Orbis Naturalis

Analysis of the Cheltenham Local Plan Legislation and planning are key components in Landscape Architecture as they can underpin creative decisions. This blog post is a quick summary of Cheltenham’s Local Plan in relation to the North Place design project. (I’ve previously studied this document for a different module to do with Cheltenham’s housing demands) I have highlighted the key areas to consider on the contents page, see below. It is important to note that this plan, adopted from July 2020 till 2031, was written in compliance with the Joint Core Strategy (JCS), published in December 2017, as part of Cheltenham, Gloucester, and Tewkesbury, in order to deliver a cohesive future vision for the county. In addition, the policies have been informed by the National Planning Policy Framework as set out by the UK Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government in July 2021.  Along with the separate specialized sections, as highlighted above, there are three main objectives, A,...

How a splash of colour can communicate more... It's been said before, but it really is true that colour can have the greatest impact, especially in visual communication. It can be used to graphically distinguish different elements of a design like in these examples of some sequential sketches.  See how much clearer the coloured example is in comparison to its boring grayscale brother. The beauty of scanning hand drawings is that you have the choice to add or remove colour at the click of a button; using layers in Photoshop, you can easily paint translucent washes of colour by reducing the opacity of the paint layer atop the original black and white drawing. Another example I have explored this year is using the paint bucket tool which gives a more dramatic colour effect. In this case, I didn't want to tale away from the detail of the lines so a more sensitive application was more appropriate. 

Sketchbook Upload It's finally time to show my sketchbook at the end of term, digitally scanned to appreciate every scribble! It is clear that this term was considerably shorter than the previous and with assignments  on the horizon, the level of conceptual drawings increased to meet the demand of the North Place design project. However, I missed experimenting with random ideas, and the number of observation drawings I achieved lessened dramatically. I tried to draw every day still, but most were not recorded in this sketchbook to better organise my subjects. Categorizing them to be separate from unrelated sketches helps me to focus and keep track of my progress on the design project. 

Street Art - Possible Dissertation Topic Bespoke Graffiti Wall behind skatepark inspired by flight of butterflies As it comes up to the end of the second year, thoughts turn to the final year and writing a dissertation. The possible topic of street art came about as far back as the first year's design project of St James Square where I included a bespoke graffiti wall as part of the skatepark as inspired by Cheltenham's strong association with planned street art. In this post, I wanted to initiate the research process that must begin before finalizing an essay title so I've included my idea dump: AD6600 DISSERTATION MODULE INTRODUCTION 8000 WORDS (not including bibliography) TITLE AND STRUCTURE 20% RESEARCH 30% ANALYSIS AND SYNTHESIS 40% PRESENTATION AND LANGUAGE 10% Harvard Referencing ·         Proposal outline – choose a specific module tutor to co-align with subject of essay ·         Research + an...

GORDON CULLEN & SERIAL VISION Gordon Cullen British architect Description Thomas Gordon Cullen was an influential British architect and urban designer who was a key motivator in the Townscape movement. Sequential Sketches Telling a story through drawings... WHY ARE THEY IMPORTANT? ·      Allowing the user to experience a space ·      Demonstrating views ·      Horizon line + perspective ·      Follow a journey from A to B in a chronological order ·      Also referred to as ‘SERIAL VISION’  “ The definition of urban design raised by Gordon Cullen (1961) really inspired me recently.  Cullen believes that cities should be designed from the point of view of moving people since residents “apprehend urban environments through kinesthetic experience” (Gordon Cullen, 1961, 118). Gordon Cullen (1961) also raised the idea of “Serial Vision”, which means people can experience a revel...