s uperfontastic RIO

Waterfront Developm,ent COlmpetif'ion Rlo de Janeiro, Brazil

RMIT LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE SEMESTER 02, 2010 COURSE PAMPHLET

• RMIT Architecture+Desiqn

U.tllVERSITY

course abstract

'In a world driven by imagery, the whole world of architecture has chang:ecl."

Andrew Anderson discussing tha proposed Baranagroo Waterfront development, Sydney

We a II love to hate the Melbourne docklands, but can you do better?

why

Amongst the many things that 'site' might be, it is often defined by physical limit determining boundaries of ownership, action, and consequence, as well as scales of infl uence, resonance, and effect. The ambition of this research is to explore the' notion of 'site' as a construction of a design process made through the act of representation.

what

The research project is to design the Waterfront of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Like many cities around the world, including london's Canary Wharf, Barcelona's 1992 Olympics, Melbourne's Docklands, Melbourne's Birarungmar, and Sydney's proposed Barangaroo to name a few, the city of Rio de Janeiro realises its opportunity to develop its redundant waterfront as a means of rejuvenating and redefi ning itself. This project will consider the city as a living thing in a complex ever changing world of rapid urbanization. It will require you to ask questions such as, what are the potentials of this project, how do you grow a city, could this site be a pa rkand what kind of park could that be, what relationship is to be constructed between the water and the city, who will inhabit this site, and how will this redefi ne the city?

how

Making transforms and challenges ideas, whether they are unreal ideas of the imagination, or rea llsed Ideas of physical being in the world. Making -whether It be drawing, modelling, etc - is a tool for thinking and fOI" design, in which 'it is not a matter of reproducing or inventing forms, but of capturing forces'.«

The act of making will be employed to interrogate now emergent form is generated through the dynamic medium of the landscape meeting the dynamic act of making, and how this might contribute to Design.

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design iterative process

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contents

students:

course leaders:

thanks to:

foul Ahern and Nikki Hill

Jenno Emmonouilides and Francisco IIlescas

Wen Sun

Samuel Steenholdt, Alice Lewis and Justin Walsh

Chris Armstrong

Benjamin Fleming, Aryen Liaw and Hiroshi Yoshinaga

Mi wang and Phillip Smith

Adrian Keene and Emmeline Bowman

Adrian Rivalland and Tristan Andrews

Hetcher Hawkins and Brooke Bisset

Chao Sun

Craig Douglas and Greg Afflick

Andrew Thompson Karl Fender Marieluise Jonas Tom Harper Rosales Monacella Bart Brands

th e i nterve ntio n

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Paul Ahern and Nikki Hill studio level 8 and 9

Disintegrated through Insertion

By making considered incisions through the banding of Rio, we begin to disintegrate and deform moments within the existing city grain ..

This is an attempt to integrate through a process of disruption to form a more cohesive soclal demographic and activated waterfront.

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The resulting layers act as a synthesis for future development within the experimental zone and potentially throughout the city of Rio. The project acts as a prototype for further integration and interaction within the Rio waterfront,increasing accessibility, usability and connectivity between otherwise segregated bands within Rio.

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Jenne Emmenouilides end Francisco IlI1escas studio level 9 and 6

the metamorphosis

Architecture and landscape are fused together, into an interesting interplay of fluid forms, presenting an ever-changing celebration of spatial experiences. This Carnival of forms, textures, vivid colours and the play of light, create a memorable, phantasmagorical experience, set to excite and delight the user.

The fixed forms and architecture provide the stage where by the landscape is allowed to propagate in a symbiotic relationship and take over, then breathe life into the solid forms.

How can a project become more than a simple element and start changing things around itself and by doing so having the potential to not only change its program but also append to the architecture? furthermore, how does this then affect the users, by means of the play on emotions, experiences and perceptions?

trigger of nature

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Wen Sun studio level 6

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Samuel S·teenholdt, Alice Lewis and Justin Walsh studio level 8

graft 1

v. graft-ed, graft- ing, grafts v.tr,

La. To unite (a shoot 01" bud) with a growing plant by Insertion or by placing in close

contact.

b. To join (a plant 01" plants) by such union.

2. To transplant or implant (living tissue, for example) surgically into a bodily part to

replace a damaged part or compensate for a defect, 3_ To join or unite closely: graft new customs onto old. v.intr.

