Gardens of the future

                                                                     Impatiens glandulifera There are many issues with the invasive species Impatiens glandulifera (Himalayan Balsam). The main issue is smothering. Due to the fact this species can grow over head height and spreads at a very fast rate, this leads to resource competition and thus resource scarcity as native species cannot grow at the rate and therefore do not get their required sunlight, this then means they are smothered and die. Balsam also alters the soil composition in the areas it roots, from the photo above its clear to see that it also has a significantly smaller root system, this means that its doesn't bind the soil and hold it together, this can cause river banks to collapse on themselves due to lack of stability. When in season seed pods of t...

  The following post is about plants that are currently being researched in terms of their natural health benefits, and whether these benefits outweigh the side effects. Therefore, I am not suggesting that people digest the following as a way of treating illness or ailments, however I felt this research is interesting and wanted to share how plants can have more than aesthetic value within a garden. Dandelion Dandelion is recommended to be grown in the garden due to the fact it is said to contain beta-carotene. This is an antioxidant which helps to prevent cells in the human body from damage. Therefore, the potential benefits include; boosting the immune system, detoxifying the liver, aiding people with weight management, lowering cholesterol and lastly helping aid digestion. In order to digest this 'weed' the roots should be brewed in tea, or the leafs can be used within salads or as a salad garnish.  St Johns Wort Many believe that St John's Wort contains chemicals that...

  This is my first in a series of construction drawings for my sustainable technology module. This bench was located in Pittville Park. 

During todays lecture we were introduced to hydrology, ecology and microclimate. This was done with first a short lecture on the various topics we would be covering and then a walk to varying parks around Cheltenham to see how they had been developed and designed in order to cope with potential flooding. We discussed how during the Victorian era river courses were altered to be as straight as possible, as it was thought this would reduce flooding. This seemed to be a fit solution at the time, but in modern day this has lead to a 'Bottle neck' affect leading to mass flooding further downstream as infiltration cannot happen at the speed required in order to control the act amount of water.  Therefore a solution has had to be considered. Many places are now adding curves back into rivers, this is done by building mount of natural materials in a river and allowing sediment to build up over time, making this a much more permanent feature of the river. In the future this would be cov...

I began the ‘Furnitecture’ project by first drawing any design that came to me with no real direction or landscape in mind. My ideas were very random so I tried to identify a prestigious location where I could place some of the structures I had in mind. This is where I thought of RHS Wisley Gardens. I chose this location because of its vision of incorporating landscape and education for younger people, especially with its new Hilltop Science Centre. The landscape at Wisely isn't very modern and uses a lot of natural materials in the construction of statues, such as the onion-like seating found in the food garden. Originally, when brainstorming ideas for Wisley I really liked the idea of a mud kitchen or something similar that would allow children to play with the natural elements found in the gardens without destroying the perfectly manicured landscape. However, I moved away from this when I thought about how I could add an educational element or structure into this landscape. Wisl...

For this brief we were tasked with redesigning an area on our university campus (Francis Close Hall - Cheltenham). We were asked to pick a designer of our choice and produce a design for this area inspired by the design process and work of said designer. The 'Library Quad' as it is known currently is pictured below. This area is a big cross section between various different buildings, so it is important that this space is very functional and that people are able to walk in the various directions needed as there are access points on all four sides of this court.  The designer I chose to look at is James Corner. I chose him as I am very inspired by his design of the Philadelphia Navy yards, pictured below. I was very inspired by this design as I have never seen anything similar to it before. When looking further at the intentions behind Corner's work I read articles where he stated that he strives for ' intimate immensity' meaning ' trees embrace one on all sides,...

  The final design I chose was the one which I felt fitted the location best and was a true representation of Wisley as an establishment and its goals for the future, including educating and engaging visitors of all ages. This piece also fits in well with the existing landscape.  As there are many different elements to this design I shall discuss them one by one. The badger print on my design is a raised area surrounded by a layer of glass. I chose this as badgers live underground in burrows, and I wanted to represent their natural habitat in the shape of their footprint. Initially, I considered a soil/mud pit sunken into the ground that visitors could walk over. However, I then thought it would be more interesting if it was raised with a glass surrounding so that visitors could take a horizontal perspective. The second area is the crow's foot. Crows choose to live in sparse woodland, which is why I have chosen to have this area be very similar to that of a natural habitat of ...

