Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Water connects heaven and earth. Water is the most obvious element of nature. To move in water is for me more than cooling of on a hot summer’s day. It is about freedom and the feeling of being above the state of things. To reach beyond the limitations that we humans are born with.

The project is about the edge between land and water and what that is about. It has been based on a theoretical introduction in which I have discussed different notions and ideas in relation to the actual landscapes in which I have chosen to design new public outdoor baths.

The project is on the one hand about revealing or rediscovering physical and mental spaces. Spaces which many times are hidden in the landscape that surrounds us. By working in the borderline between the natural and the artificial I aim to visualize some of these spaces.

On the other hand the project is about how to amplify and visualize the elements of the landscape with the intention to make the context clear in which the artificial exists.

I formulated the following questions to examine and try to understand the edge between land and water.
Is it possible to amplify the perception of special qualities based on alternative possibilities to interact with water? In which way is it possible to work with the factors of time and space when it comes to water? How can one create a design which is organised and at the same time flexible and structurally capable of allowing characteristic adaptations as an answer to a constant change of circumstances?
With the purpose of answering these questions I have studied literature and combined it with theoretical discussions combined with visits to among others the chosen locations. I have done this at the same time as I have designed two new public outdoor baths in Gothenburg.

The framings of questions from the introductory reflections around places of water and what they mean to us humans, in combination with thoughts about how one could take advantage of that in order to create places which would help people to get closer to the water, is the core of the project.

In the project I discuss, among others, the terms landscape, place, environment and movement in relation to each other and in relation to the elements of land and water. The terms work in different ways depending on if they refer to land or water and that is what a big part of the project is about.