Landscape Architecture Design Thesis

Coranderrk Studio

Bede Brennan

Studio Structure
Is the site determined?	Yes
Is the program determined?	No
Is the concept determined?	No
Is the user determined?	No
Is the approach determined?	No

Studio Description

Emergent practice as thesis

Less than an hour north-east of Melbourne, on Wurundjeri Country, lies Coranderrk. Established in 1863 as an 'Aboriginal reserve', Coranderrk became renowned for its agricultural productivity, self-governance and cultural strength. Created following the first dispossession of Country, the community later endured a second dispossession as successive government decisions stripped away much of its land. Today, Coranderrk remains a place of profound cultural, historical and political significance, where Wurundjeri leadership, memory and cultural practice continue. Uncle Dave Wandin and many others continue the long work of caring for and restoring Country.

Rather than arriving with a fixed design brief, this studio begins with a question: How can landscape architecture be helpful to Coranderrk? Working through the ideas of reciprocity, care and service, students will explore how design can emerge through relationships rather than assumptions. The studio asks students to think critically about the role of designers working on Country, and how landscape architecture might contribute through humility, attentiveness and usefulness.

The semester will unfold through a series of design exercises, provocations and challenges. Each will build towards an individual thesis project, but the direction of that work will intentionally remain open until after our time camping, listening and learning together. Projects may become acts of practical helpfulness for Coranderrk, acts of repair, mapping, storytelling or planting, or they may ultimately discover another role entirely. The final thesis may be direct or oblique, immediate or long-term, practical or speculative. Finding the right question will be considered just as important as producing the final design.

Throughout the semester we expect to learn alongside a remarkable cast of people and places, allowing conversations, relationships and Country itself to shape the direction of the work.

We hope the studio will include two nights camping at Coranderrk in late August (dates to be confirmed), should we be invited. Such an opportunity would be both a privilege and a responsibility, allowing the semester to begin through shared experience rather than predetermined design outcomes. Students should expect to camp in tents and participate fully in walking, talking, drawing and learning together on Country.

The studio will challenge students to embrace uncertainty, work collaboratively and develop forms of landscape practice that are adaptive, generous and responsive. Rather than seeking immediate solutions, students will learn to recognise when careful observation, patience and reciprocity are themselves acts of design

Studio Leader

Bede Brennan is a landscape architect at SBLA whose work sits between practice, writing and sometimes teaching. Before moving to SBLA, Bede spent six years working as the landscape lead for Larni Yirrip Cultural Campsite with Pollen Studio for Dja Dja Wurrung. He has taught a bunch of subjects at the University of Melbourne over the years, encouraging students to embrace uncertainty, develop their own design voice and question what landscape architecture might become.

Readings & References

This studio draws on landscape architecture, ecology, history, philosophy and Indigenous knowledge. These are initial readings we may look into more closely as the studio progresses, but other readings may come up as well/instead, and individual chapters will be drawn out.

Suggested initial general readings:

• Robin Wall Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass
• Tyson Yunkaporta's Sand Talk
• Bill Gammage's The Biggest Estate on Earth
• Deborah Bird Rose's Wild Dog Dreaming
• Anna Tsing's The Mushroom at the End of the World
• Students may also encounter films, podcasts, walks, conversations and time on Country as equally important forms of ‘reading’.

Schedule:

Wednesday 9am - 3pm

Off-site activity:

TBC

Contact Handbook