Today we made models of our ideas for the improvement of St John's Churchyard - a park opposite Potters Field park. In reality the 'park' is actually an area of grass punctuated by randomly placed flower beds and cluttered by bins and concrete. With the help of architects dallaspierce+quintero we came up with designs, each with a different group of park-users in mind. I was the 'anti-dog-walker', so I wanted to keep the dogs within a restricted area, so that children and other users could safely spend time in the park.
Making the models was so fun! I combined many materials and textures but kept my colours quite uniform. We ended the workshop with glue everywhere and a lot of mess to clear up!
I got here at 0940, then I was searched by the Police, it was a random police terrorist search apparently. Then I got to the Architecture Foundation, met up with everyone. We listened to a piece of audio made by Ruby about the weather, then we went to St John’s Churchyard, which we visited the other day with dallaspierce+quintero architects. I recorded anything I could hear around the area to make into a sound postcard. Passing trains on the railway bridge and planes, wind in the trees, and the sound of walking through leaves. I want it to give the feeling of someone commuting, walking through the park, so you have the traffic sounds before you get into the park, then peace and quiet, and then traffic out the other side.
Today my adventure leads me to Tower Bridge Road to a park, it was really um... I don't know how to day this but it was just plain, nothing that could catch my eye until I found this puzzle with Ciarra and Tess, it was a word puzzle. We looked at it and saw that it was missing four pieces. Great, we had fun putting it together, then we all sat down and talked about the park and siad what could be improved. We siad that there should be more flowers and a fountain and how it was designed, then I got onto a magic unicorn with wings and flew away to my next adventure, and if you guys really believe that then you seriously need help, but anyway ride on, clip clop away!!!
We spent today discovering the peaceful ‘resting places’ which are hidden between the dense concentration of buildings in Southwark. Peter from BOST (Bankside Open Spaces Trust) acted as our guide, showing us the beautiful gardens that I had walked past and not seen so many times.
The importance of these spaces became apparent, as Peter described how they act as meeting places for the many teams of volunteers who manage the gardens, how they are a space for children to play and adults to relax or grow their own vegetables.
However, we were not just there to observe; while the boys were shifting tonnes of soil, Vanessa and I planted various flowers and plants (sometimes it is definitely better to be a girl!). So while the boys were soaked in the rain, we were sheltered under a tree, as we tried to dig through the bricks and Victorian pottery which is buried in the soil. It was really fun (although the soil went everywhere!), and we felt like we were contributing to the garden in a small way.
Hi Everybody what are you up to? I hope your adventures are going as good as mine. Today I met my Pioneers at the Tate Community Garden, where we met Peter from BOST. He plants many gardens with the help of volunteers. He took to some the most beautiful places that you can imagine. He explained to use that some of the places need some imporvement and I could see passion in his eye when he thinks about architecture. He showed me so much that I could now see it through his eyes and understand what he means. He is so imaginative that he glimmers with ideas. Then we walked to Saint George's Church, next to it was the park, he said that people used to do drugs in there, they used to line up and take drugs in public. Then we stopped for lunch at the Young Vic, it was ok, I say, but I'll stick to MacD's. Then we went to BOST's headquarters and filled out a form, then we went to plant flowers, or so I thought. Petr then said to us that the boys will move compost. I waas thinking that he was joking but he wasn't. Then it started to rain and you get me moving compost and getting wet, it's not a good sight!
