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

Masterplanning

Whilst working on my 3rd year final project I have been experimenting with a variety of graphic communication styles. There are many ways to represent a masterplan, every practice has their own style, but there tend to be similarities between some of them. Masterplan styles range from very diagrammatic to photo realistic. Below I have chosen some masterplans, at a variety of scales, that I have come across whilst trying to set my own style, all of these have been represented in an interesting or individual way.

Project: BGU University Entrance Square, Israel
Landscape Architects: Chyutin Architects
Area: 0.5 ha

This masterplan is for quite a small area, an entrance square to a University. The plan is simple & easy to read, the lack of textures makes this even more so (even though I tend to avoid using flat colours myself). Chyutin Architects have managed to use colours from similar colour palettes, creating a very tonal look, where all the colours compliment each other & are distinguishable, but do not contrast to much. I think you can tell this drawing was done by Architects as opposed to Landscape Architects due to the choice in style, however it has worked very well for them in my opinion. Surprisingly it is hard to keep things simple & make them look good.



Project: Valencia Parque Central, Spain
Landscape Architects: Gustafson Porter
Area: 23 ha

This Gustafson Porter Masterplan is more realistic, in a sense that the trees, grass, water & other elements have a texture to them, making them less diagrammatic. Despite this the colours are very vibrant, more so than they naturally would be, reducing the photo-realism of the plan, but distinguishing it as a design proposal not aerial photograph. I like this style of masterplan, it is very informative & all aspects of the project are clearly visible.

Project: Tianjin Qiaoyuan Park, China
Landscape Architect: Turenscape (Beijing Turen Design Institute)
Area: 22 ha

Turenscape have used a very diagrammatic method of drawing their masterplan. The colours used are an exaggerated representation of the elements they are displaying, as opposed to being a true representation of the colour. The context map surrounding the plan has been greatly darkened to draw all attention to the main design, although this is effective, the dark grey is also slightly distracting, perhaps just too dark.

Project: Madrid RIO, Madrid, Spain
Landscape Architect: West 8
Area: 80 ha

This masterplan is on a larger scale, spread along a long linear site. The detail at this scale is minimal (or not clearly visible), but zoomed in plans would be shown to compliment the overall plan. The faded colours & very faint surrounding context make this masterplan very appealing to look at. It intrigues me & encourages me to want to look closer into the project & see the finer details of the design.

Project: Sa Riera Park, Palma de Mallorca, Spain
Landscape Architect: Ravetllat Ribas
Area: 11.6 ha

The images below show a masterplan of the same site & design but at two different scales, illustrating the differences between plans at differing scales. The top image is a closer look at the plan without a surrounding context, & is purely for purposes of showing the proposed planting scheme. Each tree has been represented by a coloured dot, & each tree species is shown in a different colour. This way of showing a planting scheme is very effective.

The second masterplan is at a smaller scale but with its surrounding context & other phases of the project in darker grey tones. The plan, like above, shows trees as coloured dots, but because of the scale they are harder to distinguish between. The colours used are an exaggerated representation of the features/plants they are illustrating. This is not my favourite style of masterplan as I find it harder to read the information; there is too much colour in a small space, & all of it quite contrasting. Tonal colour schemes are far more appealing & easier on the eye.

Images courtesy of World Landscape Architect & Landezine

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

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

Spiller's Millenium Mills

The final project of my Landscape Architecture degree was left very open, I have been given the task of creating my own brief & choosing my own site. There were only a few criteron for the project; the site should be of an appropriate size to allow us to demonstrate analysis, concept & detailed design skills at a range of scales; there should be an over-arching theme that allows us to explore ket issues in contemporary Landscape Architecture, this may be sustainable design, urban regeneration, or many others.

I had some ideas of the kind of project I wanted to develop, but was without a site. I was looking for a post-industrial, derelict site. Inspiration for this was gained from a lecture we had a few weeks ago by Will Sandy (See post "What Is Landscape - Will Sandy"), in which he showed a video of the work being done in Detroit to regenerate all of the derelict land, the Michigan Central Station site caught my eye inparticular. The following video show that footage (Michigan Central Station appears at 9 minutes). The video is the part 1 of 3 parts, all of them are worth having a watch, it shows a lot of the derelict parts of Detroit, & interviews a lot of people who are actively trying to bring life back to the city, mainly by using art.

After researching & thinking for some time, I remembered a site that I have passed by many times & always been intrigued by. On the DLR in London, heading east out of the city, you travel through the London Docklands, which historically was home to a large industrious area. The Thames Barrier Park is often the destination when I travel out this far east, however I have always been more interested in the site on the other side of the DLR track. Spiller's Millenium Mills is a large derelict flour mill, the last remaining industrial building in the docklands.

Founded in 1901 by William Vernon & Sons, the actual mill was not built until 1905, becoming Europe's largest mill of the time. Shortly after this it was bought by Spiller's & named after their "Millenium Flour"; used to make the Millenium Flour & also dog food, which Spillers were famous for. In 1917 it was partially destroyed by an explosion in a neighbouring factory, it was then hugely extended several years later in 1933. The mill has now been derelict since 1984 when it was forced to shut down when the docks were closed, due to huge industrial decline. Since then the building has suffered a lot, with parts demolished, machines ripped out leaving huge open holes, and some vandalism. There are in fact two mills on site, one being Millenium Mills (the largest mainly white building) & a smaller mill attached to the east side of MM, Rank Hovis Mill. There is also still a large white silo which still remains on the site, Silo D.

In 2007 it was announced that Spiller's Millenium Mill will be converted into luxury flats at some point in the foreseeable future, as part of the Silvertown Quays development. I expect this will be less of a conversion & more of a demolition & then rebuild. This is a terrible shame, as although the building is in bad shape & is considered a dangerous site, it is the last remaining proof of London's huge industrial past. This is why I have chosen this site as my Semester II project. I want to revitalise the site & celebrate the past industrial history by using the buildings as the focal point of a new public park.

The site is considered "dangerous" due to the fragile state of the building, & so is completely surrounded by high security fences & there is a 24 hour security car which patrols the site looking out for trespassers. Trespassers are a common thing at Millenium Mills, as the building is considered by a group of urban explorers to be the greatest building to access & explore in the UK. This group are very adverse to the plans of redevelopment as well, agreeing with my sentiment that it should be honoured as a heritage site due to its history.

View west from the Royal Victoria Dock footbridge

The site faces the London Excel, a large exhibitions & conference centre

Rank Hovis building on the west side of the Millenium Mills

The map above just simply show the site (red line border) in context with some nearby well known places/attractions; the Excel Centre, London City airport, Thames Barrier & Thames Barrier Park.


The following video shows footage of some of the site, but mainly the inside of the building, created by someone who took the risk to access this amazing building.