VIRTUAL: Learning. Life. Work.
Abstract
This article discusses a pedagogical approach towards producing Queer memorial concepts in St Kilda (Melbourne, Australia), which formed part of a collaborative landscape architecture design research studio. This paper is structured in three parts. The first section discusses the studio’s philosophical positioning in Queer Ecological theory and its application to the design of Queer memorials. The second part introduces the context of St Kilda and provides an overview of its evolving Queer heritage during the 20th and 21st centuries. This overview is supplemented by reflections from Queer community members, who describe their past trauma and journey towards a place of Pride. Lastly, part three explains how students engaged these narratives and histories through the studio learning experience and by utilising multiple creative tactics (photo essays, computational modelling and simulation, ecological design, and drawing) to iterate and refine their Queer memorials. This approach offered an evolved methodology for conceptualising Queer spaces in St Kilda, which has implications for future landscape architectural projects that seek to challenge the contemporary homogenisation of the urban landscape.
Dr Brent Greene is a lecturer in Landscape Architecture at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT). Brent’s teaching and research focuses on urban ecological design through spontaneous plants, queer ecology, marginalised landscapes and post-industrial urban renewal. He utilises design research methods to investigate the impact of cultural values on urban ecological design approaches—and to expand perceptions of spontaneous urban plants in the metropolis.