Lost in Paris

Well not really. Just my camera with the fabulous photo's of this gorgeous stimulating city. So all images below are of the main weekends attractions.

Eurostar over on the Friday and out onto the Champs Elysees, all lit up in festive lights. Hidden around the corner is boutique hotel Pershinghall on 49, rue pierre charron. We had a fabulous dinner at their stunning Pershinghall Restaurant (http://www.pershinghall.com/), reinvented by internationally acclaimed French designer and Interior Architect Andree Putman, who along with my favourite man of horticulture - Patrick Blanc (http://www.verticalgardenpatrickblanc.com/) - transformed a small, non-event courtyard into a spectacular Parisian version of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, ...very chic and very Parisian, and of course lots of beautiful people.

http://www.jpmoser.com/images/pershinghall/p-pershinghall1.jpg

http://images.france-for-visitors.com/images/large/pershing-hall-vertical-garden.jpg

Saturday was an all day-event at the Pompidou Centre. (http://www.cnac-gp.fr/) cultural capital of Paris. The building was designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, leaving structural and movement flow systems such as the escalators freeing up interior space for museum and activity areas. There are fantastic views over Paris from the 5th floor viewing area and while the restaurant may be tempting, it may only be worth visiting to see the organic forms buit within. The service on our day was awful, and save the loo visit for the museum. (PS: wear proper shoes)

http://z.about.com/d/architecture/1/7/m/j/pompidou.jpg

Ron Arad's No Discipline exhibition on the first floor is an amazing restrospective of his works, prototypes accompanied by audiovisual documents, limited series and mass-produced objects, along with numerous architectural projects. (http://www.ronarad.com/) I would highly recommend seeing this - on until the 16 March 2009.

http://www.espacio.co.uk/cgi-bin/products/images/chairs/MT3_rocking-chair.jpg

http://www.art2bank.com/london_art_news/pics/Ron_Arad_Tiothy_Taylor_London_Gallery.jpeg

We didn't use them but it was good to finally see the Parisian rent-a-bikes in the flesh. (or the metal) Comfortable and clever, they have everything a city bike needs, basket, built in lights and can be found everywhere. Since the metro stops at about 2am, you will find there may be a small queue at the pay machine after the local bar shuts.....We saw three on one bike. Probably not even possible during daylight hours.

www.treklens.com/.../France/photo395520.htm

Our gorgeous little hotel in Place de Vosges is so worth a mention. Surrounded by antique and art stores and the loveliest boutiques you could ask for, Pavillion de la Reine is a real gem. (http://www.pavillon-de-la-reine.com/uk/navigation.htmom)

http://www.xoprivate.com/img/hotels-and-resorts/le-pavillion-de-la-reine-l.jpg

101 uses for a city hall

Found. Hillarious. . .

http://www.louishellman.co.uk/
http://www.bbdo.co.uk/blog/archives/tag/london-evening-standard

Focus Week - West London Walk

Paddington to Sloane Square on a drizzly November day.


Focus weeks are set out as an opportunity as landscape students to harness resources to support our studies. We visit various public spaces London and surrounding in order to familiarise ourselves with our environment and landscape practice taking place around us.


This visit took us from Paddington Basin through Hyde Park and finishing up in Sloane Square.


http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?ie=UTF8%26hl=en%26oe=UTF8%26msa=0%26msid=106750979112771812779.00045713ae94cdce920b0


Some photos below highlighting the walk. . .

Diana Memorial - Kathryn Gustafson

Serpentine - Gehry Pavilion deconstruction

Josephine + bike (now stolen) - Serpentine exhibit

London tourists

Lovely....if only a scratch and feel blog

Pendunculate oak - Hyde Park

Horse Chestnut - Hyde Park

Bridle path - Hyde Park

Bridle path - Hyde Park

Autum leaves - Hyde Park

Parklife - Thames Barrier visit

October 2008 - Part of our technical & theory module - a visit to Thames Barrier Park to select and survey an area of the site and build a scaled contour model in studio.

On previous visits to the park I have always found it to be empty, quite possibly because it's been mid-week but the days have been sunny and clear.....since it is so far out of my zone, I do wonder if it attracts the local families, mums and babes and other outside adventurers that the website makes a delightful appeal to:

''Set within 22 acres of lawns, trees and uniquely contoured Yew and Maygreen hedges you can discover the delights of this urban oasis. An excellent children's play area, 5 a side football/basketball court, great places to picnic and play, the Thames path, with magnificent views of the barrier, and a fountain plaza where 32 jets spring from the ground to provide a cooling and entertaining delight for children to splash and play.'' http://www.thamesbarrierpark.org.uk/

Wey & Arun Canal Restoration Project

Design Project 1 for levels 5, 6 and diploma..

Simon, Ed & Pat were trusting enough to ship the load of us down to Guildford and Farncome boat houses and rent narrow boats for the week. And what a great week it was. Captaining the Wanborough with Sean Wood in diploma as my first mate, (a proper french chef too) and Simon on board adding to the 'mature' boat feel.

The site is part of the Wey and Arun Navigation, 36km of which runs remains in its rural state as it crosses the Surrey and West Sussex countryside. This particular route was built over sometime in the 20th Century and a significant number of residential properties and infrastructure now block the route of the original canal.

Working closely with the Wey and Arun Canal Trust, we are to come up with proposals to reopen the canal. The aim is to come up with a design that enhances the area and ultimately links the restored canal to the south with the wider canal network via the River Wey navigable river. The aim is that the Wey + Arun canal would once again become a direct navigation link to the south coast.

arty farty sunny sunday

The last of the sunny days led us to Frank Gehry's Serpentine Pavilion Gallery and what a way to end the sunny days. This is the Gehry office's first UK project, consisting of 4 massive steel columns intersected with suspended timber planks and a network of glass panels.

