Serpentine Pavillion 2010

French architect Jean Nouvel has been asked to design this years Serpentine Pavillion (a temporary pavillion which is designed by a different architect each year since 2000, often an architect who has not had the opportunity to have anything built in the UK before). The proposal (below) is intended to refer to classic british icons, such as the route master buses / red telephone boxes / post boxes. The materials, glass, steel, fabric and polycarbonate, are also inteded to reflect this concept. The pavillion declares it's presence in Hyde park through it's vibrant colour and a 14m free standing wall next to the building.

below - video about previous Pavillions from different architects over the years.

Annecy  - 17 / 04 / 2010

Visit to Annecy at during the penultimate week of the 09/10 ski season. It was very strange to be in the Alps at this time of year as the pistes in the resorts were still snowy but out of the ski resorts it was completely bare of snow and very sunny! The landscape around the Lake Annecy was really interesting to see. A lot of the land directly next to the lake is privately owned, so the public parks almost compete with the privately owned land in upkeep and design. The parks next to the lake are extremely well used (most probably due to their astoundingly beautiful location and the beautiful weather) and are very well kept. The majority of the trees surrounding the lake are pollarded, which looks a little odd in such an impressive natural setting - almost like the trees are the one piece of nature that can be controlled! I also felt however that the trees take on a bizarre sculptural aspect, with there bare nobbly forms. 

http://www.cabe.org.uk/files/the-value-of-public-space.pdf

CABE document on the values of of public space. V interesting. Touches on economical issues, values of public space in terms of health and mental well being, values from biodiversity and nature, moving between public space etc etc. . . 

Burgess Park

05/02/10

I went to Burgess park to pick up a management report in order to inform a written part to my course in which you have to choose a medium scale landscape and write an in depth study of it's management. I thought Burgess park would be an interesting site to look at due to the amount of redevelopment planned in the area. The Aylesbury Estate, (opposite the park, on the Northern perimeter) has been due for redevelopment for some time and is due to be taken down in stages and rebuilt over the next fifteen years. What is proposed to be the new main entrance to the park which is located along the northern perimeter, linking the estate and the park, is nearing completion in it's new design as a very playful landscape (see previous blog). And of course the park itself has been awarded £6 million pounds of government funding for a redevelopment which LDA Design won the bidding for in November last year. The park is a strange mixture of modern (new sports pitches and community sports centre designed by Studio E Architects, which was awarded as a finalist LGC & HSJ sustainable communities award) and old ( Eg. Chumleigh Gardens, a group of  female almshouses built in 1921, now grade II listed buildings), the mix match feel of the park is consolidated by a hitch hatch almost grid of dis-used and still used roads. The majority of these roads lead into the park and stop abruptly, the condition of them is very bad and they give the park a vaguely derelict asthetic. There are problems in the park relating to dog fighting and training fighting dogs, which mean a lot of the trees are damaged. other than that the park is mainly open green space which provides enough room to hold events and festivals in the summer. The main path leading through the park follows the route of the Grand Surrey Canal, with reminders along the way such as a remaining bridge and an old lime kiln used when the area was at it's industrial peak and the canal was in working order. The canal was finally closed in 1970. The park was created under the Abercrombie plan, for the creation of green spaces after the war, the plan to create burgess park was conceived in 1943, many houses destroyed by the air raids in the war were torn down along with many untouched houses, which is why today we can still see the scars of that infrastructure left on the landscape of the park. I Can't say I found the park very pleasent to walk around, however green space is always better than no green space and I look forward to the new Burgess park by LDA Design.

Panoramic view of Burgess park from the new entrance.

