a coal trip of mine....

The last of the 3 large open-cut coal mines in the LaTrobe Valley, I visited on Friday - Hazelwood.

This has most recently been in the news as the OC sits adjacent to the Princes Highway which is currently closed due to signs of land subsidence. Due to the amount of rain in the area this year, the ground is saturated  which can cause some instability. 

This poses the question of how close should the 'cut'  be to infrastructure?

Why is the main highway situated so close to the OC and what can (if anything) be done to stabilise the area to avoid major catastrophe?

 

Water from underground aquifers beneath the open-cut is processed and cooled in some ponds near the bottom of the open-cut (120m depth)

Earth works to remove topsoil from one location to cap over burden dumps for rehabilitation + revegetation.

Creek diversion designed in snake bends to slow water movement

Overburden at the top of the coal seam

At the bottom of the open-cut ponds collecting the water which naturally drain into the pit. There are 3 large ponds whose water is used for fire and dust suppression.

The teeth marks from the bucket-wheel excavator 

 

 A little more about processes...

Now is matter of devising all the closure scenarios, what forms new programs start to create and how these uses of the landscape are integrated sequentially. Any suggestions welcome...

what's MINE is yours...

Research question 003 (or 004):

Disrupted Strata

Investigating motility of open cut coal mines in the LaTrobe Valley to propose closure outcomes that are of equal or greater value ecologically and for the community, to pre-mining land use.

The current question is still vague. I need to work out 'what can I do as a Landscape Architect that is unique and evolutionary to current practise, to design a landscape that is both 'beautiful' and 'practical'.

Here's some quotes from 'architect' Peter Zumthor, that appeal in my quest to defining my own approach and style to landscape architecture.

"I think the chance of finding beauty is higher if you don't work on it directly," Zumthor has said in describing his philosophy. "Beauty in architecture is driven by practicality. [..] If you do what you should, then at the end there is something, which you can't explain maybe, but if you are lucky, it has to do with life."

(From 'The Ascension of Peter Zumthor - NYTimes)

I think he is describing here a certain intuition in what appeals to him aesthetically or experientially, which is 'carved' out by construction, a slow undressing of possibilities built up by interweaving material and use.

Here's an exceptionally beautiful project in Norway - a pathway allowing access and views of the Trollstigen plateau. If only this were 'mine'.

http://www.landezine.com/index.php/2010/10/trollstigplataet/

I've been thinking of mines every waking moment lately. 
Here's a reflection of my dream state too....
 

Another week, another 420,000tonnes of coal and more space to fill....

I've been looking at 1 open cut mine (Loy Yang) and trying to figure out whether to concentrate on 1 mine or all 3 open cuts within the LaTrobe Valley. Investigating the operations within 1 mine to draw out some closure design proposals is proving difficult, especially given the amount of information there is to read through. Many parameters have been discovered, namely operational process and financing rehabilitation. 

So I have decided to side step and investigate another open cut mine to consider alternatives to operations.
Driving through the Yallourn mine was a different spatial experience to Loy Yang. It is a much older mine with an internal overburden dump (like a moonscape) and grand land reformation to divert water courses. Traversing some sections of the mine, it was hard to believe you were in a mine with sheep contently grazing and much re-vegetation established. It is amazing of the reformation that can occur over time.

The Age - Yallourn landslip

Smec - Morwell River diversion

 RTL construction

Binary outcomes - how do I design to accommodate multi-programming with limited gestures?

Closure outcomes for the open-cut mines and overburden are likely to incorporate a patchwork of end-use programs. Rather than design for each given scenario, I have drawn up a diagram for possible programs to connect with required closure practise. These connections suggest a binary in which more than one program can be indicated within a given space.
There were diagrams and then drawings of diagrams of precedents studied. The only escape from this graphic banality was to produce snap shots of the fusion.

These programs could next be configured within one mine site and 'refused' to address the question 'what scale of gesture is required to render the intended end use'? Alternatively these scenarios could be played out across the broader region to question how the area might  work as a whole, rather than segmenting closure by land owner.

Keep scrolling past the words and arrows - some 'designs' are below!