Such a great space, the light reflects and bounces off each surface, while the interior is protected from the rain by the positioning of the suspended glass panels. With terraced seating on either side, it's awesome as aevent space, amphitheatre of just a spot to take it all in.

Two weeks left and it's gone so go get a look......

There is a really good time lapse video of the construction...see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANuimkRfGiw

And inside the Serpentine, Beijing-based artist Cao Fei fuses fantasy with the contemporary Chinese city in her construction of RMB City, an experimental art community in the internet-based virtual world of Second Life. The photos below are of the prototyped model of her city, with a few familiar structures such as the Beijing Stadium by Hertzog & de Meuron and the China Central TV HQ by OMA....


A fantastic animated video of this available here: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=9MhfATPZA0g

Watermans park

For my final project for year 1, I have proposed a Compact wetland for Brentford's Waterman's Park. Some images below show my final work:

Land Use & Transport Analysis

Traffic Movement

Area Emotion Map

Site Parts Plan

Biome Cross Section

Proposed Greywater Catchment Area

Long Section

Site Masterplan

Site Montage

landscape and me

it's always on my mind.....a short film as part of our study skills module.



...2 of the final images are psycadelically enhanced....unexpectedly. reposting after this.

The English countryside....or a day at the beach?

Or both.........On a delightfully warm (24C) sunny Wednesday, we embarked on a small road trip with Simon and Ed to a surprise location. All we knew was it was near the beach. Near-ish with Simon driving.

Cute narrow country roads where the sunlight filters just perfectly through the trees...just what we needed! We eventually arrived at our surprise location - Weald & Downland Open Air Museum.

'The leading museum of historic buildings in England
Designated by the Government for its outstanding collections of national importance
Winner of the Museum of the Year, Community Museum of the Year and national awards for interpretation and education.' http://www.wealddown.co.uk/home-page-english.htm

The open air museum is perfect on a sunny day....historic buildings with plenty to keep the avid historian busy, plus educational audio for those not so much in the know. We had a good few hours to scope the place out - with rolling fields, cow and sheep filled paddocks, chickens, beehives, working horses and ducks all dotted around the place it was something quite special.

The group then moved onto Littlehampton beach, a short drive away where we could dip our feet in the cool sea, throw a few pebbles, and see Thomas Heatherwick's 'turd' building - the East Beach Cafe.

All in all a really good day out - much needed and very appreciated. Thank God the summer is here, sort of.

Kingston Gateway - 1st project semester 1

Our first project in the course - to design a gateway for one of three sites within Kingston, the station, Kingston bridge or College roundabout.

My proposal was to enlarge the existing roundabout and create an area for people to stroll around the small central pond or lay under the trees planted on the banks. Around the edge is a photovoltaic ring, there to generate enough power to light the central installation. This installation is poropsed to be constructed from ageing recycled watermain pipes which, strategically postioned and viewed from a certain point encircling the roundabout, make out the letter 'K'. Lit from inside and powered with the green voltaic energy, they diffuse a twinkling light through the degraded and holey surface.

Here is a short quicktime animation of my proposal for the roundabout, constructed in 3ds max. Malibu comes to Kingston.

Dancing kitty

Animation in Photoshop??......Yep, interesting.....

Stop frame animation. I've attempted a really basic little quicktime, of our gorgeous kitten as the subject matter. Very short, very silly, and I am afraid not very good.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome, Leia....dancing princess.

The magic box

As a young girl (living in a country where houses have a real gardens) I was consumed with creating a little cosy hideout where I could dream, create and escape into my own 'magic' world. Sadly a few blankets, rainy days and a big brother who's sole existence was to bug me in my little fairyland meant they didn't last longer than a few hours.


I recently saw an article for a prefabricated 'box' for the garden, courtyard or rooftop. So much more interesting open than your average garden shed, 'The Magic Box is an extension room that can be used as an office, studio or serve any purpose that the user imagines.'







'The designer calls it “a versatile ‘box’ that changes the stereotypes of prefabricated houses and extension rooms by having qualities such as transparency and simplistic form with high versatility. The Magic Box also creates innovative life styles and business environment. You are free to drive your imagination into transforming this box into your own working space or space for your hobbies.”'



Magic Box design team estimate it takes about one month to produce the components followed by an installation week. Initial foundation work, electricity installation and water supply/drainage will also need to be carried out.


From the website, it seems as if these great boxes are only available in the US and Tokyo for now. Will stick to my sustainable timber shed for now.



http://www.magicboxincusa.com/

Sustainable living?

Something for my next letter to Santa....a treehouse in a Costa Rican Eco-Community. I will probably regret putting this up as it deserves to be hidden but alas, has already featured in the likes of Outside magazine, Inhabitat.com, Travel Gear (online) as well as other US publications.

Located on the base of an almost 6,000 foot primary rainforest mountain on the South Pacific Coast of Costa Rica and is bordered on the North by Rio Piedras Blancas and Rio Bellavista to the South, Finca Bella Vista is exactly as the name states, Beautiful Forest Home.

Treehouses are built in the canopies with land below starting at 2-3 acres. A small price to pay for land and a beautiful unique home in comparison to expensive, polluted city living.

Here you can literally sleep amongst the trees with trunks snaking through your floor boards and up through the ceiling - almost unsure of which came first, the tree or the treehouse, and dine alfresco with neighbours on a deck 50feet above the forest floor.

My ultimate dream of living in a tree on a beautiful remote spot somewhere where the air is clean and nature creeps into every possible area of life, may finally be realised. If no sight or word from me you know where I have disappeared to.