I CAN do this

Just had a quick coffee break and walk round the garden and I've realised that I can do this, and it reminded me why I'm doing this degree: I want to create gardens for people that lift their hearts, the way that my garden lifts mine (even in the desperate and neglected state it's in, but that can all be sorted out later).

And I do actually know what I'm doing, and for me, much of it is instinctive. As a designer, I need to make sure that I can communicate the reasons for my decisions so my clients have faith in me and recommend me to others. As long as you have a good understanding of the site, the client etc, the rest will follow.

So much still to do but I'm currently feeling optimistic (for now).

Just to prove that I did tidy my office, here's the after photo. It's currently somewhere between two.

First task of the day

Well it's the morning after the day before and first job of the day (well, not really - washing, getting kids off to school, write and email to the teacher re homework not done because I was too shattered to help last night etc etc)  is sort out the pit that is my study so I can crack on with the next 3 weeks of work.

Music on very loud, coffee and chocolate biscuits to hand and wading into the mire.

Lots of work to do to get what's below ready for the 19th May but I've got my crit sheets, and as soon as I've got the pit sorted, I'm off and running. I can't believe that I produced so much from so little. I've got lots more to do so I'd better get on with it.

What a day

3 weeks of hard slog, despair and determination led me to today's final crit.

I'm shattered but exhilarated. I finally think that I may actually pull this off. If I can produce what I have in the last 3 weeks then I CAN do the rest of what's needed in the next 3 weeks.

I feel exhausted but excited.

I'm having a night off tonight, ready to resume in the morning and carry on to the finish.

Just have to help youngest daughter with her English homework - a poem by Ted Hughes. I'd rather do battle with AutoCAD vs InDesign. Never thought I'd say that!

All going well . . . not

These last few weeks say far more about my strength of mind at not giving up and running away than my abilities a garden designer.

Thank heaven for rest of the group - knowing you're not the only one still working at silly o'clock in the morning or being able to fire out a question because you're having trouble is great.

Wonder what the solution for this little treasure is - cartooning by Autocrap:

I never did work out what on earth happened - it was quicker to re-hatch an unrendered one. 

That combined with InDesign having a total hissy fit and lots of Uni machines being used for rendering. Got to love technology.

I know Jamie, a prime example of why we do need to be able to draw.

Got to keep going. 

A picture says a thousand words

http://fiveagainstone.wordpress.com/2012/10/05/i-was-a-rabbit-in-your-headlights/

I have no idea how this is going to end but I will continue working my socks off and see what happens.
I just can't see how I'm going to get everything done.

You have to hit the bottom before you can return to the surface

I've been feeling totally despondent recently, and as though I am completely incapable of finishing this degree. Worryingly I think I was also disengaging with the entire process, not quitting, just letting go.

The only thing that has kept me from giving up is knowing that I can't do that now, because I can't let everyone down - family, friends and most of all my wonderful flowery friends. Even more pressure!

Every Monday I force myself to go in to Uni and am so relieved that I have. I do always feel better for going in, and it stops me from getting even more behind . . . until yesterday when even the cat joined in on my path of self destruction.

An emergency trip to the vet, 2 jabs (the cat, not me) and £54 later he seems to be perking up so do I.

I had a brilliant chat with an old friend (haven't spoken to any non-degree person for a while) who reassured me that the way I'm feeling is totally normal at this stage of proceedings. It was really helpful and thankfully I now feel reinvigorated and am sitting at my desk raring to go.

I have a list, I have rewards planned for completing certain tasks and thankfully I have more than 14 hours to save the Earth, well, get stuff done for the pin up.

Just been in to the garden to photograph something for Sid and it reminded me of what we are aiming to achieve with our schemes - uplifting moments by putting the right plant (or structure) in the right place at the right time of day/year.

Morning sunlight on a Magnolia Stellata

Don't forget to look up - the last remaining rain drops 
drying in the sunshine on a Eucaluptus. 
It really is ghostly white at the moment as the recent gales have stripped the loose bark away

This one's for Sid - what a colour combo, 
although I do confess to it being staged, they're not growing next to each other (at the moment!)

I'm feeling inspired at the moment and I'm getting out the trace and lots of thick felt pens to resolve my planting plan. Hooray!

I love the V&A

Those of you from the Advanced Rep class know all about my love of the V&A and last night I made very good use of my membership. I went to the opening of the V&As William Kent exhibition with Sid to try and regain a sense of perspective and get some inspiration.

