Where Wildflowers Bloom

In order to technically design the areas set out in the Surrey County Council plan, a thorough understanding of the components, land and use is required. I have initially begun with a desktop survey with varied overlays. Shown below are my first two overlays. It is interesting to see the development of understanding from an initial glance at a plan to the later annotations which demonstrate greater comprehension. I am sure there will be a third iteration that again exhibits further understanding of the site's topography and the landscape areas to be considered. Second mark up First mark up 

Woodhatch Place, now the main offices of Surrey County Council since 2020, was originally Woodhatch Lodge, a private residence until 1930. Built in the late eighteenth century and expanded substantially in the Victorian era, it was set in private gardens and wooded grounds. It became a commercially owned building in 1939, changing ownership to Canon (UK) in 1996. Planning permission was gained to demolish the mid-twentieth century offices and Victorian wing of the house, restoring the original Georgian part of the house and constructing a large new office building - both of which still stand today as Woodhatch Place. The county of Surrey itself has a rich heritage spanning thousands of years, with traces of both the Bronze and Iron Ages. Today, Surrey is England's most wooded county, with woodland covering over a fifth of the area. Due to the site's location, name and heritage, the approach for the site's technical design will pay homage to the county's rural envi...

  Above are my initial overlays for the design of Castle Meads. The focus for this area was the urban-rural fringe in the masterplan Alney Island. Although this remains the same I will be rethinking my design to make Castle Meads the destination, rather than a gateway to greater discovery.  Following alongside the theme of 'Tides of Time' my design will be significantly inspired by the contextual heritage of the city and the site itself, paying homage to its seafarer history and linkage to the waterways and import and export trade. I began by locating the key nodes on site and attempted a couple of overlays to be further developed.

It can always be quite difficult to get lots of information onto one piece of paper, albeit a large piece of paper. I find it easiest to make a rough sketch of the page layout to figure our where and what I want where.  Below is my initial plan for our SWOC presentation board for Castle Meads. 

The surrounding context of Alney Island plays a significant role in creating a genius loci distinct from the currently negative one. Gloucester's rich heritage owes much to its strategic position on the water. The Docks' recent transformation into a cultural quarter preserves the city's maritime history by repurposing old warehouses and incorporating heritage boats, machinery and post-industrial elements throughout the landscape.  Due to Castle Meads’ location beside the docklands and adjacent to the public realm of Quay Street, my design intends to pay homage to the island’s history as a witness to seafarers. As an ecological park and post-industrial landscape, my design ambition is to utilise circular materials wherever possible and otherwise limit materials, following the three R principles of reduce, reuse, recycle. The aim is to integrate the city into Castle Meads by framing key views and accentuating industrial heritage through referential elements in the park. The r...

DESIGN STATEMENT Our garden celebrates self-expression and authenticity. Each plant exhibits unique and capturing qualities celebrating the beauty of diversity found in both the plant kingdom and humanity. We have selected an exuberant planting pale t t e representative of the bravery and boldness to embrace your individual flair and be true to oneself in the face of today’s grave adversities. From dense to delicate, speckled to striped, our intention is to showcase a coexisting and complementing community living harmoniously despite their opposing differences. This unity in diversity symbolises humanity’s interconnectedness; though comprised of complex variances, we are one dependent on mutual understanding to survive.  Only by accepting our dissimilarities as well as commonalities can we build the peaceful world we envision. The interwoven willow encircling the fiery heart represents how togetherness and understanding strengthens our societies and is vital to positive chang...

Before making our final submission plan, sketches, etc., we collaboratively placed our chosen plants into a sketch layout. We began with the central strip, positioning taller, structural plants in the middle and working outwards in a mirrored diagonal fashion from the center. This creates diverse perspectives on each side of the long border, reflected on the other side. The fiery central colors gradually fade into subtle warm tones towards the edges, with plants like red-veined Rumex and Iris sibirica 'Paprikash' interjecting hints of color amongst dominant greens. Upright Thuja and Eremus help to frame the  explosive focal point in the center , while snippets of color are dotted throughout to unify the planting bed. The form of the neutral plants also adds variety and visual interest in their own right, from the flowing Carex and delicate Thalictrum to the fine-textured ferns and undulating Zantedeschia. PLAN

After confirming our concept and gathering plants that seemed to fit, our next stage was to experiment with planting compositions. I chose to create initial collages, layering and cropping images to visualise how different plants might work together harmoniously. This process helped us narrow down our planting palette and decide on a combination of plants with visual synergy. Initially, there were conflicting color preferences within the group. Some preferred warm sunset tones of pink, orange, yellow and red, while others favored deep moonlight shades like vibrant blues and purples. We ultimately decided that fiery, radiant colors best embodied our concept of self-expression and our design vision. We wanted neutral tones on the outer edges, leading inward to a colorful, energetic focal explosion representative of the power, bravery and freedom to be one's authentic self. However, we did refer to color theory in our final plant selection, incorporating both split complementary hues ...