Landscape&Urban Design Portfolio 2023

[CHANGES IN THE DIET]

when I look into this history, I find that the potato has undergone several radical changes in the British diet. They were cooked with different ingredients, made into different dishes, and then eaten by different people. Each period has its own characteristics.

In the first period, spices were an important ingredient in potato dishes, as the nobility were the main potato eaters of this period, and for them the potato was a valuable alternative to the turnip.

In the second phase, soup was the predominant potato dish, as large numbers of poor people began to consume potatoes, and they were more concerned with the satiety potatoes provided.

In the third period, the potato was promoted and as a result many new potato dishes were created to serve the middle class. The poor and the rich had different attitudes towards potatoes.

The development of the food processing industry at the beginning of the 20th century once again changed the type of potato dish.

Eighty years ago, the shopping cart of an average British family would have been filled with fresh and nutritious foods such as white bread, animal offal and ham salad. Now, shopping carts are dominated by chips, pizza and other fast food items.

Modern eating habits have changed dramatically.

Potatoes are still the most popular vegetable in the UK. However, it should not be overlooked that sales of fresh potatoes have been declining, in contrast to the steady increase in sales of processed potatoes, which have been outstripping those of fresh potatoes.

THE DIET]

The power of capital was behind the cultivation of potatoes and the change in diet. In the early 17th century, potatoes were grown on a small scale in the gardens of the nobility. At this time, although unloved, the potato still symbolised the wealth of the aristocracy. Later on, the aristocracy once loathed potatoes because they were food for the poor. Now, however, the potato has been transferred to open farmland and is produced on a large scale by agricultural machinery, and the potato has become a global food. The new food trend is the growing popularity of processed food, a trend started by food processors through the press and television, who are gradually making people change their eating habits.

Farmers and consumers have been kidnapped by the modern superfood system. Starting from seeds, farmers have fallen into the trap of monopoly.

For a large farm, a lot of machinery and fertiliser is a must. Preparing for the planting stage requires plowing and turning the soil, using a stone separator to separate the stones from the soil.

Potatoes are collected with a harvester and graded by machine, and small or damaged potatoes are removed along with the loose soil. The harvested potatoes are stored in special warehouses, and the temperature, airflow, and air quality are strictly controlled.

Beat the potatoes so finely as not to be discovered what they are.

Potatoes to me were associated with backwardness and uneconomic practices

What a treasure is a milch cow and a potato garden, to a poor man with a large family!

In today's globalised world food has become a dangerous weapon controlled by the giant multinational food companies. They spread over the world, plunder global resources and control 90% of the global food trade. They use free trade to oppress countries in the world's South, destroy local food systems and drive out indigenous farmers.

A food system dominated by capital has led to a number of problems. Countries in the world's South are being plundered and indigenous farmers are being driven out. A profit-first food system has led to unnecessary waste and harm to the soil.

While researching potatoes in the UK I found Pembrokeshire to be a place full of potential. These conditions show that there are already government and private forces helping potato farmers here and that the special potato can be a source of a new food culture.

The Welsh Government is planning to build a food park on a 23 hectare site. They intend to serve local small businesses by creating an industrial park that will allow them to produce and process their own food.

It's an amazing fact that in the UK we have 500 varieties of potatoes, but you can only buy the most common ones in supermarkets. The figures from the AHDB also prove that the maris pipper is grown on far more acreage than the second place. This suggests that even when targeting cash crops, farmers have a single option.

At least 7 types of potatoes are grown in the fields. They have different needs for soil and sunshine, so it's necessary to create the right growing environment for each species. First I had farmland, next, put in windbreaks and buildings, which provided shade. Then there are swales ditches along the contours which, together with the water channels on the site, make the soil nearby more moist. Finally, the whole field is divided into shaded, full sun, wet and dry zones and potatoes are located in right zones.

Likewise, consider the growing needs of the companion plants and decide on the combination of companion plants and potatoes, taking into account the culinary characteristics of each variety of potato.

Boxelders and scotch rose act as windbreaks. The bio-swales in the field create an underground reservoir which could attract microorganisms and make the soil more active and fertile. The compost mounds are at the edge of the field. The companion plants act as natural insecticides for the potatoes. Natsurtiums attract insects that are beneficial to the potatoes, basil and parsley dose not compete with the potatoes, garlic and horseradish repel pests. The wood board shows what dishes can be made from the plants in the field.

Unlike industrial potato fields where only potatoes are grown, these companion plants make for a lively and colourful farmland landscape that changes with the seasons.

The field kitchen consists of two parts, the building on the left is mainly open to children and the building on the right is more like a restaurant.

It is in partnership with the high school on the south east side of the site and children can regularly learn how to cook healthy and tasty dishes with ingredients from the crops grown in the food park. They can also grow and learn about crops in the indoor garden. The first floor is a place for kitchen enthusiasts to work on new recipes using crops from the park.

The building in the right side welcomes visitors to sample creative and amazing potato dishes and also invites chefs and surrounding residents to host food festivals on the premises. A prominent part of the first floor is a great viewing platform, and downstairs is a walking corridor along the small lake. There are also recycled tyres from the surrounding car sales as containers for growing potatoes.

The role of field kitchen is to connect the farm to the table, to enrich the community's table with companion plants and a wide variety of potatoes, to inspire young people to take an interest in farming, to feed the small farmers who farm at food park and to shape a unique and living Pembrokeshire food culture.

TUTOR

RARE EARTH MATERIALS

Driving to work, working with documents on the computer and relaxing on the phone in our spare time. This is a day in the life of an ordinary person, and most of us would not realise that our ordinary day would be associated with rare earth elements from distant Greenland.

