A Landscape I can never get tired of...

I know I keep banging on about Australia (and I may be a little bias) but I never get tired of looking at the landscape that is Sydney.  One of the most beautiful places in the world.  I was fortunate enough to live in Sydney for over a decade, and this city still calls me back home.  This is landscape as beauty, inspiration, pride, icon, joy and hope.  If you haven't been there, get there!

RNA Showgrounds Transformation Begins

Pretty exciting stuff...especially as a Queenslander.  The RNA Showgrounds hold a special place in Brisbane's heart and it has been a white elephant for far too long!  Looking forward to seeing the development get started.  A new urban centre for an already beautiful city

Old Queensland Supreme Courthouse Redevelopment?

With the new Supreme Court opening at Queensland Place, this is a very exciting and important new site for the CBD of Brisbane.  Lets hope that the Government gets it right and doesn't rush into any 'Sir Joh' like development decisions!  

There is the potential to add something very special and unique to the city of Brisbane.  Fingers crossed. Very exciting times for Brisbane atm and I would love to be part of it all sometime in the future...

The below post was taken from www.brisbanedevelopment.com

Premier Anna Bligh today announced that the government will seek tenders to redevelop one of the most important CBD sites which will be left vacant from mid-next year. The old Supreme and District Courts will be moved to the new courthouse building at 419 George Street.

Impression of potential cultural node connection. Photo: Jesse Lockhart-Krause

The estimated $57.3 million proceeds from the sale of the site will be used to co-fund the Cairns Entertainment Precinct

The Premier described the deal as a “win win” for both cities.

“Cairns deserves a world class entertainment precinct to breathe new life into tourism in the region.

“But Brisbane gains as well.

“We will offer the Supreme Court building to the market for uses such as a luxury hotel site, office accommodation and retail and also seek expressions of interest for a privately owned and operated theatre as part of the complex.

“We will attach to the tender a proposal for a new inner city performance space that can be owned and run privately like so many theatres in Melbourne.

Concept mixed use development design

“The exact form that would take will depend on the market interest but this is an incredibly exciting prospect for Brisbane.” Ms Bligh said.

Now is the time to get it right, to build something bold, daring and controversial by nature. Buildings across the world are pieces of art, but also serve their purpose functionally. It is Brisbane’s turn to build something interesting.

Brisbane Ideas Competition entrant Jesse Lockhart-Krause proposed the idea of creating a new cultural node to complement the Cultural Centre across the river.

“Brisbane is Australia’s fastest growing city, with a population 2 million people. Oslo in Norway has a population of 1.5 million and has recently completed the Oslo Opera House, an architectural sensation.” 

The government’s step to blend together retail, hotel and a performance venue will no doubt create life and energy in a previously human-devoid site.

Images by Jesse Lockhart-Krause.

Impression of potential cultural node connection. Photo: Jesse Lockhart-Krause

Concept mixed use development design

Landscape as...life

Whilst I understand the need to catergorise the things we see around us, with today's knowledge, technology and access to instant information, I ask myself why does landscape need to be dissected and quartered into parts according to specific world views? 

I believe that landscape can be a mixture of all existing principles and theories, but I also believe the following:

I definitely do not see landscape as something to be viewed from afar.  Landscape is all around us, it's the space we inhabit.  We are participants and are constantly shaping the landscape around us.  This includes random events and acts as well as deliberate design intervention.  People are affecting landscape just by merely being within it. 

I see my role as a future Landscape Architect is to not only help shape the world in which we live but to also understand that we are all play an active role in this.  

Therefore, I hold the view that landscape is 'life' and we are totally immersed within it and  not viewing it from a distant platform.  To over catergorise it in such a way, in my mind, could lead to disconnecting ourselves from it.

Just a thought...