1.7 Learning from Venice

View of Venice from Giudecca (pinhole photo)

A selection of books on Venice and the Laguna have been added to Reading

As well as studying Venice itself and the Biennale, we will also be visiting some of the other islands in the laguna and learning about the ecology of area.

You should spend the week drawing as much as possible. Note down everything of interest, take photographs with care and think how they will relate to drawn images on the page. You are creating your own sourcebook of information and ideas about a city that lives with water and changing tides, and a lagoon landscape. Be interested in edges and topography. Make studies of temporal qualities and activities, and observations of social activity within the city’s physical fabric.

 

top: Campo Santa Margherita by Piotr Skrzycki, and above: Campo de la Madonna de l’Orto by Angelaine Doherty from a previous student study of Venetian campi, more here

Venice and garden door at Fondazione Querini Stampalia from ETS Sketchbook by Ryan Patterson

Those staying in London carry out your own studies - in particular thinking about what kinds of infrastructure there are in the city (transport, connective, social, ecological, energy) and how these are manifested. Look for ways in which physical infrastructures are inhabited (sometimes in unintended or surprising ways) and how more informal networks occupy the city.

view of London City airport from Steve Redgrave Bridge

2.1 Barking Riverside site visit

London Wildlife Trust pages on Barking Riverside Conservation
Barking Riverside Green Roof research project by the UEL Environmental Research Group
Barking Riverside Highly Commended in the Integrated Habitats Design Competition 2012

1.6 Rainham marshes

Rainham marshes is the most significant green space local to our site - part of the landscape is natural and part is a former landfill waste site. The character and ecology of the area give some clues to how parts of our site are and could be. Consider the importance of the site at a strategic scale as well as its qualities at a human (and smaller) scale. Make observations at a range of scales, on edges to the river, creeks, wetlands and paths. Draw (sketch) sections and perspectives, think about how you experience landscapes (viewpoint, sequence, movement, ephemeral qualities). You will also be travelling past our site on the train (between Barking and Rainham).

Think about the topography - natural and man-made, the natural succession of the salt-marsh, the dynamics of the ecosystem and how that relates to the river.

We will be walking from Rainham Station across the marshes to the RSPB reserve and the nearest station at the end of the day will be Purfleet, one stop on from Rainham on the same line.

Peter Beard's practice Landroom have a long-standing and continuing relationship with the marshes, having designed several interventions in the area at a range of scales and a landscape strategy that provides public access from the village to the river. Projects for both the local borough and the RSPB include the raised Trackway, bridges, seating, signage and classrooms.

http://www.peterbeardlandroom.co.uk/
http://www.designforlondon.gov.uk/what-we-do/all/rainham-marshes/

above: part of the Rainham Marsh public access works by Peter Beard _Landroom

1.5 Development plans and scales of intervention

As part of understanding our site and future context, we will be studying the existing development plans for the area and planning documents for the project. These range from strategies that provide the framework for built projects to happen, to design codes that set out a detailed material intent. We will visit some of the completed projects and compare the range of concerns between the very large and small scale.

Key project planning documents:
Design Code
Phasing plans
Landscape and biodiversity strategy
Infrastructure and servicing strategy

Barking Riverside landscape strategy


Projects Map from East London Green Grid, Area Framework 4: London Riverside

http://www.designforlondon.gov.uk/what-we-do/#/east-london-green-grid

Armada Green, part of Gallions to the Thames by Adams & Sutherland

http://www.adams-sutherland.co.uk/147-ar-1.htm
http://www.designforlondon.gov.uk/what-we-do/#/gallions-to-the-thames-1

Parklands Spatial Framework from London Riverside Opportunity Area Planning Framework

1.4 Infrastructure day

Itinerary:
* cross the Thames on the Woolwich Free Ferry;
* walk to Woolwich Arsenal passenger pier;
* take the Clipper high-speed catamaran along the Thames to Bankside Pier;
* Millennium Bridge by Fosters and Partners;
* Riverside Walk and Queenhithe dock, dating from Saxon times and protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument;
* new Blackfriars Station which is built on the existing rail bridge and spans the river with a photovoltaic array integrated into the roof;
* Southbank riverside walk: National Theatre, the BFI Southbank (formerly National Film Theatre), Queen Elizabeth Hall and Hayward Gallery, Royal Festival Hall;
* the Golden Jubilee Footbridges that share the foundation piers of the mid-19th Century Hungerford railway bridge;
* Imax cinema by Avery Associates, constructed within an existing roundabout;
* walk via Roupell Street to Union Street;
* the Jerwood Drawing Prize exhibition (at the link you can also download the catalogue which has low-res images of all exhibited work);

You are recording from direct observation and analysis of spaces, structures and your experience of them. Drawing skill is only developed through practice. Movement, at different speeds according to mode of transport, alters experiences of place, and the viewpoint from the river changes how the city is viewed. Many older buildings were designed to face the Thames. Large-scale structures such as bridges form strategic connections but are also occupied in unexpected, unintended, ways.

