Collaborative Design Planting Design Working Group 23

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Please add the title of your case study here, adjust the map coordinates and replace the moa image with a characteristic image of your site

Name	Union Square
Location	Iasi
Country	Romania
Authors	Fadera Williams, Florina Deleanu, Gisela De Santo

Landscape and/or urban context of your case

• Biogeography, cultural features, overall character, history and dynamics
• you can keep this short
• Illustration: Map; sketches; short descriptive analyses

Union Square is located in Iași, Romania. The climate is template continental. Summers are generally very warm to hot and winters are quite cold, with moderate snowfall.

Union Square is a piece of history, a space where people come and meet, relax and socialize. It is situated in the centre of the city and it's surrounded by historical buildings like hotel Train build by the famous architect Gustave Eiffel and Hotel Unirea, where a restaurant in the 13th floor, allow to observe Iași having a 360 degrees over the city.

Because it's visited by many people all year long, it needs a planting design proposal with trees that make shade and flowers that add colour to the square. The biggest problem is represented by the blocks of marble with beautiful symbols drawn on them that represent different scenes of history, that are slippery when it rains or snows. They are dangerous and outworn three out of four seasons, it was simply a bad investment.

During the summer artist display their paintings or hand made jewellery, where cooking shows take place and children play after school.

This square unites three important aspects of a design landscape: economy, social and environment. These aspects are important because if combined right, they can increase sustainability in this space.

What are the objectives of your design?

Please give a short written argumentation (not more than 150 words). It is ok if you have different or even contradicting objectives within your group. Just make it explicit at the beginning of your process

General Objectives:

• Transform this space in a square that can be functional, attractive, safe and welcoming for its visitors.
• Combine two elements cultural and nature in harmony.
• Nature with a bigger role, so the balance between the cultural aspect and the natural one can be restored by using colour and volume, by respecting the town planing rules.

Analytical drawings

Please add four analytical sketches/drawings (or montages/schemes) of your case. Every group member needs to contribute at least one drawing.

• Analytical Drawings
• 

  Space analysis - Views, Sun orientation, ground and top view

• 

  Pedestrian tracks

• Yourfilename2.jpg

  analytical drawing 2

• Yourfilename3.jpg

  analytical drawing 3

• Yourfilename4.jpg

  analytical drawing 4

Projective drawings

Please add four projective sketches/drawings (or montages/schemes), of course with an emphasis on planting design/vegetation aspects. Every group member needs to contribute at least one drawing representing his/her individual ideas.

Brainstorming IDEAS from the group members:

• The trees and shrubs not taller the 3m so the beautiful buildings that have a nice view over the square are not covered by them.
• Grass insertions , 4-5m long and only 10 cm wide so it does not interfere with expositions, cooking shows ore any other events that take place in the square.
• The umbrella trees make shade, so the square can be used in the summer as well, and the shrubs decorate trough the year with their flowers, leaves or ornamental form.
• Add perfumed plants with a decorative form, annual and perennial.
• Create a flat planting trough around the statue.
• Create a pedestrian pathway of another material say rough paving, linking the 4 planting areas.
• Introduce shade trees with short height but full canopy around all sit-out areas.
• Change orientation or shape of green area. Make it fluid and interesting.
• Create 2 information stand gazebo's to provide information about the history of the park.
• Introduce shrubbery around fountains on one side
• Add/Change the design of the green spaces or preserve the current design as is.
• Flower & herbaceous beds (New German Style approach).Use native plants to introduce ecology in urban landscape adding colour, texture and low maintenance (no irrigation, no fertilizers/pesticides, pruning etc.)
• Investment to replace the mosaic for a non slippery rock conserving the original draw
• Eliminate individual plant pots (too many). Replace them by big rectangular plant pots to improve visual impact, allow fluent pedestrian walk and reduce maintenance of individual ones
• Develop a ground and also a interesting aerial view attractive from buildings around
• Through plantation benefit urban space with pollution control, noise reduction, oxygen, temperature balance, quality of life

• Projective Drawings
• 

  Grass Insertions

• 

  Sitting area with umbrella trees in the future

• 

  Aesthetic and ecology respecting current design

• 

  Ground and Aerial view now and future

• 

  Projective Drawing

Design Synthesis

Please analyse the individual approaches presented so far and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses (you may use the SWOTanalysis model). Try to create a synthesis and represent it with a plan and some sketches. You can still use drawings/sketches.

• Design Synthesis Drawings
• Yourfilename1.jpg

  synthesis drawing 1

• Yourfilename2.jpg

  synthesis drawing 2

• Yourfilename3.jpg

  synthesis drawing 3

• Yourfilename4.jpg

  synthesis drawing 4

Summary of the collaborative process

Please reflect on your collaborative design process. Which potentials have you encountered? What was most difficult? What does collaborative design mean for you? (approx 150 words).

Image Gallery

You may add a series of images/photos in addition to the sketches/drawings

• Image Gallery
• 

  Top View

• 

  Historic Hotel Train, by Gustave Eiffel, built in 1882

• 

  Mosaic marble, slippery when rains

• 

  Vegetation, buildings, artists and people as is

• 

  A view of the Union Square

References

* Please make sure that you give proper references of all external resources used.

* Do not use images of which you do not hold the copyright.

* Please add internet links to other resources if necessary.

• Traian Hotel: http://www.grandhoteltraian.ro/istoric.htm

• Know about Iasi City, history, weather and so on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ia%C8%99i

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_Romania

• Botanical Garden Anastasie Fatu: http://botanica.uaic.ro/

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