Tower Bridge Park -The Calm Amidst the Activity

The short and brief of it...

The site is located between Tower Bridge Road and Potters Fields; after years of indecisive plans the derelict land is soon to have a number of buildings erected on it overlooking the River Thames and the surrounding area.


The objective is to accommodate these buildings and to design a landscape that will ground and soften the new buildings into the surrounding park and civic setting.


The site will become a place for both the public and local residents to come and break away from their daily lives and to see the world from a slower pace. The site will have different linking pockets that offer choice depending on the mood of the user. There will be spaces for people to sit and contemplate, look over the cityscape as well as social pockets for people to interact with each other and their surroundings.


There will be a central area that brings the busy and exciting atmosphere of London into the site. This space will include permanent market 'stalls' that offer high quality and locally produced food for people in the area. This will entice people into the site and create a pleasant atmosphere; from here people can chose where they want to go to eat. The market area also works as a link through the site and into the surrounding areas whilst also providing healthy food and creating pecuniary benefits for both the vendors and the park.

Rotterdam - Arterial project

Different uses for the site, increased and improved transition points linking up the site with the context

The site has very linear routes and both the cycle and pedestrian routes are disjointed. They need pulling together to improve the access and feel and flow of the site

Reference back to Rotterdam's ports and their cargo

The evolution of Rotterdam's history and cargo industry, Two shipping containers one with statues of people surrounding the top edges, and one with one person on the top, inline with the Euromast, almost as though it is the crane operating tower. This represents how Rotterdam's ports went from supporting many people with jobs and how now only a few  are needed to rune the automated ports and cranes.

Reference to the new way of automated cargo. It stretches from the waterside across to the maastunnel with a container suspended above the road. This encourages people to look across the road and into the wider context

Looking into the history of Rotterdam in order to create a sclupture that tells a story about the place.
I'll be looking at both Claes Oldenburg and Antony Gormley sculptures for inspiration.

Gormley feels that the sculptures should be "an attempt to materialise the place" and "activate the skyline in order to encourage people to look around. In this process of looking and finding, or looking and seeking, one perhaps re-assess one's own position in the world and becomes aware of one's status of embedment".

Sculpture by Antony Gormley

I think that the sculpture should tell a subtle story of the past and be "a trace of a real event of a real body in time". The sculpture should grab peoples attention; make them look into and think about the wider context whilst still being something of a playfull nature - being at a large scale and brightly coloured, giving an almost fun and animated perspective on life similar to the feeling you get from looking at sculptures by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje Van Bruggen.



Spoonbridge and Cherry by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje Van Bruggen

Sketch model working out the relationship between the site and the context

Composition of containers with eachother... (if only they were full of jaffa cakes)

Views throughout the propsed site design



Less is More

Unused land being held in limbo while it was decided what would be built there. In the interim, artificial turf was put down over the ground. A new park was born.http://dirt.asla.org/2008/08/27/land-matters-time-to-forget-everything-you-know/

Lee valley Park- Development



Looking at potential routes and links to access points around the park

                                                


Exploring winding networks and paths make the site appear too busy and break up certain areas




Looking into how the water bodies can be opened up and be used as a form of interactive transport around different areas of the park



Analysing how view points affect the parks spatial arrangement 

Using the view points to help guide the flow of movement around each area to maxamise the parks settings and focus people towards certain areas. Seeing different areas of the park from where they currently are may promt inquisitiveness into exploring how to get there

The one-way linear route to the bird hide, a monotonous journey, however serves as direct access to the sailing club, could have pathways added to it to offer choice of direction

Ananlysing the conditions of the site

Ideal functional diagram showing different ways of linking areas needed within the park

Ideal functional diagram showing how a more diverse series of links between the areas within the park

Site related diagram showing the existing linear routes around the park. There is not much East- West connectivity

Sketch functional diagrams showing the different areas within the park, linking up view points and the main area focusing on explorative walks 

Functional diagram looking more into how the water bodies can be used within the park to join up the different areas

Joining up the areas within the park using different types of interconnecting and directional paths

Linear and direct pathways, joining up the main destination areas within the site

Exploring transport around the park using the water bodies and new pathways. Docking areas are positioned in certain areas of the park to interact with land and water.

Looking at how tree density and layout can affect the sense of place and how people interact with it

Looking into how different route types and directions of pathways can affect their use and experience

Natural play, using recycled felled trees from the park; this provides children with the opportunity to learn through their actions and interacting with their surroundings

Jetties that allow people to interact with water

A quick sketch thinking about framing views

Mapping routes on the site model during the design process

Looking at how to connect the East and West areas of the park together that are divided by the river

Pathways that become jetties overhanging the water allowing people to interact with their surroundings

The canoe stop off area, allowing access between land and water. placed before the weir to keep the views in that area clear. To the left, pathways lead to the bird hide overlooking the weir as well as heading back towards the picnic area whilst running through the grassland where the geese over winter. To the right, paths heading through the woodland. Instead of using fencing, hedgerow will run the length of the paths in the field to hide the view of people from the geese during the time they are there. The hedge will be offset in areas to allow views into the fields from certain angles along the walk.

Closer look at things

http://www.dresden-26-gigapixels.com/dresden26GP

Interior and Exterior design in place

The exterior of the shelter like a cone split into pieces



The interior of the shelter looking at the outside conditions whilst interacting with the rain shower in the centre of the space creates noise, sound and the ability to touch  



I made a few sketch models to see how the shelter could work in different styles. I based the forms on the structure of a pine cone, mainly focusing on the cones wings.

Wings spread out in a wider version of the below

Layered wings of the cone can capture the rain water in the center and overflow making its way to the bottom

The idea of water capturing in the center and slowly flowing down the vase-like trunk and out of the bottom

The idea of a cone resting on its tip creates a natural umbrella like model, the middle wings missing creates an open space

The shape of the cone results in a randomly shaped model

An open cone providing a protected and cosy space yet still being able to experience the harshness of the weather you are being protected from. Water drains off of the wings into the top, fills up and slowly overflows into a circular rain curtain within the center of the shelter enhancing the experience and interaction. Steel will be holding up carved wooden pine cone wings. The materials work well together and will help to create different sounds with the rain as well as good aesthetic qualities.

A circular space with windows providing a protected view of the outside conditions



Wooden shingle tiles ontop of steel, rainfall on both surfaces creating different noises




Understanding the form