Undergraduate Student Study Tour

 

Late autumn may not seem the ideal time to set out to see the landscapes and gardens of Sussex, UK, but the undergraduates of landscape architecture and landscape and garden design and Masters of Garden Design found that there was lots to explore, discuss and wonder at even in November!

To start off we visited the ancient yew (Taxus baccata) forest of Kingley Vale and many climbed to the top of the downland to see the Bronze Age barrows and the stunning views to Chichester. Moving forward in history we heard about the first known formal garden in Britain, built by the Romans at Fishbourne. The guide gave us an insight into the built and garden environments within the landscape and historic contexts.

 

Fishbourne

The next day Sarah Swain, one of the inspirational leaders of the garden team at West Dean Garden, shared with us her experience of the practical and philosophical challenges of managing this historic landscape open to the public. We spent time in the walled garden seeing the trained fruit and the magical glasshouses and then headed out into the wider gardens and landscape.

West Dean

In the late afternoon we headed off for a complete contrast to see the contemporary sculpture collection of the CASS Sculpture Park; many amazing artworks were set within the autumnal colours of the beech (Fagus sylvatica) woodlands. Finally we headed for a traditional local pub ‘The Fox Goes Free’ to the welcome of a roaring log fire, real ale and a delicious meal.

CASS

On the last day we headed back to the University campus via Surrey which allowed us to spend the day on a fascinating tour of the eighteenth century Painshill Park Landscape Garden, with the expert volunteer guide Cherrill Sands. We had a wonderful opportunity to see the recently restored grotto and discuss the issues involved in this complex on-going conservation and restoration project. We also saw another friend of the University College for many years Dr Bill Tomlins, who has lead tours and inspired Writtle students and staff for over 25 years. Then it was back to the Design Studios …

 

 

Mapping urban complexities: A drawing workshop in London

 

 

MA Landscape Architecture student group participated in an urban mapping landscape drawing workshop with the fantastic artist Alex Blum on 15th November 2016. Setting up in historic district of Rotherhithe at 11am we had a vast panorama of the London skyline, starting with the iconic buildings of London; Shard to the West, and bouncing East along Tower Bridge, the Gherkin and the Cheese grater, and many more (probably with food related nicknames). We viewed the high and low tied and busy Thames water and avian traffic throughout the windy day. 

 
The workshop set at the water's edge was a really interesting way of playing with the shapes and connections in front of you to form image, rather than drawing from assumptions. For instance instead of drawing a window as an isolated object, create the window from its connections, e.g. lines from other buildings, or construction lines.  At first it felt like a very back to front approach, but working through a series of 10 minute sketches at a variety of scales  I really began to understand the process and I hope this will improve my drawing awareness. I realise how informative an image can be if you really pay attention to the detail, it doesn't have to include the whole view. Once mastered the first drawing, the next challenge was to add movement, which included looking over the broody Thames and capture the dynamic nature of the river with entering in and out of different objects and the skies.

 
The chilly feet were warmed during our lunch break at a pub next to the River. The afternoon was spent creating one A2 charcoal drawing that combined all earlier skills. Alex was a great teacher and her comments were helpful and encouraging.  Wondering through the historic streets of Rotherhithe enriched with Brunel's magnificent industrial heritage was also fascinating, including an iron bridge totally wrapped in wisteria!

Grace Walker, MA Landscape Architecture student at WUC

Lecturer's "Plant of the day" blog reaches 8000 followers!

