Ian McHarg: A Celebration of his Influence and Legacy in Scotland

Ian Lennox McHarg was born in Clydebank in 1920, he went on to change the course of landscape architecture across the world through his writing, teaching and practice in America. On the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of his seminal text Design With Nature this exhibition explores the range of ways McHarg’s ideas and influence reached his home of Scotland.

Through the work of his students McHarg’s ideas infiltrated landscape policy, theory, education, the development of GIS and the practice of landscape and architecture.

The exhibition presents the work of McHarg’s students and designers influenced by him in order of scale from national policy down to individual residential design before moving on to the continued influence McHarg has on the profession through the work of three contemporary outstanding landscape architects that were taught by a McHarg graduate.

Ian L McHarg: A Celebration of his Influence and Legacy in Scotland Scottish Environmental Tradition McHarg sits within a wider Scottish environmental tradition that includes the botanist and designer John Claudius Loudon (1783-1843), the horticulturalist Patrick Neill (1776-1851), the environmental philosopher John Muir (1838-1914) and polymath Patrick Geddes (1854-1932).

McHarg’s childhood in Clydebank made McHarg keenly aware of the detrimental effect humans can have on their environment leading him to undertake a lifelong career championing a new approach towards the environment.

Described in 1968 as ‘a dynamo of a speaker with an overlay of Scottish brogue guaranteed to charm his worst enemies’ McHarg spoke and published widely on his concern for the environment, eventually presenting his own TV series ‘The House We Live In’.

John Claudius Loudon (1783-1843)

John Muir (1838-1914)

The Landscape Institute Scotland would like to thank all our sponsors along with the University of Pennsylvania Architectural Archives and the Museum of English Rural Life.

W.scotland.landscapeinstitute.org E: mail.scotland@landscapeinstitute.org Twitter@LI_Scotland

Patrick Geddes by Lafayette Ltd, National Portrait Gallery London.

David Skinner (1928-1989) 1955-57 MA Landscape Architecture University of Pennsylvania

McHarg’s Scottish Students

‘I concluded almost from the onset … that the appeal should be made not to traditional recruits into landscape architecture which came from undergraduate agricultural colleges, but the address should really be made to architects who had demonstrated considerable capability and who were interested in landscape architecture’

Having trained in City Planning and Landscape Architecture at Harvard University, McHarg returned to work at the Department for Health in Scotland and began teaching part-time at Edinburgh College of Art and Glasgow School of Art. A role to reestablish the Landscape Architecture Department at the University of Pennsylvania under his mentor Dean G. Holmes Perkins in 1954 offered McHarg the opportunity to explore and develop solutions to the ills of the twentieth century. Within the first year McHarg and his students were making the headlines in Philadelphia, many of whom had followed him from Scotland.

Michael B Brown (1922-1997) 1955-57 MA Landscape Architecture University of Pennsylvania

James Shepheard Morris (1931-2006) 1955-57 MA Landscape Architecture University of Pennsylvania Fulbright Scholar

Robert Russell Steedman (1929-) 1955-57 MA Landscape Architecture University of Pennsylvania Fulbright Scholar

Michael Hough (1929-2013) 1956-58 MA Landscape Architecture University of Pennsylvania

Michael Langley Smith 1958-59 MA Landscape Architecture University of Pennsylvania

Donald, M Phimister 1960-61 MA Landscape Architecture University of Pennsylvania

McHarg at the University of Pennsylvania with visiting tutors Karl Linn, Fred Towers, Bob Carson, Bill Roberts and John Whalley.

Wendy Powell 1959-61 MA Landscape Architecture University of Pennsylvania

Michael M Laurie (1932-2002) 1960-2 MA Landscape Architecture University of Pennsylvania Thouron Scholarship

Peter Ker Walker 1960-62 MA Landscape Architecture University of Pennsylvania

Douglas Sampson (1936- 2011) 1960-1962 MA Landscape Architecture University of Pennsylvania

Ian Tyndall (1937) 1961-1963 MA Landscape Architecture University of Pennsylvania

David George Hamilton Waugh (1939-2015) 1962-64 MA Landscape Architecture University of Pennsylvania

George Dickie 1962-64 MA Landscape Architecture University of Pennsylvania

Mark Turnbull (1943-2016) 1968-1970 MA Landscape Architecture University of Pennsylvania

David Barrett c.1970 MA Landscape Architecture University of Pennsylvania

News clippings taken from McHarg’s early teaching days between 1955-1960.

