Studio 3/01
Landscape Studio 3 Speculations:
The Future of the Cemetery
Wendy Walls
Studio Description
Studio 3/01 will design for the future of the Melbourne General Cemetery. The MGC is regarded as one of Australia’s most important cemeteries. It was the first cemetery in Victoria to be designed as a public park, with curved pathways, trees and shrubs, gate lodges and rest pavilions. Over time, the site has grown and evolved. With over 300,000 burials, the cemetery is near capacity for future burials. The construction of three mausolea from the 1990s extended the traditional cemetery program, but what are the other possible futures of the 106 acres site as a public open space? As an important community site, embedded with rich stories, history, and unusual programs this studio will explore the future of the MGC by speculating on its future uses and designing the landscape at masterplan and detailed scales.
Studio Outcomes
The first part of the studio interrogates the aesthetics, atmosphere and experience of the cemetery. Working in groups, students will document the existing site and choreograph a walking tour. In addition, students will produce a critical comparative historical site mapping. These investigations will be used to inform speculative and exploratory design tasks for future economic and programmatic uses of the cemetery site. The second part of the studio challenges students to develop aligned large and small design propositions. Working with detailed drawings, digital and physical models, the final designs will emerge through the careful consideration of unique spatial qualities, temporality, materiality and inhabitation.
Studio Leader
Wendy Walls is a landscape architect researcher, writer and educator. She holds a PhD in landscape architecture and is a lecturer at the University of Melbourne. Her research focuses on landscape design methods and practice under threat of climate change. This includes the role of landscape architecture in designing for the lived experience of heating cities. She has explored this through developing data-driven and digital design methodologies informed by eco-critical theory and material explorations. She continues to pursue this work through design teaching, alongside collaboration with design practice and community. Outcomes from her research have been published and presented at peer-reviewed international events including the Journal of Landscape Architecture, Digital Landscape Architecture, IFLA and the Architectural Science Association conference.
Schedule
Off-campus Activities
Site walk through the Melbourne General Cemetery