The future generations University

Abstract

The paper was first published in Landscape Review 1998: 4(1). Unfortunately only the text was printed: technical problems resulted in the illustrations being omitted. In this issue of Landscape Review we are reproducing the same paper inclusive of its illustrations (ed). We apologise to Richard Weller, the author, for the unfortunate earlier omission. I consider sustainable development to be a contradiction. What we need is sustainable life. In the 20th century the glory of the human has become the desolation of the earth. The desolation of the earth is becoming the destiny of the human. All human institutions, activities and programs must be judged primarily by the extent to which they inhibit, ignore or foster a mutually enhancing human-earth relationship. There are enormous creative possibilities if only we would take them. Thomas Berry in discussion with Paul Collins. Encounters, ABC Tapes, 1995. This paper describes a recent design project for the Future Generations University, by the interdisciplinary design company Room 4.1.3. The Future Generations University is to be a new university specifically devoted to issues of sustainability, sited north of Sydney on Australia's east coast. The paper describes the idea of such a new educational institution, the design process by which such a place expects to be formed, the theoretical position of Room 4.1.3's submission and the forms and concepts of the design itself. These aspects of the project are then placed within the context of contemporary environmental design theory. The project itself, and the means by which the work was both solicited and done, presents a case study in interdisciplinary design, wherein landscape architectural sensibilities provide a platform for emergent design paradigms.