Category: Uncategorized
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Why our brains love curvy architecture
An article about different responses people have to curved versus rectilinear designed forms. The former is more likely to prompt activity in brain regions associated with emotion. ”Curvature appears to affect our feelings, which in turn could drive our preference,” it says. Why, though? There’s an adaptive rationale, that straight lines = sharp objects = danger, and
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Kevin Lynch, empiricism and creativity
I’ve recently enjoyed an (almost) cover-to-cover reading of Kevin Lynch’s Image of the City, having dipped in and out of it over the last year or so. Lynch was an MIT professor and practicing urban planner, and this is his best-known work. The book is for the most part a study of ‘legibility’ in the urban environment, which
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Simplicity
There was a point, back in the spring, when I really didn’t think it was possible. I was at the stage in my MA major design project where I could no longer avoid getting into the detail. 1:50 scale plan drawings were required, along with associated details. The sheer complexity of it all felt, to be frank, almost
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Sissinghurst Castle Garden
At the entrance to the garden rosemary bushes left to grow out of the boundaries of the allocated bed to spill over on to hard surfaces gives a feel of a mature garden/space which goes hand in hand with the mature architecture. Old York stone sits comfortably with the aged brick. The planters have some of
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The search for good design – part 3
Finally no tour of housing design would be complete without visiting Accordia Living in Cambridge. Arriving on a drizzly late summer morning my first impressions of this development were of it’s connectedness to the city. I actually drove right past it. The estate is entered from mature roads in the middle of Cambridge and
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The search for good design – part 2
The second stop of my tour is was The Bridge in Dartford. This is a much lesser known project than it’s predecessor, The Staithes, in Newcastle, but benefits me in being closer to home. For those of you who don’t know these developments, there lies a fascinating story behind them. The designers
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The search for good design – part 1
The first stop of my tour is Newhall in Harlow. There is something ironic about a new housing development in Harlow, just outside the 1940‘s New Town, which for all it’s benign attempts by its designer Frederick Gibberd, feels drab and lifeless. But the landowners of Newhall resolved for this place to be different.
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The search for good design – introduction
What makes good urban design? Time and time again I have wandered around various cities and mused to myself how this would be the last place on earth I would want to live. Conversely I have been to cities where I have been instantly captivated by them and consequently tempted to pack up
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Thames Barrier Park
This space starts with a wow factor. The stylish contemporary building lining up with big architecturally cut hedges with simple pine trees and gravel. All lines and form showing great dialogue and harmony between building and soft landscaping. Looking over into the old docking area from the first bridge we notice the waving curvaceous cut
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Canary Wharf Jubilee Park
As you exit Canary Wharf tube station straight away you are hit with the beautiful lush green of new spring growth from the surrounding beech hedges. Leaves blowing softly in the breeze. Above the Redwoods rise into the sky followed by rolling, wavy natural stone walls flowing into a green oasis. The next thing you start to
The Landscape 