Time lapse similar to the time lapse of japanese knotweed i found on the BBC website. I love the way you can see the days going by, by the shadows. For my final in art foundation I was looking at the way things grow, and I planted beans in a custom made perspex box, so you could see the growth of roots and leaves. In the final exhibition I displayed the perspex box with five canvases and three pint glasses with conkers at different rates of growth. I found the project very interesting.
Showing posts with label my work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label my work. Show all posts
"Stratford goes for gold with £3m Olympic metal leaves that sway in breeze"
Evening Standard- thursday 18 february
I read an article in the standard today about drawings for a string of tree sculptures designed to give a sense of arrival to Stratford (for the olympics), the sculptures are up to 16 metres tall and have large plates of titanium as leaves which are designed to sway in the wind. The height and scale of the sculptures would make them the largest kinetic sculptures in Britain. I personally really like the idea of sculptural landscapes. I think the sculptures will give Stratford a distinctive identity. I proposed for a project in Paddington Basin a tree sculpture with wide glass plates as leaves, which is a similar design, which I made a model for. I guess that is what really caught my imagination is the combination of art and landscape architecture in such a direct way, up until this degree (in landscape architecture) my focus was always fine art, i chose to specialise in fine art for the majority of the Foundation in art and design in Norwich, and have always relied on that fine art background to influence my own designs.
"A report on the project warns that at present the streets trapped within the traffic-logged Newham gyratory system — dubbed “the island” — are scruffy and depressing, yet they will also provide the first impression for millions of visitors to the area in 2012.
“In its current condition, Stratford town centre runs the risk of being overshadowed by adjacent new developments,” warns the report. “The island needs to be more exciting to attract new businesses, residents and visitors.”"
Sri Carmichael, Consumer Affairs Reporter, London Evening Standard.
A model I made for a project in my first year at uni. It was proposed to be a shelter made from steel with glass leaves in Paddington basin.
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
At the beach at Barceloneta we measured two sections which are drawn and at this link: http://www.scribd.com/doc/24806432/Sections-Barceloneta
Camley Street Natural Park
October 2009
Camley Street Natural Park lies between the Eurostar rail tracks between paris and st. Pancras and Regents canal, it is on the edge of the new Kings Cross redevelopement, and is the site for our landscape architeture project, this term at university. As a start to the project we were asked to visit the site and record our initial emotional response to it. The site consists of several areas based around a pond, including young, light woodland, marshland and meadowland, the site is largely left to develop as nature intends, excluding a small mown area at the northern end of the site where there are two large cages housing rabbits. There is an advanced composting system used on the site and there are also alot of community based initiatives run from the site. The only buildings on the site are used to run these community endevours from and also as a classroom for schools in the Camden area, there are also tables outside the buildings where small plants grown on the site are sold to the general public. The photo below shows my emotional response to the site; the view over the river shoes the old warehouses the other side, so it is a view of industrialism framed by nature, i felt the site was a haven of calm and natural serenity in comparison to directly outside the site which is an extremely busy city transport hub, cold and grey and busy. The ripples in the water also reflect this feeling; there is some sort of change in the water surface at a point close to Camley Street, the ripples stop (reflecting the rush and movement of a busy city), and a calm pool starts (relecting the shelter and calm Camley Street provides).
Telling Tales: Fantasy and Fear in Contemporary Design
V + A
" The fairy tale, which to this day is the first tutor of children because it once was the first tutor of mankind, secretly lives on in the story. the first true storyteller is, and will continue to be, the teller of fairy tales."
Walter Benjamin
I went to see this exhibition after the Teach-in in the V + A. It was a selection of furniture and product design based on fantasy and fairy tale. I found it a fascinating exhibition; disturbing and bizarre, but enthralling. Topics ranged from classic fairy tales referring to childhood and good vs evil to more sinister and adult fears and fantasies. The exhibition was split into three sections; The Forest Glade, The Enchanted Castle and Heaven and Hell. Some designs which really caught my attention were 'princess Chair', 'Witch chair', 'Petit Jardin chair' and 'Fig Leaf wardrobe' all the work of Tord Boontje; I felt his work really captured the inspiring and magical essence of the fairy tale, which I personally find inspirational and have used as a concept in a Landcsape project for a childrens playground (Hampton Hill Junior School, Adult Learning Facility 2008). I especially liked the complete contrast between the child like innocence and fairy tale- princess- magic evoked in 'Princess chair' and the cynisism and evil refelected in 'Witch chair'. I found it interesting that you, viewing the object, can form such a strong emotional response to an inanimate object based purely on preconceptions conceived at childhood. All of the objects and furniture in the exhibition seemed to be created to make people question their perception of everyday objects.
8/October/ 2009
Crane Park Island Nature Reserve PROJECT
For this project we were put into groups and given an object to base our designs for Crane Park Nature Reserve on. The first part of the project was very conceptual. The object our group was given was soap.
The group was mixed, including students from first second and third year; John Barnes, Tom Cornell, Kira Bessa, Erica Norton and me.
16th July - 6th August 2009
Osaka: JAPAN
I attended the workshop for three weeks, staying with the Koyjiya family in Kumatori, and travelling in to Osaka daily to attend the course at Sozoscha College. The opportunity to experience the Japanese lifestyle first hand, and to work with people of different nationalities with different design views was amazing. I am so grateful to Naoto and his family for looking after me!
With the family who I stayed with in Kumatori. From left; Mr Kojiya, Peg (who travelled from California USA to attend the course and also stayed in Kumatori during the three weeks), Me and Mrs Kojiya.
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