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.
