+ Dalston Print Club
Tuesday 4 May 2010
Focus 4 - Dalston Print Club
+ Dalston Print Club
Thursday 29 April 2010
Focus 4 - ROA
+ Pure Evil
Tuesday 9 March 2010
Japanese Knotweed - Could the fight be over?
Monday 8 March 2010
Focus 3 - The Day the Olympics came to Town
Focus 3 - Graffik Warfare
Sunday 7 March 2010
Got Milk?
Friday 5 March 2010
Focus 3 - Aerial London at Night
Wednesday 3 March 2010
Focus 3 - Palm Oil and the devastation to Orangutan rainforest habitats
Tuesday 2 March 2010
Thames Clean up
Monday 1 March 2010
Focus 3 - Seoul's Cheonggyecheon Stream regeneration
Wednesday 27 January 2010
For Sale at Deb's Bookshop
Focus 2 - Heart of Africa in Chester Zoo
Tuesday 26 January 2010
Focus 2 - Capital Growth
''We want to help Londoners transform the capital by creating 2,012 new food growing spaces by the end of 2012.''
The Capital Growth campaign offers practical advice and support to communities around London, and helps people get access to land to create successful food growing spaces.
Focus 2 - Tree Cube
Focus 2 - 2012 Park - Green Oasis
Focus 2 - Growing Communities
Saturday 23 January 2010
Focus 2 - Container City in Mexico
Focus 2 - Sustainable Habit Reminders
Thursday 21 January 2010
Focus 2 - A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash
Focus Week 3 started a few days early with the viewing of a multi-award winning documentary A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash at a new little cinema in Kensal Rise - The Lexi. My local transition town movement Transition Kensal to Kilburn is quick on the mark inviting members to events, talks, market days and important events like this documentary viewing.
The documentary, produced and directed by Basil Gelpke and Ray McCormack highlights the frightening issues surrounding our exhaustion of this non-renewable fossil fuel, in a manner that even a toddler will understand. Oil is described as the excrement of the devil, black blood, the blood of the earth and the bloodstream of the world economy, the latter seemingly the most appropriate when you consider pretty much every single thing we use, wear, consume has come to being thanks to oil.
The viewer is shown disturbing imagery of some of the world's most prominent ex-oil mining sites, dry, deserted and incredibly depressing - McCamey Texas, Maracaibo Venezuela and Baku Azerbaijan.
Baku, Azerbaijan
By 1900, 95% of Russian oil came from Baku, thereafter Venezuela discovered oil in 1914 and became the largest importer in the world. The USA is described as being the Saudi Arabia until the 1950's, being the largest oil producer for 100 years. Noone thought it would peak, yet a Geophysicist, the late Dr. M. King Hubbert had said for years that it will come to an end. He was laughed at. He created a graph of oil discovery and production called Hubbert's Peak which showed quite clearly the concerning issue's in relation to oil supply and demand.
The message throughout is that oil has peaked, but there are doubts about the middle east. Every year, oil producing countries have the same numbers for oil reserves and production, and some even rise, which according to those interviewed, does not make sense. If countries like India and China continue to grow, and strive for the standards of living that the rest of the world is used to, how are decreasing oil reserves meant to cope with these new demands for cars, food, products and industry? Worryingly, if Saudi Arabia does in fact exceed its sustainable oil supply, then the world has reached its supply.
We will continue to have multi-generational RESOURCE wars if the world's behaviours and attitudes do not change and look seriously for energy alternatives.
There are interviews with hugely influential people in the world-wide oil industry - a list of whom can be found here. Matt Savinar, interviewed throughout the film is an attourney from California with a political science degree and an informed individual in the peak oil crisis (often quoted in the US Congress, and US journals). His website lifeaftertheoilcrash is assigned reading at multiple university courses around the world, and worth adding to favourites.
I hope this documentary makes it onto the mainstream cinema circuits, with household effects like that the Inconvenient Truth did, but then again, like all things political, it probably wont.
+ oil crash the movie
+ transition kensal to kilburn
+ the lexi cinema
+ Hubberts Peak
+ lifeaftertheoilcrash
Saturday 2 January 2010
Durban Botanic Gardens
It traces its origins to colonial times, when it was founded in December 1849 for the introduction and trial of potentially useful commercial 'economic' crops by Dr Charles Johnston.
The Gardens later developed collections of sub-tropical trees, palms and orchids. The Durban Botanic Gardens remains a classic botanic gardens, reflecting the universality of the plant kingdom. It has, for over 100 years, had a fine mixed arboretum of African, Asian and American trees. For my recent project I had been researching the banyan tree, or 'strangling fig' (Ficus citrifolia) in India, and how the natives in the jungles form living walkways and bridges out of its vinelike aerial roots. The first tree on entering the Gardens was none other than this amazing tree.
Orchids, Palms and Cycads are the main collections of the Gardens which is currently ranked among the top ten botanical garden cycad collections in the world.
Pancakes with syrup and cream topped topped the morning. Yum.
Friday 1 January 2010
Underground Green Belt Development
Matthew Guy, ReardonSmith’s project designer, states “Our concept integrates hotel, spa, and golf facilities into a single architecturally exciting and organic composition below and above ground. The design fulfills the requirements of the brief for a bespoke five star hotel while returning hard standing to the Green Belt and improving the physical layout and visual attraction of the entire site. It represents a commercially viable solution to developing in the Green Belt and is, we believe, a world-first.”