Iain McNaughton Robertson 1973-1975 MA Landscape Architecture University of Pennsylvania

Alistair McIntosh 1977- 1979 MA Landscape Architecture University of Pennsylvania

Man and Environment

‘I am simply a landscape architect. I am thoroughly dissatisfied with cities as they are.

I think they are probably the most inhuman environments ever made by man. I think it is taking the best effort of modern medicine and social legislation to ameliorate the abuse which the physical environment imposes upon us.’ 1965 By 1959 McHarg had designed ‘Man and Environment’ an atelier course for Masters students that set the basis of his ideas for his seminal text Design With Nature. ‘Man and Environment’ provided a pragmatic approach to landscape design with a defined method of survey and analysis, it also introduced students to a new expanded scale of landscape architecture and intended to shift their values towards an environmental consciousness. His large-scale projects built on the ideas of those before him and McHarg took particular influence from the writings and designs of Patrick Geddes.

‘I came to learn of Patrick Geddes whom I found fascinating but difficult to read’. McHarg’s written notes on Geddes show his effort to grapple with the complexities of his approach.

Patrick Geddes by Lafayette Ltd, National Portrait Gallery London.

Design With Nature The ‘Man and Environment’ atelier formed the basis of McHarg’s ideas published in Design With Nature ten years later. The book profoundly influenced landscape architecture as a profession by focusing the minds of designers on the degradation of the environment and providing a constructive way of transforming diverse regions and landscapes. McHarg presented public lectures and published extensively, he argued

‘if one accepts the simple proposition that nature is the arena of life and that a modicum of knowledge of her processes is indispensable for survival and rather more for existence, health and delight. It is amazing how many apparently difficult problems present ready resolution’ 1969

‘Each year I confront a new generation of graduate students, secure in their excellence, incipient or confirmed professionals in one or another of the planning or design fields. My most important objectives in this first encounter are to challenge professional myopia, exclusively man-centred views, to initiate consideration of basic values and to focus particularly on the place of nature in man’s world - the place of man in nature.’ 1969

David Neave Skinner 1928-1989

David N. Skinner studied under McHarg between 1955-57, he went on to teach many architects and landscape architects the importance of McHarg’s approach at Edinburgh College of Art. In his private practice he influenced landscape policy at a national level in Scotland and was instrumental in a review of Scotland’s greenbelts, the Antonine Wall and the coast of Scotland which involved the survey and analysis of 6300 miles of coastland.

Skinner was born in Burnley 1928, he went on to study architecture at the University of Liverpool before enrolling on McHarg’s first MA class at the University of Pennsylvania 1955. Upon graduation Skinner remained in Philadelphia to assist McHarg on his Woodland Avenue design project and on McHarg’s early research ‘Towards a Modern Landscape’. Upon returning to the UK Skinner began to teach landscape architecture at Edinburgh College of Art and kept in good communication with McHarg, they spoke regularly regarding their respective design practice and course materials, in a letter to McHarg Skinner stated ‘I think you will be glad to hear that no architect from this year forth can graduate from Edinburgh without having studied your article on Open Spaces in Housing and the Court House Concept. These are already common knowledge to more than one year’ (1960).

Skinner went on to teach Andrew Grant, Cathy Johnston and Johanna Gibbons among many other architects and landscape architects at ECA.

David Neave Skinner Coastal Survey

Photographs Mark Turnbull Slide Archive.

Orkney, Creative Commons SRVBan.

Coastal View of Dunure, Creative Commons W F Millar.

Michael Basil Brown 1922-1996

‘As a matter of fact I think Michael Brown may be at least as old as I am - even a little older. It did not make very much difference.

