FIRST ATTEMPT TO RENDER 1:200 PLAN

This is the black and white final resolved version of my site at 1:200 followed by an image of my first attempt to render it with watercolours.....I must say that I'm not really proud of it and I think it doesn't suit my scheme and concept at all. I'll try to experiment with a different technique and I'll leave this version as a last resort option if the others look even worse.

I'm finding the rendering phase quite difficult.....but at least I'm happy with the black and white resolved plan! Finally!

MODEL OF MY PROPOSAL

Taken advantage of the gorgeous sunny days we had this weekend I took some photos of my model. The good light underlines the sharp edges of my terraces and the geometric lines, here they are..

PLANTING PLAN FOR SANDSTONE CLIFFS

I have found some images of a garden in Provence that give a feeling of what I'm trying to achieve on my slopes: the idea is to use oaks and pines such as Quercus ilex, Quercus frainetto, Juniperus communis and Pinus sylvestris as the main species to give a structure and then to use accent plants such as Cercis siliquastrum, Cercis canadensis, Prunus dulcis to give seasonal effect. The trees are underplanted with thick waves of coastal vegetation such as Tamarix ramosissima, Arbutus unedo and lots of aromatic plants with silver foliage such as Santolina, Rosmarinus, Cistus, Stachys, Irises etc. Here and there it is possible to see an area of sandstone rock outcropping the vegetation to give a natural effect to the slopes.

Here are the images:

MORE SEQUENTIAL SKETCHES FOR MONDAY

Here are three more sketches for Monday:

ST. LEONARD'S GARDENS AT NIGHT

This are 6 sketches I have inverted with Photoshop to give an idea of the lighing I would like to have on my site: all lights are used to enhance the geometric lines of the central corridor of the park and are placed all along the edges of the terraces and at the foot of my quarry walls so that the whole face of the wall is lit at night. I'm also going to use thin acrilic tubes amongst the aquatic plants of my terraced pools so that they look like efflorescent reeds at night.

I'm going to have only white lights (the blue colour visible on the sketches is the result of the inversion of the brown I used in my original sketch).

3D MODEL OF MY TERRACES

In order to help me visualise the site, I've decided to create a 3D model of the pools and terraces near the exhibition space with sketch-up: I think the design works pretty well and the harsh geometry is definetely going to be softened by vegetation.

I'm happy with the design of the pools, now I need to improve steps on the terraces with the walls...

LIGHTING

This is a useful website to look at to get ideas both about lights and graphic techniques to represent them on paper. It is the website of Yann Kersale', the artist who designed the lighting at Quai Branly in Paris. The photographs below are all taken from this address:

http://www.ykersale.com/

SEQUENTIAL SKETCHES

This sketches visualize a walk through the first area of my design: the playground and the terraced pools with sculptural aquatic vegetation. They are rough sketches I drew on Sunday night in a rush: I found myself at midnight with no drawings for the following day and thought: "ok I have no time to think or to worry about how they are going to look like, I just I have to do it and go to sleep as quickly as I can!". I've noticed that I do things better if I'm under pressure and I have little time available during the week.
I will produce more sketches for the area with the terraces and with the high walls because I need to define exactly how tall and thick they are going to be.