Further thoughts on promenade park....

Something that happened when i was at promenade park looking at the physical features of the site was to slide uncontrollably down a muddy bank. not only did this make me and everyone else watching laugh quite a lot, this also covered my hands in mud and also caked the notes in my sketchbook too (the picture shows a page from my sketchbook with my notes scratched back onto the page). it has however given me a thought. instead of imposing something new upon the site, why not work with the land that is already there, working from the soil up. this could lead me to work with the topography of the site (which is currently in a horrible undulating state) and maybe create some land art, which i have never done before. this could be a strong line of enquiry.

Site visit!

Today we visited the site of our first design assignment of my third year at university. the site is in maldon (essex) in promenade park right on the edge of the river blackwater. we have been given the task of redesigning the use of a field towards the east of the park that currently serves little use. during the summer the field is used as a carpark when large events happen in other areas of the park and there is also a belt of trees that ring around 90% of the edge of the field. these were planted in memory of those who died during world war two. apart from this, the field has little else to offer as it is not even flat and fit for sports purposes. i will update when i have learned more about the site and its limitaions.


P.s. i tasted oysters for the first time today when we visited mersea. a tasty treat!

Rain shelter

currently i am working on a small project that sees me designing a rain shelter to protect people who get caught in the sudden rain storms that we seem to get in todays modern climate. the rain shelter is going to be situated beside a bridge at the front of writtle college on the threshhold between land and the stream that runs below. the river tends to flood every year due to heavy rains and a large catment area (larger than it should be) so i have decided to place the shelter up the bank in an area that the water never reaches. i also feel that some sort of interaction between the shelter and the bridge is necessary rather than these two structures being seperate bodies.

        the shelter should also have some sort of use for the water that falls upon it. i've decided that the best use for the water that falls on the roof is to make it into a waterfall that the people using the shelter can watch whilst being protected from the elements. this all stems back to my visit to norway in june 2010. at this time it was spring in norway and the snow melt was in full flow, creating hundereds of waterfalls throughout the country. we lack waterfalls in essex due to our geology and topography and i think it would be nice for people to experience what it is like to be behind a waterfall. the picture shows one of my rough models that follows this train of though.

Norway - the inspiring land of water

Norway is an amazing place with great design solutions that either blend in with or completely contrast with the surrounding landscape. This has greatly swayed the way I design towards the futuristic and moderist. please have a look:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/album.php?aid=62823&id=1136846246

Pudding: Welcome

Welcome to my fantastic new blog called Pudding. For all you sweet toothed fans of desserty indulgence, unfortunately this blog is not for you. I am a student studying garden design at Writtle College and this blog has been created to talk about my day to day findings. I appologise to all the pavlova fans out there....