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.