FOCUS WEEK 13.11.06

Area of Focus: Contemporary Practice

Monday 13.11.06

Southbank Walk
Late Monday evening I walked along the southbank of the Thames from the London Eye to Tower Bridge. I wanted to explore this stretch of space at night to see how the experience is different from in the day. I began at 20:30 at the Eye. The eye was lit up in blue as well as the landscape around it. The avenue of trees leading to the eye, adorned with blue fairy lights created a vivacious and captivating isle, a unique space on its own. I felt excited in this intimate and magical atmosphere!

I also wanted to see how far the Gross Max Pottersfield Park development had come along since i last saw it earlier this year. It is situated next to Tower bridge on the southabank, however, fences surrounding the site prevented me from seeing the site at this stage.

Tuesday 14.11.06

Cardinal Place Roof Garden by Derek Lovejoy & Partners


Swiss Cottage Park by Gustafdon Porter

Wednesday 15.11.06

Broadgate Development by Peter Foggo. Arup
- Finsbury avenue
- Broadgate Arena
- Exchange Square

Architecture Practice visit 'Squire & Partners'
http://www.squireandpartners.com/introframe.php

Architecture Assciation & Blue Triangle Book Shop, Bedford Square

New London Architecture

Thursday 16.11.06

Personal Development plan review in studio

Friday 17.11.06

Royal Victoria Docks

Royal Victoria Square by EDAW & Patel Taylor

Saturday 18.11.06

Gillett Square, Hackney

One of the 100 new public squares for london commissioned by the Mayor of London.

Heritage Open Day 9th September 2006

On 9th September I visited a 14th century church called All Saints, located in Horndon on the Hill, Essex. It was open to the public to allow them to explore the church and its grounds and to talk to the church historian. I was really interested in the structure as it was so old.

There are still the original wooden beams dating back to the 1300's as well as the red bricks, stone floors and the steep wooden staircases. Some original features have been changed inside at many stages, but have always been retained by either reusing them or burying them so nothing has been lost from the historical building.

The Victorians had restored the plastered walls inside, which formed the nave. The wooden banaster surrounding the Alter had also been moved to the 1st floor to form the balcony, where the local bigwigs sat high up for the 3-4 hour long service away from the common locals.

The first week of my work experience is complete. I have been taken to several sites in Brentwood that need to be deveoped. An 'Open Space Stratagy' needs to be drawn up in order to aid the development of the sites. This past week I have drawn up plans for an unused piece of ground bordering a block of flats. Residents wanted this area to be transformed into a space that could be used by everyone, such as a small garden.

Clements Park is another site I am working on. The site was previously the grounds of Warley Hospital however, most of it has now been developed into residential homes. I am currently drawing plans for a grassed area situated between the large baseball pitch and the new appartments set in the 1819 red brick Hospital. I have realised that when designing for a Council, I have to design open spaces that will encourage the minimum amount of anti-social behaviour as possible. Since spending a year at university proposing imaginative and innovative designs, I have realised that the reality of these fun designs may not work in the real world, depending on the location.

Work Experience at Brentwood Borough Council

In April 2006 i wrote to my local council in Essex to ask if it was possible to work with them over the summer to gain work experience relevant to my Landscape Architecture degree. I met with the manager of the Outdoor Communal areas later in June, who set me a trial in re-developing Copperfield Park In Brentwood, shown in the photograph above. I spent the next few weeks developing my ideas, which resulted in the following plans below. After presenting my plans to the planning department, I was told that some of my ideas would not be possible to build. However, my overal design concepts proved to show individuality that would bring fresh images into the future project.

In August i will begin a months work experience with with the outdoor communal area team, proposing several design ideas for the many Brentwood parks in need of a 'face lift'. I'm really looking forward to this oportunity of working in a proffessional environment, which will allow me to build upon my skills and knowledge as well as allowing me to show off the best of my design capabilities...watch this space!

Click on the following link to view Brentwood Borough Council's website:

http://www.brentwood-council.gov.uk/index.php

This image is a collaged plan of my new design for Copperfield Park. I have indicated where the new play area will be located along the path and where the woodland will be situated to the right of the park perameter. The woodland flower beds will be covered in wood chip to prevent weed growth and the loss of soil.

This image illustrates the woodland I have enhanced. I have decided to keep the oak trees for shelter and to run a sweeping path up the centre. Branching off of the path will be bays with picnic benches in, creating a space for visitors to eat and socialize. The plants I have chosen to add to the flowerbeds are very well suited to shade and require low maintenance, which is required for this park.

This image shows where the inground lights would be positioned along the top of the brick path. There will be 6 in total stretching accross the football pitch steps . They will illumine the brick path in the evening for visitors and will also be an attractive feature in the park.