William Kent at the Victoria & Albert Museum

It worked. What an amazing talent and so exciting to see so much of his work. It was brilliant to have an understanding the historical context, what had led up to it and what followed from it. A term very well spent with Tom Turner and I got so much more from the exhibition than I would have done before the module.


We had another look at the courtyard:

Controlling where people walk - fill the water feature. 

The grass was sectioned off because the turf had been relaid. 

I'm sure this will be a regular part of the maintenance schedule 

but there was no-one around to ask.

Outdoor cafe with die hard tea drinkers in themed (William Morris print) paper cups

Combination of the building and the planters. I found trees a little smaltzy and Christmassy but maybe I'm just miserable at the moment. Great reflections in the water - different characteristics at different times due to human interaction. Only 2 of the water jets were illuminated - maintenance/cost implications?

What happened to just going somewhere and enjoying it? It all started in the first year with those brick bonds and it's gone on from there.

For once I listened to Julia! and to get my 1:50 design fully resolved, I've made a model. I've got the levels sorted and some of the hard landscaping detail but I'm still resolving the planting.

it definitely helps me to have things that I can move around so I can really resolve things. I'm gong back to my concept to make sure all my decisions to link back to my concept of Restorative, and my design design of Mind, Body and Soul.

Here's where I've got to so far:

Models - 1:200

Just thought I'd share my models with you - I'm starting with the 1:200. I'm really happy with it and it definitely helps me think and get the hang of the space.

I'm aiming for design freeze

I'm aiming to be at design freeze today, and I think that it might be finally possible. I'll try and put up some images of the stages I've gone through but I need to get on and work rather than blog.

I've got the circus sorted out at last (large round open space, not Billy Smart) with help from Jamie and some model making.

Still sorting out the seating but I may have a way through, literally and figuratively.

On my way through finding tree info, I found the following blog: http://www.tradsdiary.com by Hugh Johnson, the wine and tree man. Well worth a dip into when time allows. I was interested to hear about the box eating moth that's probably coming our way, although as we already have box blight to contend with, maybe it's days are numbered anyway. Yet another aspect to consider when selecting our planting palette.

Off to get some more work done.

My daughter is brilliant

Just realised that I need to stop wallowing in self pity and celebrate my family's creativity.

Just wanted to share the birthday cake that my 15 year old daughter made for herself because her mother is too busy studying: 9 x 15 year olds for a sleep over who had birthday cake for breakfast. Very proud, as it tasted as good as it looked.

Families . . . aaaaahhhhh

Had a hideous week, sorting out the vultures who are no longer circling but crashing to earth with alarming speed.

I hope that I have now stabilised the older generation, such that I have brain space to do something for my degree, rather than sitting in the corner of the room, rocking and sobbing because I'm simply trying to get an appointment at the fracture clinic for an 82 year old with 10 pins in her wrist and Parkinsons Disease. I don't want to tempt fate but I think I have sorted things so I can get back to studying.

Just watching

BBC Four - The Brits who Built the Modern World, The Freedom of the Future

bbc.co.uk

Interesting discussions between Ross and I - construction vs landscape - he's had meetings with Rogers, Foster and the Head of Planning for City of London but had no idea who Charles Jencks is! The shame of it. I have educated him.

Well worth a view, I'm looking forward to the next 2 episodes.

Have to say that Social Services can be wonderful in a crisis and if you're having trouble with hospital admin, try PALS.

What have you done to me?

In the first year I couldn't look at buildings without about the brick bonds, now I'm watching the Winter Olympics closing ceremony, looking at the lighting strategy (don't panic Jamie, I'm not thinking about moving coloured lights, I was looking at how they lit the foot paths - bollards and floods).

The buildings and lighting were amazing. I wonder if the Olympics (summer and winter) have the same effect on architecture as Sheldon et al have had on science??

Talk about looking at the bigger picture.

Oh, and the circling vultures are no longer circling, they're landing.

By George, I think she may finally have got it!

I sincerely hope so, at last!

I've just had a look at Sid's post - The Old Oak Bench and been inspired - oh my god Sid, you have seriously been busy playing and developing a style - you rock, and you give me the impetus to try things myself.

The tutorial with Jamie yesterday really helped too - what we're doing isn't about lines on a sheet of paper, or marks on a computer screen, it's about creating spaces that do what we intend them to do so that people want to be there and because we work with plants, they will change through the seasons.

I need to go and screw up some paper.

Here's a trial run for some rendering - I was working some ideas for the identity of the park.

I love the shadows in these images - sunlight is an issue in country so we have to make the most of it! 

Internet back on

Finally after a week the phone line has been mended and I can do a post.

