This research is an investigation into the phrase 'landscape as infrastructure' and questions the influence of this notion in the design of new housing developments along the Maribyrnong River, Melbourne. The phrase lends itself to a systems based agenda because the word 'infrastructure' implies that it performs some kind of function. It is through this functioning that we can understand the way landscape acts as a stage for activities to occur, not just background to the object. The main question within the research is how landscape can precede housing development and set the parameters for its location, density, and relationship to the river. This is tested through four overriding themes which summarise the key ideas and methodologies for designing with landscape as infrastructure. The themes 'Catalyst', 'Time', 'Cause and Effect' and 'Experience' are tested on four different sites along the Maribyrnong River responding to different site conditions and the influence of geology and topography. The four sites have been named to reflect the primary function they perform within the overall strategy. To establish a framework for this discourse the research has been filtered through seven principals, originally developed by Stan Allen as a series of propositions for infrastructure. These principals question issues of force, process, typology, scale, invisible form, structure, function and change and visible form and set up a mechanism enabling me to challenge the notion of landscape as infrastructure. If the landscape is infrastructure then Allen's principals will also apply for the design of housing developments. This Appropriate Visual Record (AVR) is a selection of research material and design solutions developed over the last three years as part of the Research Masters Degree at RMIT.

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