Studio 2
TRAINSCAPE
Ursula Chandler
Studio Description
“The countryside is now the frontline of transformation. A world formerly dictated by the seasons and the organisation of agriculture is now a toxic mix of genetic experiment, science, industrial nostalgia, seasonal immigration, territorial buying sprees, massive subsidies, incidental inhabitation, tax incentives, investment, political turmoil, in other words more volatile than the most accelerated city?”
Rem Koolhaas: countryside architecture - Icon Eye Magazine.
In 1835, British pioneers looking for good pastoral land arrived in present day Melbourne to establish a new settlement.
This indigenous landscape was rapidly changed, and within 30 years regional rail was established across the state to capitalise and connect gold and pastoral, goods and wealth to broader trade opportunities.
Although, deeply embedded in Australian identity, regional towns and farming communities have struggled to maintain their economies and populations in the later half of the 20th century. However, with surging city house prices; regional Victoria, in particular towns along the VLine lying within commuter distance to Melbourne, are attracting a new urban population, looking for increased affordability and authenticity.
Selecting a section of the V/Line between Melbourne and Bendigo we will explore the railway landscape - the trainscape. The trainscape is neither urban nor rural – it connects the two. This connection is only conceptual, physically it is a dividing element across the countryside. We will use this existing infrastructure and the landscape it has generated to re-imagine, re-interrupt and transform the connection between country and city, and between regional towns.
We will explore the idea of identity, place and cultural memory embedded in both the built and natural trainscape. Through observation, recording and informed analysis; we will propose how new communal spaces and facilities can be provided for an expanding and changing community.
ST1/02 Monday 12PM, MSD Room 117
ST2/02 Thursday 6:15PM, MSD Room 449
!!! Please note that the first session of TRAINSCAPE will be held on Tuesday February 27, 9AM-12, MSD Room 244 !!!