29 October 2013 Landscaping the long-weekend: Lincoln students put skills on display

Lincoln University’s Landscape Architecture students were out in force this long-weekend, displaying their creative attributes, design capabilities, and overall skills in maximising opportunities in urban planning and ecology, and creating sustainable communities.

The Re:Start Mall featured an  exhibition of 30 design projects by graduating students from Lincoln University’s Bachelor of Landscape Architecture programme. 

The Major Design project is the last significant piece of work the students’ submit as part of their four-year degree before becoming professionally accredited and starting their careers as landscape architects. It’s a culmination of all the skills they have acquired over the years and a final test of their credentials.

The projects explored design opportunities for real sites throughout the country: ten of them in Christchurch and Canterbury, with the remaining projects ranging from such sites as Invercargill’s CBD, Oamaru harbour, Blenheim’s town centre and the Auckland waterfront.

According to one of the student organisers, Carolyn Ramsbottom, a key objective of the exhibition is to help inform the public on the scope, influence and design opportunities that landscape architecture can bring.

“I think many people take the landscape for granted, but it plays an important part in their day to day lives. It’s concerned with developing living spaces, and with peoples’ social, economic and psychological needs. It’s really important for wellbeing and well-functioning communities. There’s a lot to consider in a design project,” says Carolyn.

Lincoln University’s second-year Bachelor of Landscape Architecture students were also contributing to the city this weekend through their contribution to the Festival of Transitional Architecture.

Private lives opened up post-earthquakes was the theme behind the students’ contribution which utilised some 400 metres of Avon River between Worcester and Cashel Streets for the exhibition.

“In many respects the earthquakes brought lives out into the open space. Buildings were opened up. People had to reveal themselves at some level. To represent this, we wanted to show a domestic setting that is not only fragmented, but very public,” says Bachelor of Landscape Architecture student, Rose Johnston, one of 35 participants in the project.

The exhibition involved three grass-covered rafts; one of which carried a dining room suite, another a living room suite, with the third carrying a bedroom suite.

The design also featured a series of model birds festooning the trees alongside the river to represent a desire to incorporate ecology into the rebuild in the interest of bringing birds back into the urban space.