For our lecture in sustainable technology we were tasked with creating our own plant identification pages and filling these out with 48 different species from a wide range of categories such as; climbing plants, aquatic plants hedging plants etc.   When designing my plant identification pages I looked at a range of factors. For example, I felt it was important that I could decipher what group the plant belonged to at a very quick glance. This is why there is a colour-coded square in the top right corner of every page in my plant identification profile. Each category has its own colour that is indicated on the key on the first page, therefore making it easy for me to find an appropriate plant when I am flicking through each page.  Within the green table is a month by month display of when each plant is flowering, producing fruit and when foliage drops, or in some cases whether the plant is evergreen. The boxes within the table are also colour-coded to the colour of the seed, fo...

For my fantasy garden my brief was as follows; Celebrity- Alex Turner (songwriter for the Artic Monkeys) Colour- Sea blue   Music Genre- Ambient Place- Findochty (A small coastal town in Scotland) I knew from the beginning that I wanted this fantasy garden to have a water element, seeing as the colour I was allocated was sea blue and Findochty is a coastal town. Within the brief   I decided that I would design this as if Alex Turner was my client and I was creating a peaceful oasis for him to escape to, to create and write music. Therefore, a feeling of security and homeliness was extremely important to me, I liked the idea of Hygge, a Scandinavian concept defined as ‘ a cosy contented mood evoked by comfort and conviviality’. This goes hand in hand with the location I was given as Scotland is a very wet and grey place for most of the year, therefore further evoking a sense of cosiness when one is inside looking out. This also explains my choice of large glass window...

  For our first design project we were tasked with creating a fantasy garden based on a randomly allocated brief. Briefs were created by each person writing down their favourite colour, favourite music genre, a celebrity and a location. These then made up the brief we had to design to.   My brief was as follows: Celebrity- Alex Turner (songwriter for the Artic Monkeys) Colour- Sea blue  Music Genre- Ambient Place- Findochty (A small coastal town in Scotland) I knew from the beginning that I wanted this fantasy garden to have a water element, seeing as the colour I was allocated was sea blue and Findochty is also a coastal town. Within the brief I decided that I would design this as if Alex Turner was my client and I was creating a peaceful oasis for him to escape to to create music.  This therefore, lead me to start brainstorming and creating mood boards based on the above.  This first mood board is based on the concept of having a very ambient treehouse above a...

For my spatial analysis drawing I chose Cheltenham high street, I chose this because I think it has a lot of interesting elements, but isn’t designed in the most effective way. I found that the majority of the area is extremely static. There are some areas where soft materials are introduced to create a sense of warm enclosure and grounding however this is contrasted with the very brutalist seating options and the vast amount of grey/ concrete surrounding. Many of the seating is a dark grey metal. These are extremely uninviting and seem as though they are a means to a regulatory end and are not actually meant for one to sit on for a period of time longer than is very necessary. There is one area that had more friendly seating however the backs to the seating were onto the busy pathway, this would create a sense of insecurity for whoever was sitting there as they cannot see what is behind them. Out of all options the seating on the edge of the planters were the most inviting. The landsc...

I have never thought to identify plants by their leaf type before, but have instead used a plant identifying app such as "seek". This therefore was a very interesting task for me to do. I took 5 leafs from varying trees around my local park and used the "Tree Identifying Guide" by Treezilla.   After identifying these trees to the best of my ability I wanted to represent them in my sketchbook so that I could refer back to them later. This therefore resulted in the following pages within my sketchbook.  Although I am happy with the outcomes of these observational drawings they are all very intricate and inexpressive, this style is something that lends itself well to preserving indicators needed in order to identify leaf types however I would find it interesting to explore more expressive fluid movements within my artwork, this would also allow me to work faster and therefore generate more pieces as a collective. When I next do this type of piece in my sketchbook I wil...

Vertical growing is not restricted to the walls and facades of buildings.  In fact, greenhouse growers have long made use of what space they have available inside their protective glass structures to harvest the most amount of produce possible.  In taller structures methods for growing upwards, such as shelving and stacking systems, and the use of A-frames have evolved. There is always a way to cultivate food plants as long as you have a structure to grow them up in. The stability of the vertical growth structure and environmental factors are frequently the only restrictions for outdoor crops.  Climbers on trellis, arches and upright grow frames Although protected structures help control environmental factors in many vertical food growing systems, there are other options for outdoor food production. In recent years, for example, there has been a trend toward inner-city restaurants growing their own crops from gardens for use in dishes. Because of the limited space at the ...