DESIGN
Designing an informal landscape
OBJECT
20/04/19
EXPLANATION
​
For my detailing I focused on specifying the gabion. The idea is that these are filled by the locals when they design their own productive landscapes. Locals will fill them in with rubble and stuff they may find on the site. There would be two kinds: one working as a free standing element and another one for slope stabilization.
​
There will be water running through these gabions during heavy rain or flood episodes, during these sediment will be deposited in between the rocks and encouraging the growth of plants in it eventually. This creates this small scale landscape in between rocks that goes back to the idea of transforming inconvenient space and integrates both flows that define the slopes of Medellín, the city going up and the water going down.
REFLECTION
​
One of the things I wanted to achieve in my design is a landscape or public space that would replicate the behaviour of informal settlements. While I was not able to completely do this I decided to specify an element that could encourage this to happen. This would be the gabion.
​
I thought the gabion could be a good semi-flexible element that could be moved to a certain extent in order to adapt to what the locals need; from a bench, to a place to set up a shop, to a retention wall. Thus dynamifying the uses and potential of public space and of the participation of the community in it.
​
While I think this was a first good idea, it still has some issues (such as the weight), and there are a lot of things to be considered that I could have thought of and desgined but due to the time restrictions I was not able to do. However, this was a good first step for something I am really interested about, which is how to create informal landscapes or public spaces.
REFLECTION ON PRACTICE
​
Landscape is a dynamic element. This goes beyond seasonality or day and night uses. People’s perception, attachment, uses and needs change with time, and we should include this into our proposals, and encourage people to be the drivers for this change.