Had the first tutorial on the 1:200 design development today. Really useful, I've clearly got a lot of work to do with my precedent images - I need people in them.

A quick progression report:

1:500 Master Plan to take forward to Design Detail

1:200 first go at 'refine' - more to do but at least I've made a start. I need to get my head round the memorial garden area too.

Fingers Crossed

Well, it's taken me 4 hours, hopefully the next 7 won't take as long.

It's not the way I wanted to do things but I have to work out a plan of attack that fits with my abilities and time available.

Hopefully this works. I now know why everyone uses Sketchup. At least my Sketchup and Photoshop skills are improving. Need a cup of tea before I start on the next one.

Stuck

I can't move forward on Mint Street - I'm stuck where I am. Jamie & Julia have told me not to be so feature led but I just can't work out how to move it on.

I had to change the design of my blog - it was taking too long to work out how to get into it.

Venting and procrastination over, got to get back to it.

As I say to my children, the only way to make homework go away is to get on and do it! 'Physician, heal thy self'!

Time to get the fat colour pens and tracing paper out again.

Design Freeze

AAAHHH!

So much to do, so little time.

I've got more to say about Mint Street but I prefer Cross Bones.

Nearly got Cross Bones sorted, but I have to move back to Mint Street, otherwise I just won't get everything done. At least I can work things to a greater detail in the next stage. It's so irritating, not having the skills to do things, but taking a step back, and being rational, the reason we've gone to uni is to learn things. It's just frustrating that I seem to spend more time working out how to do things on the computer or how to draw rather than actually designing/refining the design or getting to work out which plants to use.

At least my SketchUp models are improving. Context is so important on this site - the surrounding buildings (not all of them have been extruded in this drawing) form a key element in the space.

Wise words? x

Precedents

Thanks to Julia - she recommended the Happyside Garden to me today and I went up and had a look. Designed by Dan Pearson, it slots in between the Arthouse Buiding and what looks as if it will be Waitrose, attached to Central St Martins at Kings Cross. Yet another revelation. London is an amazing city.

I zipped up to St Pancras on the High Speed train and was amazed to see the gates of Camley Street Nature Park from the station. It was wonderful to know where I was headed, before I had left the train.

It's an amazing place, sandwiched between St Pancras International Station and the Canal, a truly 'wild' place, anarchic, teeming with biodiversity and wildlife and so diametrically opposed to the urban precise manmade design and construction surrounding it.

The antithesis of an urban beehive, although it does have its own webcam. The bracket fungus is exquisite. 

I love the almost cathedral quality and scale of the wrought iron gates, something I had already been considering for my site, especially when viewed in front of an approaching dusk sky.

Reflective quality of water was discussed yesterday. A reflection in the still waters of the canal, framed by the bridge and the towpath.














The reason for my excursion: Dan Pearson's Handyside Gardens.

A well thought out, beautifully executed small space. Lots of wonderful curves in a very linear environment.  The rill adds movement and flow to the space. It's a comfortable, very human scale and I can't wait to come back and look at the planting when it's in flower. Blue (Perovskia), silver (furry leaved salvia, can't remember which one) and red leaved Bergenia plus Carpinus hedging. Funky bird and beast boxes on wobbly poles,







 Curved seating, peeping over the top of the Perovskia, looking like the Loch Ness Monster. The sand pit at the other end is also shaped into a Loch Ness Monster, although that one is more linear.

This archway looked great in daylight and illuminated at night. Part of me hopes the plants don't grow and cover it over. I think it looks great as it is. The play equipment was actually being used at 5pm, it's the pink light behind.

A really useful trip, and during my research this morning on Happyside, I also discovered the London Orchard Project so I may well put some 'Cor Blimey' apple trees in my scheme.

Onwards and upwards.

Final Crit

Trying to upload the pages from my Masterplanning final crit but currently unsuccessful.

Will try again tomorrow.

Design Progression

I haven't managed to post anything recently so have put these up now so things are in the correct order.

First go for Mint Street - based around a cart wheel.

The site has a varied past, the Children's hospital, a work house, Charles Dickens' father imprisoned in Marshalsea Prison just up the road, 'Liberty of the Mint' - where debts could not be collected and, relevant to the design, a cart and wheel manufacturer was located there.

Jamie and Julia's comments were very helpful and I moved the design forward, and hopefully with a less literal interpretation:

<Image to be uploaded>

Then onwards some more, closer to the image on the final crit:

Cross Bones:
Progression based on the shape of the cranes on the hop warehouses that were historically on the site. Maidstone Buildings are Grade II listed as a remaining warehouse.