Everybody present felt that the development of landscape architecture was an urgent challenge. There was a modern architecture but really landscape architecture had not kept pace with it. Everybody in that group thought of themselves first of all as an architect who had to know about landscape architecture in order to function well as an architect. It is remarkable of course that the majority of these people and subsequent architects who entered the program relinquished architecture in favour of a full time commitment to landscape architecture.’

McHarg 1974:6

Brown was heavily influenced by McHarg’s Court House Concept, a theme that ran through Brown’s design projects in his later career as he applied the ideas to housing estates and residential designs.

The courtyard typology served as a functional extension of the house by providing space to live out family life in the city, addressing a significant cultural issue of the period that McHarg railed against in the migration of young families to the new towns and suburbs due to the lack of appropriate services and spaces to support family life in city centres. These ideas are fundamental to Brown’s design of Livingstone Road, London. The courtyards were linked together by a central spine route, the ‘Livingstone Walk’ which created a varied sequence of spaces and uses. Green spaces were restricted to small courtyards located at key secluded spots to create a range of semi-private spaces, enclosed on three sides by four-five storey maisonettes.

Brown’s Livingstone Road project in Battersea 1962 was designed around a series of courtyards linked together with a central spinal route, refining his approach to the Court House Concept.

Court House Concept (Michael B. Brown).

FAL Image Col.: Court House Concept (Michael B. Brown)

FAL Image Col.: Court House Concept (Michael B. Brown)

Michael Basil Brown Student and practice work

First studying architecture in Edinburgh, Brown attended McHarg’s night classes on landscape architecture in the city before following him to enrol on McHarg’s first class at the University of Pennsylvania. Brown went on to join Dan Kiley’s design office before rejoining McHarg as assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania where he undertook research on McHarg’s early research ‘Towards a Modern Landscape’.

Brown was a keen photographer and was interested in recording the ephemeral qualities of landscape seen in the images selected from his slide collection, his images of Philadelphia give us a sense of the city during the period.

Images from Brown’s slide collection at the Museum of English Rural Life, taken throughout his travels between 1950-1970.

Michael Basil Brown Philadelphia images

Michael M Laurie 1932-2002

‘Good design is clear thinking’ Laurie took inspiration from McHarg’s approach to landscape education, he was keenly interested in the study of landscapes through careful observation. Upon graduation from the University of Pennsylvania he was appointed as a lecturer in landscape architecture at the University of Berkeley, California before becoming a full professor by 1979.

Laurie recognised a gap in landscape education literature and developed an introductory manual ‘An Introduction to Landscape Architecture’ based on his renowned studio of the same title, the book became the standard text used to train landscape architects across the world. He went on to publish articles and chapters regularly throughout his career arguing for an approach that mediated strict environmentalism with aesthetic considerations.

Laurie published widely throughout his career.

Michael M Laurie Introduction to Landscape Architecture

Laurie’s Introduction to Landscape Architecture was used as the fundamental introductory text to landscape architecture in landscape courses around the world.

The images show the Edinburgh East Lothian project featured in the book.

Laurie was born in Dundee to a family nurserymen and landscape designers.

He served two years in the Queen’s Blackwatch Guard in Malaya before enrolling at the University of Reading to study landscape architecture under Frank Clark. He gained professional experience with Sylvia Crowe and contributed the drawings to her renowned text ‘Landscape of Power’. He went on to undertake a Leverhulme research position at the University of Liverpool in 1958 on the organisation of national parks before receiving a Thouron scholarship to study under McHarg in Philadelphia, he graduated in 1962.

Mark Turnbull 1943-2016 University of Pennsylvania Student Work

“Any approach for assessing the visual impact of a new development should remove the uncertainty of individual judgement so far as the presentation of evidence for visibility is concerned.”

Mark Turnbull was a pioneer of computer aided landscape design and visual analysis, he took a deep interest in the integration of computers with the profession of landscape architecture.

