McCahon history

In an effort to produce something visual to link the history with future projections.... 

A history of the LaTrobe Valley from Kauri forest, swamp, pastoral, mining, industrial and reclaimed landscape - in McCahonist style.

Landscape - painted

6Days in Nelson & Canterbury by Colin McCahon, 1963

I stumbled upon this painting whilst quickly looking for a precedent. Its by a New Zealand artist that I'm familiar with since studying it in high school and recognise the locality from which it is supposedly painted, like many rural landscapes in NZ. Now it seems to have more significance in how it speaks to the audience, its reported scheduling and the framing of a landscape that is much the same but different. Also I love the colour and tonality - its dark but light and flat but has form.

Will the current mining process be affected if overburden placement is determined by proposed closure programs?

From the follie-making process in relation to my design research I configured a hierarchy in the closure and reformation design proposals: Process - Formation - Program - Aesthetic.
The task set was to determine what happens to closure scenarios when:
1.    Design how and where Overburden is going to be moved based on its end formation
2.     Design how and where Overburden is going to be moved based on set closure programs
Will current mining processes be affected if closure scenarios are designed rather then continuing with the current practise.
I propose that they would, however how is not known.

It was difficult to propose form on a site that is so vast and has many different programs operating in it already. Processes, whether ecological or operational to the power plants, occur from the macro to the micro.
At which scale do I investigate in order to reach beyond the current programs?

I found that I was not designing but investigating constraints. Some of these design inhibitors included:
- The overlapping of different programs at one time
- Scale! View vs program vs human scale
- Looking at the whole landscape rather than segmenting into Open Cut, or Over-Burden, or Power Plant, or water bodies
- Volume of material being moved. How do I measure this?
- Closure scenarios are vague and propositions could include an extension to the open cut rather than closure

Also I had thoughts on what it was that I was trying to design?
Based on the hierarchy that I have set out: Process - Formation - Program - Aesthetic; the latter is the only one I was not directly trying to test. Through drawing, I felt that I was trying to achieve a particular aesthetic essence.
Is the aesthetic a product of the program/process or can it be designed as a key objective?

The project is very open right now. In order to start designing I need to determine ‘what is my site?’ and ‘what programs will closure enable?’. This should then allow scalable scenarios to be worked on.

de Mega Bucket Wheel excavator

Mega-bucket wheel excavator

Post Industrial Landscape

Are we drawn to a post-industrial landscape? Does it highlight the 'natural' surrounds? 

Does it evoke us to explore or play? 

Does the scale ground or heighten our sense of being?

I am not sure how I feel about the remnants of industry. It is foreign to the places I seek to be in, yet it is never too far from where I am. Perhaps all this time I have been trying to look past it rather than explore its design potential.

Here's some interesting projects I found.

Conveyor bridge Lichterfeld-Schacksdorf http://www.iba-see2010.de/en/projekte/projekt3

IBA Emscher Park - Slab for the Ruhl

IBA - Welzow 'Landscape made from a giant's hand'

Duisburg Nord Landscape Park

Research Question: Attempt 3



Questions and statements can evoke many reactions and false perspectives. What has this iteration conjured up?



Weekend workshop 11-13 March

The weekend was spent at a workshop camp in Anglesea on the Great Ocean Road. Time was spend considering the process and formation of mine overburden, through the act of making several follies. See below for further details of this exploration.



The act of making follies led to consideration of the heirachy of land reformation.



Just after sun rise outside the cabins



A little bug I found in the morning near the cabins

Methodology model

This model has been constructed to represent my proposed methodology of my design research. 'The Landscape of Man' (book title) has been interrupted by cutting out the open cut mine form. This illustrates the the effect an Open Cut has on the landscape in terms of its scale, making it difficult to read or see beyond it.

I 'dig' into the book, moving through the layers of my methodology to reveal  the different programs dictating the form (underlying pages with different topics), until I get to the 'bottom' and 'find' the closing form. Conversely, what knowledge I pull out of these layers creates a new form.

Like mining, this model is about extracting and forming, with the tools or machinery used determining the form which the OC or project take on.

This model is also very constrained which my project at some stage is likely not to be. Like the pages in this book between the topics, what I find along the way might be more interesting and produce more knowledge (hopefully), than the current prescription.

Site visit - Loy Yang

On Friday I drove up the Princes free-way to Loy Yang. The surrounding area is lush pasture on gentle rolling hills - very much the picturesque scene. That is until you get to the top of a hill and see the power station hungrily pulling at its surrounds.
I am awe-struck by the scale of the plant and wonder what have I got myself into to tackle such a monster of a site and this is only part 1 of 3 stations. The road takes you between the plant and its massive cooling towers. Its quite a surreal scene, foreboding when its first captured - something not to forget upon numerous visits when I become accustomed to it.
The power station is dwarfed by the depth and breadth of the open cut mine, which is viewed on the left of the plant as you drive into it.
The environmental officers showed me around the site and discussed the current procedures and plans. They were very generous with their time. Site access required an induction session and test on plant safety and evacuation
After I headed into Traralgon for a much needed lunch (shame the cafe prices were much like Melbourne - I was hoping for 'country-town' prices and portions), and discovered a great shoe shop to my surprise.

Dredgers working the OC and loading the conveyors

Retention pond in the OC which is continuously pumped out

I love this pic! The dredger peeks above the OC across the fields

Stackers loading the over-burden onto conveyor

Distributing the over burden ash layer

Over burden  mound being graded

Design research methodology



Proposed methodology of my design research project proposal.

The first thing to get started on is to put the project in context in terms of open cut mines in Australia

and other rehabilitation/reclamation precedents to refer to. Commonalities will be sought on site visits

to the Power Stations and hopefully this will also provide mapping of the area.



Link to projects

I just received some 'choice' books today. Informative articles projects undertaking and how we view rehabilitation and reclamation. (What is the difference?)
Designing the Reclaimed Landscape (Edited by Alan Berger)
Reclaiming the American West (Aland Berger)
Taking Measures Across the American Landscape (James Corner & Alex s. MacLean)

Landscape Architect, Assoc. Professor and Author Alan Berger heads a research facility P-REX (The Project for Reclamation Excellence)

Starting somewhere

My design research begins....

The following title and question try to frame the design research interest and attention. This is likely to be refined many times over during the course of the next 34weeks.

Scarred land:
Re-designing how open-cut mines in Australia are restored for public use
 
What scale and type of gesture is required in a landscape to render it desirable?
This is to be tested in a case study of open-cut mines in Australia; landscape that could be considered ‘undesirable’. The degree of barrenness and scale of these pits limit the regenerative possibilities, leaving a big black hole where unimaginative solutions have been sought. 

How then can these mines relinquished?

There are three large open cut brown coal mines in the Latrobe Valley of Victoria, Australia. These all or at least one of these OC's (Open Cuts) will be my study area. Not only does the 'site' of investigation include the OC but also the overburden areas, cooling ponds, large power stations, other infrastructure and the community which supports the industry.

The 'Sublime' & the 'Picturesque' - photo collage



Punte Pita link

  Here's some precedents that I'm liking...




L’Vall de Joan Landfill, Barcelona
by Batlle & Roig Architects
2002-10

 

Redesign of the Roman Quarry disposed Opera Festivals, St Margarethen, Austria
by AllesWirdGut Architektur
2005-2006



What is next?

• Working out my research methodologies, mapping and modelling these
• Site visit