Design diary

  We visited Poundbury, I really felt like this was an odd place to visit. It was a rather odd eclectic mix of colours and designs, which made it feel not very cohesive. A lot of the houses seemed not lived in and appeared to lack a lot of personality, which felt like the point of the area but really came across rather uncanny valley esk! I really don't think (if I had the money!) I would want to live here as there was a distinct lack of community feel. 

Quick sketch of an area in Paris using sharpie  

On my trip to France, one of my favourite things was their gorgeous doors! After my trip, I used alcohol markers to try and capture the essence of them.  

  J acques Wirtz creates areas with large clipped topiary, which has been cut to produce effects. The plants put within areas are used to develop a sense of enclosure. I find many of his designs quite restrictive and feel claustrophobic as the regions often contain a limited amount of light, and the borders are pretty tall.  He believed that his gardens should preserve and enhance the spirit of place rather than stamping his mark on the landscape, which, although I agree with this sentiment, I'm not sure I can sense from his designs.

This week I’ve drawn some fruit using alcohol markers and tried using a sharpie to add some more depth and detail to the drawings.

On my trip to France, I went to the botanical Gardens in Lyon, while there I really felt a sense of enclosure as the perimeter is surrounded by tall plants, which create a real sense of being rather trapped. Within the greenhouses, there was a range of different plants, including carnivorous ones, which looked quite interesting and also gave me some inspiration for future designs.  

  Piet Oudolf's work is easily identifiable by its range of colours and contrasting textures. The site's primary objectives were to hide the surrounding buildings and allow students to use the space still. The trees and plants within the site have been designed to shield views of the large buildings, where possible. Piet has included large circular areas of grass and concrete to let the users stop and sit within the site; these areas are beautiful but practical, allowing students to use the site actively. Piet also has a large steel ring around the base of one of the trees, which gives another area for people to sit on.  I like Piet's work it really combines nature's beauty with practicality. His work is also designed to change over time as the plants grow and change, allowing the site to be used throughout the year with a different effect each visit.

 This week we tried sequential sketches; this was a really good exercise to work on quickly creating a vibe for a site and putting across the basic information (e.g how many trees and stairs etc).

  I did some quick sketches based on posts I saw on Pinterest; these were all less than 5 minutes and aimed to create an effect rather than being REALLY realistic. This has always been something I've struggled with as getting emotion across in drawing has been something I have little experience in but hope, over the next week in France to give it another go.

Looking at Laurie Olin's work, the one thread that goes through all of his pieces is the number of paths and large-scale greenery. In my own projects, I have experimented a lot with the over usage of paths to give people different experiences throughout a site. This site has trees lining the pedestrian walk, which slowly rises up to the top of the building and has a ceremonial area that overlooks the surrounding city. This site is a perfect example of how views can be manipulated by the things we put in a site, especially to highlight specific viewpoints and minimise others using trees and clearings.  Although I like the design, a lot of it feels pretty bland in terms of colour, with the primary colours being green and white, even even though the colours could be designed to be quite vivid by planting poppies and other plants people associate with war or having small sections of different planting to break up the rather monotone colouring. Overall I do really like Laurie Olin's...

I added lighting to some of the work that I am redoing for one of my modules. I've enjoyed using this technique to create a really strong visual effect while also being really useful in showing me areas which would be lacking light if the site was actually built.  I have also been working on changing my old axonometric work into something more visually appealing and looks more realistic. I may also add people to this work to give it a sense of scale. This is definitely a good start to changing my old digital work into something more palatable and visually appealing.  

As part of one of my modules, I've been slowly improving different [projects from previous modules; one of these was the St James Park design. I found that the previous work I was really proud of the, but after changing some of the trees and the opacity and style of different things, I really feel like there's so much I can improve on even now. After doing this, I may even try adding some lighting to this design, so I can see what it may look like at night time.   after some improvements                                                                                                                      First year design

  Gilles Clement is a French Landscape Architect who has pioneered many concepts within the industry and has designed many areas, particularly in France.  Gilles has also spoken a lot about biological gardening, which is quite a progressive concept in that it means you should plant things that go with nature in the area rather than growing things that are good for the human eye but may hurt the local environment, he also believes in a partnership with nature which personally I think is an excellent concept.   This piece of work by  Gilles Clement uses large amounts of concrete, contrasting with the greenery and water placed on the site. I really enjoy the kinds of plants he has chosen as they feel like a good contrast in colour and texture. Although the concrete provides good contrast, it appears harsh contrast and, in areas (especially high up), feels quite unbalanced and makes the area look pretty dark.