Scale

There cannot be many things that have enough presence that you could simply drop into the 17th Century landscape of the Old Royal Navel College at Greenwich university without being dwarfed by the architecture of Wren.
When turning up one Monday morning for lectures it occurred to me that something was different to the previous weeks, as the resin bonded gravel roads had been replaced with granite chips and ash. On passing the Queen Anne building you were confronted with a massive elephant with a castle tower on its back. I had seen this image somewhere before but could not recall where. As the view came into site the rest of the structure came into view. That’s when I recalled where I had seen the elephant. It was the Elephant of the Bastille.
It didn’t look out of place. It looked comfortable, not on a human scale but within Wren’s landscape. Although only timber and resin, it seemed to absorb the weight of the surrounding buildings; a lesson in colour and scale. Although the thought that a sculpture instigated by Napoleon should appear in the grounds of the Navel Hospital was slightly troubling.

Rousham House Garden

They say there’s nothing new any more… perhaps so. A return visit to Rousham House Garden was needed after an all to quick visit with Robert Holden of Greenwich University some time back. Rousham Gardens were redesigned by William Kent in the 1730s in the Picturesque style. They are a delight.

I love the use of concrete for the construction.

And More London Place near City Hall and 250 years later…
Image produced by Albertoyp for Panaramio.

She has Bette Davis eye

I know, I have too much time on my hands. But it’s nice to play once in a while.

Lowland Gorilla

I keep getting asked where the picture at the top of this blog comes from. Well it’s a Lowland Gorilla sketched about three years ago when I was board waiting for the new college term to start. It is shown below in full. I was quite pleased with it and decided to use it for my blog.

Landscape Architecture MA Exhibition – 19 degrees west

Some images from the Greenwich University Landscape Architecture Masters exhibition earlier this year…

 

 

 

Ruderal SUDS and airport runway filter strips renders

 

Airport sea defence/dike

Rendered warehouses adjacent to marsh

Rendered views

Landside station render looking east from the station to the Isle of Sheppey. Shows the creation of spatial boundaries using buildings with sustainable surface treatment and suds planting filter beds.

Airport terminal planting

and again… this time rendered with precedent images