MENTE LA MENTA

Hi Ana,

I was flicking through a book called 'Contemporary History of Garden Design' by Penelope Hill and I found an image of a garden presented at Chaumont-sur-Loire which might be inspirational for your masterplan. The nets they have used reminded me of your fishing nets and of your interest for Charles Jencks and astronomy.
Here is the link of an Italian magazine where the team of designers has described the concept for this garden and where you acn find more images...for you to practise a little bit with your Italian ;-)
Hope it helps you!
francesca x

http://www.archphoto.it/IMAGES/land/landita.htm
http://www.newitalianblood.com/show.pl?id=76
http://www.archphoto.it/IMAGES/land/menta.htm

THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS

This is a great film I saw a couple of nights ago. It is by Gabriele Muccino, an Italian director I like very much and it has a very true message: if you want to achieve something you have to fight for it and if you are really motivated you can achieve even the most unlikely results!

ALAN FLETCHER

Last week I visited an exhibition about Alan Fletcher in the Design Museum. It is on until the 18th February and I recommend everybody to go and see it.
I didn't know Fletcher at all and it has been a very inspiring discovery. He has designed the logos of Pirelli and Penguin and has produced many covers for Domus and Phaidon Press.
The exhibition displays a good range of his work from colourful collages to amusing posters, lots of sketchbooks, experiments with objects, shapes and letters...really a clever and creative graphic designer!
Here are some images of logos and posters that can be seen at the Design Museum:

MASTERPLAN FINAL CRIT

This is the plan I pinned up on Monday for the final crit. I'm quite happy with my proposal but I need to improved the 3D mass of vegetation in order to make my areas look more proportioned and less void.
These two are images of my sections: the sandstone cliffs and terraces are visible on the background. In the foreground I would like to use cor-ten curved walls as exhibition spaces for local artists.





These are the sequential sketches I have produced with aerial views of my site:

MASTERPLAN DRAFT

This is an image of the masterplan I pinned up after the Christmas holidays: I have used layers of tracing paper one on top of the other to experiment with different design options for each area of my park. It is a technique I enjoy using because it allows me to keep a record of my ideas.
This proposal brings foward the third option presented in December and presents some differences: the area with the geometric gardens at the top has been rethought especially in topographical terms and the two areas in the main corridors (the exhibition space and the sitting terraces) have seen the introduction of curved walls of cor-ten steel to provide enclosed spaces.