Thursday 26 January 2012
Wednesday 25 January 2012
FIRE!!!
haha okay, so I wanted to include fire in my design. This was a combination of many different thoughts; I had been reading one of Tom Turner's books and he says how human beings need to feel attached more to their natural instincts and that one of those is making a fire.
Now I have a fire pit in my garden and its one of my fav things as it does have this very grounding, back to nature feel about it. Makes you feel whole.
Also, I drank mulled wine in December when I was putting together my thoughts and this reminded me of the last time I did this which was in Vienna (I think) with work and we all went to a Christmas market and drank mulled wine outside around big lit barrels. The town was covered in snow, but we were all toasty and it was so lovely to be outside, having a lovely time in winter with all its beauty. Never forget how my coat smelled of smoke for about a week though...
So I thought, why the heck can't we do that? It seems to me that we often seem to lag behind the rest of Europe with this sort of thing, I know that throughout my life, I always get: "but you can't do that!!!" and I think its time we realised that we are all grown ups and can do what we want. The mould needs to be broken a bit more often (and lets face it, this stuff is not exactly outrageous).
So in my bar area, I have fire pits. They are for hot chocolate drinkers during the day and mulled wine drinkers in the evening and add the all-important social crowd and meeting place for the colder months. Sounds like fun to me anyway....
Now I have a fire pit in my garden and its one of my fav things as it does have this very grounding, back to nature feel about it. Makes you feel whole.
Also, I drank mulled wine in December when I was putting together my thoughts and this reminded me of the last time I did this which was in Vienna (I think) with work and we all went to a Christmas market and drank mulled wine outside around big lit barrels. The town was covered in snow, but we were all toasty and it was so lovely to be outside, having a lovely time in winter with all its beauty. Never forget how my coat smelled of smoke for about a week though...
So I thought, why the heck can't we do that? It seems to me that we often seem to lag behind the rest of Europe with this sort of thing, I know that throughout my life, I always get: "but you can't do that!!!" and I think its time we realised that we are all grown ups and can do what we want. The mould needs to be broken a bit more often (and lets face it, this stuff is not exactly outrageous).
So in my bar area, I have fire pits. They are for hot chocolate drinkers during the day and mulled wine drinkers in the evening and add the all-important social crowd and meeting place for the colder months. Sounds like fun to me anyway....
Playa de Gandia promenade precedent
one of the precedents I have used for my masterplan is Playa de Gandia, which is in Spain near Valencia. We used to go there every year (the first time I went I was 5 months old) and it was the time we spent together as a whole family. Over the years I have seen it redesigned, redeveloped, in good and bad ways and in the past few years they have finally done a great job.
I got my family nickname of "little legs" from never being able to keep up with my Dad as we walked along the promenade when it finally got cooler in the evening and Gandia would be buzzing with people.
They've put in a cycle path, beautiful benches and put all the parking underground. There are sculptural shelters and (well-used) exercise machines on the beach. There are lots of ramps for wheelchairs and buggies which is ideal for the demographic here - Grandma and baby all go together with the rest of the family and Aunts and Uncles to the beach every day and everyone has different needs to cater for. It's where the Madridians go for the whole of August as Madrid gets too hot.
Anyway, I used my experience of their promenade as a starting point for my promenade and in particualr when Jamie suggested I think again about putting my cyclist route on the seafront, I thought back to Gandia and remembered how successful it was putting it next to the road (easy access for them to the rest of the town, less pedestrians, more direct path etc).
I got my family nickname of "little legs" from never being able to keep up with my Dad as we walked along the promenade when it finally got cooler in the evening and Gandia would be buzzing with people.
They've put in a cycle path, beautiful benches and put all the parking underground. There are sculptural shelters and (well-used) exercise machines on the beach. There are lots of ramps for wheelchairs and buggies which is ideal for the demographic here - Grandma and baby all go together with the rest of the family and Aunts and Uncles to the beach every day and everyone has different needs to cater for. It's where the Madridians go for the whole of August as Madrid gets too hot.
Anyway, I used my experience of their promenade as a starting point for my promenade and in particualr when Jamie suggested I think again about putting my cyclist route on the seafront, I thought back to Gandia and remembered how successful it was putting it next to the road (easy access for them to the rest of the town, less pedestrians, more direct path etc).
thoughts on my masterplan
I chose a tidal pool as my Mum grew up in Edinburgh and used to go to St Andrews every holidays. She's a fantastic swimmer and we were all made to swim a lot as children. They used to swim in the tidal pool in St Andrews and here she has dug out a pic, which is amazing!
I got so behind with my blogging I kept thinking I should put time aside - SILLY!
so I need to just carry on with stream of consciousness I think...
the past month something strange has happened to me, my ENTIRE LIFE seems to be swallowed up by the details. All of a sudden I notice every little thing and spend my life permanently attached to my camera. I will post some of the pics. Some good, some bad. All worthwhile and good for thinking.
I have finally left private banking and can focus on this course - feels great. Last week was my first week gaining those extra 40 hours, I swear my drawing improved more in that week than it has in the past 2 years. It's still silly, but you can actually tell what most things are! haha. So I am excited to see where things go from here. I have a lonnnnng way to go!
the past month something strange has happened to me, my ENTIRE LIFE seems to be swallowed up by the details. All of a sudden I notice every little thing and spend my life permanently attached to my camera. I will post some of the pics. Some good, some bad. All worthwhile and good for thinking.
I have finally left private banking and can focus on this course - feels great. Last week was my first week gaining those extra 40 hours, I swear my drawing improved more in that week than it has in the past 2 years. It's still silly, but you can actually tell what most things are! haha. So I am excited to see where things go from here. I have a lonnnnng way to go!
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