The catalogue from "SPANS: Viaducts, Bridges and Walkways" exhibition at the Building Centre 2008 has a range of case studies at a range of scales (not London-specific)

As part of the London Festival of Architecture in 2006, 51% studios collaborated with artists Neil Cum­mings and Marysia Lewandowska on Social Cin­ema: a project to create a series of tem­po­rary cin­e­mas, each installed for one night only. One of these occurred under the North end of the Millennium Footbridge
http://www.51pct.com/topic/social-cinema/
http://www.51pct.com/portfolio/social-cinema-3/

The piers under construction, image from Urban 75 website


Shortlisted entries from the 1996 RIBA competition for the Millennium footbridge
(above: model image of Niels Gimsing / George Rotne entry)


Previous Peabody competition for a habitable bridge, 1995
(above: John Outram Associates / Whitby Bird entry)


above: Woolwich Free Ferry crossing

Drawing from life

As an architect, become fluent in making analytical sketches. Think about the conventional orthographic descriptions - section, plan, axonometric - and make quick studies using the most appropriate.

Perspectives are generally useful as a viewpoint. Draw what you can see from where you are. Instead of drawing what you think something should look like, observe the apparent angles of lines and edges, light and shadow. Compare single static views with how you experience space. Annotate with other observations on occupation, changes, sound.

Judge your time: if we are at a place for 1 hour, do not spend 1 hour on a single sketch. Vary speeds, make some very quick sketches, some slower and more considered.

The Project Diary is a working document. Add photos, images and text to your sketchbook to make sense of the accumulating process.
Finally, if it interests you - draw it.

Drawing for Landscape Architecture – Edward Hutchison [712.3 HUT]
Drawing from Life – Jennifer New [760 NEW / online access]

above: sketches from Drawing for Landscape Architecture by Edward Hutchison

above: pages from 3rd year sketchbook by Piotr Skrzycki

1.3 Jubilee line extension

The Jubilee line, opened in 1979, originally terminated at Charing Cross. Over the next 15 years a number of proposals for extensions, including along the river and down towards south-east London, were considered. The project to extend the line to Stratford created strategic connections to East London and crucially, to the developing Isle of Dogs district. At the time of its construction it was one of the most expensive transport projects (cost per distance) in the world. It was also unusual in the client's approach to commissioning the project - with an architect leading the design of each station, even extending to fixtures and utilitarian vents.

Stations on the visit:
Canning Town - Troughton McAslan
North Greenwich - Alsop
Canary Wharf - Foster and Partners
Bermondsey - Ian Ritchie
Southwark - MacCormac Jamieson Prichard
Westminster - Michael Hopkins and Partners

Use your Project Diary sketchbook and draw freehand.
Travel light and practice sketching from direct observation and analysis of spaces, structures and your experience of them.

In particular we expect to see sketch sections of each station we visit. These require you to quickly analyse what you see and experience and translate it from 3-dimensional space to an orthographic drawing. In addition you should record, in drawn form, anything that interests you about the stations. This might be spatial, material, detail, structural, circulation or other patterns of use.

Be mindful of other passengers and pay attention to any requests from station staff.
There is no automatic right to take photos on London Underground. Tripods and camera flashes are absolutely forbidden.

There are some interesting diagrams, drawings and photos from the construction, in the documents here: http://www.omegacentre.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/studies/cases/metro-london_jubilee_2.php

Practical Exercises from The Street in Species of Spaces and Other Pieces, Georges Perec [844.914 PER]
The Jubilee Line Extension, Kenneth Powell [388.47209421]
Architecture of the Jubilee Line Extension, David Bennett [725.310942 BEN]

from top: early sketch section of North Greenwich showing the elevated garden concept;
longitudinal section of Canary Wharf;
early sketch of Southwark platform-level concourse;
exploded isometric of Westminster station and Portcullis House