In this research, I aim to investigate the interrelationships between people, architecture and the landscape, by asking the question "what is the architect's role in curating place'. The goal of this body of work is to challenge the role of the ‘architect' when working within the context of place. This research, and the design intervention developed a process that challenges the profession by asking: “Should an architect be solely the creator of place, or is the architect a curator of place? The research analyzes existing theories related to the definition and concept of place approached from a wide spectrum of professional expertise overtime to attempt to grasp human being's passion related to the dynamic topic of place. The intent is to create a framework for design that can be adopted, implemented and layered upon any place, to unearth, distill, and better understand its essence. The rural post-industrial landscape of Western Massachusetts specifically focused around the former paper mill village of Woronoco is the stage for this inquiry. place is anchored equally in the qualitative and quantitative forces that shape it and thus requires an attentive observer, a trained observer, but most importantly a local, inspired observer who is fundamentally attached to that place. As both a landscape architect and architect, I offer a heightened awareness of the patterns and processes or ecology of place especially concerning the occupation and physical impact of humans on the landscape through the built environment. The proposed design interventions will attempt to treat place as a living organism, one that is continuously changing and whose dynamics are interconnected and responsive to a broad range of forces that shape it. A place curation design approach has led me to offer a series of design interventions, and not a proposal for a single building. These interventions will not fulfill a single program or fulfill one specific functional purpose; it will not focus on creating a design typology or use a consistent design language or material palette. Instead, the design will introduce multiple architectonic interventions that are derived almost organically in the landscape, in a manner that will stimulate the continued use and engagement with this place. Human interaction, engagement and interpretation is the essential component to ensuring the longterm sustainability of place, allowing it to continuously evolve and be relevant to future generations.

Everyone wants to live in a healthy environment, an idea that has always been closely associated with the healthy landscape. Pretoria CBD is no longer a place that offers such a landscape; it is congested, fragmented and placeless. People move far and wide to get away from its hostile environments, chasing after the high gloss images of nature displayed on the billboards and posters of suburbia. They race to find a patch of land within the security complexes and estates of the east, all the while being savagely pursued by the evils of urban sprawl and decentralization. Surely there must be a way of addressing mans need and desire for landscape without perpetuating urban problems and destroying the very nature they strive for? In order to ensure a sustainable future for Pretoria needs to investigate new ways to deal with the urban problems of sprawl and decay. This thesis explores the potential of using landscape as the basis with which one can reorder and reconstruct the urban form in a way that will offer people the ideals they search within a sustainable urban environment. The investigation starts at a regional scale in order to holistically address urban issues and identify opportunities and then works its way across a range of scales down to detail design and place making. It looks new methods of constructing contemporary landscapes not by mere superimposition but by working with the current and historic urban fabric as well as the social, historical and environmental processes that have shaped it over time. It looks to the far from idyllic, yet brutally honest, post-industrial landscape of Pretoria West to construct hybrid landscapes. Arguing that if one were to genuinely offer people a healthy landscape, one they can experience and relate to, the might actually want to live in the city, in return awakening spontaneous urban renewal. / Dissertation (ML(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Architecture / unrestricted

Badhus – Industrilandskapet i Norrköping Norrköping har behov av ett nytt badhus. Centralt i staden, längs Motala ström, finns Industrilandskapet som till stor del består av kulturell och vetenskaplig verksamhet men har en lång historia av textilindustri. Det nya badhuset är placerat i detta område; på ett befintligt vattenkraftverk. Syftet med projektet är att tillvarata Industrilandskapets kontrastrika själ, förstärka de rum och potentiella mötesplatser som finns samt ge Norrköping en möjlighet till friskvård och sportutövande. Målet är att visa hur en ny byggnadskropp relaterar och anpassar sig till den kulturella, platsspecifika och historiska kontexten. Byggnaden intar formen av en rektangel som skjuter upp ur slänten, likt en bergsrygg som sluter platsen. Byggnadskroppen aktiverar befintliga kvalitéer såsom den gamla stenbelagda trappan i väster och universitetsparken vid vattnet i söder. Byggnadens norra sida syftar till att ta emot och avsluta rutnätstaden i skala och uttryck. Den södra sidan av byggnaden tillsluter och definierar strömrummet med sin långsträckta fasad. Byggnadens interiör vänder sig utåt mot strömrummet så att det inifrån skapas en öppenhet åt söder gör industrilandskapet till en del av byggnaden. På entrévåningen ligger bassängerna vars vattenytor är visuellt kopplade till Motala ström i flera nivåer. Sutterängplanet inhyser omklädningsrum, det befintliga kraftverket samt fysioterapiavdelning med motionssal. / Public Bath – The Industrial Landscape in Norrköping   Norrköping is in need of a new public bath. In the centre of the city, along Motala ström, the industrial landscape is located. This area hosts cultural and scientific activities but has a long history of textile industry. The new public bath is located in this area on an existing water power plant. The aim of the project is to maintain the contrasty soul, enhance the spaces and potential venues that already exist and give Norrköping a possibility for wellness and exercising. The goal is to show how a new building adjusts and relates to the site specific and historical context. The building is shaped as a rectangle rising from the slope. It activates existing qualities such as the old stone stairs in the west. The north side of the building aims to receive and end the grid city in scale and expression. The south side with the long façade defines the river space. The interior faces the river and creates openness towards the south. Thereby the industrial landscape becomes part of the building. The swimming pools are located on the entrance floor and the surfaces of the water are visually linked to the river. The changing rooms, the power plant and the physiotherapy are placed in the basement.