Barcelona

19th November 2009

Park Guell was where we started today. Designated a UNESCO world heritage site, it is a stunning piece of work by Antoni Gaudi and a unique example of Art Nouveau landscape architecture. The situation of the park on the hill el Carmel in the Gracia district of Barcelona means the views across the city towards the sea are beautiful. The site was initially intended to be a series of 60 plots for luxury houses, with beautiful views across the city and the advantage of clean air. The mastermind behind this was Count Eusebi Guell, who concieved the project based on the English garden city movement ( which is an approach to urban planning where communities are self-contained and surrounded by greenbelts). Guell moved into the only existing house on the site, Muntaner de Dalt House, in 1906, at this time Gaudi also moved into one of only two houses to be built at this stage (neither designed by him) la Torre Rosa. The park was built between 1900 and 1914 and became a public park in 1922, after failing as a residential site. We entered the park at the grand entrance, one of the only planned things to be built, along with two houses, 3km of paths, a hippostyle (pillared) hall (designed to be a market) and beautiful terrace. we headed up the first stairway guarded by the famous mosaic lizard and turned left past the school and saw some archways and pillars in a strange mottled bubbling stone, which gave it a sort of grotto/ lord of the rings kind of feel. We then headed to the main terrace a huge space surrounded by the waving and curving mosaic seat, and with views over Barcelona. The detail of the polychrome mosiacs, made from ceramic pots, tiles and  broken stone, is beautiful, i couldn't help but wonder how long it must have taken. The shape of the seating surrounding the terrace is said to have been designed by Gaudi based on a naked woman sitting in wet clay and the shape her buttocks would leave. The curving style of the bench creates semicircular nodes where people can sit and talk facing each other or in small groups. We then walked through the park following the unusual elevated road and walkways, Jutting out from the hillside, built like viaducts, so providing pathways underneath them and supported by tree like columns. The reason for the roads being elevated is to preserve the nature of the area, Gaudi also used local stone in building the pathways, so as to minimise the impact on the landscape and knit his design into the existing landscape. We reached the top where there is a huge cross and spectacular views across the city and all the way to the sea and the Montjuic area of the city which we visited on tuesday.   

Above and Below: Examples of the mosaic all around the park and the view from the main terrace, across the city.

Below: an example of the sturdy pillars in local stone found in the park.

Below: the viaduct walk and road ways through the park intended to preserve the nature.

We then headed back to the station and to Parc de nou Barris, which is a new park built on the site of Santa creu mental institute, building work started in 1998 and the park was awarded The European Prize for Urban Public Space in 2008. The park spans the distance between Placa Karl Marx and the old Hospital, and negotiates the level change in a series of terraces, separated by retaining banks and connected by ramps, these terraces are shaped as triangles as are most other elements to the park. Roads and paths cut through the triangle features and the main road which crosses through the middle of the park, Passeig de Fabra i Puig, can be crossed by a wide pedestrian bridge, which connects the two sides of the park. there are also vertical triangular structures at points in the park which provide shade and at night, light. These structures are reminiscent of palms bending into the wind, the two arms of the structures which are joined at the bottom then divert from each other to form a triangular head crossed and connected by what look like slats of plastic or fibre glass. The most impressive area, I thought, was the boardwalk which leads you over the pond to the building. the walkway was split into triangular shapes so that at the points where they joined there was a risk factor in crossing from triangle to triangle; this was my favorite area of the park. The overall feel to the park was that it needed some attention, I felt that the design was being let down by the state of disrepair  it was in, which is a shame because I liked the bold use of geometric shapes and sharp angles. Another interesting feature of the park was the interactive fountains at the bottom of the terraces. you had to see-saw on a metal box to make the fountains work; i thought it was a very clever and interesting idea, but unfortunately, like the rest of the park, the area was run down and some of the fountains no longer worked.

Above: The interactive fountains at Parc de nou Barris. Below: The risky boardwalk over the pond in Parc de nou Barris

On the way back to the station we were distracted by a spectacular fountain, which sprayed water up into the air, which then fell and splashed onto a huge rectangluar rusted box on legs and cascaded down to the rectangular pool below, the fountain was complemented by surrounding  geometric shapes and linear planting styles. (Below)

We then headed back to the waterfront and Barcelonetta via Gas natural Headquarters which was a huge very shiny building with interesting but quite clearly private (there were security guards everywhere) hard landscape design. (below)
At the beach at Barceloneta we measured two sections which are drawn and at this link:  http://www.scribd.com/doc/24806432/Sections-Barceloneta