Rare earth materials are widely used in human life.

REE reserve significant deposits

REE mines, deposits, occurences

REE rich areas

End use of REEs Narsaq town

Forecast NdFeB Magnet Consumption

Mineral resources Transportation aroud Narsaq town

Comparison of crustal abundance and global production of the elements

José Alfredo Ramìrez Chenxu Chen, Jaxin Mu, Yaqi Xu, Zilin Ye

TEAM

[NARSAQ TOWN]

Narsaq town faces a number of problems. The total population here has been declining for 30 years. Local people depend on the fishing industry but are unable to become economically independent thus the Danish government subsidises the finances every year. Even so, the income of local farmers is still well below the average European farmer's income. The mono-agricultural economy has driven young people away, which has also led to an ageing local population and a high suicide rate.

[GREENLAND MINERAL NETWORK]

After rare earth minerals have been mined in Greenland by countries such as the UK, USA and Canada, Greenland exports them to China for separation, which in turn exports them to the world.

Rare earths from Greenland are separated at a plant in southern China and shipped to Beijing to be made into neodymium magnets. The magnets are sent to the Tesla factory in Shanghai and the finished Tesla will be sold throughout China and to overseas countries such as Germany and Italy.

[TESLA PRODUCTION NETWORK]

This is the complete journey of rare earths. After two billion years of geological changes, the rare earth elements turn into raw rare earth rocks, which are mined out by miners. After flotation and leaching steps, it becomes a rare earth liquid which is sent to China for separation. This process consumes a lot of energy and causes pollution.

Once separated, the pure neodymium and dysprosium are made into NdFeB magnets and sent to the Tesla factory in Shanghai. The finished Teslamodel3 are shipped to Tesla shops around the world.

Over its fifteen-year life cycle, the batteries and chips in the discarded Tesla are broken down, other materials are melted down and reshaped and usable materials are put back into production.

SOUND OF SOHO

[SOHO HISTORY]

Soho has gone through several changes in its positioning in London, with peasants, aristocrats, artisans, prostitutes, artists, all having been protagonists of the area.

Once farmland, Soho was developed into a royal park by Henry VIII in 1536, and the first building, the mansion of the Earl of Leicester, appeared in Leicester Square after the Great Fire of London in 1666.

From the 18th century onwards, a large number of artists, writers, Bohemians and immigrants moved in, mostly Huguenots fleeing France. Soho became London's new entertainment centre, with brothels and prostitutes, and crime became rampant.

For much of the 20th century, Soho was known as a base for the sex industry in addition to its nightlife and entertainment.

The land around Soho was then used by the wealthy as a hunting ground. Councillors began to build homes in Soho, developing buildings for the upper classes of the time.

It was not until 1854 that a major cholera broke out in London and most of the aristocracy moved out of Soho.

Since the 1980s, the area has undergone a considerable upscaling. However, there are still a large number of restaurants and bars and nightclubs, and a small number of sex industry establishments remain.

TUTOR

Eduardo Rico

TEAM

[SOHO NOISES]

Most bars are open until 23:00 and a few don't close until 3:00am. The diners that gather on the streets are the main source of noise in soho at night and they have become a serious nuisance to the residents of the area.

Over the years, soho has become one of London's busiest areas. Over 500 restaurants are located throughout soho, attracting large crowds to the area, while 200 bars and 35 nightclubs keep soho active until the early hours of the morning.

[SOHO NOISES] [SOUND SPONGE PROJECT]

Soho area suffers from severe night-time noise because of the bars and clubs that are open late at night. Large crowds of excited people linger in the streets, gathering in front of the various bars and making unbearable noise.

Data from UK government shows that commercial noise and noise from the street are the two worst noise sources in Westminster.

Clearly, soho is the noisiest area in Westminster and these two types of noise are the main sources of noise in soho.

I came up with the Sound Sponge project and designed a workflow. I believe that the lack of small public spaces in soho is the reason why people roam the streets. If small public spaces with good sound insulation are placed in reasonable locations, it will alleviate the noise problem. So this project will gather input from residents, provide a platform to aid design and ultimately get a suitable noise reduction park solution.

As the aim of SOUND SPONGE is to place noisereducing public spaces in logical locations, selecting possible locations is an important first step. After filling their basic information and the needs for soho public space, users can choose their ideal location on soho's map.

The website also offer recommended locations for users to consider. These sites have been selected by experts based on analysis of noise maps.

APOLLO THEATRE

OLD COMPTON ST

MOOR ST

FRITH ST

The website provides a design platform where users involved in the project can drag and drop facilities from the menu on the right to the interface on the left to design their ideal noise reduction park.

A pop-up window on the website informs users of design examples and the effectiveness of various noise reduction facilities. Users can click on the sound button to simulate a noisy scene. The website analysis allows the noise reduction effect of this set of solutions to be derived and adjusted at any time.

Once the collaborative design is complete, the site analyses the proposal and gives the most preferred facilities for all participants and a word cloud of user requirements, and professional designers make suggestions to help the user complete the design.

Users can see an analysis of the proposals of all project participants. They could know their preference for noise reduction materials and their requirements for the park.

There will be a pop-up reminding users of the time and place of the offline meeting, which they can volunteer to attend. They can work together to drag noise reduction materials to design the park.Everyone can leave a comment to discuss.

After the project sound sponge, more and more parks will be built in the noisiest parts of soho, then people's revelry is shifted from the bars and streets to the parks. At weekends, these parks will be turned into temporary dining bars where patrons can enjoy themselves without disturbing the residents.

OTHER WORKS