Plant of the week

To begin what will hopefully be an every Wednesday occurrence (procrastination dependent); I'm going to write about my favourite flower; 

Snake's head fritillary (Fritillaria meleagris)

My 1963 Readers Digest Complete Library of the Garden Volume 2 says:

Fritilliaria meleagris, curious, hanging flowers patterned in purple and white squares like a chess board. Plain white and reddish-purple forms frequently appear in naturalized colonies

They are my favourite plant because:

• They flower in April and May so can be found on my birthday
• They are a native wildflower and make me proud to be British  
• There is some scepticism on their native-ness due to there being a century between records of them being in gardens and in the wild - a plant with a dramatic back story! 
• They like being in the light shade of a woodland, which I would also always choose over direct sunlight 
• They're also known as the guinea-hen flower, which is an adorable name
• I like playing chess

 
Sadly they can't be found in florists and so I'll never be truly satisfied when presented with a bunch of flowers...

ROOF TREES

I had an argument discussion with my Mother in a restaurant after my graduation last week (I’d had to give the Harry Potter robes and silly hat back so I felt disgruntled instead of swishy) about rural development. She challenged me to convince her that a few acres of new housing wouldn’t damage the visual, social and environmental qualities of the very rural area she lives in (so middle-of-nowhere, there’s cows on one side and horses on the other and it’s almost impossible to find the house at night in the deep, dark, absence of light pollution). Amongst my stream of sort-of-intelligent, impassioned defiance, was my point that small, single storey, low density housing with green roofs would still look like a field at first glance and an adorable hobbit community at second glance. Mother replied with an ‘agree to disagree’ expression, but I know she was secretly dreaming about a cabin with little trees on the roof and a vegetable patch and a pony and a pygmy goat herd…

- Originally posted to untroddenview.tumblr.com on 21/2/2013

Anywhere nice absolutely teeming with arseholes

It’s a satirical article but seriously; rural areas are becoming overrun with symbols of ignorance. It’s a real shame that the next generation in rural families probably won’t be able to find a suitable job or afford a house in the area they grew up in, because the only houses being built are giant mansions (understandable from a developer’s point of view, since large detached homes with outbuildings are the most desirable, according to research by The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyers) and everyone works from home or commutes to a city.This is not a new problem; ‘House prices freeze out rural families’ was a headline in 2002.
I’m not at all opposed to development in rural areas - poor quality land should by all means be sensibly and sensitively redeveloped - but this development is too often based on a romanticised view of a simpler rural life (This Is Money blames Hugh Fearless-lyEatsAll) and a need for vast amounts of private space, in the form of five spare bedrooms and ten acres of empty land.
No one should move to a new area without awareness of the reality of living there, whether it’s moving to a rural area and refusing to support the village shop or moving to a thriving inner city area and complaining about the noise from the pub next door.

- Originally posted to untroddenview.tumblr.com on 21/2/2013

Dan Phillips

Dan Phillips (my new favourite person) helps build affordable homes with/for people, using around 75% recycled materials; upcycling in a useful and charming way (rather than a falling-in-to-a-hideous-hole-on-Etsy way).

Here he is doing a TED talk in 2010, it’s moderately inspiring.

Our housing has become a commodity, and it takes a little bit of nerve to dive in to those primal, terrifying parts of ourselves, and make our own decisions

- Originally posted to untroddenview.tumblr.com on 2/1/2013

Living in small spaces

Living in a tiny cabin is fantastic most of the time, but you have to be careful. You have to clean and tidy up and straighten out almost constantly or things can go from ok to “oh my god why do we live like this we are disgusting hoarders is that a flat cat?!! noooo!” very quickly.

..Full post by Pasture Rd

This sums up my fears about living in a tiny cabin; I really like ‘stuff’ and have to be in the right mood to tidy. Right now I’m sat on my bed with my laptop at the very edge of my desk because the rest of the desk has been covered in sweet wrappers, knitting, letters, stationary etc for 4 days and I’m too lazy to tidy it.

- Originally posted to untroddenview.tumblr.com on 29/12/2012 

Mostly PAIN

If I hadn’t already become addicted to Landscape, learning about planning law - and all the bureaucratic hoops and barriers and fucking massive walls that must be tackled in order to create something - would have caused me to desert the profession forever, leaving it for braver souls than I. But I’m stuck here now so all I can do is amuse myself with ridiculous planning opposition acronyms and try not to let my spirit be crushed sometime in the future by a pompous wanker in a village hall that hates everything.

P lanning is
A cronyms and
I diotic
N onsense


NIMBY - Not In My Back Yard

BANANA - Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything

FRUIT - Fear of Revitalisation, Urban-infill and Towers

SOBBY - Some Other Bugger’s Back Yard

All of these have one thing in common; the mentality behind them is to put whatever development is being proposed elsewhere… THERE IS NO ELSEWHERE! The proposal will be moved from place to place across the country until it falls in to the sea and causes opposition to PITS (Proposals In The Sea).

I’m going to have to stop typing now; I need a nice cup of tea to wash away the PAIN.

