Outline of the ideas of the morphology group

I have spoken to Chris, chairman of the morphology group, and garnered some information about their project. This should in turn help us a little in our process of overlaying habitats onto and underneath the ideas of the other groups.

The big hand-like structures were their 300 year plan. They came up with this quite quickly after their original model had been criticised. Their 30 year plan isn't fully formulated yet and will only be resolved on Wednesday morning.

However, this is the concept they are thinking of for 300 years on:

The large many 'fingered' buildings are rather star trek/le corbusier...big structures to house many people and centralise the distribution of resources required and the treatment of waste products/water recycling etc. An interesting and very different approach from our decentralised residential system.

The buildings are near the river edge, the fingers are there to gather the cool air from the river and suck it into the building. The spaces between the 'fingers' are also effectively wind tunnels, allowing breezes to flow up and over the structure (I can't really call it a building as it is too massive!)

They are hoping to create these structures so they are very efficient in shape. They are also man-made hills that create areas of higher ground near the river (terrific if there is flooding/widening of the thames). We could easily green roof them or plant woodland on top or biomass plantations etc so they could be a really positive addition to our habitat plan.

The spaces between the 'fingers' could become cool shady parks, sheltered swimming bays, areas for silt collection and farming etc.

I think that although our green residential housing matrix is a great idea, it could benefit from us looking at this groups ideas ideas and perhaps making some changes?

Some questions to think about for Friday:
- Would we be better off creating man-made higher ground near the river?
- Would housing be better off on high-ground, or being nearer the mirror?
- Is decentralisation/ distribtion or intensity/centralisation the right solution for the future of ciies?
- Is centralisation sustainable?
- How might we create habitats on and around this mega-structure?

Well, I hope that helps a bit. Some things to add to our discussion tomorrow.
Jenny

WETLAND TYPES

HABITAT TYPE: 1. WETLAND, 2.WOODLAND, 3.GRASSLAND, 4.HEATHLAND....

I FIND SOME EXAMPLES OF WETLAND TYPE.

   Marshes

   

Tidal marsh along the Edisto River, South Carolina 

Wet meadows

This wet meadow is in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado.

Vernal Pools

Vernal pools are usually quite small and ponded only during the wetter part of the year.

Forested swamps 

Swamps frequently support highly diverse vegetation because of the many

layers of vegetation present: shrubs, saplings, and herbacous plants.

I am not going to list plant species at this stage, because the planning should be done before planting.

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As well all know that wetlands have recreational, historical, scientific, and cultural values. 

what people do in the wetland? they may hunt, fish, birdwatch or photograph wildlife, hiking, boating, and recreational activities(e.g. painters, writers or photographers).

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please edit this post if you have more information. 

Summary of group activities following 29 September class

Jenny:
Talk to morphology group for detail on sketch design
Lili: 
Provide a list of habitat types that could be relevant to our sketch design

Stevie: 
Post photos of the other groups' sketch designs on the blog

Group: 
- Discuss which habitats to include in our 30 and 300 year plans and where to locate them (Friday 1 October, lunchtime, Avery Hill)
- Research habitats individually and where to locate them [Athanase  - agriculture (allotments, commercial, gardens), Anka - waterways and margins, Jenny - buildings, gardens, exhibition spaces, Lili - grassland (parkland and grazing), Simon - trees (woodland, hedges, coppice), Stevie - transport corridors]
- Redraw our plans with the other groups' plans in mind (meet outside Kennington Station - northern line - at 11.30am)

Summary of group activities following 22 Sept class

Anka: 
Produced topography, geology and google earth plans of the site

Jenny: 
Set up blog

Lili: 
Produced digimap plan of the site

Group:
Produced sketch designs covering habitat and vegetation for 30 and 300 year timescales

Lecture 2 feedback

Thanks everyone for all your time yesterday! I think the outcome is clear - think vegetation and habitat types only. Therefore, we need to consider:
1) which habitats make up our wildlife corridor, woodland, marsh, waterways, river banks, nature reserve, grassland and parks, roofs, transport corridors, hedges, screening, exhibition gardens etc. and then
2) how we clearly illustrate each of these.
The placing of each of these different habitats will need to relate to the geology, soils, topography and the suggestions by the other groups (see pics).
I think we are very close to resolving this.
Please refer to any ecological reference material you have, such as Phase 1 habitat surveys, and see you friday for discussion and agreement of an action plan.
Simon

Group meetings - times and locations

From 7 October group meetings will take place on Thursdays at 1.00pm at the Royal Festival Hall, South Bank - http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=530795&y=180219&z=0&sv=SE1+8XX&st=2&pc=SE1+8XX&mapp=map.srf&searchp=ids.srf
Nearest tube / train station is Waterloo.

On 7 October we're going to meet in the cafe at the Royal Festival Hall. This is located on the ground floor (i.e. above the shops that are at South Bank level) and faces the Thames.

From 6 October group meetings will also take place on Wednesdays at 11.30am in the space below the architecture school's reception at Avery Hill.

Thanks

Anka

Photo Urban Development Project - 29/09/2010

Hello everybody, 

attached the picture about all work we have done today. 

See you tomorrow into the blog and Friday at lunchtime.

Goodnight!

Steave

Meeting tomorrow at 10:00

Hi, i thought it would be helpful to create a mini-agenda around our main task:

1. habitat sketch design (main task)
2. intros - discuss our individual backgrounds, interests, knowledge, skills
3. possible individual roles as we go forward
3. best day/time of the week to meet, outside of formal lecture events, and meeting location
5. date, time and location of next team meeting after wednesday
6. discussion about our chosen site and people's preferences e.g a location suitable for all

Don't forget to bring your diary/ blackberry etc

Cheers, Simon

Induction week background

Hi everyone


Here's the habitats background information we got during induction week, along with our summary of our sketch design and Tom's comment sheet.

Anka

Landscape Architecture at the University of Greenwich

First entry to the new blog.