Pictures courtesy of Inhabitat
I think many landscape architects welcome subterranean developments, but more needs to be done in urban areas to combat urban heat island issues.
Having a quick look on the web, I found a project in Italy which I'd never come across before. It is an underground parking system which solves many of the traditional problems associated with urban parking; congestion, pollution, land space and security. The underground parking 'silo' is a continuous, reinforced concrete, diaphragm cylinder, 18.8m internal diameter.
Currently systems are being constructed in Stockholm, Turin and Rome. Systems are subject to planning permission in London and Copenhagen.
Wednesday 23 December 2009
Gardens by the Bay - Singapore
A series of tree structures act as vertical gardens that collect rainwater and solar energy to sustain the garden and light the way at night. They range from 30-55 meters in height and will be wrapped in ferns, vines, and tropical flowers.
The gardens also comprise two botanical biospheres: a cool moist biome with plants from the Cloud Forest and a cool dry biome featuring Mediterranean plants.
The first phase opening is set for 2011, and a second 32-hectare development called Bay East is also under development which will feature water gardens and an aquatic education center.
Below is a description of the project from Grant Associates website:
'This is the largest garden project ever undertaken in Singapore, and a landscape project of world significance. It is intended to raise Singapore’s profile and cement its image as the leading garden city in the east. It is therefore integral to the future planning of Singapore as a major global hub and business centre.
The masterplan takes its inspiration from the form of the orchid, and has an intelligent infrastructure that allows the cultivation of plants that would not otherwise grow in Singapore. The centrepiece of this infrastructure is the cluster of Cooled Conservatories along the edge of Marina Bay. The Cool Dry and the Cool Moist Conservatories showcase Mediterranean, tropical montane and temperate annual plants and flowering species. They also provide a flexible, flower-themed venue for events and exhibitions.
The Supertrees are magical vertical gardens ranging from 25 metres to 50 metres in height. These structures are an iconic landmark for the Gardens and Singapore. They are also the environmental engines for the Conservatories and Energy Centre, containing solar hot water and photovoltaic collectors, rainwater harvesting devices and venting ducts.
The dual theme of Marina South is ‘Plants and People’ and ‘Plants and Planet’. Each narrative encompasses the length of the gardens, with the Conservatories providing the focus and main educational message. '
Squint Opera have done the visuals for the project and an amazing moving image of the proposal. Found here.
Monday 7 December 2009
Geometries & Topologies
We met at the BFI on the Southbank, and our group was given an interesting topic for the location.
Geometry: the pure mathematics of points and lines and curves and surfaces
Topology: topographic study of a given place
Both definitions from the freedictionary.com
Film one was to be uncut, and played at the speed it was filmed.....First site was the skate park found under the Purcell Rooms. Unfortunately the film size is too large to upload but I will get onto resizing this for upload soon.
Film two was to demonstrate more, the key words given. It could be cut with sound and other media. We decided to take a walk along the Southbank from the BFI to the Tate Modern, recording images of all the geometries and related typologies along the route.
Sunday 6 December 2009
Pillow talk
A few clicks and I found a website called Wrap, which describes the various uses of recycled plastic products, and M&S is mentioned as one of the companies that use recycled products in their product ranges.
I'm pleased things like this are indicated on products, hopefully it brings home the importance of recycling.
Saturday 21 November 2009
Focus 1 - November 2009
We headed off first to Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens or Spring Gardens, which hold quite an interesting history. The gardens opened in 1661, and were most popular during the early 1800's, with various entertainment activities including faires, hot air balloon ascents, fountains and fireworks. I found it to be quite a bland space, surrounded by housing and with the Vauxhall City Farm on one end. It didn't feel unsafe since there wasn't very much inthe way of shrub planting or hiding space but there was something about the absence of people during the day that made me think I would rather take a detour than walk through there at night. Either way it seemed well maintained and clean.
The City Farm is a great example of a community taking ownership of their environments to create a facility for their pleasure and purpose. The squatters on thsi site in the 70's grew their own vegetables and looked after livestock.
Our next stop was Harleyford Road Community Garden which links to Bonnington Square Gardens, both for me such inspirational community spaces. The central square of Bonnington Gardens was going to be turned into a car scrap yard after the war, and the local residents, a mix of squatters, home owners and tenants, joined forces to oppose the council's scrap yard decision and proposed a community garden. From its conception it was so successful, people living around the square started planting window boxes and greening the streets, creating bespoke street planters. Today it is a garden of Eden.....I was completely blown away at how beautiful it is.....the atmosphere is amazing, even in the last few days of autumn, the street is awash with leafyness. Brilliant precedent for greening streets, for the local community by the local community. A guy called Drake, local resident and landscape architect gave us an overview of the area, and what they had to deal with over the years with the council etc......the website is worth looking at too with some interesting stuff in the byelaws.
Finally we took the Tate to Tate boat which gave me time to take in the tight birch planting around the Tate Modern, a project of Vogt Landscape Architects who I worked for in the summer.
+ Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens (Spring Gardens)
+Vauxhall City Farm
+ Gross Max
+ Bonnington Square Gardens
+ Harleyford Road Community Garden
+ Vogt Landscape Architects