Orbis Naturalis

ESSAY TITLE:  Are Organic Veg Boxes the Answer to UK’s Future Soil Health? My chosen essay topic is about the current circumstances surrounding organic farming, in particular the production of vegetables in the UK, and the impact on soil for better and for worse. Using Riverford Organic Farmers as a case study I will explore this topic in greater detail. In this blog post, I wanted to feature some interesting articles I found whilst researching my essay and some surprising statistics.  Why did I choose this topic? This year in particular has brought into question where we source our food and is its production sustainable. Sales of organic food box delivery schemes have seen a massive increase since the pandemic with a 12.6% rise in 2020 and my family and I relied on a local veg box during the lockdown as a source of fresh produce and cooking inspiration from its seasonality. This drew my interest and so I wanted to explore further the environmental positives of organic farming...

After developing a concept inspired by the interior structure of a Eukaryotic cell. I have determined my cut and fill volume using the cross-section area volume method in AutoCAD and double checked my numbers using the volume measuring tool which gives you an accurate estimation. The new pond and wetland area replicates a Golgi Apparatus (where proteins are made) and the new mounds replicate a nucleus, lysosomes and mitochondria.  

In order to better understand my professional digital skills, I wanted to do some research into the different construction software types that are used in the industry. Below is a brief summary that explains the function of each: What is CAD? CAD stands for Computer-Aided Design. It's a method of digital drawing. It can replace manual drafting and is a very useful tool in Landscape Architecture that is universally used throughout the construction industry.  AutoCAD is a software program that we use to help us draw accurately and to scale from imported data sets, such as EdinaDigiMap. What is BIM? BIM stands for Building Information Modelling. It's used to integrate workflow by storing information from all aspects of a project from the design stage to construction. It's essentially an online folder to store construction drawings, data, and material palettes that is used so people can access all the information they need remotely.  What is GIS? GIS stands for Geographic Infor...

Designing a poster inspired by the Automatic Drawing Technique: A1 Ink Drawing - 'My Subconscious Is Pink' ART TERM AUTOMATISM In art, automatism refers to creating art without conscious thought, accessing material from the unconscious mind as part of the creative process - A Surrealist technique, Automatic Drawing is one of my favourite past times when I get stuck on what to draw, I find it a meditative process that relaxes the mind and allows me to express linework freely.  For this bedroom poster, I wanted to layer colour and repeat the process over and over to create a chaotic composition. In terms of the colour scheme, my mind instinctively chose pink so I kept within those warm tones with contrasting blue interwoven here and there.  Random Drawings My Personal Creative Space I believe the space you work in influences you greatly and so I'd like to think I've curated a creative and inspiring haven. Here's a photo of my desk, excuse the self-obsession, but this ...

Group Presentation Reflection Last week we presented our group survey reports of North Place Car Park.  As the presentation leader of my group, I felt great pressure to ensure success and to show the class all the hard work and research that went into our survey report. Overall it was a team effort and the work was split evenly among us. The idea to format the information like a series of mini-interviews was originally my idea, but as a group, we adapted the questions to suit. We asked individuals what questions they would like to be asked about their research so we could present to the class the most important information.  In hindsight, we could have made the questions more entertaining; like a quick-fire mastermind type game show thing but it would've been too challenging to convey the volume of information and data that we gathered from our research so quickly without missing out on important points. In general, there were some mistakes and improvements for future presenta...

Sketchbook Overview Coming to the end of this semester allows the opportunity for reflection particularly when it comes to my sketchbook. In this post, I've scanned the following pages to show some of the work that I've covered, various ideas, research notes, and experimentations all of which culminate together to form an example collection of design thinking. In the future, I hope to continue this exploration into the next term and beyond. A sketchbook should be a free place to try out new things and jot down ideas without the pressure of things being finished or perfect. On that note, excuse the mess, I tend to accumulate a lot of spare sheets and my pages become double stacked with various layers of information. Sometimes, I struggle to keep track of the notes myself, so I took this as a chance to re-organise my sketchbook as best as I could without losing the organic nature of it. Please enjoy delving into my inner workings and watch this space for upcoming sketchbook uploa...