- Originally posted to untroddenview.tumblr.com on 6/12/2012

Paris in December

(My photo of) Promenade Plantee in Paris. A wonderful Saturday morning walk, felt a bit out of place as the only person not briskly jogging but it was still good.

(My photo of) Parc Andre Citroen in Paris. Bit of a weird one, wonderful reflections though.

(My photos of) Parc de la Villette, Paris. Bernard Tschumi done good! Not bad for an architect… Ahaaar!

Some of the themed gardens were a tad literal (bamboo in the Bamboo Garden) but I’m just being sniffy because my tutors insist on high level concepts that tie my brain in knots.

*Pretentious use of words alert* Materiality as a language works effectively for wayfinding and changes in level are visually abrupt but experientially smooth transitions. The framing of spaces and flow between open and enclosed areas is at times disorientating but not unpleasant and informs an extensive range of activity opportunities, which seemed to be taken full advantage of (even on a chilly Sunday morning).

Overall, a delightful few hours worth of exploring and getting distracted by shiny things and even if Deconstructivism isn’t your thing, at least the maintenance barriers and other paraphernalia didn’t seem crudely out of place.

 - Orignally posted to untroddenview.tumblr.com on 4/12/2012

Teeny tiny cabin

This waterfall makes me feel a bit light headed (from Stiknord)… I think I’d like to live in a tiny cabin at the top of it.

…a tiny cabin like this one! Cabin Porn is a wonderful place I go to clear my head and refill it with adorable minuscule dwellings.
I was going to muse on the psychological desire for a tiny house but Oliver Burkeman has already done it for The Guardian, and he’s an actual psychologist.

- Originally posted to untroddenview.tumblr.com on 29/11/2012

SunRay Kelley builds extraordinary nature inspired houses, I’d happily live in any of them (or in his beard). Imagine sitting round a campfire with him..

- Originally posted to untroddenview.tumblr.com on 27.11.2012

Commune (not the god-botherey sort)

I’ve been looking at alternative forms of rural living recently: less; hideously over-sized palace with 8ft hedge and winding crunchy gravel drive, more; slick, zero carbon, IKEA catalogue cabin with communal vegetable patch and reed bed waste filtration system.

Part of the research for this right-on way of living has led me to communes in the form of a community that works the land and is mostly off-grid for electricity and water but are still allowed to watch DVDs and have a mobile and don’t pray to an alien overlord. Brithdir Mawr in Wales is a good example of a commune I’d actually quite like to live in. 

The term ‘Eco Village’ reduces connotations to nudist colonies of cosmic beings but removes the aspect of social experimentation and people learning to live together as a community. However, Eco Villages seem more likely to be the future for the British; generally we’re a fairly unfriendly people, who delight in personal space.

- Originally posted to untroddenview.tumblr.com on  20.11.2012

So you're a gardener?

No questions until after the presentation

- Originally posted to untroddenview.tumblr.com on 11.09.2012

Things I learnt while working in Landscape

I worked in a Landscape practise for two months last Summer and learnt these things in my first two weeks:

1. Like prison, the currency is not money.
Cups of tea, blue and green Staedtler markers and post-it notes are far more important bargaining tools than cash. If you washed up yesterday you’re quite within your rights to refuse to buy the milk.
2. CAD bargains like the devil.
Offset, break and spline are essential but remained elusive while I was at university. The price I pay for now knowing of these elusive bits of equipment is the snap box being permanently burned into the back of my eyes. CAD is a cruel mistress.
3. Referencing is for chumps.
You can stick photos of existing projects that you may as well have produced from your posterior and it’s fine because referencing isn’t a concept that enters the mind of Landscape Architects once they’re being paid. The angel on your shoulder during your degree (tutor) has vanished and you’re free to run amok on google.

- Originally posted to untroddenview.tumblr.com on 14.08.2012

Wildlife bridges

As much as I’m a total hippy and think the planet truly belongs to the flowers and the bunnies, sometimes humans think of a way to be selfish and considerate at the same time. I give you; the wildlife bridge. Pretty mental/amazing, yes?

If I was a nitpicker (which I am), I’d say I think this particular example could have more tree-coverage (I know the ‘clearing’ idea would encourage the animals not to precariously set up home, but surely the rumbling from the fast-moving vehicles means they wouldn’t linger).

This idea is also known as an ‘ecoduct’, but adding ‘eco’ to anything conjures images of aggressive unwashed people.

This is a wildlife bridge for crabs or scorpions or something. It makes me feel itchy.

- Originally posted to untroddenview.tumblr.com on 26.07.2012

I'm new here so I brought cake

Eight months ago I started a Tumblr to present 'a fresh look at Landscape Architecture' in the form of words and pictures and the occasional video; it turns out, people that use Tumblr are mainly interested in manga and nipples (sometimes both at the same time). 

So I've packed up a few of my favourite posts and upgraded to Tumblr's slightly more sophisticated older sister - with her own place and nice crockery, but still not totally familiar with all the washing machine's functions or what a macchiato actually is - (that's you, Blogger).

Oh yeah, the cake: