Category Archives: an english (wo)man in?

pop up people

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Last week we had a very busy time indeed.

On Tuesday we attended the Eco Innovation event run in conjunction with the Centre for Sustainable Design, then on Wednesday we were at the South Coast Design Forum’s Brighton Design Showcase where I took part in the one minute Pecha Kucha style challenge (where I read a poem, which will be published here tomorrow) and lastly on Thursday we were at the launch of the pop up people report in Worthing at the lovely Fresh Egg offices.

The report has been compiled by Dan Thompson from Artists and Makers, and examines who the people are who create pop up events, what they can be, where they can be locate, and most importantly, how they can combine to create a re-enlivened High Street culture.

The front page of the report, which was supported by the Arts Council and Lottery Funding amongst others, begins with a brilliant phrase – ‘We can do much more together – it’s not so impossible’, which sets the direction for the rest of the document. This is not just supposed to be a list of what has been done and a few scattered statistics – this is a call to arms to those who want to resurrect the empty spaces within our towns and cities.

A few towns are highlighted in the report – Margate, Coventry, Leeds and Rotterdam are examined with We Are Bedford and The Brick Box in Brixton being used as case studies for what can be achieved.

It really is quite compelling reading – the realisation of exactly the state our Town Centres are in and the knock on effect from closure to closure yet inspiring at the same time – the fact that people have actually got up and done something about the issues.

The last section looks at how both we as consumers, potential pop-up creators and government can support those willing to re-open empty shops with new creative projects, listing a series of useful pieces of further reading on town centres and urbanism, empty shops and ideas and inspiration.

We thoroughly enjoyed reading the report, and having completed a pop up design studio ourselves (and designed pop up shops for others), we can testify to the fact that pop up events do assist in the rejuvenation of an otherwise empty, sad and depressing location. They do not have to cost the earth, can be completed and implemented effectively and have huge impact.

Let’s just get out there and do something about it.

a lesson in great rural contemporary architecture

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Contemporary architecture often has to work hard to win fans generally, but place a modern building in the countryside and you really are facing a potentially contentious issue with many of the public.

Try and imitate the old and the results can be very pastiche and twee, but done sensitively and with precision, the results can be stunning.

One such building we saw recently over at Inhabitat ticks all these boxes and truly is a beautiful building.

The Round Tower by De Matos Ryan Architects is located just outside of Siddington Village in Gloustershire and is a perfect example of how restoration can be coupled with a very modern build to create a 21st century home.

The tower itself originated as a folly, but had been ravaged by fire and neglect over the years and fallen into disrepair. The new scheme restored the interior, keeping original features such as the staircase and placing new bedrooms into the space.

But the true genius of the scheme comes with the additional living spaces, which have been sculpted into the ground beside the round tower itself. This design incorporates a large, open central courtyard which provides natural light and ventilation into the rooms which envelop the sides.

The large thermal mass of the underground extension ensures that the building remains relatively temperature stable, making this a very energy efficient space.

We also really like the fact that the modernity of the new extension does not seek to imitate the tower itself, but takes inspiration in the form of materials to create a cohesive design.

A great example of restoration and modern architecture and a design ideal we would like to see repeated.

(images via Inhabitat.com)

trains, no planes and many bicycles…

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Last week I was very lucky to be invited to attend a series of workshops over two days in the beautiful Delft, with a whole bunch of other eco designers and businesses from the South Coast.

the day started early, which, for a self confessed owl like myself, was a bit of a troublesome affair. very early actually, as we picked up another two-day-tripper en-route to the train station at the grand old
time of 4.40am.
Joy.
On board the first train to St Pancreas, we departed Brighton at 5.09am, very bleary eyed and in need of coffee.
And so began the first of many connections which would take us via public and self powered transport to Holland.

Next train – the Eurostar to Brussels, which I adore to travel on. Once at Brussels (after a coffee and baguette break) onto the high speed Thalys train to Rotterdam. Then another train from Rotterdam to Delft, (which unfortunately was not one of the amazing double decker trains – brilliant use of space!) where we were met by a smart young gentleman with an ageing racing bike.
Now, I have been to Amsterdam before and know how bikes literally are THE way to get around, but I had completely forgotten how they dominate the road, path and cycleways. They are everywhere. And most are not locked up – just ‘located’ somewhere where they can be lent on one another like a tangle of wiry dominoes until the owner comes to untangle them and wind their merry way onwards. It was really inspiring, but I cannot help but think what would happen to bikes stacked in such a way in England. They would probably be deemed an ironic health and safety risk and removed for the wellbeing of all. hmmm.

