THE FINISHING POST

Well here we are. Four years in the making and we have arrived. Here are some thoughts about my experience as a part time BA (Hons) Garden Design student:

1. It's never felt like a part-time course apart from perhaps the first term of Year 3 when we enjoyed a more sedate pace.

2. I enjoyed being at Avery Hill. A bit of a culture shock after Hadlow, but a good experience. I felt like a grown-up. I think it has something to do with the fact it's an HE uni. rather than a FE and HE college.

3. I've enjoyed every minute.

4. I've learnt more than I ever imagined.

5. I'm embarrassed to look at my Year 1-3 work now (having just put some of it in my presentation portfolio and cringed).

6. There are just five of us Garden Designers left from the original bunch of 24.

7. It was good to team up with the Landscape Architects - an interesting mix of characters and I enjoyed all of them in various ways.

8. It would have been really helpful to have had some Photoshop skills before embarking on the course - a lot of time could have been saved. Also AutoCAD skills - although this wouldn't be so easy to access unless you happen to already be either a student or a millionaire.

9. The tutors have been great this past 18 months. They are tough but fair. Not exactly nurturing or gentle but then I did say I feel like a grown up now.

10. I've forgotten how to behave like a normal person.

After the final crit I managed to re-visit every single sheet, despite vowing not to. It's just difficult to leave something when you know it's not right. having said that, I've just seen a few things that aren't quite right...

For the final exhibition which we are hanging tomorrow, I am pinning up a total of 21 sheets plus I have my setting out sheet in the front of my portfolio. Out of all the sheets I think I have to select the 'setting out' as my least favourite, even though it could be considered the quickest. It's probably because it's all about numbers and I have to admit that I didn't quite manage to achieve an O'Level (yes, I'm really old) in Maths, nor a GCSE or any form of mathematical qualification. I am a bit number-phobic, so dealing with scaling/quantifying/plant densities etc. has been a bit of an eye-opener for me.  But I discovered that by applying logic it's not too difficult.

Right, here is a selection of my final sheets ready for the wall. I hope they might prove to be useful to the next batch of students who, I am sure, will have a brilliant experience, albeit a highly stressful one. 

After doing all the construction drawings I felt the need for a bit of feminine fluff, hence the Mood Board and Concept sheet for 1-2000 are a bit airy-fairy. I've completed 5 sheets of construction drawings but only pasted one here as they look so DULL (but in a weird sort of way I actually quite enjoyed doing them). I have included here some Hardworks sheets as a special bonus for those of an autistic nature.

 And there we are. I didn't manage to make a model for the 1-500 stage, which we were advised to do. And I think I have neglected my 1-500 plan too - I re-visited it very briefly but didn't update the design.

But I'm only human. Even though my family think I've turned into some sort of mechanical robot.

A glass of wine or two is now in order before tomorrow's hanging.

Onwards to the end

Well we all survived the final crit this week and personally I think I came off quite lightly. Our tutors have been a great support this year  and I have to say that I haven't experienced what I was expecting. Each year is probably quite different from the previous but I don't think any of us have felt humiliated, undermined or ridiculed as we were warned. I would say they are hard but fair and during the crits we have come to expect honest feedback which can feel harsh from the receiving end. But we are all in this to learn and 'soft and fluffy around the edges' was never on the menu.

I received plenty of fodder for thought, but I believe 'the panel' liked my concept and my delivery. They did like my 1:200 plan but didn't like my 1:50 plan much - and that was one of my favourites so I'm obviously not quite tuned in to the bullseye yet. I need to turn my Panicum Cloud Nine into something more green with a bit more occasional fluff and my Molinia Poul Petersen could do with being another colour as grey/white apparently looks unfinished. It 'lacks coherence in rendering of the planting' and 'looks slightly out of focus in the planted areas, eg. shadows should be crisp'.

Here's some more comments: my sections show an incorrect view of the background which is rising up into the air and shouldn't exist; My 1:2000 is slightly boring; My berm in sections is too hilly; Nobody liked my high bridge.

So I now have a dwindling four weeks to improve everything - plus we have the construction drawing workshops and construction drawings themselves to tackle.

