GRAND OUTDOORS
23 Sep 2012
One of the outstanding features at the Melbourne Grand Designs Show was five direct landscape concepts created by the Landscape Design students of RMIT.
We know that a grand design doesn't stop at your front door. The best homes link indoors and outdoors so that you can make the most of your space.
Grand Designs Live featured everything you need to give your garden a new look. Within the Grand Outdoors Zone there was something to suit all tastes and budgets whether you have a compact courtyard or a rambling country retreat.
One of the outstanding features at the Melbourne Show within the Grand Outdoors zone was five direct landscape concepts created by the Landscape Design students of RMIT. Charlie Albone from Selling Homes Australia, Peter Maddison from Grand Designs Australia and Kate St James, Managing Editor at Universal Magazines, judged the landscape concepts.
The challenge set was to create a set of 1:1 installations that celebrate and challenge innovative Landscape Architectural Design. The full brief given to the students can be found here.
The judges were extremely impressed by all the students’ work and it was a very difficult choice. After the show, we spoke to Kate St James to get the inside scoop from the judges.
“We made our final decision based on the user-friendliness of the ‘branches’ installation; the fact that you could walk inside and around it and even sit in it. We could imagine having a picnic with a group of friends inside,” Kate revealed.
“We also liked the way lighting had been integrated into the design giving it a day and night application. We felt that it represented a truly organic form that looked as though it literally grew out of the ground.”
Here’s what the winning team had to say about their design:
“4Tx is a design that creates multi-spaced installation inspired by the fractal/branching pattern found within nature. Through the construction, structure, ecology and performance, the design aims to replicate Landscape Architecture as it is a dynamic discourse that can contain multiple outcomes and directions. This relates to the design as it can be put in a number of varying ways and has a dynamic relationship with the form, lighting and planting.
“Through looking at different natures such as the natural system, geometry, matter, fabrication and performance the fractal/ branching pattern was further explored to create the best possible outcome for the Grand Designs Exhibition. With the added layer of a chosen plant type, geophytes (succulents), the design had to incorporate a spatial and ecological quality.
“The final outcome aims to create 2 types of human interaction, a façade which lures people towards the structure and an internal experience that resembles the natural fractal system of a tree canopy in areas. The form all comes from a central point and in some parts becomes quiet dense. These areas with added lighting will contain the environment for the plants, as growth is enabled due to this lighting condition. The ‘Grand’ scale of the structure also allows for people to circulate around the central structure and experience the different densities create via planting and the form.”
The “4Tx Fractal-Branching System Within Nature” team consisted of Nathan Down, Kathryn FitzGibbon, Sarah Lerm and Nicole Cavanagh.
Images from top:
The winning students with their installation and the judges; an aerial view rendering of the proposed designs; the finished installations; the judges hanging out; all the students with the judges.