Studio 01

Define Park: Questioning the Park through Dynamism and Permanence

Alistair Kirkpatrick

Studio Description

Rapid climate change, the heat island effect and increases in temperatures call for the re-examine the role of the humble urban/suburban park in Melbourne. Funding for parks outside of the CBD is extremely low. Rather than imagining this will change in the near future, how can we use the current allocation of funds to create entirely new parks for people and biodiversity? How do we define a park and how do we re-evaluate resource distribution to achieve new formal outcomes? Outside of playgrounds/sportsgrounds most parks are underutilized. Should we question humans as the prime driver in formal outcomes and usage?

This studio will critique the normative pop up park typology, investigating what happens if a pop up becomes permanent? If a pop up is the antithesis of ecology, how can a permanent space become dynamic?

Studio Outcome

This studio is driven by the overarching methodology of ‘bottom up’ design which requires a rigorous engagement with actual site conditions both empirically and phenomenologically. Through multifaceted research students will uncover and discover unique site qualities which can be used to generate novel design outcome.

Studio Leader

Alistair Kirkpatrick is co-director of AKAS landscape architecture, which focuses on landscape architecture and ecology, with a emphasis on Melbourne indigenous vegetation. Alistair has developed and taught multiple subjects in tertiary institutions for the last seven years investigating themes of terrain vague and urban ecologies.

Readings & References

• Terrain Vague - [Sola Morales, Ignasi de, 1995, Terrain Vague, Anyplace, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press]
• Third Landscape - Gilles Clement
• A new nature, Tim Low
• Seamon D (2003) Goethe, Nature and Phenomenology in [eds Seaman + Zajonic] in ‘Goethe’s Way of Science: A Phenomenology of Nature’ State University of New York Press *‘Entropy by Design’ Matthew Gandy

Contact Handbook