[The Free Dictionarv]

The intervention of the project isan act of identifying links from the city centre to the waterfront, defining those links through facilitation of open space development, and grafting them to the waterfront promenade.

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Chris Armstro ngl studio level 7

Initial design intention: Floating superstructure, containing modular habitat environments, operating as small cross-sections of land-based urban environ rnents found adjacent to the waterfront,

Their main purpose would be to facilitate the growing demand for housing and to create an alternative landscape responsive to peoples needs and changing environmental conditions.

What if my kinetic form sequentially responded to a time and season formula? This could potentially drive a system of movement within a set of interconnected modules, each having their own subset of motion. The dynamic form as a large sculptures.. possiblv, otherwise alternating spaces could potentially allow for various seasonal programs to occupy the site. A program of festive events and exhibitions could utilise this site for its dynamic nature and location.

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Benjamin Flemingl, Per Yuan Liaw and Hiroshi Yoshinoga studio level 6

How can the re-organisation of space create new urban living?

OUf a mbition is to reorganise urban structu re using methodologies behind the cracking concept model. We are interested in creating ambiguity between architecture and the landscape at a large scale: and how th is might address issues of over population. This project intends to generate new urban living spaces through layering, and formulates. an understanding of what programs can be incorporated within these

spaces.

'Heteroscapa' is a project about the concept and not about the physical form being built. It is a concept that thinks about the future of Rio de Janeiro an how an innovative design might be able to help reduce the impact of a rapid increase in population, and how a change in urban fabric might still have fluid movement through a complex overlapping of circulation and transportation systems.

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Mi wang and Phillip Smith studio level 8

Research Question: How can programme work as a generative force on city morphology?

OUf original research questions came from a combination interests in imagination, narrative and sirnpllcitv, Our explorations of the site' moved us into questions of the effects of programme' on site morphology and how that is read my the user.

As one becomes familiar with a site, memory makes links with site of slmllarltv, programme and texture. Paths form between these things, journeys

remembered. These patterns begin to intersect and weave a fabric of the imagined city. Can we use these processes to generate form in the city? We have attempted to map out these discoverings of the city of Rio and how they are affected by adjacencies to create woven pathways through the city. The forms created by the model are representative of these imaginings and are then open to the further interpretation of the designer.

phantasmagoria

Adrian Keene and Emmaline Bowmaln studio level 6

Adrian Rivalllcnd and Tristan Andrews studio level 7 and 6

The project isfocused a round the striving for a greater allowance and promotion of access and movement along and through the Rio de Janeiro waterfront. Through rnanv tests, models, sketches and diagrams, we constantly tried out new ideas and often had to leave others behind in the iterative process.

We never wanted to end the studio with the perfect project, awash with 'hero' shots and perfectly manicured detail. Always, throughout this semester's design work, we were striving for a learning

experience in everything we did, be it modeling extensively (both of us normally do not make many models) or testing new ideas and exploring heavily many precedents (also something that: we do not normally take much part in).

We mainly sought to be provocative and thoughtinducing in our proposals, suggesting new ways of living and different ways of tackling familiar problems such as reinvigorating underutilised spaces in a city envi ronment.

outer space

Fletcher Hawkins and B,rooke Bisset studio level 6

"How can we as Landscape Architects use levels and layers to create interesting/differing spatial experiences?" When we were given the site It became dear that these ideas (spatiality through tevels and layers) fit in well within the context of our site (the freeway).

The goal that we wanted to achieve for the semester was to create a connection and network between the City and the waterfront whist interweaving and interacting with the freeway.

lnstead of seeing thefre·eway as a disability, we wanted to take the approach that the freeway could be used as a catalyst for design.

riollize

Chao Sun studio level 7

Does culture have a shape?

What does the shape of culture mean in landscape? How to visualze the shape of culture and make it usefule and take advantage of it?

I wanted to find the shape of culture and use it in landscape to give people different a experience other than just label a area and say it is culture zone. If YOIJ design a culture zone in China and design a culture zone in Middle East, their shape should be different! However, what realised in needed to consider was

the human scale and human perspective.

Many designers start to with a bird perspective, which is a consideration more about the organisation than the experience.

But, after testing this design, I now think, to find the shape of culture and to give the experience of culture should be seen as two separate things.