Turnbull first studied architecture at Edinburgh College of Art before being awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study a Masters in landscape architecture under McHarg at the University of Pennsylvania. He was taught the ‘Man and Environment’ course in its tenth year when McHarg had honed the syllabus and begun to write Design With Nature (with which Turnbull assisted). The images show the ‘layer cake’ method and detailed survey work undertaken for the Delaware River Basin as part of Turnbull’s ‘Man and Environment’ coursework submission.

Turnbull was hugely influenced by the new scale of design and this went on to inform his career in developing GIS and working on huge-scale infrastructures on his return to Scotland while working with WJ Cairns. He taught students in Scotland and America at a range of universities about the developments he was making in computer technologies before co-founding a mapping and visualisation company, Envision3D and forming his own design practice.

Turnbull’s Man and Environment Student work undertaken on the Delaware River Basin at the University of Pennsylvania.

Mark Turnbull GIS Development

Turnbull tirelessly developed and refined his technological systems to suite the requirements of landscape assessment.

Mark Turnbull Flotta Oil Terminal Flotta Oil Terminal, Calum McRoberts Creative Commons.

While working for WJ Cairns Turnbull developed his survey and design methods on large scale infrastructures from the Megget Valley Reservoir to the Flotta Oil Terminal, Orkney. At Flotta, Cairns and Turnbull applied a range of aesthetic and colour theories in order to reduce the visual impact of the oil terminal. Muted colours were chosen to visually break up the bulk of the tanks chosen from the surrounding landscape and defined by a series of visual tests in a range of weather conditions on site and individual colours were chosen for each tank. Bright white was chosen for the smaller buildings with concept of ‘isolation’ to direct attention to less invasive aspects of the scene. The project was one of the earliest examples of EIA and LVIA methodologies and was awarded a Civic Trust award in 1982 for its innovative approach.

Flotta Oil Terminal, Sarah Charlesworth Creative Commons.

Flotta Oil Terminal, Calum McRoberts Creative Commons.

Flotta from Houston Burn, Mary and Angus Hogg Creative Commons.

Morris and Steedman James S. Morris 1931-2006 & Robert R. Steedman b. 1929 306.I.15: Court House Concept (James Shepherd Morris) Court House Shepherd 306.I.15: CourtConcept House (James Concept (JamesMorris).

Shepherd Morris) 306.I.15: Court House Concept (James Shepherd Morris)

McHarg greatly respected and admired the design skills of Morris and Steedman when they enrolled on his inaugural course in 1955. During this period McHarg was developing his ideas on the Court House Concept, a studio project to regenerate a residential block of Central Philadelphia, which later became the basis of an article for the Architectural Review published in 1957. Both Morris and Steedman undertook a range of layout possibilities for the small block and McHarg went on to use their plans to illustrate his article in the Architectural Record. During this period McHarg collated over 400 examples of courtyard housing to further test his ideas.

In the article McHarg argued ‘the freestanding, single family house in suburb and countryside from such hands as Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van Der Rohe, Le Corbusier, Philip Johnson or Richard Neutra undoubtedly represents the greatest contribution of modern architecture to art and environment.

The court house is overwhelmingly distinguished by its introversion; the house turns its back to the street and faces upon a private, internal court. The major problem of modern housing and its most conspicuous failure lies in the distribution and design of open space.’ 1957.

The ideas Morris and Steedman explored at Pennsylvania can also be seen in their works in Scotland designed around courtyard typologies, particularly that of the Tomlinson House, Avisfield Cramond. The relationship they had with McHarg exemplifies his ability to both inspire and be inspired by his students, an aspect that was central to his processes throughout his career.

FAL Image Col.: Court House Concept (James Shepherd Morris)

Penn Centre (Steeedman).

Morris and Steedman first studied architecture together at Edinburgh School of Art, in 1952 they both attained travel scholarships travelling across Europe by motorbike. They went on to gain Fulbright scholarships to study for a Masters in Landscape Architecture under Ian McHarg at the University of Pennsylvania during the inaugural year of the course. They enrolled on his first class at the school and maintained a friendship with him in later years.

