Composing from city soil
The ground with its subsoil is not an inert base for our constructions. On the contrary, it is alive and interacts as much with the atmosphere as with the “parental material” of the Earth. Recognized in its substance and in the static, biological and ecological risks that its incorrect use can cause, the soil thus proves to be an essential starting point for any virtuous approach to the project. Case studies in Geneva and Oslo illustrate a new analytical and conceptual philosophy for architecture, town planning and regional planning which thus generates practices in accordance with the urgency of the ecological transition.
Speakers
- Anne Marte AURE
Architect, researcher, ENSA Paris-Malaquais
The jungle under my house: The soil as the source of a new territorial approach on the Romerike plain, Norway
Over the last fifty years, the risks associated with soil conditions around the Norwegian capital have been underestimated and under-communicated. Such is the case of the vast clay plain outside Oslo, once under the sea level, where Norway’s main airport is now located. Although construction and excavation work in the marine clay is causing major landslides, the development of Romerike is accelerating in favour of economic development. This project aims to encourage a change of direction, to protect both humans and non-humans.
- Maëlle PROUST
Scientific assistant in the Landscape Architecture prorgamme at HEPIA Geneva
Living soils to maintain Geneva’s open, structuring landscapes
How can we rely on living soils (open land) to maintain landscapes (open, unbuilt and structuring) in Geneva urban planning?
This work is based on the hypothesis that the soil and its subsoil is more than just a volume on which to build, because it interacts as much with the atmosphere as with the Earth’s “parent material”. Revealing it will help us to (re)consider it as a surface with a depth that is full of meaning for more virtuous planning. Based on the observation that the soil is not adequately represented in the design disciplines, the aim is to highlight these invisible living landscapes, inhabited by non-human life forms and shaped by decades of urbanisation. Thus, a knowledge base is being built up through the creation of a mapping tool, using geomatics and 3D modelling software, and, above all, the possibility of land use planning in which the soil will regain its rightful place.
Respondent
Panos Mantziaras, architect-engineer, director of the Braillard Architectes Foundation
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