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.
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