Sabbatical.
Fifteen years after establishing the studio Isthmus’ three founders agreed they would each take a sabbatical. The intent was to step out of the day-to-day leadership of projects to reflect, learn and return with new knowledge and energy. For one reason and another, David never had the opportunity to take his time out—until now.
David is currently on sabbatical, or as he prefers to call it, ‘designers leave’. His project—Portraits of a Lost Landscape—has seen him travelling around the coast of Aotearoa to gain a new perspective on landscape. ‘Slowing down time’ and observing coastal processes through documentary photography, David is delving deeper into landscape, culture, coast, journey and change. As a designer, David has long argued for the importance of observation as a core part of the design process; understanding a place by engaging all the senses, then designing with purposeful lines that draw out the inherent qualities of the site.
Rising sea levels caused by global warming add impetus to David’s study of the dynamic interface between land and sea. What ecologies will be lost to the land, and what habitats will be gained by the sea? What will this change mean for land, people and culture? What can the rise and fall of the tide, the action of the wind and tectonic processes tell us about how the landscape transforms over time? How are these natural processes affected by humans? And what influence can we exert as designers to balance our impact?
David recently shared the results of his first phase of documentation; images of beaches, harbours and estuaries that a sense of evanescence (soon passing out of sight, memory or existence). We are excited to see how his project evolves over the next few months.