Too Cool for School!

I know it has been a while since we have shared more of our awesome Aussie adventures but... school... has... begun—queue the dreary & daunting music.

I’m just kidding! First off, school is pretty great. Only having to take two classes has been pretty awesome especially because we get to explore a little more of Australia each week. For us, a week of class begins on Wednesday morning at 930am where we take a 5 minute walk to the design building (building 7, as the Australians would title it), climb four flights of sideways and diagonal stairs (yes, they are very weird.. I will take a picture next time to show you) and enter the Landscape Architecture studio where both of our classes are held. Wednesdays we have our Landscape Systems class which is “a unit that addresses systems theory in relation to global issues of sustainability, climate change and urbanisation. [We will] learn how these challenges are incorporated into complex landscape planning and development processes. Government publications and legislation are interrogated to gain an understanding of the landscape planning and development process” (Landscape Systems Unit Outline). With a short lecture at the beginning of each class, we get a small break then start our tutorial that usually consists of an interesting activity to help us grasp concepts taught in lecture. In week one we were let out early but week two we started learning about what systems theory is and how we perceive it. The tutorial consisted of describing the system of air in the room. The outcomes were pretty unconventional and creative which made the class interesting. In week three we learned more about systems theory but in the context of time and space where Scott, our professor, lectured about aboriginal and ancestral calendars and what they used them to portray. While some are for farming, seasons of temperature, animal migrations, the sun and moon etc, we left the lecture only to begin our tutorial activity: to create our own calendar based on the city of Canberra. While most groups took the pictorial route of making a calendar, our group decided to focus on the sounds of Canberra and based our calendar on a song which I’m sure most of you are aware of... Lil’ John’s “Get Low”.

Our lovely Canberra calendar

While the actual music written out by our lovely and talented David Duhan totally made sense as sheet music, the notes don’t exactly follow the tune of the song but we sang it that way anyway. Basically, the notes and their arrangement are based on the temperatures of seasons starting from summer and moving into fall, winter and spring. The more concentrated the notes in each “season” are, the louder the season. Also, we were all so proud of the lyrics we presented it by singing in front of the class... go team!

After that fantastic tutorial we were given our first assignment based on what a city means to us. The assignment consisted of:

1.       Thinking of what a city means to us

2.       Comparing how we see a city to an actual photo, object or place

3.       Creating an abstract model based on step 1 and 2.

I’d have to say I didn’t particularly enjoy this assignment but the turnout by everyone was really fantastic!! Here are the models done by Me, Laura, Marina and Dave, enjoy!



from left to right - Mandy (New York Times Square), Laura (Plazas in Rome), Marina (Wellington, NZ) & Dave (Hamilton)

After the assignments were completed in week 4, we had to do a short presentation explaining our models which brings us up to this week where I’m sure something else will happen worthy of sharing.

Our second, and last day of classes is on Thursday and lasts from 930am to what seems like forever, but is really only 430pm. This class is Landscape Design Studio with Amanda Evans as our professor. Her teaching tactics seem to be pretty interesting so far, but that’s what we all signed up for by taking Landscape Architecture classes overseas... to see the difference of our profession in other countries. So far, it seems like abstract thinking is a huge part of learning the art of LA at UC. Our first (and giant might I add) assignment for design is a collection of drawings and mappings for the analysis of our future design site for an upcoming design competition. We were instructed to create 30 abstract and creative drawings based on the deconstructed landscape of Canberra and choose a minimum of 10 to maximum 15 drawings for the final part A of this assignment. I have to say, thinking abstractly is HARD, and I’m sure most of my fellow classmates agree, especially the Canadians! So far, I’ve got 10 and only really like 3... plus, I probably couldn’t explain them logically if I tried. I guess us Canadians (or probably just me) think too critically rather than abstractly about things. At times this project has been fun I admit... I feel like I’m in the 2^nd grade again using crayons and paint to express myself creatively. We all know colouring is my favourite part about Landscape design projects anyways so I might as well enjoy it! Projects aside, this class also involves fieldtrips, lots of them... but Laura will tell you about those later. While class continues, we’ll keep learning more about Landscape Architecture in Australia and it will add to our knowledge of the profession. So, because I have no more to tell you about school and also because I have more fun (not really) drawings to complete... I must finish this blog. Until next time...

Cheers!

Mandy