‘GARDENS ARE FOR PEOPLE’, THOMAS CHURCH

Church specialised in everyday landscapes that were strongly integrated with their surrounding environment. However, first and foremost was a simple practicality which enabled his principles to relate to so many contexts.

‘LIVE WITH INTENSITY’, ROBERTO BURLE MARX

RESPONSIBILITY
‘design for the good of other people … I think that the landscape architect has a special mission to create gardens for other people so that they can have the right to live in a balanced way.’

LIFE
‘I think it is very important to understand the period in which we are living … the good artist is the one who shows a little of what is happening in our lives … [and] incorporates elements from the past [like the Portuguese graphics used at Copacabana]‘.
‘Everyday ought to be a day of discovery. I think that discovery is one of the most powerful events life can give me.’

CREATIVE EXPRESSION
‘I use everything that I think will help me express myself … You can not have too big a crescendo. You have to have one big crescendo then you subordinate the other crescendos. You can not have many things that have the same value … [it depends on] what you want to subordinate and dramatise.’

PLANTS
Burle Marx made many plant collecting expeditions and discovered several new species. The idea at his Sitio was not only to have an extensive collection but also to have a large plant vocabularly that could be used in his projects. Burle Marx believed that through the use of new plants you could create new expressions in the garden, that might have not otherwise been possible.

His work didn’t copy nature, but transformed nature to create art. He composed plants in such a way that they would be able to express themselves.

One of Burle Marx’s icons was the Xaxim column, which were essentially concrete columns surrounded with slices of xaxim (or tree fern trunk) that was keep moist from a pool below, into which epiphytic plants were embedded.

(Sources: Video on Roberto Burle Marx, and notes by Jeremy Pike)

PLANT DEPOSITS IN THE AUSTRALIAN LANDSCAPE

Twins

The Neighbours

The Family

The whole Community

LEARNING FROM DESERT ENVIRONMENTS
Could we use the Desert Rose (Alyogyne hakeifolia) to plant container gardens in Australia’s cities?

What about Mulla Mulla (Ptilotus sp.)?

CLUES FROM INNER MELBOURNE
Fern growing near the banks of the Yarra River.

Buildings become the setting for Australian plant life.

PROCESS
1. There has to be a niche with its own micro-climate in the first place.
2. Wind causes sediment deposits over time.
3. Plant seeds are blown in.
4. When there is enough moisture plants germinate and eventually colonise.

Sustain What? Redefining what we mean by ’sustainability’.

Creativity and Innovation (generating ideas not dictating solutions)

Many people, many ways (No universal formula’s or “Ism’s”)

Local Power, Local Action (appropriate and context-dependent design)

Adaptation (learning to “fit” within our local environment)

Question the definitions of “wealth” and “wellbeing” (What do we “need”?)

Responsibility and restraint (Role as human being/professional)

What does “Developing” and “Developed” really mean? (Progress?)

Sustainability (99% mind change, 1% technology)

How can we nurture the human spirit?

How we as designers joyfully and artfully sustain life?
(recognising the potential and limitations of design)

To be continued … (once you stop learning, you stop living)

IN LOVE WITH PONYO …

A beautiful Japanese animation with the free creativity of a child, that appealls to all age and interest groups. Just wonderful …

http://www.kuboten.com/store/images/kuboblurbs/ponyo.jpg

http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/blog/Ponyo.jpg

http://www.rafu.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Ponyo-web.jpg

http://images.movieplayer.it/2009/02/27/un-immagine-del-film-d-animazione-ponyo-sulla-scogliera-diretto-dal-genio-dell-animazione-hayao-miyazaki-106830.jpg

http://littledailyprophet.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/ponyo2.jpg

INSPIRED BY ROBERTO BURLE MARX

Painting the landscape, celebrating Brazil’s native plants, a fusion of art and nature, a fullness and flourishing of life.

FRANK GEHRY – “THEN WHAT?”

Talks about context, place, temporary …
How creative people are dependent on working for someone, how do you not sell-out?
Buildings VS Architecture …
Collaboration, play off each other, improvise …

In a city ‘everybody doing their thing makes a chaotic environment … but if you can play off each other and work together’
If you convince your client you’re a “good guy” by saying I worry about the city, client, context, budget … its somehow used to give your work credibility. But all that ‘should be taken forgranted’.
“Then What?”
You can create a Personal expression and ‘still touch all bases’.
That’s when the ‘real value’ of an architect comes.

Is design just a service? Is art just personal expression? Surely design is more than problem solve, surely it is our role to also bring joy and celebration into the world …

Bjarke Ingels: 3 warp-speed architecture tales

An amazing presentation on conceiving the construction of buildings as constructing entire ecosystems, tuning into natural energy flows and reconceiving the role of design.

NORMAN FOSTER’S GREEN AGENDA

DIGITAL LIFE DESIGN – CONFERENCE
TED –Norman Foster’s green agenda

- solution to sustainability is not in the design of buildings, but the design of infrastructure systems (the flows/processes within cities. Eg: transport cars > ?, coal > ?)
- major transformation enabled by technological advancement
- old ideas, becoming realised by being freed by new technology
- ‘performance’: not object of aesthetic style, but of function.
- ‘celebratory’
- need to research (ie: projects are a proving ground for testing ideas/knowledge)
- water – pipeline > lifeline. These big gestures will become the focus of human life. ‘these are the new cathedrals’
- reconsidering traditional functionality and programming
‘human experience’ ‘friendly’ ’lifestyle’
once we’ve ‘cracked the dependence on fossil fuels’ > like getting man on the moon
- C2C: forgetting the concept of waste, life cycle planning, tuning into natural energy flows

‘UP’ … PIXAR’S WONDERFUL NEW ANIMATION

Like other Pixar animations ‘UP’ is a celebration of human creativity and ingenuity. The writers actively critic our prevailing culture, raising issues from childhood obesity to capitalism and endangered species. Despite these underlying themes the film provides its audience with an overwhelming sense of joy and reassurance. In small ways it helps reminds us what counts.

Hats off to Pixar for creating another culturally transformative artwork … and again managing to (almost) bring viewers to tears at the struggles the animated characters face. Not to mention the shear beauty of the images, especially as the balloons cast a kaleidoscope of colours over the city.

Child-rearing clouds

Carl, the Old Man

House threatened by development, and ‘The Man’

Escapes the city to fulfill he and his deceased wife’s dream to travel to Paradise falls.

Uplifting, human spirit overcoming the evils of capitalist development.

Paradise Falls.

Friendships form as Carl and Russell work to save a rare flightless bird named Kevin.