New Art Centre, Roche Court

The New Art Centre is a gallery and sculpture park situated at Roche Court, a 19th century house and park in Winterslow, Wiltshire. The centre was founded by Madeleine Bessborough and was originally located in Sloane Square, London untill 1994 when it moved to more picturesque surroundings. The vast sloping park surrounded by woods provides the perfect backdrop for the sculpture. The park is free and allows the public to see a wide range of 20th – 21st century sculpture from leading artists including Antony Gormley, Richard Long, Richard Deacon and Bill Woodrow. The sculptures incorporate a wide range of media, including bronze, marble, Corten steel, fibreglass resin and stainless steel.

The gallery was designed by architects Munkenbeck + Marshall in 1998 and has won six architectural awards, including the RIBA Stephen Lawrence Award for best small building. It's a really lovely light space and when we visited an exhibition by Craig Martin was showing.

For more information visit www.sculpture.uk.com

Ryoan-Ji Temple, Kyoto Japan

This was my first exprience of a traditional Japanese temple. The rock garden is one of the most famous in Kyoto, laid out bySoami who died in 1525. It has a simple beauty, consisting of just fifteen rocks and meticulously raked gravel.

Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo Japan

Jusetsu Miwa - Rice Dish

The National Museum of modern Art is located in a building designed by Taniguchi Yoshiro in the Kyobashi area of Tokyo. It was great to see the history of modern Japanese Art from the early 20th Century to the present. I had never even heard of most of the artists before, and particlarly liked the work of Kitaoka Fumio who created huge black and white prints depicting water, aswell as Miyakawa Yoshiki and Sawada Testuro. The crafts gallery was showing a ceramics exibition, Jusetsu Miwa: A Retrospective. The sculptor has been named a 'national living treasure' and is a sculptor of Hagi-ware. This exhibition displayed over 180 works including rice bowls, vases and water jars, presenting the culmination of 80 years of work. The pieces were beautiful but to be honest once you've seen once piece you've seen them all!

Mount Fuji, Japan

Climbing Mount Fuji was one of the real highlights of my trip to Japan. The three other English students from the design course and I made it to the top in a day and stayed overnight in a mud hut. Pathways and restpoints were built precariously into the mountain edge. The soils were a rich reddish, unlike anywhere I'de seen before. We climbed down at sunrise to breath-taking views. An experience I wont forget.

Sozosha International Design Course

I was very excited about winning a place on the 2006 Sozosha International Students' Workshop held in Osaka, Japan. The course ran between 16th July to 2nd August and was attended by fifty students from India, Singapore, Malaysia, Phillipines, France, Netherlands, England and Japan. It was a really interesting experience working with students not only from throughout the world but also from various design disciplines. Explaining any ideas and visions for the project was a real challenge due to the language barriers but we communicated through drawings and with the aid of a translater.

Our client Hasegawa Kogyo, are a famous stepladder company in Japan. Our brief was to develop an existing product to create a dual purpose.

A survey of people in Osaka revealed that as few as 20% own a garden, whereas over 80% of those with no garden have a balcony or veranda. Japanese gardens are an original art form and an important part of Japanese culture. We created the vertical garden so people with limited space can still experience the pleasure of a garden.

Detail of securing base structure

The vertical garden incorporates all aspects of regular horizontal gardens, such as soil, water, flowers, vegetables, seating, lighting etc. but on a vertical axis. The base for the garden is provided by simple alluminium jigsaw shapes which act as a trellis for the plants to climb over.

Calender of garden growth and use

The shapes puzzle together piece by piece to form unlimited possiblities. Where there are less perforations, there are less plants creating places to step, sit etc. The design can grow with the plant and creates a living artwork changing with the seasons.

Studying at Sozosha was a brilliant opportunity and a lot of fun. I'd really urge any of the second years to apply for the 2007 workshop.

The Golden Pavillion, Kyoto Japan

The Golden Pavillion within its magnificent grounds was completely breathtaking. The vast lake it appears to be floating on is known as Kyoko-cho - Mirror Pond and contains many small islands. Winding pathways lead worshipers (and plenty of tourists) through the enourmous grounds past waterfalls, tea houses and shrines which are all stunning. The Japanese seem to get it right every time!

Pagoda on the Island of Hakuja-no-tsuka

Moerenuma Park, Japan

This was a very impressive park, unlike anywhere I'd been before. The landscape was so dramatic, with huge structures filling its vast expanse. The masterplan was completed by Isamu Noguchi who aimed to design a "park that is considered to be one complete sculpture". Moerenuma Park was his final and most ambitious project, completed in 2005, 17 years after his death. It was once the site of a waste treatment plant and covers a huge 189 ha. The space was built under the 'Circular Greenbelt Concept' which aimed at surrounding the urban areas of Sapporo with parks and greenbelts.

It was a really hot day and we hired bikes at the entrance which was a perfect way to explore. As you travel through the park different spaces and structures are suddenly revealed, such as playground areas hidden within cherry forests, and a 62m tall artificial mountain previously hidden by the topography. The views across the park at every angle are stunning.

Moere Mountain rises 62m tall, creating a landmark for Sapporro

Tetra Mound is a triangular pyramid of stainless steel columns with a chess board square used for events.

Forest of cherry trees is a play equipment area hidden within a green zone.

Japanese Homestay

During the three week design course I stayed with a Japanese family on the outskirts of Osaka in Shijounawateshi. It was my first time in Japan and my first time outside Europe and this was a brilliant way to be totally imersed within the culture. It was a great opportunity to learn some of the language and try the local cuisine. The parents had three young children and while staying with them I really became part of the family and part of the local community.