francisco with 20 people buring a wooden man on the summer solstice in 1986, now it attracts over 40,000 people & is in a way on one of the largest beaches in the US (if you compare sand with sand...!) I find it really fascinating, however very daunting, & would like to try to go one year, maybe it is something you have to experience one time, it is a one of a kind event.

Here are some of the art installations people have taken with them as their contributions to this pretty unique & unusual event.

The Babylon Art Installation in 2008 was a 100 ft tall steel tower, with a photo booth at the bottom, that projected images taken during the day onto the tower during the night (reusable, recyclable & multi-purpose)

Foraging alien-like creature

Conexus Cathedral, over 200 ft long & 50 ft high, in 2006

Floating astronaut for 2008 American Dream theme

Participants dressed as Pan-like creatures on stilts

Installation constructed from 2 large trucks

Rotating installation that projected fire into the night sky from 4 jets

The Temple of Honour created by sculptor David Best in 2003