Open Garden Squares Weekend

On the 11th June all private London Gardens became open to the public. I decided to visit some including the boat gardens (above), a short walk East from Tower Bridge. The boats are joined with planks of wood and small foot bridges. As the boats are private, everyone knows each other and they always seemed to be saying hello to each other. One man I spoke to said that he bought his boat in Amsterdam and one day decided to sail it down the Thames. That evening it had become very dark so he said he decided to moor it temporarily in the spot it is in today, and subsequently he has been living there since! When I was walking across the tops of the boats I had forgotten I was even on the Thames. The plants had grown high and become so dense like a small wood. The experience felt so magical as it was such a different place to be, the summer sun was setting and the smell of BBQs were in the air!

I took this photograph so i could view my chosen site in context. The site is situated to the right of the Yacht Club, which is currently an area used to keep small boats and yachts. I chose to design a bathhouse in this area because it would create diversity in the very traditional fishing town of Hastings.

One of many caves in the cliffs at Hastings. This image went on to influence my ideas of designing rock pools in the cliff, represented in a model below.

I made this model from clay so i could dig out and also add to the form when needed. However, I moved away from this idea as i wanted to considder the ground level site as well.

This is a sketch that carried on the idea of rock pools, however i wanted to extend them over the site, which sat infront of the cliff. I went on to sketch more baths that stretched to the ground floor, which is where i established the main base for my design.

This is a collage I drew at scale 1:100 of the beach platforms and pools. The blue area represents the seawater and the cream area represents the shingle. These platforms may move around over time and can fill with sand, shingle or water. I want these objects to blend in with the environment and to establish their own positions across the beach. They may be filled with plants or sea creatures, which will then provide a unique place for people to learn about coastal habitats and observe their development over time.

A model photograph looking towards the cliff and the bathhouse. The scattered beach platforms and pools were an extention of my proposal from its original site. I wanted to allow visitors and locals to be involved with my intervension even if they didn't want to bathe at the bathhouse. The sandstone platforms provide a place for people to sunbathe, read a book, talk to friends and even dip their feet in the water pools while observing the sealife that inhabbits them.

This picture shows how over time the tide has deposited shingle over the stone boulders. As a result of weathering from sub-aerial processes and action from the sea, the edges of the sandstone have become rounded and smooth. This is the result I aim to have with the beach platforms and pools, which will contrast with the more angular edges of the groundfloor steps at the bathhouse.

This image was taken during the making of my final model. It exposes the different levels of the ground floor, which would be shaped round the bases of the water columns. The steps offer a place for visitors to sit and socialise, as well as providing a varied topography from which the organic columns sprout from.

A front elevation showing the bathhouse in context.

A plan of the second floor showing three private treatment rooms, accessed by the staircase on the left. The windows carved out from the cliff are angled inwards to frame the view and also provide a natural source of light. The windows are positioned at two levels, one at eye level when standing and the other, when lying down.

This collage reveals the views out to sea from the second floor. I positioned the treatment rooms high up within the cliff to take advantage of the amazing panorama as well as the innate fabric it is surrounded by. The sandstone walls were kept bare to reveal their true beauty, but also to compliment the very natural site.

On my travels I am always looking out for new structures that can influence my own design ideas. I took this photo at Stratford train station of the main bus station. The flute-like columns are similar to the shape of my water pools in the Bathhouse. I researched this structure on the web and saw how at night the shelter transforms into something very vibrant and dramatic compared to how it apears in the daytime. The following link is the website of it's designers, Architen Landrell Ltd, who have used similar materials in their designs for the British Museum cafe and the entrance of Surrey Instiutute of Art and Design.

http://cgi.www.architen.com/cgi-bin/www.architen.com/project_detail.pl?section=public&project=project9

This image, shown as section, simply illustrates how the bathhouse sits inside the cliff as well as infront of it. Public space is external while private space exists within the cliff.

I took this photograph in the London Docklands during a previous project sited at West India Quays. I used this image as in inspiration to help me focus on how my bathhouse had to work as a water system as well as a place to bathe and socialise. I thought about how the pipes would transport the water from the sea to each water pool and how the water would be cleaned and also deposited after use. The collage below shows how i have revealed the pipes underneath the glass floor. I wanted the water system to be visible to visitors in some areas so that they could observe the process of how the water is cleaned and circulated.

A collage of a section elevation along the length of the bathhouse. I added figures to show what the experience would be like, but also to give the intervention a sense of scale. I took a section through the glass water pool to illustrate how bathers can gaze beneath them and also how the visitors can view up into the water pools to see people swimming. The natural light will penetrate through the water and glass to project water reflections over the glass floor beneath. Other water pools are made with Sandstone to create a more private experience. I have used the sandstone from the cliff to build the intervention so it's in keeping with the surroundings, however the glass will give a contemporary style too.

This image was taken from a model, which i used to experiment with different organic shapes for the water columns on the ground floor of the bathhouse. However, it is the vibrant pink colour of the columns that i love best. I was able to create this by projecting light over coloured acetate.

A collage showing the experience at night.