FAL Image Col.: Court House Concept (Robert Russel Steedman) FAL Image Col.: Court House Concept (Robert Russel Steedman)

Court House Concept (Robert Russel Steedman).

Central Philadelphia site photos Court House Concept.

FAL Image Col.: Court House Concept (Robert Russel Steedman)

FAL Image Col.: Court House Concept (Robert Russel Steedman)

Thurlow Park, Fall 1956 (Steedman).

FAL Image Col.: Thurlow Park, Fall 1956 (Steedman)

Venice Island, Spring 1956 (Steedman).

FAL Image Col.: Venice Island, Spring 1956 (Steedman)

Avisfield, Cramond designed by Morris and Steedman 1955-57, the courtyard layout echoed ideas that the pair explored in the Court House studio project at the University of Pennsylvania.

McHarg was inspired by Morris and Steedman and used their student projects to illustrate his 1957 article on the Court House Concept.

Morris and Steedman Court House Concept

Architectural Press Archive / RIBA collections.

Previous Graduates of David Skinner and alumni of Edinburgh College of Art / Edinburgh University

Peter Bellchambers First graduating student of David Skinner examples of student work

‘In retrospect, I now realise that Ian McHarg’s ‘Design with Nature’ was central to the content of the course. Skinner was an inspiration.’

I learnt a great deal about earthworks and sculpting the landscape during my year-out at Lovejoy’s, and after graduation worked for two local authorities in the very rewarding work of re-shaping slagheaps (bings) My three years in the Middle East taught me about huge projects and budgets, and even there I was able design and draw. I had discovered that clients liked my perspective drawings, wanting to have an idea of how their projects would turn out.

I was never aware of landscape architecture when I was young, although I now recognise that my background made it easier for me to choose it as a life-long career. I was born in 1951 and brought up in a lonely, windy (but big) house in South Devon, high up above steep hills and lush farmland. My Mother was a keen gardener, and without realising it at the time, I have followed her passion. I was lucky enough to go to a local Montessori primary school, where I was encouraged to draw, and that love of drawing and illustrating has stayed with me ever since.

Fast forward to 1974, when the Serpentine Gallery in London hosted ‘Art into Landscape’, a public competition, where my landscape drawings were chosen and exhibited. I then heard about David Skinner’s new course, and I was accepted, partly thanks to the ‘Art into landscape’ submission. I chucked in my marketing job and drove up to Edinburgh. I loved the course and I loved my time at the Art College. Skinner was an inspiration. The course was quite experimental but central to it was the philosophy of Ian McHarg through ‘Design with Nature’. We were eight students to start with, and I think most of us ended up in landscape related careers.

The drawings, land sculpting and designing with Nature were central to my eight years of work on golf course projects, where I was very lucky to work with Fred and Martin Hawtree, whose philosophy was recognition of the genius loci and total landscape integration. Martin posted me to Portugal, and then to France, where the golf boom quickly turned to bust.

Whilst staying for thirty years in France, I returned to my role as a landscape architect, eventually forming my own design office, again relying greatly on my sketches and perspectives. Despite my atrocious accent in French, I also taught at various colleges and at the architecture school at Tours university.

My wife, Yvonne, is an interior architect and together we designed our ‘Jardin Erotique’ which was exhibited in 2002 at the Chaumont sur Loire garden festival. In a way it was career highlight and it was fun, quite hard work, and it didn’t bring us a single new client!

Now that we are both retired, we have moved back to Portugal, where I should be drawing more, but at least our own town garden is happily taking shape. I feel that I have been very lucky, thanks to great start at the ECA, to spend the last 40 years as a landscape architect.

Earth Centre Doncaster, UK This landmark millennium project opened to the public in 1999 and although it did not last long as a visitor attraction it has survived as an education away day destination for school children in the region.

The original project involved the reclamation of 160 hectares of derelict coal field into a centre for sustainability.

