View of the courtyard at Somerset HouseSomerset House is beautiful and the courtyard is as well. I have been to a concert here during the summer and it is a great place for an outside concert. Next year I am hoping to get to the ice rink which is here during the Christmas period. Since we have been talking a lot about paving and drainage lately in University I couldn't help to look at it. The stone setts are beautiful and probably been here for a long time. I am guessing they are granite, since most of the paving in London is. The drainage is a little bit special. The high point is in the middle of the courtyard. Draining off to the sides, where there is a slot drain placed in an oval. Then there is another slot drain going in another oval between the buildings and the first slot drain. With the levels draining down to it. I think it is good solution to the drainage here. As it keeps the courtyard clean. The middle point is quite high though and possibly there might have been a better solution to the middle.
The proposed new city to sea pathThe reason I went to Somerset house was to see the London Open City Exhibition. The exhibition does what the name says, it looks at London and its open spaces. Green and hard spaces. It talks about the challenges London faces as a city at the moment and in the future. The growing population of London and how do you accommodate this growth within the boundaries of London. Talking about the careful planning that this will take, to keep existing open spaces and to create new ones. One solution being higher density developments. Of course all this needs to done at the same time as tackling the issue of Climate change. Making transport efficient and public space a pleasure to use, well managed and easily accessible.
The points about making public space accessible I think is very important. Cause there a lot of areas across London which are missing an important close open space to them.
Design for London who has curated the exhibition also talks about blending new and old, respecting London's heritage and creating places for a diverse population. This is also very important since London is a very multi cultural city and spaces need to support this.
The points about making public space accessible I think is very important. Cause there a lot of areas across London which are missing an important close open space to them.
Design for London who has curated the exhibition also talks about blending new and old, respecting London's heritage and creating places for a diverse population. This is also very important since London is a very multi cultural city and spaces need to support this.
The exhibtion looks at some of the spaces that are either going through a change at the moment or have designs planned for the space. It is concentrating on 4 big ones, the Victoria Embankment - the potential of a great promenade along the waterfront, with less traffic and more pedestrian space - Bankside Urban Forest proposal - by Witherford Watson Mann Architects, the proposal aims to highlight the relationship between the less intensively developed urban interior and its active, increasingly corporate, edges - Barking and the Riverside - Potters Field Park by Gross Maxx - which has been done so you can go and check it out.
Some of the people and organisations that shape London's urban fabric. In the three rooms of the exhibition there are tear off 1 page A3 essays by Alan Powers, Gillian Darley and Edwin Heathcote. Which is a great idea. Sometimes you like to read more around the subject of the exhibition, but no necessarily when you are there and this essays you can take away with you and read on your way home. The essays talk about how London has changed over the years, about greening the grey and a city of surprises. They are all good and worth reading. Some things you will agree with and some not.
I like the greening the grey, talking about simple little things we can do to improve ecology, habitats and local food productions. About blending private and public responsibilities in terms of these areas. Which I think is a very exciting and new possibility, that I might try to investigate in my next project.
The other thing I really take from the exhibition are a few words and sentences. Don't dictate use. Which I find interesting and definitively worth investigating in your designs. It also talks a lot about security streetscape and the need to find other ways to achieve the security that bollards, anti climb paint, skate boards stoppers on street furniture and much more.
It leaves you thinking and it is both exciting and scary to think about the challenges ahead.
I like the greening the grey, talking about simple little things we can do to improve ecology, habitats and local food productions. About blending private and public responsibilities in terms of these areas. Which I think is a very exciting and new possibility, that I might try to investigate in my next project.
The other thing I really take from the exhibition are a few words and sentences. Don't dictate use. Which I find interesting and definitively worth investigating in your designs. It also talks a lot about security streetscape and the need to find other ways to achieve the security that bollards, anti climb paint, skate boards stoppers on street furniture and much more.
It leaves you thinking and it is both exciting and scary to think about the challenges ahead.
