Manchester School of Art MA Show 2012
Fri September 28 - Fri October 05
An exhibition of work by Art, Design, Media & Architecture postgraduate students
Zoe Mason
Following research in an earlier project into the decline of the butterfly population and the importance of urban habitats, Zoe has been studying the function of biodiversity in urban areas, the impact of urbanisation on biodiversity and ways to design cities compatibly.
While Sustainability is becoming increasingly integrated in Architecture and planning, biodiversity is given very little attention, despite the numerous government policies and local council strategies, which indicate bioregionalism and increasing awareness are the main priorities.
The aim of the research has to been to establish how architecture and urbanism can enhance biodiversity as well as our understanding of the natural world; resulting in a design concept for an alternative 'Irwell River Park'; considered in terms of the opportunities presented by its connection to the 'Croal Irwell Valley', a proposed Regional Park.
The aim was to create a Masterplan for a unified park, which could provide habitats for local target species, as well as creating a recreation and cultural destination park serving existing and proposed communities and tourists. The Masterplan has been considered in terms of four themes; biodiversity, connectivity, leisure and identity; and expressed as a series of indicative schemes for vacant sites on the waterfront.
