The Isle of Dogs to Silvertown reach of the River Thames is becoming de-industrialised. This project looks 300 years back, 3 years forward, 30 years forward and 300 years forward. It has a musical theme, reflected in the cello playing, which envisages a succession of waterfront areas, with the tempo moving from fast to slow as the river flows east. The zones are linked by two greenway corridors: (1) a modulating waterfront greenway-blueway (2) an inland service corridor with a Highline-style greenway above, for sustainable green transport, shopping and leisure.
The project was done by University of Greenwich MA Landscape Architecture students in the autumn of 2011.
Shame that the vast readership on the Chinese mainland cannot enjoy this or the previous post…
Very creative bunch of students Tom! Good to see the combination of fun, fashion, music and landscape. Is the gentleman in the red contemplating taking a Santa gig over the Christmas break?
It would be good to hear from the students on the blog a little about their experiences of participating in the project. Do they think it was a successful outcome? Would did they learn from thinking back and thinking forward in the short, medium and long term?
I think the students are in flat-out mode: flat-out finishing projects, soon to be followed by flat-out on their backs, recovering.
Lawrence: I agree that it is a pity about Youtube not being available in China. Missing ‘Fenton the dog’ is not much of a loss but I find Youtube terrific for learning how to do jobs, like fitting hard-drives or mending sash windows (probably not many of these in China!).
Lawrence: Do not be sad, here is another version of the same
video as above one: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzMzMzM3NzUy.html
I am 100% sure that you can watch it in China! Also, in this video!!^,^
Thank you so much, Tian Yuan.
Cheers!
Tian Yuan, it was great to see the project presentation from another angle! Can you give us an insiders perspective on the student experience of the project?
Christen, my lovely classmateTianYuan did want to know more about the students in this design team, therefore would like to join this class.
Oh, so perhaps we will have to rely on Tom to provide an insiders perspective? Yes, Jerry, Tian Yuan has rightly recognised that designing with this class would undoubtedly be a fun, interesting and entertaining experience!
I will aim to add more info. The main idea was that instead of following the usual Thamesside practice (a 7-10m wide slabbed walkway with no use and no beauty) the the riverside walk should be planned as a modulated greenway passing through a sequece of character zones – with the character explained musically. The Canary Wharf riverfront is the fast movement: a busy place for busy people to eat, drink, relax and ‘do the business’. The east end of the project area, at the entrance to Royal Docks, was conceived as a slow movement with a fully sustainable green development: earth sheltered buildings, habitats, wildness, swamps and happy people. The intermediate zones have an intermediate character. The musical analogy came from a play on the words ‘key’, as in piano key, and ‘quay’, as in ‘boat quay’. The sequential range of quays have varied use and character: quiet, busy, boatey, ecological, beachey, introverted, extroverted etc. It is a musical approach to urban landscape design.
ps. For us who are far away…
Could I also suggest the wearing of lapel mikes for enhanced sound quality (….restricting the students movements and asking them to address the recording mike might lessen the atmosphere and their spontenaiety and enthusiasm…)
…or students could be asked to provide a transcript of their presentation?
Sorry about the video quality. It was taken on a hand-held DSLR while trying to concentrate on the presentation. But when I heard the cello I decided to take a a video.
Here is another musical approach to interpreting the urban fabric:
[ http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/14163/akko-golenbeld-stadsmuziek.html ]
Great clip Lawrence. Do you think they also print off urban plans this way?