Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

The subject of this project focuses on how
Landscape Architects by their profession can
explore and directly make a difference in the
cityscape. This paper documents the process of art -
based research practice. The purpose of installing
temporary activities is to encourage people in the
city to discover, participate and invite people to be
more playful in the city.
My experience of interaction in public spaces comes
primarily from the education within landscape
architecture, from site-specific art installations I have
performed in different cities and from observations
of landscape architecture, street art and urban life in
the cities of Vienna, Berlin and Linköping. It is
fascinating and inspiring to see how the urban space
can invite and allow visitors to participate and
therefore feel invited to the open space. As a
landscape architect I wish to create urban spaces
that are useful and inspiring for their visitors.
The projects main question: How can you make
temporary landscapes that encourage outdoorinspired
activities at selected locations in the city? is
answered by practice based research, an approach
in which theoretical research are developed through
practical experiments in the designing- and
implementation process. In the process the
theoretical foundation develops into build
site-specific landscapes. The project has been put
together by different kinds of research, the
outdoor-inspired activities has been based and
summarized on theoretical research. The locations
for temporary landscape have been found through
Photowalks, a method used for documenting spaces
of uncertainty in the city. The designing process has
been based on theory and inspiration, and
developed into six designing proposals through
full-scale drawings and photo collages. In the
implementation processes the proposals
transformed into an exhibition of temporary
landscape at six locations in Linköping, from the 3rd
until the 15th of April 2012.
Temporary landscape is a momentary happening in
the existing landscape. The method is used to create
interesting meeting points that engage people to
discover the site. The temporary contribution
allows people to see the city in a new way and
makes them aware of their surroundings. It is a
concept that recognizes the human need for
experiences and it creates opportunities to develop
in the daily used environments. There are a lot of
unused locations in the cities, usually called margins.
These places are often perceived as a free zone,
with possibilities to participate and to interact more
spontaneously. To enable people to be activated
and inspired by the cityscape, the margins and the
open spaces has to be inviting, interesting and allow
participation.
Connections to outdoor delectation are used through
the project to transform the curiosity and
participation that can be experienced in the nature to
experiences in the city. The theme Outdoor
delectation in the city summarizes the theoretical
approach, where the importances of discovering,
participation and to move more freely in the city are
being motivated. To explore the city is important for
people’s personal development, it is also an
important process in which people develop their
understanding for the surroundings. The
possibilities people have to discover the urban
surroundings effects how well people thrive and are
connected to their environment. Our movement is
a way to discover and learn about the city, outdoor
daily physical exercise does also have important
effects on our health. Our movement is influences
by the surroundings, the cityscape are often static
and repetitious. The city is dominated by accessible
communication routes that don’t inspire us to move
freely or spontaneously. To become involved in the
cityscape the margins need to be inviting,
changeable and suggest encouraging activities.
The practice based research evolved into an
exhibition, where temporary landscapes were
created at six locations in the city centre of
Linköping. The first site was on an open lawn in
Järnvägsparken, where a Killer ball field was
created by drawing white lines on the lawn. Soft balls
where placed in a basket near the field. The
second site was on a pedestrian and bicycle path
along the road Repslagaregatan. There a pattern
was fixed to the pavement and formed a route in
which you could jump between different boxes on
the ground in a Motion Street. The third site was on
the neglected square Magasintorget, smaller plant of
spruce where planted in a wooden frame, a plank in
the middle created a walk between the trees. On one
edge a blackboard was places that could be drawn
on with white calk, the installation was called
Planned. The fourth site was places on the
traditional square Hospitaltorget, here three chairs
out of A4 paper cartons where placed as a lounge
and formed the installation called Can you handle it.
The fifth site was in the crossing between
Drottninggatan and Djurgårdsgatan. Six stone
blocks and a pile of gravel where placed on opposite
corners, the object symbolized the process in which
natural materials are deformed and transported
into the city, Block to gravel. The sixth site was in
the park area between the Cathedral and the City
Library on Benzeliusplatsen, here two bookshelves
where placed next to the benches, here people could
exchange and find books in the open-air library,
Exchange books.
The exhibition of temporary landscape achieved
to encourage people to discover, participate and
become activated on the locations. Many people
became curious and stopped to explore the sites,
people played sports in the park, jumped along the
pattern at the Motion Street, left notes on the
blackboard and took a small walk through the trees
at the installation Planned, people rested on the
chairs at Hospitaltorget, discovered the blocks and
tried to go up on the gravelled pile in the traffic
junction at Drottninggatan – Djurgårdsgatan, many
people exchanged or curiously searched for books in
the bookshelves at Benzeliusplatsen.
The exhibition Outdoor delectation in the city was a
way to encouraged people to discover,
participate and move more freely in the city
margins. The process of creating temporary
landscapes contains the entire process from idée to
installed site-specific objects. The project has also
shown that the method can be used to see how
landscape architects and planners are affecting how
people discover and feel participation in their city
Important guidelines to creating and to implement
temporary landscape in public spaces are to find a
context to work from, to set limitations and create a
framework to start from. In the project I contacted
and collaborated with the municipality and its
contractors, in the beginning I also defined and set
clear goals for the project which could be achieved
during the project time and the given permissions.
Experience of practice based researched through
this project has shown: the importance to first
experience and discovering the locations where the
temporary landscape will be created, the need to
constantly evaluate the design proposals, to seek
expert advice for material and construction matters.
The most essential thing within the research is to
dare and explore new ways, to constantly evolve the
proposals, to effectively make new decisions and
see challenges as a thriving force that shapes the
ideas into something better for this particular
situation, set milestones so the project constantly
carries on.