RePost (Regarding Exhibition Publication Opportunities) features ongoing work by Waterloo Architecture students, faculty, and alumni that has been exhibited, published, or presented in other venues. We welcome submissions at submit@waterlooarchitecture.com.
This hanging garden project by UWSA students was published in an issue of the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects’ professional publication, Ground, which discussed the theme of the Micro. The project was described in an article entitled “Tactical Urbanism: Big Little Things” and was the first project by UWSA students to be featured in this publication. The installation was realized by Andrew Brown, Callan Wilson-Delafield, Dustin Parkes, Fraser Plaxton, Karine Quigley, Qinyu Lu, and Simeon River from the undergraduate class of 2013. Take a look at the full OALA Ground publication here.
(The idea is a simple one: do something with what you have access to and create a change.)
On a summer morning in Cambridge, a group of architecture students from the University of Waterloo decided to do just that. They covertly lowered a series of planters over a floodwall, a gesture of reconnecting the city to the Grand River. Rather than going through official permits, the project flew under the radar. “Our approach is absolutely guerrilla,” said Simeon Rivier, one of the team members. “We prefer to operate in the shadows; our installations are often meant to supplement the official program.” The hanging plants were installed in just 90 minutes. “That installation process was part of the design from day one,” says Rivier. “There is much attention and money being spent in revitalizing this historic portion of the city, but the river remains fortified and unnatural. We recognized this and seized the opportunity to soften the harsh environment created by the flood wall.” Within days they noticed children playing on a wooden bench below the hanging garden—a sight that would not have made sense when it was still a barren fortification.
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