Podcast- Amy Saunders

Landscape Architect Amy Saunders spoke about what she does aside from her day job as a landscape designer (Saunders, N.D.). I found it  a really interesting concept .

She works in the Brisbane community to work with public spaces that do not attract many people, when there is the potential to.

The are differences between collaboration with these community based leisure projects and Amy's day job as a landscape architect. Working as a landscape architect on a project is a very specific role and other people from specific fields are hired to perform other roles suited only for their training. In comparison to the activation projects Amy spoke about which did not involve people taking on specific roles to focus on. The projects attracted people who they may not have been necessarily looking for but they became valuable members of the project. I think this is because the projects would attract different people from the community who all shared a common quality of having an interest. I think this value of interest is one of the most important things to have in a team. They may not have any of the specific skills required but they would be able to offer vital, ideas, perspectives, insight, motivation and encouragement into the collaborative experience. A person with an interest can play the part of Belbin's team-worker and help to form an efficient and coherent team.

Spontaneous collaboration is less restricted and can form a much more valuable learning experience for everyone involved. People aren't limited to working only within their own field but are more open to working with others relating to other aspects of project.

What is a landscape architects contribution?

Appreciation of context

A greater understanding of the surrounding, not only the direct site

Appreciation of history and elements that may have sentimental or natural value

The problem with collaborating with landscapers is that usually during the process they are involved toward the end phase. When really they should be included and involved in discussion and planning in the early stages as they are the ones who have the deepest understanding and appreciation of the site.

Because of their absence in the early stages, many problems are not realised or dealt with until the end. this means things that could have been avoided or resolved early on haven't been, instead the problems are made worse and more difficult to solve, often with even more problematic resulting effects.

I think this shows the importance of actual collaboration which involves constant discussion across disciplines. Not just having different disciplines involved working on their own speciality on their own. But there needs to be common understandings across the board and problems should be solved together considering the impacts for all areas rather than just from a sole point of view.

The main points on collaboration from this podcast are:

To share ideas- don't be afraid that your ideas will be stolen. Your ideas can be made a reality with the help of others which is so much more exciting than keeping it to yourself and being to afraid to tell anymore about it.

Collaboration with community- getting ordinary people involved. Listening and talking to he public getting ideas, thoughts and feedback from people who you actually designing for and those who do not have a specific design perspective on things.