3. President's Lunch

Dr Jane Tarran was the guest presenter at the first of this year's President's lunches. Jane presented a positively framed discussion on the potential for Landscape Architects to take a lead in designing for Climate Adaptation.

Jane also described what she and others have been doing at a national level - in setting the framework for developing education modules which will be delivered in 2010-2011 to our membership through the NSW AILA.

There was a lot of discussion on the need for Landscape Architects to have a mechanism to quantify the value of landscape - particularly where we have a 'double bonus strategy' potential - such as increased tree planting which provides greater shade, thereby combatting Urban Heat Island Effect, as well as providing a carbon sink. The sooner that we have a mechanism to evaluate and quantify the benefits of landscape the sooner that we can bind our professional expertise into planning policies alongside more easily quantified areas.

An example of where there will be more discussion around this in the future - see below.

5. Ingrid Mather – PRECINX

Ingrid Mather from JMD Design recently attended the launch of Landcom's PRECINX tool, and she has written a summary of how the new tool plans to address the sustainable design of sub divisions - though as Ingrid notes there are no aspects of PRECINX that promote the use of trees or landscape elements to improve sustainability. The reason for this omission is, in significant part, the lack of scientifically verified data on the measurable environmental benefits of trees or other landscape components in a development.

Refer to this link for more (pdf).

4. Chilean Landscape Architects to Lunch

Carla Ruttimann and Cecilia Rencoret were guests of AILA NSW for an informal lunch. Carla is the president of the Chilean Institute of LA and was in Australia to present the recent work of Chilean Landscape Architects. Carla talked about the idea of change in the Chilean landscape particularly in the wake of the recent earthquake which devastated a large part of the country.

Carla presented a book of contemporary Chilean projects- which reveal some exemplary projects set in a rugged landscape with many similarities to our coastal pacific landscape.

The next IFLA conference is to be held in Santiago, Chile, in September this year - See http://www.ichap.cl/conference/ for more information.

6. Barangaroo

Following the public debate and commentary on the competitive bid scheme for stage 1 of Barangaroo - there were presentations to the AIA by the Barangaroo Delivery Authority, Lend Lease (the successful proponents for stage 1 of the Barangaroo site) and members of the design team.

The AILA has called for a similar presentation to be held for our membership so that the membership is informed of the status of the project - both in terms of design and process.

As my Studio is one of the two landscape architectural practices (ASPECT Studios + OCULUS) who have been involved in the Lend Lease competition scheme, my role on this in terms of comment from AILA is conflicted.

The NSW Executive however is working with the National Council to address any comments which come from the membership. AILA NSW will advise when the presentation is to be held. Additionally, it was recently announced that Peter Walker and Johnson Pilton Walker were awarded the commission to lead the design and delivery of the Barangaroo headland and Public Realm.

7. Meeting of the State Presidents

8. Sea Change 2030+ Competition

We are extremely excited about the imminent launch of AILA's International Design Ideas Competition - Sea Change 2030+ . The competition, which has gathered overwhelming partnership support, will focus on Sydney Harbour as a site to imagine positive solutions to adapt to sea level rise through Climate Change.

The competition launch - on the 19th of April - has been preceded with an advertisement and call for interest as well as an article by Stewart McKenzie on Sydney Harbour in the latest TOPOS international Journal of Landscape Urbanism.

To date, the competition organising team – David Martin, Adrian McGregor, Sacha Coles, Vikram Mukerjee and Christina Bunbury - have had great success in organising sponsorship and support from the following organisations;

Platinum Sponsor ($30K) AILA NSW

Gold Sponsors ($15k) NSW Dept Climate Change, Environment & Water NSW, Dept of Planning

Silver Sponsors ($5K) Barangaroo Delivery Authority, Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority, Sydney Metropolitan Catchment Management Authority

Supporters Australian Institute of Architects, Australian Green Infrastructure Council, CSIRO Sustainable Cities and Coasts Climate Adaptation Flagship, NSW Government Architect’s Office, Local Government & Shires Association (NSW), Sydney City Council, Sydney Coastal Councils Group,

Competition Friends, Media and international Bangladesh Environment Network, ‘TOPOS’ international journal of landscape urbanism (Germany), University New South Wales, Faculty of the Built Environment, Victoria University Wellington, New Zealand

The competition will be Launched on the 19th of April - with Entries Closing on the 30th of June.

Judging will take place on the 19th and 20th of July 2010- with a major event and announcement of the winner on the 22nd of July 2010.

We look forward to your entry!

Hope to see you at one of the next AILA NSW events.

Sacha Coles,
AILA NSW President.