Barcelona

18th November 2009

Today we were completely free to do what we wanted, so we decided to dedicate the day to Gaudi. We started off at La Pedrera (Casa Milla) which translates as 'the stone quarry' and is a nick name given to the building by locals after it was built in 1910. the building was originally an apartment block, but now houses a museum of Gaudi's work in the vaulted attic, has a preserved apartment as part of the museum, and you can access the rooftop. This was stunning. Panoramic views across Barcelona's grid like town plan and towards Sagrada Familia would make it a stunning place to visit, however you are standing on a roof designed by Gaudi. I found it beautiful and peculiar, you almost feel like you are one some sort of ship, surrounded by chimneys ordered in height and undulating walls all finished with a smooth sandy colour, it is quite an experience. The museum below had succinct explanations about his design ethic, and reasoning, as well as what was going on in culture and politics around Gaudi's time. One of the things in the museum which I loved was a model explaining how Gaudi designed several of his pointed roof tops. It was a board with several chains hung in a circle and then linked at the bottom, it was then turned upside down over a mirror. so when you looked into the mirror the hanging chain were reflected to look like they were standing upright, and what you saw was a skeletal form of a Gaudi building. It also had examples of organic objects from nature which influenced his work. The apartment was so stylish and glamourous, even the kitchen had special little novelty features. My favorite pieces were the so over-the-top chandeliers and the fabrics used for curtains and linen. Everything about the building was unique and interesting, it seemed to have no hard straight lines or edges.

Above and Below: Casa Milla, Gaudi's apartment block

Below: The spectacular roof of Casa Milla and views over the city

We then walked towards La Sagrada Familia, stopping on the way for lunch. The Sagrada Familia is a fascinating building, hugely impressive on first sight, it towers and looms over the city, only the yellow cranes used in the ongoing construction of the building rival it in height. We approached La Sagrada Familia from the South West, the side of the Fachada de la Pasion. A Facade designed to represent the death, resurrection and passion of the Christ. The detail of the work is incredible. The building of the church was started in 1882 from a project by the architect Francisco de Paula del Villar at the end of 1883 Gaudi was commissioned to take over, he carried on working on La Sagrada Familia until he died in 1926. Since then different architects have continued the work after his original idea. The church is a expiatory church, which means that since it was first built it has been funded purely from donations. The building of La Sagrada Familia is still going on today, which is one of the things which made the visit so interesting. There are stone masons, sculptors, builders and architects at work inside the cathedral, so you can watch the construction as it is happening. The absolute precision and detail required is painstaking, there must be a lot of talent required for any of those jobs! After staring at the Passion Facade, we headed inside. I was absolutely blown away by the interior of La Sagrada Familia, the sheer scale is astounding, and the design is staggeringly beautiful. The pillar system is a forest of abstract trees, whose canopies interlock creating star shaped holes, which currently are open to the sky above. The pillars, or trunks of the trees are completely square at the base and evolve by the time they reach the ceiling into a perfect cylindrical form. Gaudi was Heavily influenced by nature and natural forms, using skeletal structures as a base to build from, the tree like pillars in La Sagrada Familiar are a perfect example, nature did not only influence his design, but also his engineering. Other things which he was influenced by include, his families history of working with their hands (as boilermakers) which gave him an understanding of craftmanship, and also the area in which he grew up the region of Tarragona. Gaudi used a lot of symbology within much of his work, wether it was naturalistic, medieval or religious. Some interesting quotes from gaudi regarding his own work: “I am a geometrician, that is to say, I synthesise”; “I calculate everything”; “in the execution of surfaces, geometry does not complicate but simplifies the construction”; and “for an architectural work to be beautiful, all its elements must be appropriate in situation, dimension, form and colour”.

He also said of Sagrada Familiar's status as an expiatory church: "The expiatory church of La Sagrada Família is made by the people and is mirrored in them. It is a work that is in the hands of God and the will of the people."

We then went up the towers of the opposite end to which we entered, which offered a brilliant view of the city and over the building work of the church. The Facade on this side of the church is the Nativity facade, and is dripping with detail, to the extent it is almost grotesque. You don't know what to look at first. I prefer the Nativity facade to the Passion; it seems more naive somehow, I think the Passion Facade feels more deliberate and straight forward.

Above: the exterior of the towers of La Sagrada Familia with the cranes. Below: The interior of La Sagrada Familia.

After our visit to la Sagrada Familia we headed over to the Arc de Triumf and Parc de la Ciutadella, where there were fantastic fountains pretty ponds and a huge fake mammoth that we climbed on. 

Barcelona 

Tuesday 17th November 2009

The aim for the morning was to meet in Parc Diagonal Mar at 11am, however me and a few others had a couple of navigational problems and ended up at the building site of  Zahar Hadid's Edifici Campus, it looks like a very interesting project, typically Hadid, with a spiraling tower to give off the best view at every window in the building.

