Urban Rewilding Design Charrette MAR 1-3

Urban Rewilding Design Charrette MAR 1-3

What is a 'design charrette'?

A 'charrette', sometimes called a design charrette, is an intense period of design or planning activity and could be compared to a workshop or group collaboration. 



I completed my first design charrette last week on the topic of urban rewilding, working with other students and lecturers from all year groups across three intense days in the studio!

Here are some of my thoughts and take-aways from the session in self-reflection of what it was like...

DAY 1 - intro + launch of project + 2 international talks 

DAY 2 - design development + talks

DAY 3 - presentation of design project + review

Here are a few notes I took in my sketchbook on the various talks which were all very informative and aided the design process immensely. I particularly liked how short and concise they were so all the necessary information could be gleaned quickly and be applied within our group discussions. I'd say the biggest draw of doing something like this is the fact that you get to work with different students who you wouldn't normally interact with and so people bring unique skills and knowledge to the table.  





So I was a part of the 'INTENSIVE' rewilding group which we defined as maximising biodiversity, creating new habitats for wildlife and overall increasing people's access to nature. Our concept was inspired by the linear character of the Honeybourne Line as we wanted to create that sense of journeying through the natural landscape from deep in the forest to out into the meadow. 

After our group site survey, we designated 5 different habitat zones according to the existing site conditions as well as our future ambitions for that space, with each zone hopefully merging into the other to replicate what happens in the wild and create interesting pockets of mixed environments for nature to thrive and create an immersive experience for users as well. 

Please find attached our presentation - which despite being unfinished was still a successful and coherent design vision that we hope to pitch to the local community in the summer. 

PRESENTATION:

















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