Monday, 19 October 2009

Frieze Art Fair


























































Really enjoyed Frieze this year. That might have to do with that I see less shows living down in K-Town. Or perhaps it was rally good. To sum it up quickly I enjoyed everything coming out of Tokyo, everything produced in the 70s and everything involving trees and Koenig Books is still the best bookshop in London.

I scribbled down a few names that inspired, I might come back to that later on.



Greenwich Ecology Park








































I did a short visit to Greenwich ecology park earlier this summer. Also to support the wey and arun project looking at education and ecology. The park is in the Greenwich peninsula a place that has had and currently is undergoing hugh regeneration projects. I think it is a welcomed little pocket of wild nature.

The park is much smaller than what I excepted made up of an inner and outer lake where the inner lake area is accessible through the Gatehouse during opening hours.



















There is a boardwalk leading through the reeds that are reaching high on both sides. A few bird hides allows you to view in different directions. There is less open space for educational activities but the hut has a good variety of activities for kids to learn about the parks ecology.

I will try to revisit the larger area of greenwich peninsula, it has an interesting history and more ongoing landscape projects worth looking at.

info @ urbanecology.org


Waterworks Nature Reserve














The Essex Filter beds now known as The Waterworks Nature Reserve and Golf course, is part of the Lea Valley. It lies to the south of Lea Bridge Road, and covers an area of 11 hectares. The site was previously the East London Waterworks Company (1852) a water treatment works first started to overcome problems with cholera. The land is now owned by the Lee Valley Park Regional Authority. It opened to the public in 2002 and received a Green Flag Award in 2006. The focus of the reserve has been on concentrated conservation activity and the use as an educational resource.

Throughout the area many of the old filter beds has been kept to demonstrate various types of habitats and management techniques applied. Entering the park from the golf course entrance there is a colour coordinated wildlife garden for kids with a wildlife pond. Not looking its best this time of the year.

Beyond the wildlife garden you come to a part where the old filter beds have been kept for growing willows. Mostly goat and crack willow and there information boards are displayed about the coppicing and management of the willows. A willow board walk has also been created which is very successful on a sunny day as it was when I visited.





































The main attraction of the reserve apart from the nature itself is a large bird watching facility that occupies the old site of the waterworks. A circular wooden structure has been created with many of the old features incorporated to cherish the cultural heritage.


































The Bird watch has several windows showing views over the old filter beds where reed - beds are being managed in different ways. By water level control and reed cutting. Attracting different type of wildlife. A kingfisher nesting bank has also been built in one of the beds.


















Higher water levels.


















The view where natural succession has reached far starting to developing into larger shrubs.











The site is attractive to Pipistrelle and Noctule bats, Kingfishers and breeding birds. Whilst the wetland and dry grassland also is important for invertebrates during particularly months. The maintenance of the pump system is essential to retain the wildlife interest of the beds.

The reserve now has 332 species of plants and 500 species of invertebrates, including a quarter of Britain’s Dragonfly species have been recorded as growing and living there. 25 species of birds. A volunteer program is started and there are loads of volunteers on site coppicing when I visit. There is also an educational program started for the site.

For looking at reed bed management this was a very good site to visit. Seeing the water level control management and its direct effect on the reeds was very effective.

Info www.walthamforest.gov.uk

100% Design























I went to 100% design during the design festival. Mostly because I wanted to see the talk about vertical gardening on saturday, which I in the end sadly missed . There was a lot of looking on material samples but there were also a designers block. The highlight for me was the Royal College show Disruptive Thinking. Their website is well worth a visit.


In Praise of Shadows























The show In Praise of Shadows was showing at the V&A during London Design Festival. This was a really good show featuring new European Lighting design using low - energy lighting. The show was a response to the EU directive to phase out low - efficiency light bulbs that started in September this year. It aims to provoke a discussion not only about new lighting but also about energy resources.

I find the lighting discussion very interesting. During the lighting workshop in Alingsas last year there were some good talks about how to make best use of light and using less light by methods of design. I'm not sure whether a ban on the normal light bulb is the right way forward perhaps the focus should rather be on sustainable energy production.



















Light Wind, 2009
Prototype Demakersvan

This is an outdoor light powered by wind.



















Fragile Future 2006-2009
DRIFT

Fragile Future combines real dandelion seed heads with an electrical system to create a light sculpture.
This was my favorite.























Light 01, 2009 Paul Cocksedge (UK)

This is a modern interpretation of a still - life painting, when the flower is olaced in the water the vase lights up from within.























This one is from loop.pH they have got several interesting London projects going so it's worth checking their homepage.

London Deign Festival


















London Design Festival was up and running the week before our classes started. I managed to see a few interesting things. There were quite a few happenings addressing questions about both sustainability and climate change.


Teach – In @ V&A























The Teach – in at the V&A was an attempt to catalyse action within different design disciplines towards a more sustainable practice. Several speakers throughout the day set out to discuss different challenges regarding climate change and how ecological thinking informs design today and how it could inform design in the future.

Jody Boehnert - Ecological Literacy: A Foundation For Sustainability

Jody Boehnert (Ecolabs) was the main organiser of the Teach – in. She did one of the opening speeches on Ecological literacy highlighting the importance of interdisciplinary thinking within design education and the importance for designers to understand ecology and its relation to their work. She also underlined the lack of balance between the social, ecological & economic context within design.























Dr Emma Dewberry – Nurturing Ecological Habits of Mind in Design.

Dr Emma Dewbery, Senior Lecturer in Design for Sustainability at the Open University, talked further about the challenges of putting design into an ecological context. Focusing not only on the designer but also also on the consumer and the need of a cultural shift. This is perhaps the largest challenge since design is a discipline much driven by the market. She presented a few projects that aims to highlight awareness with the consumer. One example was Christien meindertsma’s ‘One sheep cardigan’























The cardigan comes with a sheep passport to encourage a more intimate relationship between the sheep and the buyer.









This is another example she used the Tumbelweed houses small houses that encourages compact living. Perhaps not too different from container houses that can be seen in Holland and the UK.

The most important part of her talk in my opinion was the points she made about getting away from a reductionist way of thinking. To focus less on Analysis and Problem solving and instead encourage Reframing, Synthesis and Holism.























As a Landscape Architecture student I think the question about interdisciplinary is one much needed to be address. Only within the Architecture and Landscape Architecture education there are a huge gap between the two disciplines and little interaction. For me this was a really disappointing thing to realise. Looking at current trends though, greening of cities etc. there might be an opportunity to address this issue. The Teach - In itself was also a very good attempt.