Dr Jill Raggett’s seasonally relevant plant blog on Tumblr now reaches over 8,000 followers around the world and allows her to share her passion for plants, gardens and designed landscapes with people around the world. While closer to home at Writtle University College students can have a daily dose of plant inspiration and use the monthly archive  sections to help prompt them for their landscape and garden designs. When she started 100 followers seemed amazing now she is confident she will reach 10,000 next year!
Jill's blog can be found on: http://jillraggett.tumblr.com

Society of Garden Designers Support for our courses

 

On a busy ‘Employability Day’ at Writtle University College many potential employers and other organizations that support students came to offer advice to both undergraduate and postgraduate students and among them was Sarah Morgan, a respected professional garden design, who came on behalf of the Society of Garden Designers (SGD). The Society has been championing excellence in garden design for over 30 years and is the only professional association for garden designers in the UK. Sarah spent the day with students helping them to appreciate how they could develop their ambitions and careers; she answered a range of questions and inspired students about the profession.  There is a strong relationship with the SGD as they have awarded Writtle University College the respected ‘Educator Status’ for our garden design programmes. Thank you to Sarah for giving up a day to be with us and please visit the studios again soon.

Finding your place in the landscape profession!

 

To a packed room of students from a range of disciplines, including the postgraduate students in landscape architecture and garden design, Chris Young, the Royal Horticulture Society (RHS) Head of Editorial and Editor of  The Garden, gave an inspiring presentation on finding your place in the land based sector. He reflected on his own journey from landscape architecture to the sharing his passion for plants, gardens, gardening and the environment, initially as editor of the Society of Garden Designers and now in his leading role at the RHS.  He told an enthusiastic audience about the vital aspects of networking throughout the range of professions that support the creating, making and maintaining of places, of additional career development whilst being a student, of how to value and acknowledge how each individual is unique, through to surviving and thriving during the job hunting and interview experience.  Many thanks to Chris for sharing his knowledge and experience with Writtle University College students and staff - please come again soon…

Ephemeral art, plants and landscape

 

On a sunny autumn day undergraduates of landscape and garden design explored the physical and aesthetic qualities of plants and the transmission of ideas by spending time on campus creating ephemeral art. This particular activity was part of a module about  Ephemeral art and way to explore the landscape. Phenomena is an important  design element which is often ignored in the design process and landscape narrative. However it is very important to understand the phenomena in the landscape to create dynamic and beautiful places that captures and reveals the landscape as a unity such as seasonality and plants' and users' perception and reactions! it is the narrative of the landscape that tells us the story and create a strong sensory experience as a tool for place attachment.  Here at the Writtle University College  grounds the autumnal leaves of Acer cappadocicum ‘Aureum’ have been sculpted to remind those using the paths of the root system below the ground. Interestingly students noted the changed behaviour of passers-by as they carefully stepped over the temporary landscape intervention - the wind was a much more destructive force!  Landscapes and gardens are a great place to learn - it was refreshing to be outside and good to return to the studio to warm-up and discuss the afternoon’s activities. The art works are being recorded as they fade away…
 

Professional Practice Visit: An afternoon with Gillespies London Office

MA Landscape Architecture and MA Garden Design students visited renowned landscape architecture practice Gillespies London on 26^th November 2016. Managing Director Steve Wardell introduced us the practice history, philosophy and types of projects they have been working in recent years. Gillespies is one of the biggest practices solely based on the landscape architects in UK with 60 staff. Steve explained us how the practice has started with two landscape architects in London and expanded their work and practice in 16 years. The range of projects showed us that landscape architects have to deal with all scales and types of projects from urban street design to private gardens and large scale master planning in UK and abroad. Their success is from a strong design led approach including a variety of experts from engineers to ecologists and soil experts who are collaborating throughout the design process. It was great to see the hand drawing, model making and the planting knowledge as key elements in skill development alongside the other technical aspects of the profession.

Associate partner Armel Mourgue later continued to explain their design strategies and how they approach to their projects and communicate with clients. Students were interested in the representation techniques and design process. Later students had the opportunity to attend a design charrette and develop quick design ideas for the Crossrail Garden Project that Gillespies designed for Canary Wharf. One of our graduates who started to work with Gillespies 3 months ago told us of his experience from the interview process through to his new working life in a leading landscape office in London.

Office visits are very valuable for students as it gives a good insight into the professional practice world, an idea of the type of scale of practice students may consider for their employment as well as good connections with the industry. Overall it was a very successful afternoon and finished with a fish and chips in a London pub before going back to the University College student halls in Chelmsford!