Class Reflection, November 27, 2008

The presentation on green roofs by Anna, (a professor from the landscape department) really helped clear my mind of some biases that may have altered some of my own thoughts on green roofs. I am intrigued to discover the cultural history and folklore behind the conception of green roofs, having always retained this idea that green roofs were quite modern and a only a recent response to a lack of green space in our urban centers. I especially loved Anna’s own landscape project entitled Five Courtyards, which demonstrated a kind of natural containment, where the vegetation kept within certain boundaries while maintaining it’s natural state and growth patterns. The challenge is in choosing the right species for the right space, and avoiding the possibility of placing restrictions on things that do change and grow. This surrendering to the natural environment and allowance to take it’s own pace is what I find so refreshing about environmental design.

Sink or Schwimm!

Both the last studio project, where my group built a water metropolis, and Eduard Epp's lecture last week have led me to consider alternative dwellings to cope with floods. The Schwimmhaus by Confused Direction is one possibility of after-flood architecture. This modern, sustainable houseboat is constructed from reclaimed wood and it has a green roof!
As Epp mentioned last class we need to consider new ways of living for the future, and a future with water seems likely. These houseboats help me envision exciting new inhabitations. Like in Amsterdam and Venice, perhaps most of the world's city streets will one day become water and people will reside along canals, sipping lattes on the patios of these cool little structures.

Reflections for November 13 Class

This week was another split class. Our first guest speaker was Dr. Ted McLaughlan from the Landscape department. I found this lecture to be so useful for our current studio project of creating a city.  He started off the lecture with an example from the artist David Nash. By creating a wooden boulder, Nash was able to see how water would change the boulder over time. He kept track of this boulder for 35 years!!! This example really illustrated how everything we design is put in a state of flux as soon as it's made. Definitely a thought we need to keep in mind when designing something as large as a city. 

An urgent issue Dr. McLaughlan brought up was the depletion of our fresh water resources. He really put the situation into perspective by showing a diagram of the entire water supply of earth as a large water jug and only one table spoon of it was potable water. It wasn't all doom and gloom though,  we were introduced different methods where nature can be used to do the tasks of water retention and water purification. It seems to me that most of the solutions to the problems we have today can be found in natural ecosystems. The most uplifting story Dr. McLauglan shared with us was the return of pickerel to Sturgeon Creek. Watching the pickerel spawn will definitely be on my list of things "to do" when I have a bit more time... I also enjoyed this lecture because he pointed out something that seemed so obvious that I never realized: the progression of a stream system looks like a growing tree!

Our next speaker was also from the Landscape department. I had seen this (almost) exact lecture last year in Intro to Environmental design, but nonetheless it was a good refresher. The images of former projects he showed us were very beautiful. I was especially drawn to Snow White and the Seven Gardens because of it's cleverness. Our speaker (I missed his name) brought to light the things a garden is/could be: a place of cultivation, a moment in time. All the projects shown were so clean in their design, really demonstrating that anything superfluous should be left out.