sequential drawings

Now for the first time I felt I liked the style I am now producing....here is one that is coming together now with paints and photoshop. It's my yoga pods that jut onto the beach using the sea air to uplift the senses. I am out walking the dog every day and see so many people in every weather (aside from rain) exercising and I feel this is something to be encouraged and to re-educate people about exercising outside in the U.K

Green engineering finally done! Thank goodness.

I found it to be quite a drain on time this past week, taking a lot longer to work out the brief than expected and I wasn't the only one, emails/calls/texts back and forward trying to work out what was being asked, I think we will all have ended up with quite different calculations!
I enjoyed reading more about how we as landscape architects can include long term environmental considerations in our designs though, so that was a positive. Working out my own carbon footprint was quite depressing though and showed me again that we all need to be doing a lot more to care for our planet. I am definitely going to consider my paving and tree choices in future with all this info in mind though, so it was good to learn about and will be an area I will continue to read about.

150, 1200, 1500 plans...

having problems with internet - infuriating, so not been able to blog, here is progress with pulling my plans together, still showing my idea development hopefully. Lots still to change and more shadows for everything, but getting there. The combo of sketchup, paint and photoshop I am enjoying and putting the prep in first is now saving me time.

1200 planting plan - have now drawn in autocad, photoshop and finally by hand it still just doesn't work!! Trying to find a solution...

soldiering on.....I can sleep when I'm dead (probably around next Wednesday)

sections progress...

some things work some things don't - quite pleased with my painted (watercolours) plants giving the feel of the planting scheme they are representing.
main thing I am focusing on is clearly showing any visual change in level which for this scheme mostly involves walls, trees and my mounds rather than the ground.
if I get time later I will add shadows and more interest/depth (I have cut out people to add) but for now I am just making sure I have a consistent set of sections which clearly get across the spacings and heights.

wall of work...

just over a week ago I put up all my sheets as they were, on my corridor wall at home, this has actually been great for focusing as I can see exactly what I have (which was motivating) and what I really need to be working on (everything!)
I have added to it during the week which has made me feel like I am getting somewhere, just gotta keep going...

obv none of these are finished - but determined to get there!

I always wonder whether it's better to just focus on one drawing to completion, which I seem to find impossible or work on 5 different things a bit at a time...will find out soon enough! 

have taken Julia's advice to go back to my original clean fresh style as muddy and fussy just doesn't suit me...

very much work in progress!

1:50 update...painting plants then photoshopping has sped me up, making my way through my plan, sections and sequentials...

working on hardworks at 1:50 which I had

initially approached as a document advising how to build the paths etc, now realising that it is more a shopping list in a way - I did the same with the softworks, but we live and learn...
Trying to catch up from the time I missed over Easter. Now deciding whether to use photomontage or hand drawn - mixture below.

Decided to do things quickly by hand then render in photoshop to speed things up. Need to work on my sky - have never used one before actually, so now going to start playing with the dark receding etc, more texture in the pic and get a good template so that I can create a good set of sections and perspectives.

Wasted 4 hours this morning at Uni with an issue printing A1 pdfs again - which the lab said they were resolving (4 diff computers and 2 members of staff trying to help seemed to proved otherwise) and by the time we had it working there was a nice queue...so I read through some sketchup books whilst waiting!

Back to it.... 

1:50 update - plant schedule

so...dog ended up on a drip in hospital, had no sleep the past 11 days from worry and getting up constantly to tend to a very sick dog, so got to get back on it now or I will never finish...life, eh?

just writing up my plant schedule on excel, then will do my planting plan. Feel a bit unsure of plant numbers still so will do a bit more reading.

I have glass panels/walls within my picnic area to shelter the plants so I can use a broader range and create a green, lush feel. I have nicked one of Grant's Paris pics of glass panels (thanks Grant) I think of le Grande Arche. I also remember similar panels being used at MoMa on their balcony in New York. Great for altering micro-climate...

progress update - 1:50 baseplan done in autocad

starting to wonder if someone is determined that I won't finish this degree...dog sadly broke a few bones in his paw on Monday and so have been back and forth to pet hospital and vets, which together with hardly any sleep (dog constantly crying - it's heartbreaking) has set me back again...
BUT, managed to start again yesterday and so have been putting my 1:50 baseplan into AUTOCAD, then annotation in photoshop, next going to add shadows as Jamie suggested and then leaving rendering until last. See image below, looking rather bare without the planting!

