DESIGN RESEARCH

BIOCITY STUDIO

Biocity Studio is a self funded internal Research and Development unit designed to facilitate academic research and foster dialogue in landscape architecture, urban design and the environment. 
The first project resulting from the studio was a design elective in July 2007 through the Landscape Architecture programme at the University of New South Wales’ Faculty of the Built Environment.  The project is unique in that it was proposed, designed and delivered by a private landscape architecture company in partnership with the University of NSW. 

Landscape Principles in Practice:

• Value Our Landscape: Students were required to analyse a range of macro environmental urban processes in relation to the city of Sydney – including water/wastewater, energy, emissions/pollution, food/agriculture, shelter/built form, transport, garbage/waste/recycling, chemicals, biodiversity and governance - and the relationship of these factors to the city’s development, resilience and limitations. Students were also required to analyse relevant government frameworks with regard to these processes and to investigate proposed developments and future initiatives as well as weaknesses or flaws in current planning instruments.
• Protect – Enhance – Regenerate:  A series of hypothetical crisis scenarios were developed which impacted on selected urban processes, exposing weaknesses within the city’s existing infrastructure networks under climate change and peak oil scenarios.  Students were required to develop a series of solutions to prevent or minimise the crisis impacts by modifying the chosen infrastructure processes.  Decision-making hierarchies were established to protect, enhance and regenerate landscape performance in order to support the social, economic and environmental functionality of the city.  Solutions varied from short-term decision-making recommendations through to staged, long-term policy ideas.
• Design with Respect: The crises, either short-term events or longer term changes, presented potential real-life scenarios and tested Sydney’s resiliency to such possibilities.  This enabled students to transfer design theory directly into their immediate environment, and gain an understanding of the value and consequences of adaptive planning and design in the face of issues such as climate change. 
• Design for the Future:  The studio resulted in a number of presentations that outlined potential issues our city faces and clear, logical and justified solutions to minimising or preventing them.  The outcome of these presentations and research is a set of documents that can be distributed to a number of government agencies and other academic institutions, clearly outlining potential or realised flaws in current systems and solutions that could be explored in greater depth to improve their efficiency or sustainability.
• Embrace Responsive Design:  The Biocity studio acknowledges the role of ongoing research within landscape architecture and the potential it has to facilitate evolving design and policy ideas.  As a profession, Landscape Architects have the depth of knowledge and technical skills to be at the forefront of major decisions facing our cities in the coming decades.  This type of studio allows students to develop an appreciation for strategic research as justification for large scale policy and design in the face of a changing global environment – a vital process in shaping and informing their future as professionals.

 

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