What my brain feels like! This is described in a book as a 'fog garden' - is that really a thing? (Google doesn't think so, but it can't know everything...)
But back to the project in hand...I've made scrapbook pages for each of the themes to be used in making sketch designs for the site: Playful, Restorative and Transformative. They don't look like much, but I really thought hard about their meanings and the site while doing them, and none of the images are chosen at random. It was a good way of kicking the imagination out of hibernation.
Playful: the obvious thing that springs to mind is children, imaginative play etc. I also thought about things playing on other things e.g. light/shadow, water, movement, sound. Playful appeals to me for Dickens Sq and Newington Gardens as they are both have a decidedly un-fun atmosphere at the moment (except the adventure playground in Dickens).
Restorative: the main ideas to come out of this exploration were calmness, balance, reflection and (shudder) wellbeing, which could be achieved with form, texture, colour and scent. It would be beneficial to have parks which feel like a haven (activity and sociability can act as a tonic too, so wouldn't all need to be meditation and gentleness), particularly as there's a health centre adjacent to Dickens Square Park.
Transformative: the area currently feels a bit forgotten about, and the parks are rough around the edges. It's a real contrast to other parts of north Southwark; even Trinity Square at the edge of the site has a completely different and coherent identity. A transformative theme would give the opportunity to change the parks completely and create a place which feels special, a place residents could feel some attachment to and enjoy living with. Hopefully people's perception of the area and their relationship with it could be positively transformed too.
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