Landscape Ambassadors

The end of the spring semester is a bit different this year, as I’m in a small group of landscape architect students from UMB  travelling to Sopron, Hungary for a two week intensive programme; a transnational and multidisciplinary workshop arranged by ERASMUS and the University of West Hungary. The course is entitled “Roots of the continuity - Cornerstones of the future landscape development in the Fertő/Neusiedlersee transboundary landscape”. The course description starts as follows:

The course aims at making a transboundary comparison of the landscape and its main elements in the Fertő/Neusiedler See region. Students in 5 transnational groups will have to detect the role of the five cornerstone elements (stone, water, forest, grassland, and vineyard) in the landscape, during the past and in the present. The human use, the man-nature interaction as well as the mutual  influences of the landscape elements – e.g. stone and forest, stone and viticulture, water and grasslands has to be revealed.

Through series of lectures, interviews with locals and stakeholders, landscape assessment tasks and more we will study the future visions and planning strategies for this area, from both sides of the border, discussing similarities and differences between them. Naturally, I’m looking very much forward to this course. We leave for Hungary this Saturday; updates will follow!

Filed under: Excursions, Hungary, Studies, Landscape Ambassador

Project presentation – LAA215 Construction Design

Aerial view of the design concept in progress. SketchUp with aftereffects in Photoshop & Snapseed.

The construction design course has finally been delivered and presented. It has been a very educational course, where the main emphasis has been on the design concept, while at the same time a lot of work has been put into technical solutions and construction material assessments. In many ways it shows how one as a landscape architect needs to keep everything in mind; from design to plan to descriptions; being creative in the design process but down to earth in how the project should be realised. It’s a challenging balance act.

Filed under: Illustrations, Presentations, construction design, illustration plan, LAA215, Pergola, SketchUp, technical, visualisation

AutoCAD – Placing roads in sloping terrain

For a landscape architect it is fundamental to know how to place roads and pathways in sloping terrain correctly. Last year we learned a quick and easy way to do this in AutoCAD.

In your map, you select your starting point from a contour, and draw a circle (C) with a radius of your chosen road slope – i.e., if the road should be sloping at 1 by 11, set the radius to 11 meters. From the point this circle crosses the next contour, in the preferred direction, continue this process.

 

This is also a great visual reminder that the gentler your slope is, the longer your road will be.

Filed under: Studies, AutoCAD, road

Impressions from Berlin

Facade of the Berlin Wall memorial park visitor’s centre

Question: How do you experience Berlin in two days?

Filed under: Excursions, Germany, Photos, Studies, Berlin, LAA215, memorial, park, urban development

Construction design – Pergolas

Rendering of SketchUp model, made in Lumion 2.

The third exercise task given in the construction design course concerns light structures of wood, and we were assigned to design a pergola based on examples given in the lectures.

Technical plan and elevations.

Filed under: Media, Studies, construction design, LAA215, Lumion, Pergola, SketchUp