 (Link to information on the Edifici Campus) 

We eventually made it to Parc Diagonal Mar, which was designed by EMBT a design team of Benedetta Tagliabue and Enrique Miralles. The park is very surreal at first glance; there are high undulating metal strips reminiscent of a roller-coaster with huge mosaic planters floating at impossible heights and a huge lake with including several different levels and fountains spraying onto and around the metal in the air. The park is divided into six main areas: the fountains, a “magic mountain” for children, a sports area, an amphitheater, a playground and a dog run. All the areas are grouped around the large lake. The park is a central feature of the new Diagonal mar district (the diagonal seafront district, as it lies between the end of Avinguda Diagonal and the sea) which features residential areas, hotels, a modern shopping complex, and the new Centre Internacional de Convencions (International Convention Centre). Unfortunately the park has faced heavy criticism for the lack of use of the park by local people. However I feel that whatever your personal opinion of the design of the park, it is without doubt a spectacle. My personal a opinion of the park is that, as I have said, it is a fantastically surreal and unusual design, however i am not a fan of the mosaic planters, and I think that the overhead metalwork seems a bit manic, it could have worked better over a resticted area maybe, or maybe there should be less of it. I can't quite decide what or why I don't like the metal, and am well aware that the manic feel to the structure is probably exactly what other people might find attractive about it, but it just didn't seem to work. The play areas within the park however were incredible; far more fun than most. They were so imaginative and played on the senses too, eg. you jump on  something and it makes a noise. The equipment was just higher bigger better than we seem to have in England, which made me question wether it was health and safety which is preventing anything like that being built here. We all had an awesome time playing like proper kids and then moved on to a more mellow area of the park. Here there were beautifully ergonomically designed benches, for us all to wind down on. The area seemed to be more popular and better used, there were a few people relaxing on benches with books/ computers etc. the form of the benches was a undulating concrete cast, so you could sit or lie. These were placed around a wide path with planting one side and lawn the other. A very relaxing area within the park.

Above: The 'roller-coaster' metal work over the park

Above: Unusual benches, the undulating concrete form as described above.

Above: some of the play equipment in the park

We then headed away from the park through the Diagonal Mar to the Parc del Auditoris, part of the forum used for the Second World Urban Forum 2004. The forum also included the Forum Building and Photovoltaic sculpture. The Forum Building  or Edifici Forum, was built from 2000-04, designed by Herzog & de Meuron Architects, and is a huge blue wedge in the landscape with mirror sections all along and underneath it, it is a fascinating building, but seems to be marooned in an empty disused space. the feeling of the whole area is slightly rundown and very underused, our group were the lone users of the space on the day we visited and it just felt completely deserted. Clearly designed with large events in mind you can't help but wonder wether the designers considered that there will be times when there is no event held in the space. The area was staggering in its scale and had beautiful directional paving towards a fantastic looking sail like structure which over looked the bay and port. However the over all feeling was that I wanted to move on, I didn't want to linger in what felt like an eerily big disused space in a severe state of disrepair. At a distance it was beautiful and it seems such a waste to let it go.

Above: At the venue for the International Forums of cultures 2004

After some lunch we met up again at Placa d' Espanya and walked up the hill towards the Museu nacional Art de Catalunya which is an extremely grand looking building. In front of the building is Font magica, a huge water fountain which wasn't working the day we visited, however on this same level is the Pavello Mies Van Der Rohe. A stunning pavilion made from marble and glass with clean simple lines and open space the fluidity and movement from exterior to interior is barely distinguishable. The pavilion was originally built in 1929 as the German pavilion for the World's fair, after which it was dismantled and moved only to be rescued and reconstructed in 1985. The structure is built around two shallow pools one of which features a statue by Georg Kolbe, the German sculptor known for his female nudes, an elegant contrast to the simplicity of the lines of the pavilion. I was taken by the quality of materials and the way they are displayed to perfection by the simple large and undisturbed areas of the walls. In particular the purple and orange slab of marble inside the pavilion is lovely. Inside is the original Barcelona Chair designed by van der Rohe and seen (mainly in reproduction form) throughout the city in reception areas.

Above: View from Placa d'Espanya of the Museu nacional Art deCatalunya.

Above and Below: Pavello Mies Van Der Rohe, the Kolbe sculpture and purple and orange marble wall

We then walked up the hill for miles and miles looking for a garden, but got entirely lost and eventually made our way to Castell de Montjuic, which had fantastic veiws over the city (if it hadn't been so hazy) From the other side of the castle looking over the docks the views were awesome- There was a layer of low cloud over the sea which cleared over the docks which were all lit up, the view from above all this was fairly spectacular.

Above: the view from Castello de Montjiuc over the docks to the sea.

