Verdant was a speculative Urban Planning project carried out during my Masters of Architecture (MOA) degree. The aim of the project was to assess the community of Carrington in Newcastle, and pitch an urban planning concept that would manifest over the next several years in order to help transition Newcastle from a blue collar community into a new community of tomorrow.
VERDANT
ˈvəːd(ə)nt/
adjective
(of countryside) green with grass or other rich vegetation.
"verdant valleys"
synonyms:green, leafy, grassy, grass-covered; More
of the bright green colour of lush grass.
"a deep, verdant green"
CONCEPT & PROPOSAL
The concept of Verdant was to focus on community health, safety and general wellbeing, where the method of achieving this goal was to slow down the pace of the area and provide green spaces to encourage outdoor and active living. The key stages of this urban renewal project were to introduce a light rail public transport system, remove 90% of the roads and create public green spaces to be occupied by the community that would require evaluating the flood zones and redirecting their travel to allow the green spaces to grow and thrive.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Verdant was a great project to be apart of, a group project that saw 4 students come together and use each of their strengths to create an optimistic and organic solution to an impending problem.
This project required the group to think about Urban Planning and Architecture on a much grander scale, more than we had done in previous projects. This type of project challenged us to start thinking about Architecture, Planning and Conceptual Ideas on a fourth dimensional plane, how the designs would be received 20 years into the future. Forward planning on ideas such as how the green spaces would be naturally watered was a concept that I had initially overlooked, but following this project, this type of critical thinking is a key design technique that is always at the top of my list.