Dialogue between Art, Landscape and Community- Instilations No.1

Morning.

As part of our Dialogue module we were set the tasks to create a piece of art in the landscape of Writtle College. For mine I looked a my artist in my other report, Noguchi. I looke dat his work in Japan with Latterns before the lecture and though about how I could make latterns out of the materials on the college site.

When I arrived on site I saw that making the shape of the latterns would be hard given the time limitation (1 hr 30 minites) and the limitations of not using any man made materials.

For the frame of my instilation I stated by laying the Miscanthus and wrapping the joint with leafs to forma bond. I then found that the space and length of the Miscanthus formed a 'wig wham' shape.

The Quercus which i choice to sit under on the North Lawn at the college provded me with an extra material for the insilations. Due to the wind levels on the day I found that the falling leafs where hitting myself and the materials which i hade layed out on ground around me. It felt like the tree was wanting to be part of the Art.

After the Leaves had been sowed around the outside of the piece I felt that the way the wind was moving the leafs and grass would ve better if it was serpended from the Quercus I was under. Picked a branch which provided a natural hook for the piece.

I will return to the site later to see how the piece copes with the weather and human interaction.

Afternoon,
I've had a busy day trying to look at ideal functional diagrams.
The following picture is a rough diagram which it is early development of my functional diagrams. I intend to develop this by using numbers to label the areas which are of interest and the important of the relation to the surrounding facilities.

This ideal functional diagram show, in a non contextual sense, how parks could be arrange to provide facilities for all visitors.

1.       The Car park should be situated close to the visitors centre and toilet; this means that visitors to the park have a good sense of place on arrival. This walk from the car park should have clear signage to help the visitors navigate their way to the visitor centre.  The car park should be clearly sign posted and provide safe access into the park.

2.       The visitors centre should be the start and end of the circle walks; this gives the park the opportunity to publicize the parks facility, attractions, food, refreshment and gift areas.

3.       All the toilets around the park should provide facilities for all uses. On the series of walks around the park it is important to make sure that there are toilets in easy access to the surrounding walks. 

4.       The visitors centre is overlooking the children’s play area, the location of these two areas is important. As children’s play area being located close to the visitors centre and the toilets means that all facilities are easily accessible if needed. With the children’s play area being close to the car park it means all visitors who have only come to use the children’s play area don’t need to travel across the whole park.

5.       The first short walk which will take around 15 to 20 minutes will give the chance for families with small children a change to adventure out of the children’s play area and the visitors centre.

6.       The second walk which starts and ends at the visitors centre as all the walks do should be designed to take 30 to 40 minutes. This walk should explore more of the park and its onsite facilities. As this walk is designed to take longer a toilets block and information point had been situated half way round to provide facilities for the walkers.

7.  The next two walks are designed to give visitors a more extensive view and challenging access to the park. (8) shows a 50 to 60 minute version of the 60 to 80 walk  at (9), they both offer changes in gradient and path material to challenge the users.  The paths have greater distances between toilet facilities and could be access from the local area rather than then visitors centre. The paths should be clearly sign posted to prevent users from getting lost.

Public Landscape- Concept Research

I have used these two pictures to repersent the two types of habitats that i am going to try and create. The first being Grasslands and the second wetland/marshs.

Public Landscape- Concept Research

Afternoon,
To help with my concept research i have been looking at different Nature Reserves in the UK where they have concentrated on providing wetland habitats for birds and other wildlife.
The First is Newland Wetlands reserve in Wales. The Reserve was set up in 2000.
In a report, published in 2006, the parks aurthority outlines the numbers and varity of the park after 5 years.
http://www.bto.org/sites/default/files/u196/downloads/rr451.pdf.

From other sites I have looked at I have seen the importance of incresing the numbers of insects and other animals to increase the numbers of birds in any one space.

I have also looks at the types of wetlands, the most common is Marsh land,

Public Landscape- Concept Research

Afternoon,

As part of Public Landscape module I am going to look at the possiblity of designing a space to encourge more wetland birdlife to the site.
I have been looking at the Birds of Concern paper published in 2009.

The above organisations helped provide the information for the nine page document, which outlihes the reviews of the Red and Amber lists of endangered birds. 

http://www.wwt.org.uk/old_files/admin/xstandard/ws/BoCC3%20glossy%20report.pdf

The Next stage of this research is to look at the different habitats that could be created on the site and the types of birds which could find places to nest, breed and feed in them.