Richmond Park

3 November 2009

We visited Richmond park with Micheal Hermann, in order to have talks with park ranger Adam Curtis, Adams job is crucial to the management of Richmond park. The talk with him was very beneficial to us for part of our university course, (a writing project based on investigating the management of a meduim scale site; I am looking into the management of Burgess Park, for example). We also had a small talk from part of the police force which patrols richmond park. The park has its own police force, which is unusual for a park, but a couple of the royal parks employ this management strategy, we were told that the park had a very low crime rate and one of the major problems it encountered was people picking mushrooms and chestnuts, to take home. This causes problems for the deer, as this is a crucial part to their diet in the winter. Speaking to the police officer was really interesting, as he pointed out things like this which i hadn't really considered before. I come from the countryside which if managed at all, is managed by farmers, so to be somewhere which felt like the countryside, but was so intensely managed was interesting to me. Things that I would just take for granted were thought through and had some sort of system. I found the experience very useful; I now understand the full scope that Landscape management can have, and exactly how much work goes into managing such a huge area as Richmond park.

Adam mainly spoke to us about a new gate which is being put into the park to commemorate the building of st pauls cathedral. The gate is close to King Henry VIII's Mound, which is the highest point in the park, and has a view to st pauls cathedral, 10 miles away. The view from the mound to the dome is protected for a dome and a half 's width either side of the cathedral. The gate is positioned at the start of this view before a slice is cut through the woodland framing the site. We were asked our opinions on several designs for the new gate, some referring to the nature in the park some referring to royalty, or echoeing small features found on the cathdral itself. The designs were interesting and things which were taken into account were interesting, such as health and safety, wether or not the gate would fit into the park and wether or not it was making enough of a statement to commemorate. We were told that whichever way you chose one group of people will be unhappy with it, so the best option is to aim to compromise on all aspects of anything. nightmare. Some of the more beautiful and original designs were just not considered for this reason. One design was of two deer fighting with their antlers entwined when the gate was closed; to open the gate the deer raise their heads, and the antlers unlock. It was a fantastic design challenging the conventional way in which a gate is opened, but for health and safety reasons the design would have to be altered to open in the conventional way, if it were to be considered. I found looking at the designs really interesting and the way in which they are considered for use interesting, but a little depressing as a designer. on the way out of the park we came across a herd of deer, with huge antlers, very beautiful.  

  

OPEN HOUSE LONDON 2009

LDA Design led walking tour - Potters Field

19th September 2009

Potters Field is a public space designed by Gros Max, it's positioned alongside More London but goes further back to Tooley street. I joined a tour led by an LDA Design Landscape Architect, around Potters Field and More London. There are two pavilions at either side of Potters Field; one constructed of steel and glass and a contrasting one constructed of charred wood, the smooth sleek modern lines contrast with the rough edges. There is a badly maintained green roof on the glass and steel construction and both buildings have a temporary feel about them but are permanent. I found the design of the glass building, somehow wrong, i think because I thought it was temporary and was not built in keeping with the landscape. The seating (shown above) has pale blue designs on the top to reflect the sites history as a pottery. as you walk away from Tooley street towards the Thames the trees on the site and the pavilion frame a walkway towards the Entrance of The Tower of London. Towards the Tooley end side of the site the planting is very gentle and soft in comparison to the extreme hardscaping in More London , this is for the residents living near the end; a 'local garden'.

OPEN HOUSE LONDON 2009

LDA Design led walking tour - MORE LONDON

19th September 2009

During the open house week, I went on a guided walk around More London, guided by a landscape architect from LDA design. It was very interesting to hear the views of the group as well as the veiws of our guide I learnt a lot about the reasoning for different features. The most prominent feature for me in this space is the paving, its refreshing to have such beautiful finish, I love the strips rather than the standard paving rectangles. It is stone imported from Ireland and the directional lay is supposed to direct peoples attention towards Tower Bridge and guide them through the site. The dark granite reflects the lighter sandstone on the other side of the river, highlighting the contrast between old (North of the river) and the new (More London and Potters Field). The space works very well as a private space, not so well as a public space; which doesn't compliment the use of the City Hall Building, home to the Greater London Authority, comprising of the Mayor of London and the London Assembly. The land is rented on a 25 year lease to the GLA, so the space is designed as a private space; aspects like the thin strip of water leading from Tooley Street through to more london would be considered a risk in publicly owned space. The area was designed by Townshend Landscape Architects.