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...