URBAN ARCHITECTURE ELECTIVE
(UN)CHARTED KOSOVO
Architecture Elective, Semester 2, 2008
RMIT Bachelor of Architectural Design
Suzannah Waldron, RMIT B.Arch (Hons), 2006
Nicholas Searle,
Practice Directors: Searle Waldron, Melbourne
Previous Practice: OMA

(UN)CHARTED KOSOVO
Urban Architecture Elective Pamphlet
(online issuu publication)

CIVIC VOIDS:
Cities targeted during the Kosovo conflict are ready for regeneration. What infrastructure do war torn cities need to sow the seeds of development and civic life? Arts / culture / sports / commerce / roads and rail transport at one extreme; tourism / oil pipelines and other resources / freight and freeways / foreign investment / military bases at the other.

CHARTING:
Investigate the socio-political-geographical by graphical means of expression. Communicate the maximum message through minimal means: diagrams / charts / images / words / phrases. Examining - Geography / History / War / Geopolitics / Infrastructure / Capital. Students will contribute a set number of pages of urban research to be compiled into a booklet of three parts. Urban research and design propositions from a continental to civic scale.

DESIGN-A-STATE:
Can a country be designed as a single urban concept? Kosovo is the world's newest nation. At 10,887 square kilometers, it is 1/4 the size of the Netherlands and 15 times the size of Singapore. What type of networked urbanism would suit a country of this size? Is it heavily centralised such as France or the UK with magnetic centres of Paris and London? A constellation of cities like the Ruhr region? Dispersed sub-cities of Switzerland? Or a borderless Schengen connecting regional capitals?

NETWORKED URBANISM:
Post WWII regeneration developed the centre-less suburban city. Post war regeneration of Kosovo requires a different kind of urban mediation; intervention of the city centre and connection to the wider of network of cities / neighbouring regions + Europe. Development at breakneck speed in the wake of massive economic growth has been the focus of urbanism in the last ten years. However there are other models of urban regulation such as the adjunct cities of Morocco, edge city of the Netherlands and the city state of Singapore.

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RELATED COMPETITION WINNING PROJECT:


INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION WINNING ENTRY
Suzannah Waldron, RMIT B.Arch (Hons), 2006
Nicholas Searle
Practice Directors: Searle Waldron, Melbourne
Previous Practice: OMA
IN>CREASE
Winners:
International Competition of the Mobility Center Ferizaj/Urosevac, Kosovo
May 2008
UN-Habitat Kosovo: United Nations Human Settlements Programme
Announcement of the competition winners

ARTICLE
Bustler.net: article on the competition winners

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ABOUT THE COMPETITION

The Design Competition was set up as one of the six Demo–Projects of the Municipal Spatial Support Programme (MuSPP) for collecting creative ideas to turn a city vision into action. This Demo-project is a joint initiative and co-funded by the Municipality of Ferizaj/Urosevac and UN-HABITAT-MuSPP (sponsored by Sida). The International Spatial Design Competition for the Mobility Centre Project is aimed at retrieving creative ideas from spatial and urban designers all over the world. The competition was successful as it attracted 43 entries from 22 countries. The Mobility Centre Project in Ferizaj/Urosevac aims at integrating all urban transport modes into one central hub, which should become a catalyst for the overall regeneration of the urban centre.


Competition project area


ARTICLE
Arkitera.com article describing the competition brief

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OTHER RELATED PROJECTS:

                 

RECENT GRADUATE SUZANNAH WALDRON HAS REWORKED HER RMIT ARCHITECTURE UNDERGRADUATE DESIGN THESIS MAJOR PROJECT AS A FIRST ROUND WINNING ENTRY FOR MOCAPE-SHENZHEN MUSEUM INTERNATIONAL DESIGN COMPETITION, CHINA


INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION WINNING ENTRY
VOLUME UP
Suzannah Waldron, RMIT B.Arch (Hons), 2006
Nicholas Searle
Practice Directors: Searle Waldron, Melbourne
Previous Practice: OMA
First Round Winner
Mocape-Shenzen International Museum of Contemporary Art &
Architectural Planning Exhibition, Shenzen Competition,
July 2007

This winning competition entry reworked the Australian Network for Art and Technology project, the RMIT Architecture Major Project Design Thesis by final year student Suzannah Waldron, undertaken in Semester 2, 2006 and supervised by Brent Allpress.


Related undergraduate Major Project:


DESIGN THESIS MAJOR PROJECT
AUSTRALIAN NETWORK FOR ART AND TECHNOLOGY
Suzannah Waldron, RMIT Bachelor of Architecture, 2006
RMIT Architecture Major Project Design Thesis, Semester 2, 2006
Supervisor: Brent Allpress


EXHIBITION
Suzannah Waldron, RMIT B.Arch (Hons), 2006
Practice Director: Searle Waldron, Melbourne, with Nicholas Searle
Previous Practice: OMA
Do Not Crop
Annual Graduate Exhibition
ShowBox Gallery
National Design Centre
Federation Square
5-27 June 2008
What does a designer’s world look like?  The National Design Centre’s exhibition Do Not Crop showcases the work of design graduates of all disciplines from 2006 and 2007, highlighting the work they have produced since completing their studies.


PUBLICATION
Suzannah Waldron
"AUSTRALIAN NETWORK FOR ART AND TECHNOLOGY"
in Para: RMIT Architecture Thesis Projects 2006-2007, Ed Leanne Zilka, Melbourne: RMIT School of Architecture & Design, 2008, pp 14-15

Brent Allpress, Supervisors Notes, in Para: RMIT Architecture Thesis Projects 2006-2007, Ed Leanne Zilka, Melbourne: RMIT School of Architecture & Design, 2008, pp 10-11

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