WELCOME TO MY BLOG!

This blog is a personal record of my experiences and achievements of the last year, alongside studying Landscape Architecture. The highlight of the year has been participating in an international design course at Sozosha Design College in Japan. Becoming Student Landscape Institute Council (SLIC) representative for Kingston has allowed me to become involved with a wide range of activities, such as a volunteer for the London School Environment Awards, Landscape Architecture South East (LASE) student representative and work on the construction of 'Streetscene' at Cityscape. I have had a brilliant year visiting a wide range of landscapes, exhibitions, lectures and practices in Japan, Malmo, Copenhagen, Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield and London.

I hope you enjoy reading!

Three Cities, Three Continents

Curitiba, Brazil

Whitelaw + Turkington very kindly invited us to a continuing proffessional development lecture. This was a really interesting afternoon with talks on the 'free city' concept in Melbourne, development in Stockholm and paving in Paris. The last talk on Curitiba in Brazil was fascinating, a really brilliant example of urban planning. The masterplan was developed by Jaime Lerner, who went on to become Mayor. There were really innovative approaches to dealing with public transport, waste removal and recycling and the social inclusion of its poorest inhabitants. This was a really inspirational project.

New public transport bus stops, Curitiba

Shifting Sands: Good Design In Seaside Regeneration

East Beach Cafe - Thomas Hetherwick

Sihting sands in Littlehampton was a brilliant lecture and very relevant to our current North Sea Faing projects. There were over twenty speakers covering a wide range of topics. Maria Smith from Studio Weave, was particularly interesting talking about a long scuptural bench she is creating for Littlehampton. The highlight of the day was Thomas Heathewick who spoke about the new East Beach Cafe which is replacing a kiosk on Littlehampton seafront. Located just ten minutes from the leacture hall, we visited it at lunchtime, after a having a paddle in the sea! The building is absolutley stunning. I love its curving forms and raw and weathered look. It fits to the location perfectly. Although still in the final stages of construction we are able to have a look at the space inside too.

On The Threshold: The Changing Face of Housing

Living Room House, Gelnhausen, Germany

This exhibiton demonstrated the importance of good external design of housing in creating a sense of community and creating place where people want to live. Architects whose work was represented include: AHMM, BKK-3, Brendeland Kristoffersen, FAT, Maccreanor Lavington, MVRDV, S333 and Wilkinson Eyre.

There were some really innovative ideas, such as the Living Room House pictured above, with rooms that slide out of the building like draws, creating an outdoor-indoor space! This was a tiny exhibition, really hidden away but well worth having a look at. It really highlighted the overlapping roles between architects and landscape architects. There were some beautiful models and a really interesting video of people talking about the old London slum areas.

Urbis Public Space, Manchester

Urbis lit at night

Urbis is an exhibition centre focussing on city life located just a couple of minutes walk from Exchange Square. The entrance to the iconic building is a public space designed by Martha Schwartz. The undulating topography of the grassed area with the water channels and seating incorporated into the design made me think about how I might solve problems within my own design work. This was a really well used and lively space, particularly popular with skateboarders who were using the hard edges as ramps to do tricks. It was interesting to see people using the space in a way that was not planned, as often seems the case.

Exchange Square, Manchester

Exchange Square, desgned by Martha Schwartz, is located in the heart of Manchester in a busy retail and entertainment district on a site of recent bombings. The square extends over two levels connected by curving ramps and stairs, which double up as street funtiture. Set within the curving walls of the ramps are internally lit glass boxes in which are embedded artifacts of the industrial revolutuion. The largest area, the top level, has seating which can be rearranged as needed. Benches slide along rail tracks inset with coloured glass panels marking the historical importance of railroads in the industrial development of Manchester.
Along the lower level the historic line of Hanging Ditch river is bought to life through an abstracted river filled with water and stepping stones. Unfortunately the river was dry when we visited and full of liter and construction work was taking place on much of the site so a lot of the space was barriered off from the public. I've been interested in Martha Schwartz's work since the first year and this was the first time I've visited one of her designs. After seeing her work in magazines/websites I was not dissappointed by the final project which was a really successful and much used space.

Manchester Art Gallery

Piccadilly Gardens - LS Lowry

This was a brilliant gallery, unfortunately we had to rush around it but you could easily spend alday here. I really liked the Manchester Gallery, on the ground floor, which celebrates the creativity of Manchester from the old textile industry to its contemporary arts and design scene. It shows how the city has changed over the years through a range of work from ceramics and furniture to video and photography. It included pieces by famous artisits such as LS Lowry and Adolphe Valette to contemporary artists and designers and even work produced by local communities. There was a painting of Piccadilly Gardens, which we had visited earlier, by LS Lowry. It was really interesting to see how this area looked fifty years ago and the changes it had undergone.

The Clore Interactive Gallery was a really nice idea with hands on activities to explore artwork and even create your own. Children were really catered for in the gallery, more than I'd seen before. With each exhibition there was a seperate space with interactive activities making the gallery a really fun place for children to be.

Dysfunctional Family - Yinka Shonibare

Alien Nation was a unique exhibition of film, sculpture and cinema posters talking about fears and fantasies for the future. 'Twelve contemporary international artists use science fiction and extra-terrestrial forms to explore racial difference as a metaphor for the threat of the outsider,' www.manchestergalleries.org