Have also started on hardworks plan, putting in hatches and then annotation. Next I need to do a bit more on the details of the hardworks as I don't think I have sufficient info yet.

plants and people...

Shown below my unfinished 1:200 - before and after a bit of scanning - what a difference to the colours...

energy back! been working on drawing out all of the 1:50 plan and have done the outlines for 4 sections at 1:50

this time I remembered to lay trace over the plan and mark out the sections, much faster and more accurate.

Put my plan upside down on the wall to review it - I like it! In pencil so very faint here, sorry. Funny how when you put it sideways my planting beds on my 1:50 seem to be spelling a familiar abbreviation from my old world...?!

how is everyone getting on? Lille pics below

I've been ill the past 2 days and unable to function - so frustrating as there is lots to do and keen to get stuck in and try to improve my drawing/I.T skills. In the meantime, a few pics from Lille for your delectation! These include the destruction of the studio and then the students! Also our lecturer Jamie in a blizzard!
And my terrible 5 min sketch done in my hostel after a very long frustrating day 1 in our first team - this came back on day 3 - a key moment for me when I saw that people understood and liked my concept (with a bit of explaining!) and it wasnt the most important thing (prev held view) to have the most beautiful pic ever. Learning all the time....

currently working on 1:50...

spent last few days (in between essay writing) looking at seasonal plant choices - seems to take a long
time, but I assume with experience you speed up...I still just don't know enough plants.
Drawing out my final base plan for 1:50 currently and it's hard to resist adding more and more as you get
more into it and more over-excited! Trying to just develop it further whilst not making it the most complex
thing of all time.....
then I need to draw out some sections..still struggling to choose the right areas to do this in as I don't have any level changes down really and only one increase in level so it all feels a bit flat on a section....hmm

I will keep adding random pics I take when out (with a friend usually laughing at me) this one is rubbish as it was taken at night in bad light, but shows a tree grate of sorts in Southwark which I thought was elegant

inspirational sketch done by a 3rd year architect student, Maya Lin and for the vietnam memorial competition which she won

well worth looking at - a brilliant design - I covered memorials in my dissertation and it's a fascinating subject

beginnings of sketching out ideas for planting at 1:50..

I will have 4 areas of planting: a raised bed (quite exposed, close proximity to seating), wooded area (structural, viewed from all sides, exposed to climate), pavilion planting (very protected from elements by glass and concrete wall, close to eating area) and now I have introduced (or extended) my arbour to stretch over the pavilion (but sunk so as to be more protected from the wind) and therefore I will have climbers (hopefully) here. 

two quick models showing shadows - inc of my arbour "seaweed" structure/gateway

okay one more pic of my study buddy - me reading war memorial books for dissertation, him digging the beds

made a very quick sketch model of my 1:50 - so useful..

...for seeing quickly which views may be obstructed, where shadows are falling, the relationship of the height of walls and structures to people (look out for my wire man complete with smiley face, he's in there), raised beds to seating, how the space works as a whole and how the different parts interact. I can't recommend doing this enough - just take half an hour to do one and you will resolve stuff much faster...I think anyway...

somebody that always inspires me :-) my dog

some things that have been inspiring me this week...

including another 2 examples of cut out doorways in outdoor walls that I am adapting for my picnic pavilion design - One of my fav things (and repeated themes of mine the past 3 years it seems) is viewpoints, especially the use of restricted views to glimpse beyond or frame a view.

Also a fantastic use of lighting to cast shadows, an example of a living wall that I think is visually effective and a great use of coloured paint outside.

section at 1:200 taking shape...

lighting inspiration from More London - London Bridge area

my business card - an adapted fav photo of mine of bicycle lent against a bench overlooking the city from a park

just blogging some of the pics of things I have been doing/been inspired by recently

resolving sections 1:200 quick sketches