Wider Concept

In the studio today, these found objects were arranged. The goal to create a colour wheel to get us thinking about planting combinations. When searching for my yellow objects, a clear colour variation can be spotted with just a few objects. With just 5 objects a yellow to yellow-orange chart is created.

Did work for a very important client this week, my tortoise, Mr T. This was for his post-hibernation, winter retreat, indoor tortoise table. He will be staying here until late spring when I will move him out to his outdoor enclosure. Also in need of landscaping so keep watching this blog for another tortoise habitat post. Sometime in the near future. The whole table was to sit on an old kitchen table that I had restored several years ago. All the wood I wanted to come from an old wardrobe that a previous housemate had abandoned at my house and had been sitting in my barn for about a year now. Having stripped down the wardrobe and wiped and sanded down all the wood, I modified the backboard so it fits snugly over the tabletop which gave me the size of the space I had to play with. Then after listing all the constraints that are required for caring for a tortoise and knowing what an escape artist he can be, I drew up the design. Then came the construction. I was happy that all of the woo...

 So whinging on social media does have consequences. Turns out that you get lumbered with more work. Jokes on you though, Jamie as I was in my element here and I definitely spent far longer than I should have been. Now I need to catch up on my other modules but I think and I hope you will also think that it was worth it. Sitting on the edge of our North Place development lies Dowty House. A stunning Victorian orphanage that is currently under development to create boutique apartments. The development entails removing the 1950s extension, retaining the charming building which is one of Cheltenham's main landmarks with its bell tower. Contemporary extensions and apartments are being built in the rear of the site. For my model, I used card folded from nets to create the angular roofs and details. There are also several trees on site (existing and new planned trees) which I made out of pipe-cleaners and matches. For contrast, for the red-brick buildings I used white card and I used bla...

Tucked away in coal orchard in Taunton. Almost blocked off by an unfinished development by a folded construction company. An interesting installation of hard landscaping, planting and sculpture. 3 carved eggs within a quirky wooden fence on resin bound recycled rubber chips. (I have to say I did attempt [successfully of course] some parkour over the fence hopping on all three eggs and under the arches). A resin bound chipped rubber makes up the SuDS ground around the eggs to dampen the landing in case of a fall. At this time of year the Cornus Midwinter Fire (Cornus sanguinea) really stands out and looks it's best.

In the studio this week we had 15 minutes to create a collage with rough tears from a magazine to play around with planting. My colour theme was purple.  Armed with a gardeners world and a pritt stick I really experimented with combining purple tones. Really played with juxtaposition by having some elements bursting out of the page. The size of the dragon fly compared with the plants gives the impression that it is right in your face while observing the garden view. I would have loved some purple phlox or heather's for the bedding plants but I couldn't find anything like that in this issue.

  Starting to play around with placing the main building elements within the North Place plan. A simple and easily adaptable methods I  thought of doing this is by using Lego to create a basic block model. Scale 1:1000. Using the existing road layout I have placed the multi story Carpark (blue) on the Eastern section of the site in 2 sections to maintain the view of Holy Trinity Church from the centre of the site. 2 x 4 story The bicycle park and lock up (black) I zoned off behind St Margaret’ Terrace as it will be a low structure so the back facade of the historic terrace will still be visible and places the bike park in a convenient location to access the Old Town. The creative workspaces set in a 2 story and 4 story block along side North Place passage. This maintains the flow from St Margarets Road to North Place Road and will help maintain the main sight lines that are worth preserving. The outdoor performance space (red) I have put on top of the 4 story creative quarter ...