Previous Graduates of David Skinner and alumni of Edinburgh College of Art / Edinburgh University

Andrew Grant RDI, CMLI, Hon FRIBA, FRSA Founder and Director of Grant Associates

The whole project is based around principles of energy efficiency, water conservation, recycling and use of non-polluting materials to provide the basis for sustainable development. The early concept sketches explored news ways of describing the flows and processes within the landscape with a particular emphasis on water. The final project displayed a fully integrated network of water management that incorporates rainwater harvesting and the treatment, storage and recycling of water for use in irrigation and water features and as a wildlife habitat.

The central 10 hectares featured a range of gardens offering glimpses of futuristic organic production terraces, an orchard, forest gardens, algae production fences, biomass beds, biodiverse wetlands, woodlands and grassland. The Earth Centre pioneered our interest in developing innovative landscape structures. Distinctive structures were developed using a combination of local stone, green oak and steel to establish a unique contemporary character within the site that complements a historic surrounding landscape.

Earth Centre, Doncaster, UK Accordia, Cambridge Barangaroo South Public Domain (Stage 1B), Sydney, Australia

Andrew is a Landscape Architect whose work explores the connection between people and nature. He started his company, Grant Associates, in 1997 which has grown into an international design studio with offices in Bath and Singapore. His approach is based around using creative ecology to find solutions to the major challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss and improving human quality of life, health and well being. Each of his projects responds to the place, its inherent ecology and its people and promotes quality and innovation in landscape design.

In 2012 he was awarded the title of RSA Royal Designer for Industry in recognition of his pioneering global work in landscape architecture such as the multi award winning Gardens by the Bay in Singapore. The 54 hectare park explores the technical boundaries of landscape and horticulture in an Asian city and won the Building Project of the Year Award at the 2012 World Architecture Festival.

Accordia Cambridge Accordia, winner of the RIBA Stirling Prize 2008 and the Housing Design Awards 2006, is an inspirational scheme of high-density housing. Grant Associates worked with masterplanners Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, Alison Brooks Architects and Maccreanor Lavington, to create a distinctive and high quality landscape setting to the development.

The public landscape offers a hierarchy of spaces and uses across the site, providing a sequence of quite different environments, characters and functions to encourage use and enjoyment by residents.

The landscape concept ‘Living in a Garden’ has inspired different gardens, each with a function or theme: the ‘Kitchen Garden’, the ‘Long Walk’ and the ‘Central Lawn’. All spaces are linked by a network of paths and clearly defined by walls, hedges and boundaries, featuring mature trees and new planting.

He is a Visiting Professor at the University of Sheffield, an Honorary Fellow of the RIBA and a member of the National Infrastructure Commission Design Group.

Based in the city of Bath he is Chair of the Bathscape Landscape Partnership and a member of the Bath World Heritage Site Advisory Board. He is also co-founder of the pop up festival Forest of Imagination which engages the wider community of Bath in the reimagining of city spaces and our relationship with nature in the city.

The project was one of the first to explore the concept of shared space within a residential development and circulation through the scheme is via a series of ‘mews’ streets for shared use by pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles. These are designed with coloured or textured surface treatments to complement the architectural materials, street tree planting and climbing plants on building façades.

Barangaroo South Public Domain (Stage 1B) Sydney, Australia Grant Associates have designed over two-hectares of public realm at Barangaroo South, forming the next phase of Sydney’s 7.5 hectare mixeduse waterfront development.

Grant Associates’ proposals for the public space complete the design of Barangaroo South and represent part of the commitment by the Barangaroo Delivery Authority (BDA) and Lendlease to deliver more than half of Barangaroo as open public space.

A new harbour cove, a one-hectare public park, an expanded waterfront walkway and a public pier are all key features of the future public realm that will transform the area into a pedestrian friendly district with open views across Sydney’s harbour. The cove is planned as a key destination space within the overall context of the harbourfront. The new park and associated public space is anticipated to open in 2021. Hickson Park will provide a green link from Sydney’s Central Business District into the heart of Barangaroo’s retail and dining precinct, which is adjacent to the slender new residential towers designed by Renzo Piano. There will also be an extension the harbourside walkway fronting Crown Sydney Hotel Resort and linking to peter walker’s Headland Park.

