During this week my lecturers had organised a series of lectures to take place in order for us to understand the underlining topic which is “what is Landscape Architecture”. Personally this has always been a close topic of not just mine but my fellow students. When if first started this course this question was introduced to be the very first day of entering my course. When I first started an old lecturer of mine who has since left asked us all “what is landscape Architecture?”. At first I looked at the obvious which would be the very dictionary definition “the art and practice of designing the outdoor environment, especially designing parks or gardens to harmonize with buildings and roads.”(Oxford dictionary definition). So of course I came to the simple conclusion that it is just a person who designs parks and gardens. However this was just my answer within the very few hours that I joined the course. Looking back now I realised how wrong I was that is goes far more than just parks and gardens. My very first project was to create an Installation by Kingston River. An “Installation” something I’ve never heard of yet here I was creating one in a group of four. By the time my first project ended I slowly began to realise that this isn’t just about parks and gardens, this could be so much more.
Forwarding now to the present time, I mentioned that we were fortunate enough to have a series of lectures from outside visitors. Our first guest was a previous guest from last year from Gustafson Porter Sam Johnston. And he began by telling us what his boss Neil Porter had thought of the theme of the week, he said the answer he gave was “Everything under the sun”. Although it was such a simple response I was amazed at how vague yet unusually clear the answer was. I believe that our work is natural as we interact with so many natural elements in the world such as flora and fauna and what can be more natural than the sun. He then went into words that he thought of when presented with the word,” Natural systems, Landscape Institute Code, Habitat, Flora, Fauna and weather”. Out of all these words the one that attracted my attention the most was “weather” simply because this one word has amazing affects on what Landscape Architects build more so I think than anything. Weather is forever changing, brutal, beautiful and such an integral part of how a Landscape Architect needs to think. He went on to talk about a series of projects that Gustafson Porter had been involved with. The first was the Aliga Masterplan, Lake Balaton in Hungary, the thought process he said was to begin to really understand what the site is with all its attributes then can you start to visualise and conceptualise what you can do. This particular site he said was focusing in the mind body and heart, the heart of it I would say was the lake itself which had an unusual consistency within it. Silica within the water created a highly reflective attribute to the lake.
The second was a place called Hook Park in Dorset this idea had the theme of Reality vs Imagination. Sam had said that further you go into this wood it seems to be either scary, claustrophobic or it can open your mind to imagine whatever you like.
The final project he showed us was Woolwich square in London, the theme behind this was “Balloon and Garden”. Out of all the projects this one seems very similar to the styles I have seen from Gustafson and Porter, vey linier clean lines, angles, granite, water and raised surfaces. It all seemed very similar to Nottingham’s Old market square which Gustafson and porter did. The idea was that after speaking to the locals and getting feedback on what they want the represented there design as the “balloon” the hard landscaping and the “Garden” the soft landscaping. The idea was to create a garden within the centre of the city. Although many would argue and say well this is just typical of what Gustafson porter do you have to understand these elements they put together add the type of sophistication and elegance that people within the city centre want. They want high end materials and polished finishes because it simply looks nice and allows the public to admire and respect what they have.
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