I have been busy planting up my garden that I designed in the 'real world' and already feel way behind where I would like to be.

However, I have taken the bull by the horns and decided to act (at last) on the negative comments regarding my bridges. Having fought to keep them because they are the only strong visual representation of the main concept of plaited paths, I am embarking on 'option 2' and turning the High Bridge into a tunnel. The Discovery Tunnel will have a portion above the pool and the rest beneath the ground where it shows the soil profile and a few fossils. It is attached to Path Soulful so will fit in nicely with the theme.

Onwards my friends. We are all totally obsessed with this degree so we may as well see it through to the end with the same dogged determination. Anyone that thought they might get a little break now is completely bonkers.

Here's the final crit pic. I think of myself as aged about 20 - it's going to be a bit of a shock when I can't claim to be a student any more and have to become a grown up. Fortunately the photo is a little too distant to show the dark circles under the eyes...none of us are getting much sleep nowadays.

It's May. May we all do our best next week? May we have some positive feedback? May I stop dreaming of contours, plans, sections, sketches please?....

Ticking off the items on my 'to do' list is a bit addictive. Now I'm underway I might even say I'm enjoying it. But I don't think I'll manage absolutely everything. Here's the list of completed sheets in a nice welcoming golden glow colour, followed by the 'awaiting attention' in rather an alarming red:

Concept Sections for 1:500 stage (2 sheets)
Development Site Plan at 1:200
Development sections  for 1:200 stage (2 sheets)
Planting Plan at 1:200
Lighting Concept Plan at 1:200
Site Plan at 1:50
Supporting sketches for 1:50 stage (well, the sheet is done but needs improving if there's time)
Supporting sequential sketches for 1:500 stage

Concept Masterplan at 1:2000
Selected Site Plan at 1:500 (I might have to resort to the original unless someone slips an extra couple of days into the week - I need one of those time-turning devices)
Hardworks Key Plan at 1:200
Planting Plan - structural, for 1:200 stage
Hardworks Plan for 1:50 stage
Setting Out Plan for 1:50 stage
Supporting Sections for 1:50 stage (3 sheets)


I'm really pleased with three of my golden glowing sheets: the 1:50 plan; the planting plan and one sheet of sequentials. That leaves 7 sheets that I know could be improved. It's a bit annoying that I now feel I have adequate skills to present things in a more effective way... but not the time to re-do the sheets.

Here's the 1:50 finished plan, the lighting concept sheet and the finished planting plan:

May Day will see me doing some sections. Then I will move on to the hardworks etc. etc. etc..
Then I will stock up with drawing pins ready for the hanging. Hopefully I won't need the rope. If I do, I'll make sure it's an appropriate plaited one.

Here's the Oscar speech: thank you Russell for the gentle guidance and for carrying me around in your pocket. Thank you Dom for the thing I should probably not mention. Thank you Newcome for Tommy Walsh and your unique humour - oh and your business card which is filed in a safe place. Thank you hugely to Karin and Heidi for being in this together. Thank you to the whole group for the bonding that has gradually formed. And thank you Pierre for those Union Jack pants...

And sorry to my family for ignoring them for four years.

Countdown...

Sorry blog, life is a little busy.

We have just two weeks until the final crit. and presentation at  Hadlow. We are told by last  year's students that this is the BIG DAY - we are marked but then have one month to improve everything.

Yesterday we were given the 'To Do' list. Just the 20 A1 sheets to present to the firing squad 
on 7 May.
Oh yea.
I feel a little rhyme coming on...
So much to do and not very long,
Will we make it, I rather wonder...
without making a terrible blunder.

OK, I think that's enough of that.

Here's an update on what I've been doing lately:
Rendering the 1:50 design plan (just one third approx. for comments). Here it is.

I have annotated but not shown here. Comments yesterday were sort of OK. Julia said it's too fussy. When I continue the rendering I will attempt to blend some of the planting on the bank together rather than showing all the textures. Jamie said to lose the 'billard ball' effect on the Buxus balls. Actually I've just noticed this was the slightly older plan, there is now another hard surface at the top of the stramp, and a Magnolia - it will connect to the Main Avenue.  As Julia said, we don't want our park users to trample their muddy feet all over the lovely clean lines of my steps. There are also people in the later plan.

