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....