Orbis Naturalis

RHS Tatton Park 2023 Thought I'd take the time to share the success at RHS Tatton Park garden competition this year where my fellow landscape students were hugely successful. Overall, it was an amazing experience to taste the highs and lows of entering and fulfilling a show garden, where design is exposed to expert judgment as well as members of the public. The standard was extremely high and inspiration was all around including my favourite entry from a young designer - definitely something I would aspire to recreate one day! Being surrounded by like-minded plant nerds was exactly the push I needed before starting full-time employment as a graduate landscape architect where I look forward to learning from people within the industry. Sadly I wish I took more photos but I was so consumed with taking it all in, so here are some of my highlights. If any of the class of 2023 are reading this - I want to congratulate everyone sincerely on graduating and wish us all the best in the futur...

AutoCAD Process of CUT/FILL Step-by-step process of how I calculated the CUT/FILL volumes for Canon Park for the Sustainable Technology module AD6604  existing contours = dashed line  proposed contours = solid line pond = blue  red = CUT green = FILL 1. DRAW EXISTING CONTOUR LINES 2. LOCATE NEW POND 3. DRAW NEW CONTOUR LINES & JOIN TO EXISTING 4. ISOLATE EACH CONTOUR AND HATCH FILL/CUT  (BELOW = FILL = GREEN)  (ABOVE = CUT = RED) 5. ADD UP TOTAL AREAS X HEIGHT CHANGE (0.5m for contours & 0.25m for pond/swales) CUT: RED CONTOURS = 4074.73  x  0.5 = 2037.3650  m³ SWALES = 456.81 x 0.25 = 114.2025  m³  POND = 1826.64 x 0.2 = 456.6600  m³  TOTAL CUT VOLUME = 2608.2275  m³  FILL: GREEN = 3435.34 x 0.5 = 1717.67  m³ TOTAL FILL VOLUME = 1717.67  m³ DIFFERENCE = 890.5575  m³ As there is a substantial difference, consider increasing mound size...

Macgregor Smith - Landscape Architects - SouthGate, Bath  After a recent trip to Bath and its extraordinarily pristine Georgian architecture, I visited  SouthGate designed by landscape architects Macgregor Smith in 2019. Its proximity to the train station means it forms part of the main thoroughfare through Bath, and by 7pm on a warm and dry Friday evening, the place was positively buzzing; it was clear to see how the design intervention has opened up the space to encourage socialising rather than just a route to get from A to B. It's  these in between spaces within the urban fabric that I find the most exciting as they present the unique opportunity to explore transitionary spaces and celebrate movement and change, from time of day, seasonality, festivals and events, and different users of all ages. BRIEF: The central plaza within the SouthGate Centre, along with Brunel Square outside the main train station, were identified as places that could be more effectively utilis...

Sacred Geometry What is 'Sacred Geometry'?  Sacred geometry when detached from its spiritual meaning can be described as "the underlying geometry found in nature" that is attributed to pure mathematics that causes recurring patterns such as fractals and spirals.  For example, the Fibonacci sequence is a form of sacred geometry.  It stems from the Italian mathematician Leonardo of Pisa who had the nickname 'Fibonacci' meaning 'son of Bonacci', who in 1202 published a book that illustrated how to calculate profit using the Hindu-Arabic arithmetic.  The Fibonacci sequence is a series of numbers where each number is the sum of the two preceding numbers. For example, 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, … Spirals There is a special relationship between the Fibonacci numbers and the Golden Ratio. Equally significant, the golden ratio has impacted why we find certain shapes visually appealing because they appear to be perfectly balance...

PORTFOLIO UPLOAD After the intense process of putting together a portfolio that encompasses the culmination of my undergraduate degree in Landscape Architecture, I can finally upload the completed portfolio: