Masterproef
Academiejaar 2019-20, Gent
Promotor Erik Van Daele
City, water, land
Master dissertation KU Leuven 2019-20 Campus Sint-Lucas Brussels
THEME
Worldwide we are facing a water challenge due to climate change. In Flanders winters will be extremely wet, while summers will be dry with peak rainfalls. Therefore we need to imagine a new water management that will buffer, infiltrate and re-use winter water and capture summer water overloads. Where current research is focused on technical aspects and on the regional scale; we will explore the spatial impact of water management on the small and intermediate scale both in architecture as in new collective spaces.
We will tackle the alleged conflict urbanity, water, landscape by exploring the Heule creek at the northern edge of Kortrijk. The creek runs in-between seeming collisions of dens and dispersed fragments of city and land.
Characteristic to a dispersed context, the Heule creek is not a coherent landscape figure but an addition of sequences. How can these spatial and programmatic differences reinforce the quality and the dialogue between city and land on different scale levels?
As a result the studio will work as one group to imagine the Heule creek as a backbone. But the focus will be on the individual projects introducing new types and dialogues between residential areas, industry, agriculture, collective spaces, recreation etc and the creek. As the water impact is a very technical issue we will evaluate the existing analysis, strategies and plans for the creek on the regional scale and use them to concentrate on the small scale architectural and landscape dialogues between city, water, land.
COLLABORATIONS
The studio will be engaged in different ongoing projects and researches.
The studio relates to the All city All Land research cell –part of the research group urban projects, collective spaces and local identities- exploring the potentials and qualities of dispersion http://www.collectivespaces-kuleuven.be/ .
We will be supported technically and on regional aspects by the inter-communal association Leidal.
We will be part of the 2020 project Espace Blue ( a new water park) of the Eurometropole, a transnational association in the south of Flanders, the west of Wallonia and the North of France.
OUT PUT
The objective is to suggest, by design, spatial interventions of built figures, landscapes and collective spaces in order to get the espace blue on the agenda of the manifestation Lille 2020 world capital of design. In that respect the euro metropole plans to launch a student competition of which some elements will be realised in the summer of 2020. The out-put of the studio will prepare this competition by means of
A reflection on the regional scale
A detailed project, both architectural as landscape
Illustrated in 4 posters, a reflection note, models ( both in group as individual) and a ppt.