Anyway – as we were not in possession of bikes, all 20 or so of us took our life in our hands and walked from the station to the truly extraordinary Delft University. I am a big fan of highly considered design, and there were many many little details which showed a wonderful attention to small things – like this stairway. In this building the bike store was in the basement, so beside the cast concrete steps was a thin ramp – just big enough to safely and smoothly guide you bike to the depths below without bumping it down the stairs. small yet beautifully considered.

We turned the corner and were confronted with the vast and stunning faculty of Industrial Design. Coming into the building, which was mostly an open space with a variety of mezzanine levels and layers, one of the
first items you see are the individual workstations of the students – each with a desk, small pillar drill and various other tools. It made me think of the pathetic facilities we had at University. No wonder the Dutch design education is so highly regarded – it is because they regard it highly themselves – and it really showed.
A small networking lunch with the other attendees from Holland and France then moved into workshops on Sustainable product design development and Sustainable social marketing practices – both of which were fantastic.

Dinner followed at the faculty – a wonderfully healthy mix of salads, fish and cheeses, washed down with a couple of glasses of red wine (which went straight to my very tired head)
The walk to the hotel was refreshing (if you can call a force 5 gale refreshing) an
d my room was lovely. I had the attic, which had a grand view over the square in Delft, complete with a chiming clock tower.
The next day was pretty much the reverse of the first day, with more workshops at the University before a final lunch and then the long old trip home.

It was a fantastic two days, and I had the privilege to meet some truly grand people (from Holland and France as well as the South) and we are now forging great new relationships, both close and from afar. We hope to be helping two separate businesses from Holland for example – one dealing with city dwellers edibles and another with cargo bikes. Let’s hope we can help…
It was tiring, but all good things are, and we hope we can travel back again to learn some more and meet some other eco minded peeps.

an evening at the Greenpower Centre…

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Those of you who follow the studio on twitter would have seen a few tweets about a very nice event we attended last week.

Well, as things have been a little hectic this week (more news on this week to follow) we have only just got round to retelling the evening.

Organised by the wonderful South Coast Design Forum, this evening was affectionately called the ‘summer do’ and was an excuse to meet up in a brand new ‘eco’ location, eat some snacks, drink some wine and have a good old chinwag.

It was a very lovely evening.

First off we had a little tour of the building, which was built by Fordingbridge on their site as a showcase building to show clients their work, and has been rented on very reasonable terms to local engineering charity, Greenpower.

With a myriad of green technologies, the building functions as both an excellent and beautiful example of sustainable architecture.

Rainwater harvesting, passive solar gain and solar control canopies and external blinds feature on the exterior of the locally sourced glulam timber building, along with the simplest of green roofs I have ever seen. Awash with wildflowers and a few, erm, weeds, we were informed that the waste soil from the project was, well, plonked back on top of the roof with a scattering of seeds. However low-tech, it seems to be working very well indeed, and I will be very interested to see how the strip of pumpkins develop into the autumn…

Inside, the large thermal mass of the concrete foundation and floor helps to regulate temperature very simply, whilst a ultra high tech lighting system (with no wall switches) turns lighting on and off relative to the outside light levels and where you are in the building. Clever stuff.

A ceiling mounted electrical rig allows for a flexible working environment, and a separate mezzanine level is accessed via this truly beautiful bamboo staircase.

A wonderful evening in an inspirational building.

that was the week that was…

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Last week was pretty hectic here in the studio. there were a series of deadlines, a juggling of projects, an award to be awarded and two out-of-the-office trips.

It started relatively calmly, creating the outline concept for a new urban front garden for a gentleman on the sunny south coast. minimalist, lots of hedges and a variety of textural grasses and clipped forms. At the end of my scribbling I realised that it looked just like a screenshot from that good old ’90′s wonder, Tetras. I liked it very much. Fortunately, so did our client, so we are now pressing on with constructional drawings.
Next, we had to make an award. Not to go on our shelf you understand, but to be awarded to a graduate on the University of Sussex Product Design degree show – to the person, who, in our humble opinion could wear the badge of ‘Best Eco Design 2010′.
We looked around the studio and found some bits and bobs and assembled this:
Made from recycled plastic with bank notes in, a hugely water damaged book, some screws and threaded rod and an old set of printers blocks. We were quite pleased with the finished effort.

So we then had to decide who was going to receive our assembled award, so I trundled up to the Falmer site of the University of Sussex to view the Innovate 2010 show.

