Orbis Naturalis

Some new design words... Using the glossary extract 'From Landscape Theory in Design' by Susan Herrington, I've cherry-picked some key design words that are new to me with a summary of my own definitions. I chose this cover image to portray the concept of juxtaposition, with the contrast of New York City as a backdrop to the pastoral familiarity of a wheatfield - by land artist Agnes Denes in 1982. ANALOGON - noun - a physical object that inspires a mental image, association, perspective or memory that is attached to the physical representation and reveals the hidden information known only to an individual with that intimate connection to said object. BRACKET - thought experiment - where you don't take everything at face value and instead question and analyse what exists - almost suspending reality and detaching yourself from your environment to take a step back and see mundane things anew - like how you separate words/phrases into brackets - bracketing is the process o...

Review of Practice Approaches From the following practice, I've considered their manifestos and decided which out of the four practices, I'd like to work for and why. See comments in red for my thoughts.  EXTRACTS: Practice ONE We are Landscape Architects and the roots of the practice are founded in close collaboration with the arts, which has led to us fulfilling an Urban Curatorial role. This process is flexible and collaborative, allowing us to bring in artists and other facilitators to work with space and community as the project unfolds. These collaborations feed into a design process stimulating it with real public opinion, artistic input and one to one tests of ideas and space; the results are innovative urban interventions that truly address the complex contextual challenges of a place. Our work also draws on some common themes: Building capacity for change in communities through innovative public engagement and inclusion in the design process; The shift from the car to...

Review of B|D Landscape Architects As part of the AD6603 Cultural Context module, we've been assigned to write weekly blog posts reviewing landscape architecture practices to aid us in thinking about our future after we graduate this year, and what sort of company we might want to aspire to work for. For this week, I decided to look close to Cheltenham for inspiration, with B|D Landscape Architects in Tewkesbury.  Project: Glassfields, Bristol Client: Royal London Architects: AWW Status: Completed in 2021 Described as a 'meanwhile' park, this design located within walking distance to the train station of Bristol Temple Meads, introduces nature back into the city, which was once a brownfield site, with swathes of wildflowers and ornamental planting that attracts visitors and wildlife. What is a 'meanwhile' space? As defined by Tower Hamlets Council, "a space that is 'meanwhile' encourages temporary activity in vacant or under-used open spaces, or land....