Representation, process, experience: (post)industrial landscape in anthropological-geographical perspective Abstract The main topic of the dissertation is the (post)industrial landscape of what is today the Czech Republic. In particular, the dissertation presents three case studies of three (post)industrial landscapes: that of Ostrava, Kladno and Most. The aim of the dissertation is twofold - thematic as well as theoretical. As far as the thematic focus of the dissertation goes, the author employs the concept of landscape as a prism through which it is possible to explore large societal shifts and changes as they are mirrored in landscape. The question is what has happened to industrial landscape after the fall of socialism and how industrial landscape has turned into what it is now. On the theoretical level, the (post)industrial landscape of contemporary Czechia is used as a means of exploring the complexity of the concept of landscape and developing a conceptualization of landscape that comes to terms with its complexity, ambiguity and elusiveness. In terms of theory, the dissertation engages with three ways of conceptualising landscape prevalent in contemporary anthropology and (new cultural) geography: landscape as representation, process and experience. To explore them in depth and reveal any...

Representation, process, experience: (post)industrial landscape in anthropological-geographical perspective Abstract The main topic of the dissertation is the (post)industrial landscape of what is today the Czech Republic. In particular, the dissertation presents three case studies of three (post)industrial landscapes: that of Ostrava, Kladno and Most. The aim of the dissertation is twofold - thematic as well as theoretical. As far as the thematic focus of the dissertation goes, the author employs the concept of landscape as a prism through which it is possible to explore large societal shifts and changes as they are mirrored in landscape. The question is what has happened to industrial landscape after the fall of socialism and how industrial landscape has turned into what it is now. On the theoretical level, the (post)industrial landscape of contemporary Czechia is used as a means of exploring the complexity of the concept of landscape and developing a conceptualization of landscape that comes to terms with its complexity, ambiguity and elusiveness. In terms of theory, the dissertation engages with three ways of conceptualising landscape prevalent in contemporary anthropology and (new cultural) geography: landscape as representation, process and experience. To explore them in depth and reveal any...

The proposal for place like the district of Poblenou is a great adventure. The blocks of the famous urban Plan Cerda closest inside in itself dramatic history of old industrial era, when they have called Barcelona " The Manchester Of Catalunya ". And here I ask myself the question. What does the word landscape in this environment? How to apply to old buildings and chimneys of the idea of the archetype of landscape? Is it just those elements that had nurtured almost all Catalunya? They can be roof now abandoned industrial buildings become something else? The new facade?A Sea? A Landscape ?

(in English): This thesis seeks to examine the state of the fine art in North Bohemia region at the turn of the 20th century. The period is dominated by romantic and realistic landscape art, which was also the domain of Fritz Gärtner. The thesis furthermore illuminates the life of German artists before and after the World War I in this region. The work focuses on Metznerbund group as it is considered the major movement among the German artists within the given period. Following chapters aim to illuminate the state of the fine art in North Bohemia region after the Second World War.The practical part of the thesis examines the life and work of a Sudeten German painter Fritz Gärtner: his early work from his hometown Ústí nad Labem, his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich and his first considerable exhibition named Arbeit (Labor). The research provides us with new findings that complement previous findings from my bachelor's thesis, which was focused on interpretation of selected Gärtners paintings, resulting in a complete monography of the Sudeten German painter. The research was based on secondary literature concerning the fine art in North Bohemia region and provides a broad scale of new facts about the artistic creation and life of painters within fine art associations in the 20th century.