I was blown away. The quality and range of projects was truly excellent and after much umming and aarhing I whittled it down to four very notable eco designs. And after even more umming I finally selected the winner…….(to be continued…)

Thursday found me whizzing up to Birmingham where the ever eclectic Gardeners’ World Live show was squeezed into the stale halls and concrete expanses of the NEC, which has to be one of the most depressing places in all of the UK.

Once I had parked my car (to the tune of £8) and reminded myself that I was not in some technicolour 80′s theme park I started to enjoy the show.

I loved the Girl Guides garden – there was something about the repetitional structure of the quote sticks against the waft of the wildflowers which particularly drew me in. Other lovelies included the rose Re-Bound garden by Andy Tudbury where I was allowed to sit on the pristine white bench and take in the scent that was captured in the space. The dappled shade on the hedges was lovely and the lawn was so flat you could have ironed a perfect crease on your trousers using it as a base.
I also caught up with Tom and Malcolm at Hooksgreen Herbs, and I was over the moon to hear that they were given a Gold medal for their exhibit. I was chuffed to bits for them and got a very stern look from the BBC film crew when I squealed with delight at the news.

Inside the sheds I found the fantastic James Alexander-Sinclair, who was working harder than a donkey on Blackpool beach in summer in the darkest corner of the NEC you could possibly find. Not the most inspiring of places, but James was lighting up the bleakness with his bright and sharp wit so no head torches were required.
After battling my way out of the car park I rumbled diagonally down the country to the lovely little market town of Bromyard where I was staying for the night before my Friday at the Three Counties Show.

The little sections I did see of Bromyard were lovely, which included my lovely little room in the beautiful Bay Horse pub on the High Street. A stunning oak beamed 16th C coach house, The Bay Horse was so full of character you could make a fortune bottling it and selling it to tourists. Everything was wonky, crittall windows creaked in the sun and it oozed history. Coffee in hand, I sat down and watched Gareth at Glyndebourne (which took me back a few years to when I was at music college) and relaxed for the first time in an age.

Breakfast was excellent, with a no-fuss vegetarian option and nice toast in a beautiful section of the dining room downstairs. Thank you to all of the Bay Horse – I can highly recommend it for a stay if you are around those parts…

A mini rally drive down to Malvern and I was at my second home, the Three Counties Showground for the Three Counties Show in watery sunshine.

I headed straight for our 25th Anniversary Garden, which had been developing over the last 5 weeks since it’s first outing at the Spring Show. Like a proud mother hen, I clucked around the space, smiling at how lovely the Stipa tenuissima looked, how the fennel had developed into smokey bronze clouds and how the spots of alliums drew the eyes from one section of the garden to another.
Today, Monday the 21st June, it will be dismantled forever.
But, that is what happens with showgardens, they are fleeting.
After taking far too many photos, I wandered around the show with a massive handwoven willow dragonfly I had bought as a Father’s Day present for my Dad and eventually met up with the beautiful and fabulous Nina Acton and the very lovely Mark Diacono who I had met a bit before. We all continued around the show, tasting some lovely beer, talking about yellow courgettes and buying more huge dragonflies made from willow. It was grand.

The drizzle signalled my departure from Worcestershire and after shoehorning the dragonflies into the car I whizzed back down south, with a brief delay on the ever predictable and accident laden M25.

What a week.

road trip…

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Those who visit the wonderful Malvern Meet blog cannot fail to have noticed the ticking time bomb counting down the very seconds until the start of the Malvern Spring Gardening Show.

So therefore it will be no surprise that I spent one day last week driving up and across half of the country to go and look at stuff.

The itinerary read as follows:

5.45 – leave Brighton. eat a whole bag of licorice allsorts for breakfast by the time the first service station is reached. fill up with petrol as I realise my petrol gauge is not working.

9.30 – arrive at the Three Counties Agricultural Society in Malvern to see what’s occurring on site.

9.31 – find Nina and drink an enormous cup of coffee

9.32 – out onto site….And – the garden is looking amazing. Jim Steed and his guys at Outdoor Living Space are doing a sterling job with the detailing slick and bright.

The amelanchiers are blossoming (which is a bad thing, as they will probably be over by the show), the cherries are not yet (which is good), the turf is lush and the pool is Olympic. My excitement could not be contained as I took a whole load of pics before my short sleeved southern arms froze off in the biting midlands wind.
A couple of hours later and back into the minster to drive across the beautiful countryside to Northamptonshire where a section of polytunnel housed a chunk of planting for the garden.

The drive was lovely and quiet, and we stopped at a tiny pub in the middle of nowhere to have a spot of lunch. A goats cheese panini later and we were back on our way.

2.30 – We arrived somewhat later than we had hoped at Manor Farm Nursery, but we were welcomed by Gordon and the promise of a cup of coffee in ten minutes. We trundled up the track to the polytunnels to see the awaiting plants.

They are looking good – slightly smaller than we had all (including Manor Farm) had expected for the time of year, but we have been lulled into a supreme sense of complacency with the winters of late. The continued bands of snow have only extended the dormancy of the plants, who are really just starting to wake up to spring. We need sun, and we need it now to get the plants to their best for the show.

But Mother Nature will not be told. She will do what she does, and if required, I will source some extras for here daan saaaf where we live in a comparative Mediterranean environment.

3.00 – The promised cup of coffee was drunk (along with a biscuit) and we wound our little way back to the sunny coast.

6.45 – A total of 13 hours later, I sat down and ate chips for tea, exhausted, but content in the knowledge that it is all coming together…

Green Power to light up the South Bank…?

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There are a few bits about the train journey from Brighton to London which get me excited.

The first is a wonderful tunnel which you whizz through as it undercuts a section of the South Downs. If you crane your neck (or face backwards without puking) you see a beautiful, over the top tunnel surround, complete with towers. A mini Camelot, which was once inhabited.

The next is the views over the back gardens as you speed into Coulsden – I love the snooping factor of this, but is sort of allowed as I am on a train? I also saw a fox asleep on a shed roof here once which made me chuckle.

The last, which prompts the ‘get-your-stuff-away’ thought is the sudden and imposing view of the wonderful Battersea Power Station.

There it sits, all sad and lonesome, but with an air of dignity and strength, like a once loved and twinkling star who is clinging on to the edges of their fame as it fades gently into time.

I have to admit that I have a particular love for industrial and abandoned architecture – the emptiness and force of the voids, the contrast of textures as they age and how nature winds her way through the cracks. But it is shameful, in a time of the urban sprawl to not make use of these brownfield sites if we can.

Fortunately, Battersea has seen many incarnations since it stopped producing power in 1983, from art exhibitions to film locations, music videos and installations, and quite recently a fantastic snowboarding Big Air Festival and music festival.

More permanent proposals have been brought to the south bank table, but the most recent is very interesting indeed.

Real Estate Opportunities have set forth an eco-renovation for Battersea which is set to include both green energy production and London’s first carbon neutral office complex. Cafe’s, restaurants, an events centre and open public space will also be included, all within the iconographic skin of the power station.

Destined to begin in 2011 with completion in 2020, this is a quite slow burner in construction terms, but if something is worth doing, it is worth doing well.

I’ll keep me beady little ones on this for you…

green apples, fondant fancies and earl grey tea…

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Have you ever done something and immediately forgotten about it as you never thought anything would arise from the seed?
I have.
But every now and again, something does spring up and makes you so happy your head goes light and excitement and pride fills your every thread of being.
And so it was with a section of our week – Tuesday was the day we were heading to London to pick up an award I never even thought we would be shortlisted for.
We were going to London to pick up our Green Apple 2009 for Environmental Best Practice.
This award was based on our efforts at the Royal Horticultural Society London Plant and Design Show in February 2009 – our little eco front garden – ‘the electric urban orchard’.
So in true eco fashion and dressed in some of our finest, we boarded a Southern train and rolled up to London Victoria to attend the awards ceremony which was held at the awe inspiring House of Commons.
Once through the very intimidating security system, we wandered through sections of the House (occasionally interrupted by security personnel who asked if we knew where we were going – we didn’t a lot of the time). At one point we ended up by the Parliamentary florist, who is housed in a bottom section of one of the gate arches, and I could not resist the urge to pop my head around the heavy oak door and ask further directions.
‘If you get to the river, you have gone too far’ was the reply, ‘so turn left before you get there!’.
We did, and found where we were all congregating – a lovely little section next to the House alongside the River Thames.
Greeted with tea, sandwiches and cakes, we instantly regretted the horrible plastic offering we had bolted before we entered. But, so as not to be rude of course, we had a lovely cup of Earl Grey tea (with milk) and a couple of perfectly cut finger sandwiches and one of the tiny, Alice-in-wonderland style cakes. The looked beautiful and tasted even better.
Once we had all congregated, the awards began, and it was truly humbling hearing the size, scale and commitment of many of the projects who had also gained an award. We felt very proud yet as if we didn’t deserve to be there.
One project had saved £750,000 and thousands of tons of CO2 by adapting a few changes, another organisation had planted 50,000 broad leaf trees and another had created a whole toad habitat in wales to prevent them needing to cross a main road.
It was incredible to see and hear about all of the inspiring projects, and it was fantastic when people also wanted to hear more about what we do at the office.
After we had been presented with our award, we did a little more networking and ate another posh sandwich or two, then wound our way back to the south coast with our Green Apple nestled in our bag.
Well done to everyone who was presented with an award and thank you to the Green Organisation for putting it all together. We met some wonderful people and came away inspired and enlivened by all of those we met.