Here are two sequentials - didn't manage the other six. These show spring and late summer looking north from the bottom of the perennial 'meadow' bank.

Feeling somewhat behind schedule. I've done one section but not the other two for 1-50 scale.

I have just finished the planting plan. Here it is (it took me about 22 hours, OMG):

I have added a schedule and the title block, plus some grey shading to make some of the grasses a bit easier to identify. I will also need to do the specification... if only I could remember what is meant to go on it.

Tomorrow I will be earning a little crust, then on Thursday I'll have a go at the Design Plan again. I tried using InDesign for the annotation but got a bit scared at using something unfamiliar at this late stage. 

This is my current process: AutoCAD; into Photoshop for colouring/rendering; into Publisher for annotation. This planting plan was all done in AutoCAD but I've added some greys in Photoshop now. Publisher really doesn't cope well with the large files but it's a familiar old friend.

Just the 15 sheets to go now then.

Toodle pip.

Being Green

Today and yesterday were all about Green Engineering, so my font colour has been selected with care. Although it felt a bit tricky to have two days without any progress on the uni. work front, it was all very good. Particularly today, that being SUDS. Sustainable urban drainage systems. As I have a rain garden in my scheme, this is entirely appropriate... except this area isn't actually in my 1-50 portion so it's 'invisible'.

Working in a team, as we did today, is tricky. Perhaps I should be used to it by now. But, particularly when there's such a time constraint, it's all too easy to do one of three things: 

• argue in a friendly sort of way
• all talk and no action
• have the goal in mind but not the strategy to reach it

We (Matt/Dan/Tim/Timothy/Newcome/Ivolena and I) had to incorporate a SUDS scheme into a West London housing development with its adjacent land. The six teams did similar things within their design - after all, we were meant to include swales, filtration ponds, attenuation ponds and oil and petrol interceptors. Most of us included green roofs; some included porous paving; green walls; biodiversity; urban agriculture; community gardening; nature trails; rainwater harvesting, amenity land and more.

What stood out more than anything in the end-of-day presentations was that we needed to have a logical process to show how we worked out what we were going to include in our design... rather than just the final masterplan. Our process was highly enjoyable (mostly) but it was all a bit haphazard. We should have done a simple bubble diagram to start with and followed on from there.

The other annoying thing was that other teams seemed to produce more of a 'grown-up' set of sketches to show at the end of the day. Some were really simple but looked amazingly effective.

The comments, however, were quite kind. A bit like those you might hand out to a small child who is trying his best but he's just not quite mature enough to manage. 

I didn't take photos of our efforts, so here's an ecology-related pair to brighten up the page.

Oh, I might have forgotten to mention that we came joint last. But... it's the journey rather than the destination that matters, so I understand.

Thank you to Peter Wilder for an enjoyable and informative day. And Jamie of course.

April antics

It's been a while since my piggy snout rooted around this blogspot.

So, what's been happening?

Well, the crit went pretty well I'm pleased to say. Jamie doesn't like Escalonia ("hates" it in fact ), nor my criss-crossing bridges. He referred to my planting on the perennial terraces as "dog biscuits". But the Escalonia and bridges will stay, as I quite like them both. The dog biscuits will morph into candyfloss or some other delicious treat.

My plan rendering is "verging on overworked" but my model was "more interesting" I was encouraged by the comment "there's a level of strength to it", and I will hang on to that thought as compliments don't come floating by too often. Oh and both he and Julia thought the sequential sketches were OK - just need a similar sky to draw them together.

The section is weak - but I knew this. And the second one is...... missing completely.

So all in all, a good result. Plenty to work on over Easter of course. Especially as we now have our selected portion to develop at a scale of 1-50.

I cast the Easter eggs aside and set to work on the sections first. They took several days. Every single thing takes days. Then I completed the rendering on the plan, apart from some hand-rendering that I will complete when it's been printed.

