La Machina di Natura

The final year studio, co-run by Chares Anderson and Cath Stutterheim, approaches the Catchment of Melbourne as a medium to explore urban design possibilities that will arise in both the anticipated era of climate change and the westward extension of Melbourne. The studio extends earlier investigations done by Studio 8s and Vertical Studios, in that it invites consideration and formal resolution to issues of water types typical to urban situations. Heretofore, the specific attributes of these types have been largely unrecognized, tending to be dealt with in an undifferentiated manner: Increasingly, pressing climatic and economic factors are driving invention of more sophisticated techniques that recognize needs and possibilities related to maximizing the efficient management of each water type. The studio ‘site’ encompasses the entire catchment in so far as required for a general understanding of how the mechanisms inherent in water’s extremely specific nature shaped the precondition of this environment and this city - its placement, its cultural and physical development. There are opportunities to investigate a facet or subsets of this catchment condition, against the City’s unfolding Westward self; at the confluence of the Yarra River system; and Moonee Ponds Creeks valley in the Docklands. This confluence exemplifies the complex set of conditions typical of those confronting Landscape Architects professionally and academically, and brought together here, invite a strong and clear design response, in an urban environment in need of fresh approaches. It is intended that the design process will provide suggestive material that will invite and drive inventive outcomes.