Mark Smout and Laura Allen are both lecturers at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL. They focus on the dynamic relationship between the natural and the man made and how this can be revealed to enhance the experience of the architectural landscape.
Augmented Landscapes features landscape architects Smout Allen. Smout Allen presents five projects that respond to the way in which man has enlarged the landscape through architecture and infrastructure, manipulating and blurring perceptions of what is natural and what is artificial.
As Neil Spiller reflects upon their work as 'architecture of astounding dexterity, subtleness and minimal ecological disruption'. They create contemporary 'organic architecture that juxtaposes and finally joins materials'. For me it's the graphical representation of their work that draws me in, each one expressing a unique response to the 'augmentation of architecture and its prevailing relationship to the restless landscape'. Its through these intriguing drawings that there notions of space, observation, materiality and nature are expressed. They also remind me of Zaha Hadids paintings in the way they express themselves to the viewer.
I also recommend this PDF (www.tii.se/reform/inthemaking/files/p81.pdf) paper that discusses the work of Smout Allen around the theme of Restless Landscapes.
What i find most interesting about there projects is their ability to anaylse a site and exploit the defining features of the landscape, geography, climate and geology. Their works are very experimental and i think this is reflected through they're use of prototyping, drawing and photography.
I am still re-reading at this point, i have brushed over the book and intend to look further into the specific chapters the particularly the 'Geofluidic Landscape' and 'Blooming Landscape, Deep Surface'.
The Geofluidic Landscape
The passage of abundant water on the Oslo site provides a source of kinetic energy that invades the building. Trenches, gullies, and reservoirs are cut into the rock to channel water and counterbalances and weights shift building pieces. The floors become walls, panels move to reveal new spaces, and garden beds are raised and tilted toward the sun.
Blooming Landscape, Deep Surface
The competition for the Grand Egyptian Museum provided an extensive and exposed sand dune landscape as the site for the relocated Museum of Egyptian Culture
No comments:
Post a Comment