Orbis Naturalis

INSIDE OUTSIDE/ PETRA BLAISSE - DREAM DESIGN STUDIO? MY THOUGHTS: After researching around some of Piet Oudolf's projects I came across his collaboration with the design studio known as 'Inside Outside' and their project ' Biblioteca degli Alberi'; which has been referred to as 'Milan's Library of Trees' as it features these perfect circular forests that create meeting saces for students and city residents.  Another question I asked myself whilst researching the design was whether I could see myself working there alongside architects and interior designers? Could I fit into such a multi-disciplinary team? From looking at some of their other landscape designs I certainly found them inspiring but I did not like how the formal design took away from Piet Oudolf's naturalistic planting style and I feel the two concepts compete for attention and what really is the highlight of this particular project is showcasing the trees in a quite a scientific manner i...

Developing a Concept for North Place When I think of 'biophilia', immediately the experience of sitting under a tree springs to mind. Therefore I decided to embrace the woodland concept for North Place as I feel that Cheltenham is truly lacking a dense grouping of trees that give you that feeling of being immersed in nature. From this main idea, I developed my conceptual map via the layers of site analysis to zone the space effectively. Name options:  'Cheltenham Forest' The Green Lungs' 'Cheltenham's Green Lungs' 'Green Lungs of Cheltenham' 'Green Lung'  'Cheltenham's Green Lung' 'Creative Wood' 'Cheltenham's Creative Forest' 'Greenwood of Cheltenham' 'Trees of Cheltenham' 'The Creative Tree' Concept Map Development:

Rendered Axonometric of Laurie Lee Forecourt Using Photoshop: Method: Firstly I created a simple Sketchup model of the site from the original drawing I did last year for my portfolio. I took the Laurie Lee forecourt as inspiration from Pittville Student Village, of which I added a wheelchair-accessible ramp and edible garden. From this model, I could create a simple axonometric view that I could then import into Photoshop and collage images together to create this scene. Using layers and masks I could quickly add shadows and perspective to found images as well as fill in the hard landscaping using vector masks. See below the process:

Exploration of the contrast of intimacy and immensity: James Corner was infamous for his design of the High Line in New York.  defines landscape architecture as being ‘about the planning and design of space under the sky’ and uses the High Line as an example of how a perceived non-space can become a highly valued component of an urban landscape design: " As a young person in school, I was really interested in an exercise called intimate immensity which still shapes the way I think today. Intimate immensity is what it’s like to be in a forest where things are immediate and intimate and tactile and intimate, but at the same time you are in the forest and the forest seems immense." - James Corner This theme is a contrast I want to explore for the North Place design project because there is scope to create a series of spaces with different levels of seclusion.  Why do we enjoy spaces that occupy the balance between intimacy and immensity? It goes...