AREA

area vs. George Hargreaves

Av Alexander Stahle

A: You ones said, "landscape design is not about architectural ideas, it's about people". I find that appealing. I think it makes the design process much more interesting and complex in a contextual way. Can you expand on that?

H: Well, the thing that really distinguishes what we do from architecture, and a thing that Thorbjörn [Andersson] talked about, is that we are naturally more "grounded". And we should be, because if you pay attention to your site and work with your site, your site is going to read through, in shape or form. I think when that happens, the egocentric issues, that some people are concerned about, wont happen because the site is really the ego, and not necessarily personal.

A: So that would be a kind of an extrovert way of thinking...

H: Right, whenever we sort of wonder if we are doing the right thing we always go back to the site.

A: I must test you on a concept that we [Stockholm city planning administration] have introduced in the open space planning in Stockholm, the "sociotope". Connected to the biotope concept we hope that it will make people [politicians and public] see the urban open spaces in new ways. What is your first response to that kind of linguistic construction?

H: I think I'll just give you an analogy of what were talking about. Having the geomorphology of the site, and having an impact on the project and therefore design. And how to combine abstract language development and how the site can inform that and how the two [geomorphology and language] can have a relationship, not one dominating the other. It tends to be easier letting one dominating the other. Russel has talked about sites where the sociology: young people using it, skateboard, crime, homeless, you can go through many of the sociological issues, those are in fact the dominate issues of the site. Sociotope and biotope would be like a shorthand language for those two issues. To me it is interesting when you get involved in those sort of projects, particularly the more urban they are, the more they have sociological issues. Sometimes they also have biological issues. But it is really more interesting to not think at things as either or. Cause even this site [the little lawn where we sit], has a tremendous amount of sociological implications, all the people here and what they are doing.

A: Well, that was one of the reasons, to say that we can have both. We can have a lot of things in one site. One of the goals with this kind of urban planning is to overlay different qualities for different people. Now, about social problems, in general, what has landscape architecture to do with this kind of social backsides?

H: On the one hand nothing specific, but on the other hand some very large stakes. Landscape architects are very much involved in public space design and public park design. These are the places where you find the disadvantaged. They are included in the process and they are included in the ability of change. I don't think that the design should be made necessarily for those cases, as the rich should be design necessarily for. I think that public space design must be multi layered, with multiple opportunities, multiple readings, multiple uses and therefore be used by multiple types of groups of society. I think that is important. I do work for college campuses and sometimes I had people asking if we could design a space for the Afro-Americans or the Latin students etc. And I say that I don't think so. I think you should design various spaces that can be used by different people at different times. We might put it in as a capital investment for a space for a particular group, ethnic or social. But, they can have a completely different interest in five years. Why would you go so specific?

A: We have a particular situation in Stockholm where some politicians want to make a boule arena of a small perfect working, multi user, and multicultural park. The
vague reason is drug addicts. It is a lawn just like this one, which is supposed to be turned to gravel, and then they want to put the boule people there instead. And that I think is very dangerous to public space.

H: I agree. We try not to do that, because if you don't play boule you can't use it. And the people that play boule, it will become theirs.

A: Right. OK, I have this thought of the concept green and "meaning green". Do you think that we landscape architects are handicapped in this way that we must come and "mean green" and "do good"?

H: I don't feel that. I do feel that young people in particular feel they need to do works that are meaningful, and to improve the wider society. Sometimes there is a danger going into projects and immediately try measure the good that you are doing rather than the good like cleaning water or the toxic this or that. It is more than healing sick lings. Once you get something towards not sick anymore you just make it a functioning thing. The goals of human beings are not ended because they are healthy. They then want to go on and do things that enrich culture and enrich their life. At first it might seem idealistic and have a very long-term significance. But, you have to be careful to just have a short-term significance.

A: If you would give a landscape architect "Oscar" to any one, who would that be?

H: I'll probably give it to him, right over there [pointing to the other side of the lawn], Peter Walker. There was a period between 1960-70 when landscape architecture wasn't very good. And his was then doing good work and he got involved in education at a time when it was important. I think he was one of the educators that helped resurrect landscape design in this country.

A: One project...

H: My favourite project, it's an old project, The Fence here in Boston. It was designed by [Frederick Law] Olmsted. It is a designed drainage and flushing system for an area of Boston that had a drainage problem with the mud and a smell problem. And he designed this water system to bring water in and make it go out and at the same time make it a public park. That was quite significant, hundreds of acres. As we talked about earlier, so far as measurement goes, he solved a certain problem of water quality, but he also created a large public open space in the heart of a major city that people can use. He provided a green lung and opportunities for recreation in the city. When you ad up all the things it does, it does a lot of great things.

A: Didn't you work with a similar project, the Guadalupe River?

H: Yes, but I am not conceited enough that I would name my own project.

epost:area.tidskrift@lar.se

hemsida: http://www.area.lar.se

Publicerad: 2001-07-20