mud, thunder and a smattering of flowers…

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Hampton Court Palace Flower Show was almost a wash out for me. Not because it wasn’t a great show, but because our lovely weather decided to dump a considerable amount of rain on my head.
but, this is what boots and an umbrella were designed for, so we trooped off to discover the treats on the sprawling site of the show last week.

As last year, I was distinctly impressed by some of the conceptual gardens, which were pulling the crowds and challenging the idea of a ‘show’ garden.

A particular favourite was the sunken garden ‘hard to see’ which had a wonderful sunken pit edged with mirrors and filled with a plethora of lush planting. The pit surround was black rubber shreds which, even though they seem to be a defining feature of a HCPFS conceptual garden, worked extremely well.

A lot of the other gardens were nice in a lot of ways, but my other votes have to go to the wonderful Tony Smith with his Quilted Velvet garden and Sarah Eberle who created what I felt to be the most exciting element of the show – the sustainable ‘hub’.

The floral marquees were stuffed to the brim once more, but it was the edible pavilion that really got me excited. Fantastic exhibits and I am in love with the beautiful lablab bean. Simply stunning.

The floral marquee was complimented by the floristry marquee, which we toured during one of the very many thunderous downpours. As expected, one of the busiest stalls was that of Jane Packer, who had chosen the British ‘tea party’ as her theme. Densely packed roses looked the part as cupcakes on oversized cake stands, but I was both shocked and amazed at how much they were charging for a vintage teacup containing a rose and a bit of florists sand. I’m in the wrong business.


Met up with some more chums who were actually working and not on a jolly, including Toby of HME, BioTecture, Ian Gill and the ever lovely James Alexander-Sinclair.

All in all a good day, but would have been soooo much better in the sun…

chelsea, chelsea I believe…

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I am properly shattered.

As you can see from my lack of bloggage over the past few weeks, I have been up to the eyeballs, albeit in a pleasantly panicky way. Malvern, home, tidy, clean, work, paperwork, some drawing, then to top off the week, I went to Chelsea.

I was very privileged to be invited to site to have a general nose about and do a smattering of work on the ‘Dawn Chorus’ garden of Chris Beardshaw and the last year’s scholar, Lindsay Anglin.

Now, I always visit Chelsea, but never before had I been on site for a build up, so I was very interested to see how the maniacal logistics actually worked for myself. And yes, it was busy, with lots of people in small places, lots of passing traffic and plant, high vis on at all times, and no reversing without a banksman. It was much more like a building site than the relaxed openness of shows like magnificent Malvern, but was exactly what I had expected.

The ‘Dawn Chorus’ garden is a delight, and has been wonderfully planted by Chris and the rest of the team, who were also a delight to work beside. I picked up a good many tricks of the trade which I am storing up for my next show garden, and it was very interesting to see the planting methods of another designer in progress.

I was also able to have a good wander, so, with notebooks in hand, Paul Hervey-Brookes (scholar for 2009-2010) and I trundled off to do a whistle stop tour of the show. This was both exciting and interesting, as we come from very different ends of the design spectrum with very different knowledge bases. With his plantsman hat on, Paul noticed even the most subtle of horticultural details, whilst I revelled in the constructional details and general spacial qualities of the gardens. It was a very enjoyable and informative little walk.

So – how are the gardens looking? Honestly, some are spectacular in many ways (both good and bad), some are almost finished, some are no way near, but generally, it is an interesting bunch this year. Some far more interesting than others, but interesting nonetheless.
Have fun if you visit, go and say hello to Lindsay and drink in the wonderfulness and mentalism that is the Chelsea Flower Show.

Maybe I’ll have a bash at getting in next year with my own garden, as I was already pencilling in sketches as I sat awaiting my coach home yesterday, my brain full of ideas and too tired to sleep, so watch this space.

But in the meantime I’ll leave you with a sneaky peek at the lush little ‘Dawn Chorus’ garden of the Chris Beardshaw Mentoring Scholarship Team 2008-2009 – well done all and good luck!