 Then I revisited the sequentials, added the final one and gave them the suggested sky.

Then I went away for a night in a hotel and had a couple of days walking in the freezing wind but nice bright sunshine... bliss.

Now I'm back and had a look at the 1-50. Must confess, I don't quite know where to start. I really can't remember how I started when I did this for the 1-200. My brain seems to be missing a little portion.

I will sleep on it. Got some work (remember that - the stuff that actually pays you money) to do tomorrow, so I will return to the task later in the week).

Posted below are my latest 'improvements'.

Dreaming (of some encouraging comments)

Well here we are late on Sunday night and I am actually going to get some sleep. I have decided to stop at one section - instead of the requested two - in favour of that lovely warm and soft horizontal plane that used to represent carefree dreams but that is now invariably invaded by irritating things like contour lines, two metre drops and the like.

Here's the sequentials ready for the wall in the morning. Here are my headache pills and here's a hanky, just in case it's needed either for me or someone else. Oh dear, I've just seen some 'stuff' that I forgot to add to my section... must take some pens for the morning.

The Five Furlong Frolic

I can't believe we are racing towards Monday 18 March so frantically. How can it possibly be the third month of the year already?  Despite the never-ending uphill climb and the enormously heavy workload, I will really miss this degree when it's all over in June. The sense of purpose is all-consuming and there is really very little time for any sort of 'life' outside the course. So note to self: must get a life later.

We have the dreaded 'crit' on Monday. We should have prepared an A1 size 1-200 plan drawing, one third of which should be fully rendered - annotated etc. At least eight sequential sketches. And at least two sections.

I have spent two solid days on Photoshop, doing the initial render on the plan. Today I will go to my tutorial at Avery Hill and print it, ready to hand-render over the weekend to finish it off.

I haven't done any more to my sections - or to my sequential sections - and every one of them that I have drawn previously now needs to be changed because 'things' have changed in my park. The pool, for example, which I think was my favourite sketch. I took literally HOURS finding people sitting in the right position to place on my pool steps, then putting them in using Photoshop and trying to make them look 'blended' with the surroundings. The whole thing took me an entire day. Jamie says about 20 minutes per sketch - ha ha. But I suppose without the Photoshop additions it might be almost realistic. But then it's all about uniformity and making all the work look similar rather than different styles on different bits of drawing. Anyway, my pool sketch, which I will post below - just because I can - now needs changing. I have decided not to have steps around the pool because there will just be too many seating steps in Park Plait - what with the 'stramp' too. I did, however, find a really nice example of a low buxus tightly clipped hedge around a pool (Vandamme garden, Bruges - Jacque Wirtz) and I have decided to use this idea - a line of green will break up the space and echo the horizontal plane of the stramp steps.

It's interesting that this time around the process feels more familiar and more achievable. I am aiming to make my plan less 'diagrammatic' than the 1-500. Now I know the word to describe what I originally called 'whooshy' in a previous post. I think the hand-rendering will help as I put in some texture over paths etc. I think I'm going in the right direction - and most importantly I quite like all the elements in my design. I just hope I can bring them together in a presentable sort of manner.

The crit will, as always, be brutal. But at least we know what to expect.

Resolving not to 'resolve' any more

Well things are moving on. Here's my model with its clothes on (must put some people in at some point):

Now - taking Julia's advice I have swapped my Amelanchiers along the avenue with Magnolia x loebneri  'Merrill' because they will be a bit more 'stately'. I have also changed the planting on the stramp - and used multi-clear-stemmed Amelanchiers growing out from very low Buxus hedges - like a carpet. Jamie suggested "something a bit weird" on the stramp but I really wanted to see those clear dark stems - particularly as you climb the steps. They will look quite dramatic contrasting with the light hard material. Emphasising the horizontal-ness of the steps I am also including blocks of Calamagrostis 'Karl Foerster', a really good, upright grass which will give great vertical contrast. Another change: I have now used Escalonia in pink and in white in undulating blocks along the perennial meadows - and also cloud pruned on the sides of the stramp. It will love the south-facing location  - and insects, in turn, will love it. And so will I.

