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

Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester

Piccadilly Gardens is situated in Manchester city centre at the end of Market Street and close to Piccadilly Rail Station. It is the cities largest open inner city green space. The park, once Victorian Gardens, became neglected and a key site of anti social behaviour. The square was redesigneed in 2001 by EDAW after the IRA bombings and as part of the build up to the city hosting the Commonwealth Games. The park includes a large lawn area, and fountain plaza with the original statues and a reacreational pavillion designed by Japanese architect Tado Ando whose work I really love.

Go to www.360spin.co.uk/virtual-manchester/pic-garden.htm for 360 degree panoramics of Piccadilly Gardens, Exchange Square and the Urbis.

Albert Dock, Liverpool

The Albert Dock was once the base for the East India and China Trades, consisting of five blocks of warehouses grade 1 listed buildings surrounding a body of water larger than Trafalgar Square. The docks closed in 1792 after decades of disuse and in 1983 it became the site of a £100 million regeneration project. The new development was fully completed in 2003, transformed into a vibrant waterfront with reastaurants, bars, shops and apartments. It has become the site of Merseyside Maritime Museum and Tate Liverpool, attracting millions of visitors every year.

Church Ruins, Liverpool

The church was built in 1831, situated in Liverpool town centre. It suffered serious bomb damage during the Blitz of May 1941. The church was purchased by the city from the Church of England in 1868 and together with the gardens which surround it, it has become a public space. The eerie church ruins are covered with vines and the whole area is very tranquil and restful.

LSEA Visit To Beavers Community Primary School

Children's sustainable transport to school posters

Today I volunteered at Beaver's Community Primary School in Hounslow. It was a really exhausting day but very rewarding! I worked with small groups of children talking to them about environmentally friendly ways of travelling to school, promoting the benefits of walking/cycling and ways to keep safe. The school is already very active in promoting sustainability and discourages parents to take their children to school by car by organising cycling groups in the morning and WOW - walk on Wednesdays. I helped the children to create posters to put up around their school to encourage more children to use these facilities and explain the benefits. In the afternoon I helped the children calculate the carbon footprint of the school, which was quite horrifying! The school is well above the average when compared to other schools and I explained simple ways to reduce this. I hope to visit the school again in July to create a whole school travel tree, where each child puts a different coloured leave onto the tree in the morning relating to the way they travelled that day. I look foreard to seeing th schools progress.

Whitelaw + Turkington, London

Peninsula Square, Greenwich

After seeng a lecture on public realm by Lindsay Whitelaw at Cityscape I arranged a visit to Whitelaw + Turkington. Everybody was really welcoming and showed me a huge variety of projects which they are currently working on including masterplanning, parks and open space and urban design mainly for commercial and residential areas. One of the largest projects they are working on is Peninsula Square in Greenwich which will be the gateway to te O2. The square will be surroundedby shops, restaurants and cafes with an outdoor performance area and bold paving in concentric patterns. This will create a new public space for London, equivalent in size to Leicester Square. I really liked the diversity of types and scale of work they undertake. I was a bit daunted by how much technical drawing is done for each project!

For more information visit www.wtlandscape.com

Making Places from Spaces

I attended the Making Places from Spaces morning conference at Cityscape. One of my favourite speakers was Jason Prior, Vice President of EDAW, who spoke about masterplanning in the Lea Valley. He spoke about the strategy for after the Olympic Games and showed some fantastic images of how Lea Valley will be transformed and integrated back into London. Patricia Brown from the Central London Partnership talked about creating places where people want to be. She spoke about reclaiming back London for the people by improving transport, walkability, connections etc. Professor Robert Bruegmann from the University of Illinois at Chicargo spoke about the history of sprawl and how it can be economically, socially, environmnetally and aesthetically problematic.

Designing For Public Spaces: Improving The Public Realm Through Design

This was a brilliant lecture by Lindsay Whitelaw, Whitelaw + Turkington. She spoke about a new project in Greenwich, Penninsula Square which will accomodate huge amounts of visitors whilst at the same time providing flood control for the Thames by allowing inundation during high water levels. This will be a key site I can look at in my dissertation. Other projects included St. Pauls Green and Gillet Square in Dalston mentioned in 100 public spaces, NLA.

