Jacques Wirtz lumpy hedges

 One of my designs for planting within a courtyard was to have lumpy, cloud pruned hedges that are extremely soft on the eyes with a light green, dark green and red/ purple shrub within the colour palette. When researching this I came across Jacques Wirtz, his landscape style is cloud pruning. 

I have always admired topiary before I even came into landscape architecture, with one of my favourite movies being Edward Scissorhands. The control humans have over something so wild but making it appear so structural is stunning, Wirtz has a similar view, his gardens flaunt control through bending and shaping plants like malleable metal, with deep lines in the ground and bold smooth edges. 

When Wirtz moved into his home he inherited a row of overgrown boxwoods that lined a walk like an avenue, through his exploration he clipped them then pruned them. Now in his work he uses boxwoods and yew hedges to create a similar effect for clients. However, there is a lack of sustainability as the maintenance is just as time consuming as the initial act of creation which, in the long term, is not great. 

It is a reminder that gardens are never a single act of creation, but a constant act of recreation and renewal through the acts (vita activa) of gardening.

My planting process

Planting has never been my strong suite, I always struggled to visualise the composition of the plants and tended to focus on trying to achieve "right plant, right space". 

This module I have been focusing on planting to feel more confident, I have really enjoyed it too. Figuring out the structure of the planting came easy but I could not picture it until I sketched out mini visuals of what the site would look like with the planting as structures. I hadn't been introduced to doing this in university, rather they are much more formal drawings that show less site context. 

This process for planting where I sketch out the structure then look at the micro climate before filling in the planting works really good for me and I am glad I have finally found a process. Planting feels much less overwhelming. 

 

Tyler Grange

Our university is familiar with Tyler Grange as they have an established rapport, therefore we have first hand interactions with the practise. They are a fairly small and humble practise who have a very friendly and warm approach.

They mainly focus on conducting surveys, assessments, evaluations and expert witness meaning they are less of a design practise. However I value this work and believe it to be highly rewarding as there cannot be design without the correct assessments, paper work and formal actions taken. 

I think it is important to have practises like these better known because we often associate Landscape architecture as a design discipline, this is not necessarily true. The real change makers are the policy makers/ changers whom are often reviewing, writing, consulting and buried in reports. Similarly with assessments and surveys, design is typically the result of these processes which adds to their importance. 

Mentoring

I have recently been fortunate enough to be a part of a mentoring program as a mentee. Luckily the provider was able to obtain a landscape architect to be my mentor. This came at an extremely convenient time as they were able to guide me through my employment process.

I think mentoring is undervalued and under used, the skills and experiences shared with word of mouth has existed since the beginning of man and should be carried through till present and for future use. 

What I got out of the program was another layer of understanding of the industry from an experienced person's perspective, this was extremely useful as my regular contact with experienced professionals are lecturers in which I have become accustomed to their perspective due to familiarity. Of course, I am bound to develop my own perspective as I enter the industry but it is helpful to hear how other professionals have dealt with issues and their experiences. 

My mentor also found it useful as they claim it was exciting to see what the next generation are up to and how we may differ to previous generations.

Alney Island development

My current working stage for my design project is transferring my conceptual thinking layers into a form and abstract composition before developing it into a design layout.

My conceptual thinking layers are:

Relationship between man and nature/ Conservation/ Education/ Community of Alney Island

This was my initial design layout however it does not reflect my concept of amalgamating the relationship between man and insects as it appears quite separate.

I then fused both environments and explored the forms that came about (pink- human spaces, green- conservation spaces)

I then wanted a more organic form and took inspiration from the patterns of a beetle, I thought about having focused human spaces integrated into a natural environment but it was still quite separate. 

I am still working on this,

PWP Landscape Architecture

Their projects are highly successful but what stood out to me was their studio/ practise.
I admire that their work force has a high percentage of females and includes people of ethnic diversities.

"We see the landscape as a single, living system of interdependency that is born of nature and culture." 

"We see the landscape as a single, living system of interdependency that is born of nature and culture." 

"We see the landscape as a single, living system of interdependency that is born of nature and culture." 

Since our founding and by design, we maintain a controlled studio size of around 40 individuals who work together in a shared central studio space. 
Our intimate studio allows us to maintain a high-level of quality throughout all of our work and to focus closely on our projects, clients and collaborators. 

Overall, their website shares personal information such as design process, how the studio works which helps viewers really understand who they are. This is often not the case on typical landscape architecture websites but I think it is an approach practises should take, especially if they want to attract employment. 

Grant associates

A well known name in the landscape architecture industry, specifically for Gardens by the bay amongst other high profile successful landscapes. For me it is quite surprising that they are not an enourmous practise but medium- large and have only 2 offices, one in Bath and one in Singapore. It is interesting as there would be a difference in culture, insight on how this works between the 2 studios would also be interesting. 

 Their website is very different to typical practise websites I have seen previously for example the following detailing's/ phrases:

Collaborative by Nature: We believe strongly in the power of collaboration. We don’t always have all the answers ourselves, 

Today our understanding of the world, and how we can best influence its future, is quite different from when we started Grant Associates in 1997.

These phrases portrays the practise as a humble practise who values teamwork and is extremely self-aware.

I have personally been to some of their landscapes, Paradise in Birmingham and Birstol harbour.

Both respond appropriately to their environments and are designed to act as features and main spaces that people want to sit in. I believe these are highly successful in the sense that they are 24 hour spaces. I have felt safe at night and the landscapes receive similar attention at night as they do during the day.

Peter Walker national September 11 Memorial in New York City

The Memorial commemorates the victims of the attacks of September 11, 2001, at the World Trade Center, Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and the Pentagon as well as the World Trade Center attack of February 26, 1993. 

This was initially a design competition aimed to humanize the scheme without diminishing the abstraction that had established it as a finalist. The broad scope of the trauma of 9/11 requires that the Memorial use a symbolic language understood by a diverse audience; this language is an integral part of “Reflecting Absence” by Michael Arad and Peter Walker.

From my understanding, the trees represent the death of the people, with the two rectangular basins being representing the towers and the geometric, formal amenity grass and hard landscaping is designed to be respectful and serious indicating that is is a memorial. This is synonymously reflected in the colour palette.

I find memorials in landscapes particularly interesting in regards to the design thinking, final outcomes and symbolism. I think because I would personally find this difficult to do so observing how others do it is a nice feeling.