Finn Higgins' Portfolio

Finn Higgins

Landscape Architecture / Urban Design Selected Works 2019-2022

EducationTechnical Ability

BachelorofDesign

The University of Melbourne

Landscape Architecture Major Urban Planning Minor

Weighted Average Mark: 79.38

Victorian Certificate of Education

2017-2018

Finn Higgins

Email Phone LinkedIn

Instagram

Date of Birth

Location

2021-2023

FinnWilliamHiggins@gmail.com

+61 413 046 297

Finn Higgins

Finn.Higgins 06 / 08 / 2000 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Finn is an emerging Landscape Architect and Urban Designer with a Bachelor of Design from the University of Melbourne and two years of industry experience as an Assistant Urban Planner with Urbis.

Finn is particularly interested in the design of public urban spaces, and how aesthetics, programme, and placemaking influence human behaviour.

Moving forward, Finn endeavours to undertake a Master’s Degree in a city renowned for urban design, that would allow him to advance his skills as a practitioner, as well as further investigate how the design of space can be used to address the vicious planning problems that our urban regions currently face.

Fitzroy High School

Australian Tertiary Admission Rank: 88.90

Urbis

Assistant Urban Planner

Dean’sHonoursList

The University of Melbourne

Awarded to the highest scoring 3% of students within the Bachelor of Design

MSDx

Biannual exhibition showcasing the best work from degrees within the Melbourne School of Design

designX

Annual exhibition showcasing the best work from capstone subjects within the Bachelor of Design

Landscape Masterplan

01 Terminus 2022

Bachelor of Design E-Gate, Victoria, Australia 8.4ha Terminus investigates a new neighbourhood typology that enhances and transforms the existing sporadic, post-industrial characteristics of E-Gate into the character, aesthetic and function of the new neighbourhood. The project creates urban spaces that not only accommodate the existence of human and ecological systems, but encourage them to clash in such a manner that results in co-flourishment.

Key skills / outputs demonstrated:

Landscape masterplan

Textural montaging/analysis

Topography manipulation Perspective sections

S1

P1

P2

S2

Existing schuttberg (rubble hill) retained as a landscape feature

Wurundjeri Way extension pillars retained as landscape features

Repurposed steel shed used as a market

Medium density mixed-use development

State-significant rail corridor

Elevated footbridge

Infrastructural X-Ray

Vegetation Sketches

Clamour

Conceptual Framework

Can these two habitats be combined to create a mutually beneficial landscape?

Experimentation

Clashing human and ecological systems

Existing Conditions

Custom street furniture made from recycled on-site materials

Dwarf sheoak Allocasuarina paradoxa

Disused railway tracks used as landscape feature Market / unprogrammed community space

Nodding Saltbush Einadia nutans

River Red Gum Eucalyptus camaldulensis Repurposed asphalt

Wattle Mat-rush Lomandra filiformis

Knobby club-rush Ficinia nodosa

Bower vine Pandorea jasminoides

Weeping Bottlebrush Melaleuca viminalis

P2: Overgrowth (2050)

Terminus explores how intensive ecological environments can be incorporated into highly intensive urban contexts. Terminus takes a realist’s approach, dedicating much of the subject site’s land to medium-density infill development, due to the strategic importance of E-Gate as a key infill site in inner Melbourne.

Importantly, Terminus incorporates adaptive reuse through the lens of Landscape Architecture, a concept that is common in architectural practice but underutilised in the landscape architecture sector. The landscapes in the project investigate how obsolete industrial infrastructure can be re-purposed to give life to new urban spaces.

The drawings above depict key vistas and sections within the proposal, demonstrating different temporal and environmental conditions in order to illustrate the adaptability of the design with consideration towards the various urban challenges the site may be required to endure in the coming years.

Yellow box Eucalyptus melliodora

Existing schuttberg (rubble hill) retained as a landscape feature

With time, schuttbergs develop to a point where they can accommodate significant vegetation

River red gum Eucalyptus camaldulensis

Wurundjeri Way extension pillars retained as landscape features

Custom street lights made of recycled steel

Consideration for less maintenance resources in the future

Bower vine Pandorea jasminoides

02 Linear House 2021

Bachelor of Design

Carlton, Victoria, Australia

Linear House responds to a challenging brief that required the architect to double the density of 2-10 MacArthur Place North from 5 dwellings to 10, without introducing apartments. The design responds in both form and function to MacArthur Square, the prominent, oak-lined linear garden that the subject site fronts. The living neighbourhood of Linear House is investigated through the further exploration of Units A & B, 2 MacArthur Place North.

Key skills / outputs demonstrated:

Professional site / floor plans

Sections / elevations

Physical modelling

Project diagrams

4 6-10

Existing Conditions (South Elevation)

Site Plan

East Elevation

Scale Model

2 MacArthur Place North

03 Fluid Rigidity 2022

Bachelor of Design Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 25m 2

Fluid Rigidity responds to a brief that required architects to create two flexibly programmed pavilions entirely through parametric design. In Part A, geometry was manipulated in order to create a pavilion that can be fabricated via both 3D printing and laser cutting. Part B required architects to utilise parametric design techniques to produce a new pavilion for Queen Victoria Gardens, based on the precedents set by the MPavilion commission.

Key skills / outputs demonstrated:

Fabrication Techniques

Parametric Design

Renders

Part A

Fluid Rigidity is a proposal for the site of the MPavilion commission that emits a highly dynamic energy whilst being rigid in nature and construction. Entirely parametric in design, the proposal features 7 sheets of corten steel emerging out of the earth with the support of a hidden galvanised steel beam. The sheets grow larger in height and more dramatic in contortion, giving the impression that the composition is taking off in flight.

In addition to form, the design facilitates dynamism through the ways in which it receives the elements. The structure has an especially fascinating visual and auditory effect in rainy conditions, as the water hits the steel and travels sheet by sheet towards the earth through the ridges and crevices imparted onto the steel.

Grasshopper Script

Laser cut corten steel sheets manipulated into undulating forms provide a sense of movement whilst being rigid in nature

Sheet 1

Sheet 2

Sheet 3

Sheet 4

Sheet 5

Support Beam

Sheet 6

Sheet 7

Galvanized steel frames are used to spread the weight of the sheets across nine evenly distributed points

The timber terrace reflects the dynamism of the structure above, the undulating curves creating differing spaces for users to occupy

Steel sheet generation

Support frame generation

The sheets are arranged in such a way that provides functional shelter from sun and rain, whilst appearing fluid and sporadic

Each frame is supported by the large galvanised steel beam that is cantilevered 20 meters into the earth to support the structure

The rendered concrete retaining wall disguises the steel sheets’ connection to the ground plane, creating the impression of levitation

A minor project that encouraged architects to create an urban park on the site of Galada Avenue Reserve that is designed to serve a selected species. For this proposal, the park aims to provide habitat to the blotched blue-tongued lizard (Tiliqua nigrolutea). To document this proposal, drawings were produced entirely with water colour paints and fine liners.

Urban Wildlife Park 04

Miscellaneous Works

A selection of two minor projects that exhibit further skills and techniques not demonstrated in detail in the preceding three exemplary projects. In general, these projects explore manual production techniques, and the textural, atmospheric conditions they can demonstrate.

Key skills / outputs demonstrated:

Watercolour painting

Hand drawing

Croissant - Detailed Study

This project investigates the anatomy of a croissant using pencil and fine liners. Drawings of elevation, section and projection are utilised to demonstrate the substance and texture of the croissant.

Photography

Casa das Histórias Paula Rego. Cascais, 2020

Baía Tejo. Lisboa, 2020

Demons Bluff. Anglesea, 2021