Design frost

Several more layers later...

1:200 not-quite-frozen design for Dickens Square. Much more comfortable with this - there were quite a few awkward areas which have been smoothed out and the wetland has enlarged again too. I think it's more balanced now, and less fussy.

Still need to draw up and annotate properly, then move onto overlays for hard and soft materials, structural planting, lighting and drainage - time to start considering detail again after forcing myself to let go of such fripperies for the last couple of weeks! Also need to explore the design a bit further with a model, and some sections and sequential sketches.

Permafrost has not quite set in yet then, but the temperature is definitely dropping! And in real life, the sun is out. Good.

Zooming in

First draft 1:200 refinement of the park formerly known as Dickens Square (new title tbc!), drawn yesterday. I was having trouble picturing it just in plan form, so it's a freehand sort-of axo, which really helped. Adding little stick people all over the place did too, as my brain was having trouble adapting to a different scale - gives a bit more life even to a scrawl like this too.

Speaking of scale, you really do get a sense of how massive some of the spaces are when you start zooming in. Which is good for the wetland (which I had thought was too small) and not so good for the giant cafe deck and 7m wide pathways!

Several layers more to go of course, but I'm actually quite pleased with this - what a strange sensation! Maybe it's just the very welcome sense of progress...

28 layers later

Insomnia strikes again, so here's some pics I took earlier of my 1:500 masterplan. Here are the layers on layers on layers...

 

And the draft final (pre-annotation):

I'm slightly confused about where I am in the process - the design is frozen now, but presentation is still definitely draft! And it's more important to move onto 1:200 than do final presentation, and I haven't done sections etc yet either. This is what happens when you take the scenic route I suppose. Happy to still be on any kind of route, but a little bit nervous when I start totting up all the bits that still need doing!

Incidentally, I've never used Promarkers directly onto trace before, and I won't be doing it again - what a mess! Sadly, no A1 printer at home though, so needs must...
 

99 Failures

Browsing structures during a little drawing break...
This is the 99 Failures Pavilion from the Digital Fabrication Lab at the University of Tokyo, so-called after its "...adherence to the idea that repeated failures are the gateway to success".
I think the interwebs are talking to me...I've really held myself back by feeling like drawings even at sketch stage have to be 'right' in some way, or exact, or something, when it's really just the first step of a much longer journey. Bit of a belated revelation, I do realise!  Coloured Sharpies are my new best friends. Off to fail with them again now :-)

Lovely lovely shadows!

More here: http://inhabitat.com/ninety-nine-failures-pavilion-is-built-from-ninja-star-shaped-steel-pillows/99-failures-pavilion-dfl-2/

Sunday night fun!

Oof, I am TOO SLOW! Really irritating myself now. I love this subject so much and am like a snail stuck in concrete. A snail with no spatial awareness at that. VERY FRUSTRATING!!! Just venting...

Some more procraspiration (I am drawing too!) - think I might need more wetland in my wetland. The sound of the rain pummelling my window yet again might be responsible for this thought however!

Camley Street Natural Park; this is behind Kings Cross and, for once, I've actually visited a few times as I used to work very near by and once spent a day painting the boardwalk. It's surrounded by (former) industrial buildings, offices, railway, massive busy roads etc, and isn't very big, but is a real haven in the city and very geared towards community participation, particularly children.

Tanner Springs Park in Portland. A very different style, but I like how the water is the 'ground' in this part. You can go right up to the water's edge, so it feels very open and welcoming. (Not sure how that works for wildlife.) Interesting fencing too.

Spring begins

It was really good to visit the site again yesterday - great to see the parks in sunshine (and with a few people in them!), rather than draped in grey gloom like last time round. The knee-deep plane leaves were also gone, which made the existing structure much easier to see - and was a well-timed reminder of how bumpy the topography of Dickens Park is!

It was impossible not to notice autumn with all those leaves around last time, and spring is definitely springing now - I want to emphasise a continual sense of seasonal transformation in my design.

 
The low sun was creating some lovely textural shadows. Even two of the world's most most boring walls were livened up a bit:

And there's no escaping the Shard in this area of course; the ethos behind it has little relevance for my site, but it's certainly claimed its place as a landmark of the London skyline:

Starting point

A very, very belated first sketch design for my 'transformative' theme...

Connectivity, inclusivity, usability and sense of identity should all be 'transformed' using water, seasonal change and increased reasons to linger. Dickens Park is becoming a wetland (Amanda!) to retain its wildlife value in a more designed way, and Newington Gardens will be a convivial city square (well, wonky rectangle...).

Jamie nearly had to crack my head open like a coconut to get any of this out. Very worrying that I couldn't seem to do this myself at this stage, but such a relief to have something to go on! Just needs several hundred layers of refinement now...