This week has been spent producing a draft hardworks plan (lots of granite on the main path, changing colour and pattern at every main junction) and a structural planting plan. It all takes so long - I never finish what I hope to achieve in a week. I just need to stretch the days and weeks with a few dozen more hours. Does anyone know how to do this? Meanwhile, I haven't managed to complete any more sequential drawings although I have several awaiting Photoshop additions. And I haven't started on my base plan.

I did, however, manage to draw a cartoon for a friend who wanted something to illustrate something she had written on 'dentistry through the ages'. It was a little light relief in between the 1:200 demands. The patient looks a bit 'saw'. Ha ha, this degree is making me just slightly bonkers.

Models, not the male type

Today I have been making models to help me visualise my 1:200. I have constructed a cardboard 'stramp' and my 'intermingling pool' with criss-crossing bridges over. The bridge has seating steps all around, apart from at the paddling end where there is a small 'beach'.

The task was time-consuming but constructive in more ways than just the physical.  Having seen my creations 'in situ' on the base plan, I feel there is too much 'going on' around the base of my stramp and people will be tripping gaily off the bridges and bumping into those sailing off the ramp.

So I will be revising my positioning and shunting the stramp back up the hill a bit. I feel revision 3 of my contour overlay coming on. Just when I feel I am 'resolving' issues, it all changes again. But I have to say that I am really getting to know my design and my site. And not only that, but I actually like it. I would  love to visit Park Plait and have a wander around. I have added some blue tack people in my photo to add some scale - one on the high bridge and another at the top of the stramp. I think they have eaten too much dinner.

Next I need to complete my materials and plant palettes. I started to really enjoy the process when I commenced the planting palette - so much easier to generate enthusiasm over living things rather than concrete - although I'm even feeling motivated about this too.

I'm intending to plant the sides of the stramp with mounded Buxus together with my favourite Hakonechloa macra Aureola (pictured above but I think this is the green rather than yellow), using Juniperus communis Hibernica for vertical accent. I will continue this scheme to the south side of the pool, to give it some continuity. Up on the hill, lining the avenues, there will be my favourite Amelanchier lamarkii to frame the views and also up there in the Mediterranean beds I'll include some sort of evergreens too for structure. Julia suggested Arbutus and Jamie put Thuja  or Juniperus Skyrocket into the thinking pot. To the east of the stramp are my bamboo terraces and to the west side are the perennial meadow terraces, with the rain garden just edging in to the western boundary of my 1:200 portion.

My design has changed a fair amount since the 1:500 masterplan, but that, apparently, is the intention.

I'm looking forward to getting all my thoughts together and replacing the old base plan with the new design - next time I will endeavour to make my rendering less 'diagramatic'. Next Monday is 'design freeze' so I will be probably regretting these words when I come to actually do it.

I have a little inkling that Easter holidays will be a little on the manic side - having looked at the timetable and realised that 1:50 is looming over us together with all those 'details'.

Moving on...

The hanging was a pleasant surprise. More than that... I felt ecstatic. My expectations have fallen somewhat since embarking on this final year and anything over a D for the design module suddenly feels acceptable. And over the C.. well, that's why I'm celebrating. 

But, of course, no time to sit on the laurels. Or on the lavenders, and definitely not on the holly. I seem to remember in the dark, distant past that I started this degree in order to learn more about plants. We did delve into the wonderful world of growing things quite a few times but not as much as I had anticipated. Perhaps I should have read the prospectus more carefully. During the first year the penny dropped. This is about design more than plants. Once I had got my head around that, I understood. Perhaps my dear old dad will, one day, too. He still muses over the curiosity "Why do you need a degree in order to do some gardening?"

