Design diary

This is one of the sections I produced from my design of Castlemeads. I created this section by exporting a sketch up model to twinmotion. I then added in species of vegetation and materials to the model. After I then edited the section in photoshop to have additional elements which were unavailable in twinmotion. It was really easy to create this in twinmotion as the program has a section cube function which allows you to cut the model in a certain area and create a section easily. I think in the future I will use twinmotion again as it was simple and gives a realistic effect.  

I have put my sketch up plan into twin motion and started to export the images of the rendering. I really like how the rendering is realistic and gives off the vibe of the site really well. The site feels really natural which was what I wanted. I like this image a lot as it shows the wet woodland and meadow which is one of the focal points of the site.

  I have created a sketch-up model of my plan. I have yet to add the 3d elements and the colour as I will do this in twinmotion. I like to use twin motion alongside sketch up as the rending within twinmotion looks significantly more realistic. Despite this I may still need to photoshop some elements of the visualisations as there may be some things which are not perfectly accurate as my plan contains some bespoke features including the dome. It's really nice to see me 2D plan finally start to come alive. It obviously isn't even close to done yet but it's slowly getting there!

  I have fully rendered my plan. I've used quite a vibrant colour palette as I really want the site to feel bright and full of life when you enter it. My plan is to then take this plan and make a sketch-up model of it in order to make visualisations. I think over the 3 years I've been at university I've really learnt how to use photoshop to a really proficient level. I do think Photoshop is one of my favourite tools to use as it is so versatile and user-friendly (unlike programs sketch up).

I have started rendering my autocad masterplan using photoshop. I have been using different textures to show what the site may look like from above. There are still areas I have not resolved yet but I hope by having it colured with textures this may help me to visualise the effect which I want to give. I mainly want to use natural materials like wood as I don't want to take away from the naturalistic feel of the site and instead I want to enhance this feeling.  

After my initial sketches I put my design into AutoCAD to see how it looked. I really like how a lot of the shapes feel really natural, mixed with some more geometric shapes. The red line will be a treetop walk and therefore spans across the whole site. This will go through the wet woodland which is inspired by the Frittilary butterfly which primarily lives within wet woodland. The form of the design itself is inspired by the butterfly and its form. Overall the concept of my design is to illustrate to the people of gloucester that they do have an impact on the natural world around them.  

  After speaking with my colleagues I decided to adjust my drainage plan and look at where the arrows were on the plan. This meant that now all my arrows were on the hard surfacing and I had a deeper look into how water flows due to gradient and therefore where the water may end up. This helped me then decide on where my drains were to do. I decided on using slot drains as they blend into the landscape seamlessly unlike some other drains which can stick out and make the landscape look unappealing.