Breathe Inside, Breathe Outside
There are many small places in big cities where you can take a ’breath’. Not all of these places necessarily contribute to tranquillity. How can landscape architects create outdoor spaces that invite people to pause, breathe, and consciously or unconsciously direct their attention to their surroundings? Inspired by contemplative landscapes, the thesis explored the urban landscape in Oslo within a framework of meditative design.
Breathe inside, Breathe outside was intended as an input to how leftover areas in Oslo’s streets can become restorative green pockets for contemplation. With a specific focus on places that are ’in-between’, namely the neglected and empty urban pockets, the emphasis was placed on qualities that can create a sensory presence. By bringing nature and urban design together into a holistic understanding of biodiversity, sensory experience and people’s occasional need for tranquillity, landscape architects can design accessible pocket parks that provide restitution in a hectic everyday life, in all its ’wildness’. These pocket parks can reinforce the connection between the city’s existing green areas and contribute to increased accessibility to nature.
Course: Master thesis
Advisors: Lei Gao & Frode Degvold
Year: Spring 2024
Location: Oslo
At a time where densification and urban stressors characterize the cityscape, a rethinking of how to design urban spaces for recovery and well-being is encouraged. By looking at elements and characteristics of Japanese garden design and theories within environmental psychology, the thesis explore how multisensory qualities can promote a more profound way of experiencing and being in nature. A review of Oslo’s city streets and urban history shows a potential for establishing a network of pocket parks, so that the overlooked, forgotten and poorly utilized urban spaces can become a resource. As a proposal for the design of pocket parks, the design part of this assignment will show four conceptual pocket parks in one of Oslo’s streets. The level of detail is at an early sketching stage and is presented in the form of a conceptual plan.
Our office, or ‘Shala’ (Sanskrit word meaning 'house' or 'home') where we worked most days. The walls were covered in sketches and different images for inspiration.
The hidden and forgotten in-between pockets in the city
