Construction design, part 2

Visualisation in Lumion based on SketchUp model

We presented our site analysis today, along with some early attempts at visualising in Lumion (see picture above). A brief summary follows. See the project blog for more information!

Historical photo of the site, anno 1928. The tram line follows the same pattern today.

The site has an extensive history behind it, along with bits and pieces of architecture spanning over a century. The building in the picture, old Ullevaal theatre, now functions as a grocery store (actually, the grocery store is under construction) and auditorium for the University in Oslo, located just 500 meters to the North-West. Named after a significant tradesman of the time, John Collett, the area was a centre for trade and entertainment, with many small boutiques in the building, as well as a grand cinema. The site today is by and large dominated by traffic; it’s place you drive by, not a place you stay. The tram runs by frequently (twice every five minutes) as well, making the site appear very busy, however not necessarily in a good way. A place with great history, but a fragmented and dislocated feel to it today.

Filed under: Analyses, Illustrations, Studies, Analysis, construction design, Landscape architecture, Lumion, SketchUp, urban development, visualisation

Construction design, part 1

The spring semester has begun, and we’ve started off with one of the courses that will run throughout: Construction design. I’ve been looking forward to this for a while – a course tying things together, forcing you to be more conscious about your designs, with focus on construction and technical detail. Our project area this time is a public space in Oslo; John Colletts plass. I registered a project-specific blog for the students and teachers to participate and share their experiences, check it out here (Site is mostly in Norwegian).

Model work. Abstraction of the sense of volume and direction on the site.

Pen sketches and notes from the site. 

Filed under: Analyses, Illustrations, Studies, construction design, Landscape architecture, model, public space, sketches, urban development

LAA224 – Teaser

We’re about to deliver the first group project in the LAA224 course; shaping with vegetation. A post summarizing the process will be up soon, in the meantime here’s a little visualisation I made in Photoshop that we didn’t end up using (due to it being far too gloomy, among other things):

In the end, it reminded us too much of the atmosphere in the neighborhood we tried to avoid, illustrated below:

Filed under: Analyses, Illustrations, Studies, LAA224, vegetation

LAA214 – Buildings and Landscape – Part 1

This semester the landscape architecture course focuses on planning a designated residential area. The course projects are technically oriented, which is perfectly timed in my opinion – I’ve been wanting to obtain more practical knowledge in terrain shaping and so forth since the first year, as I didn’t grasp the entirety of it back then, and in this project we use everything we have learned so far.

Filed under: Analyses, Illustrations, Studies, Landscape architecture, Planning, Residential areas, Terrain analysis

LAA250 – Site development, phase 2

In the second phase of the site development course we were supposed to use our analysis from phase one and based on it suggest specific plans for our focus group. We started off comparing our registrations of the established playgrounds and recreational areas with the information we had received from the children themselves, to get a clearer view on where it seemed to be an apparent lack of suitable spaces. At that time it occurred to us that simply counting the areas that needed additional facilitation and supply plans for them wasn’t going to cut it. We needed to study what the children really need and how they react to their environment to get a proper understanding of the matter before we could do anything close to planning. We proceeded to read articles and books on environmental psychology and outdoor education for children, while asking ourselves the question: What is a valuable playground for children?

Filed under: Analyses, Illustrations, Media, Studies