MATS A. LARSEN (f. 1984) Graduated spring 2012, AHO. Currently working in Oslo on a preliminary project for planning the after-use of the Bjørnvet limestone-quarry in Porsgrunn. Reclaiming Bjørntvet - A Sustainable Afterlife for a Hard Rock Quarry, master’s degree diploma 2012, winner of The Quarry Life Award 2012 (region ‘Northern-Europe’), and the distinction ‘Best Design Scheme’ from the global finale in Heidelberg 2012.
Reclaiming the World
Landscape Architecture in the Transient Reality of Modern Urbanization “As a species, we can no longer continue to exist within the ecologically dysfunctional paradigms of the past. Instead, we must work together to create new open-ended paradigms, which are flexible enough to evolve and adjust according to the needs of any particular timepoint.” 1
- Elliott Maynard, Ph.D in Consciousness Research.
Reclaiming Bjørntvet, the diploma project cementing my 2012 master’s degree in landscape architecture, concurrently doubled as an entry in the inaugural run of the international Quarry Life Awardcompetition [QLA]. The QLA 2012 was launched by the industrial behemoth Heidelberg Cement Group, as an initiative to promote the company‘s focus on the sustainable management of biological diversity in their mining sites. Following a series of regional prize-ceremonies throughout November
+6
2012, the competition was set to conclude in a worldwide, final prize-ceremony in December; from which the overall winners would emerge out of the pool of regional winners. Reclaiming Bjørntvet presented a multifaceted master plan for the future use of the Bjørntvet limestone-quarry (transl. kalksteinbrudd) in Porsgrunn, following the eventual cessation of mineral-extraction on the site. The project was fuelled by a personal concern for the environmental welfare of the planet – with a responding affinity for biology/ecology and interest in the subject of post-industrial ‘land reclamation’. The challenges and potentials of the project site presented an opportunity for me as a student to preserve my personal ideals (as a designer and an environmentalist), through practicing design-work at the interface of landscape architecture and ecology. The following text will cover some of the tendencies of society that influenced the project, present some philosophical standpoints, visit the