Innovations for the Built Environment

People enjoying Streetscene

This was really good exhibition all about innovative ways of thinking about construction, the built environment and the way we use it. There were over 300 exhibitors covering all aspects of sustainability, placemaking and regeneration. It was a brilliant opportunity to get inspiration for my design project and gather useful information about the latest construction and material technologies. It also provided a great chance to speak to Landscape Architects and arrange visits to practices such as Gillespies, one the UK's largest and best known environmental design firms.

Before

After

It was great to see Streetscene completed and being extensively used and enjoyed by visitors as a place to eat their lunch, relax etc. In the Cityscape newsletter Streetscene was described as, "A showcase of urban design excellence on an unprecedented scale, demonstrating how a well-designed public realm can integrate sustainable products and features into the urban landscape." In my opinion it was slightly disappointing. There was poor attention to detail in places as the contractors had ran out of time to complete the project fully. The flowers arrived late, 6.30pm the day before the exhibition opened and had been planted still in their pots. The design had been very limited as we had to use the contributions from suppliers. Overall though I think it was a success as everyone seemed to enjoy the space. In the evening it provided the location for a cocktail party with a jazz band playing.

Allocation of Primary School

I recieved a letter today confirming I will be helping at Beaver's Comunity Primary School in Hounslow, who won first prize last year. Their chosen project area is transport to school, alongside litter and local environment quality. They have asked me to prepare some of the following activities - talk in assembly, plant sapling trees with a group, label existing trees, use internet with individuals, design/make a model, help to research travel through history.

SLIC Meeting - Manchester

The main of this meeting was to introduce new representatives and explain to them the work we are doing so that they can continue the projects next year.

* We assessed the success of Streetscene and the SLIC stand at Cityscape. Everybody was very pleased with the outcome of the central piece though felt that the stand was not clear enough to explain what SLIC is and the work it does.

* I reported progress with London Schools Environment Awards school visits.

* We made further plans for the Summer event, deciding on landscapes, exhibitions which would be worth visiting.

Cardinal Place, London

The Cardinal Place development in the City of Westminster includes three main public spaces: the grand galleria with views of Westminster Cathedral, the pedestrian walkways lined with shops and restaurants and the landscaped roof garden. The oval roof garden has a large open space with chess board paving used for concerts and art exhibitions. It is bordered by a curved stepped lawn providing a really nice space for workers and visitors to sit and eat their lunch and relax. This garden is quite bare and minimal which works really well. I think the lighting in the park is a bit tacky though, too bright and dramatic and not very welcoming.

Building Streetscene at Cityscape

Design of Streetscene

Innovations for the built environment is held at Earls Court 2 in London between 27th February and 1st March. It contains five events - ecobuild, futurebuild, regenex, building for health and cityscape, all representing the most important themes affecting the built environment today.

SLIC were given the opportunity of designing the central piece of cityscape, Streetscene, the biggest and most prominent feature of the exhibition covering 100sqm plot. We were asked to create a design that bought the following elements - design excellence, sustainability, inclusiveness, accessibility, healthy lifestyles and a sense of community.






Construction and Preparation

Streetscene incorporates hard and soft landscaping, street furniture, signage, lighting and public art using sustainable products constributed by Marshalls, Civic Trees, International Art Consultants and many more. Working on the construction of Streetscene I undertook tasks such as painting, infilling paving and planting of trees. It was a good opportunity to work alongside contractors, a project manager, artists etc to understand what is involved in bringing a project to life. I'm looking forward to revisiting the site on Wednesday to see Streetscene completed.


Hard at work!

www.cityscapeonline.com

Sheffield Station & Sheaf Square

The £50m station masterplan aimed to develop Sheffield station into a high quality gateway to the city. It included a new footbridge, tram stop, spaces for retail outlets and public square, designed by EDAW, all opening December 2006.

The focus for the square is a water cascade and sculpture of Sheffield steel which "confirms that in the 21st century Sheffield still stands at the forefront of metal design" skyscraper city website. The cutting edge sculpture is a simple elegant blade of stainless steel with coloured glass end sections designed by Keiko Mukaide. At night it forms a dramatic cntrepiece guiding visitors towards the station.

The redevelopment also included Howard Street which has become a tree-lined boulevard with a stunning water feature. There are modern seating platforms underlit with blue neon lights making it a really exciting place in the evening.