We are moving on. Design Development it is called. Now taking a section of our park and increasing the scale from 1-500 to 1-200. I realise that my park has a few complicated things in it that I will have to get my head around. There's the 'stramp'. A zig-zagging ramp, around which steps are built. So instead of the ramp being fitted around the steps, it's the other way around. Like the one at Vancouver - I'll post a picture below. It was designed by Arthur Erikson and Cornelia Oberlander and I just love it. Then there's the criss-crossing bridge. It fits into my 'interwoven paths' design really well. There's an example of a drawing by NEXT architects and Rietveld Landscape for Amsterdam - a picture of which is also below. And I had to add the grassy path, disappearing up the hillside. Don't you just want to explore and see where it takes you? I am intending to use paths that incorporate grassy bits and 'things' growing in them. 

My park is designed around the shapes made by three paths. They each represent a strand of human personality: Joyful; Soulful and Down-to-Earth. My inspirational word is REFLECTIVE - my park design is intended to reflect on the things that people need in order to make them feel fulfilled. The surfaces of paths -particularly Joyful - changes regularly in order to maintain excitement and interest. It is angular and alters direction frequently - whereas the other two are curvaceous. They are all woven together in a 'PLAIT' formation - indicating that people are a combination of different personality strands, all of which make them stronger. 

My park is called Park Plait and I need to get on with it...

The January gallop

25 January

And then it was 2013. Not only that but it was time for our 'crit'. Somehow we seemed to have enough to put on the wall and the comments were constructive but a little disheartening. Because basically it meant starting again... almost.

Having spent 14 hours a day working on designs for seven days or so on the trot, then having the crit and spending 14 hours a day for another six days, it seems we are all worn out already. January seems a long month. Not to mention doing any real work. How do we fit that in, I wonder? I have 'written off' January for the moment. At least, being self employed, one can do this occasionally. If one doesn't need to eat much or pay any bills.

Then there's the document - just rustle up the odd 60 pages or so in a week will you? Oh, and make sure it is all deep and meaningful, technical, artistic, original, and worth reading.

I'm not going to say anything about travelling to Avery Hill in the snow for our 'hanging', only to find that the day had been cancelled. Nothing to declare, except that perhaps the Christmas tree fairy's wand isn't all I need.

I wish my design was more.... sort of arty. More natural and whooshy looking rather than precise and somehow a bit too separate.  I quite like the sections - my Photoshop skills are still basic but it's been a steep learning curve and they are improving (thank you Ben at Mediatek - I'll have to stick your phone number in here when I find it next - hope you are enjoying my money). I just can't believe how long it all takes. I thought using Photoshop would speed up the process but it definitely slows it down.  There's no going back now - have to blame the fairy.

This is what she has done for me so far -  after the hanging I will know if she's just having a laugh at my expense:

The ghost of Christmas past...

Well it was Christmas. This is a bit of a catch-up.

Actually Christmas was rather nice. I felt a distinct lack of urgency and I actually had a few days off.
This was probably a mistake as the pace of live s-l-o--w---e----d down so much that it took me rather too long to speed up a bit.

We needed to work on the dreaded M word.
MASTERPLANNING

Calverley Grounds at a scale of 1-500. A Masterplan, two pages of Sections, one page of Sequential Sketches and one nice manageable page of Precedent Images. I have given all these an initial capital letter because they seem to be Important.

Rustling up a masterplan was a bit like rummaging through bargains at a jumble sale. There were fewer elbows but I found it quite difficult to sort the wheat from the chaff and to recognise what was worth a closer look and what should go straight into the bin. It was all a bit random and I didn't really feel very well equipped to design a park. So I parked the design over Christmas and then started somewhere near the beginning.

My park will be designed around three paths. I have chosen the REFLECTIVE word. Why? Ummm ... because it seemed to have more scope and seemed more representative of what I was feeling at the time. I decided that people need space and time in order to reflect what is important to them - so this will be a park for the soul. Nourish the soul.

The three paths represent strands of human nature - namely Joyful; Soulful and Practical. But practical seems a silly name for a path so perhaps something like Down-to-Earth. But people are not just one of these things - they are a combination, which makes them stronger as a whole. The paths need to be woven together. Like a plait.

So Park Plait it is then.

We made a group model before we broke up for Christmas. It helped get my head around the levels.

I asked the Christmas tree angel to wave her magic wand and make a design happen for me. She winked I think. Or perhaps the spruce needle poked her in the eye.

We'll see if it works.