UK Pavilion Forest Garden - Expo 2005 Nagoya, Japan Grant Associates worked with the Natural History Museum, Ten Alps and Land Design Studio to develop the design concept and installation of the UK Pavilion for Expo 2005. The expo opened in April 2005 and ran until September 2005, under the theme ‘Natures Wisdom’.

Andrew Grant Gardens by the Bay Marina South, Singapore UK Pavilion Forest Garden - Expo 2005 Nagoya, Japan

The UK Pavilion comprised an internal exhibition celebrating scientific innovation and an external exhibition zone designed by Grant Associates that examines the human effect on the natural world. The external zone formed a setting for a sequence of special artworks by leading UK artists; Heather Ackroyd & Dan Harvey, Richard Deacon, Anya Gallaccio, Cornelia Parker, Susan Derges, Stefan Gee, John Riddy, Ross Sinclair, Richard Woods, and Catherine Yass. Each artist had been set an ecological theme to inspire their piece, for instance, deforestation and river pollution.

The original concept sketch for the garden captured the idea of the space as an abstracted British woodland to provide shade to the queuing visitors as they passed beside the artworks. Densely planted Lime trees created the impact of the woodland,and allowed dappled sunlight to the planted ground areas. The trees were underplanted with a sequence of seasonal flora displays of native British species; Daffodils, Blue Bells, Foxgloves, Angelica, Ferns.

Gardens by the Bay Marina South, Singapore Following an international design competition in 2006, the team led by Grant Associates was selected to prepare the masterplan for the 54 hectare Marina South Gardens in Singapore as part of the National Parks Board Gardens by the Bay project.

This is the largest ‘garden’ project ever undertaken in Singapore, and a landscape project of world significance.

Located at the heart of Singapore’s new development zone, it was planned to redefine Singapore’s identity as a city in a garden. With over 12 million visitors a year the project has brought international attention and multiple awards.

The masterplan takes its inspiration from the form of the orchid, the most cosmopolitan species and one that dispays beauty and an intelligent physiology. The designs echo this through their adoption of innovative technologies and systems whilst delivering unique experiences for the visitors. The Supertrees form the icons at the heart of the gardens complemented by the cluster of Cooled Conservatories along the edge of Marina Bay. The Cool Dry and the Cool Moist Conservatories showcase Mediterranean, tropical montane and temperate annual plants and flowering species. They also provide a flexible, flower-themed venue for events and exhibitions.

Previous Graduates of David Skinner and alumni of Edinburgh College of Art / Edinburgh University

WOODLAND WILDPLAY

Johanna Gibbons FLI, FRSA

FORAGING PLAY

EASTWAY

Partner, J&L Gibbons

IBC/MPC COPSE

WATER PLAY SPORTS GLADE

Canal Park, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London Munch Museum Island, Oslo

j&lgibbons

FLOATING REED BEDS PLAY TOWPATH

Canal Park, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London DETOUR PATH

Johanna Gibbons is a Landscape Architect, founding member of J & L Gibbons LLP established in 1986 and founding Director of Landscape Learn, a social enterprise. She is a Fellow of the Landscape Institute and the RSA and serves on several advisory panels including Historic England’s Historic Places Panel and the Forestry Commission’s London FWAC. She is an Honorary Research Fellow at Birkbeck, University of London, a Trustee of Open City and a core research partner of Urban Mind, a crossdisciplinary project lead by Kings College London with Nomad Projects, exploring how the urban environment affects mental wellbeing, recently published in Bioscience.

BLACK POPLAR

WET WOODLAND PATCHES EMBANKMENT SLIDE

SWALE AND WILLOW PLANTING

OLD FORD WOOD

NORTH

WOODLAND WILD PLAY 0m

100m

200m

The Canal Park forms a unique setting for the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in terms of heritage, accessibility and tranquillity, unlike all other infrastructure that bounds the wider parkland. It forms part of the blue-ribbon network, and the river catchment of the Lee Valley Regional Park, classified as one of London Wildlife Trust’s ‘Living Landscapes’ as well as being a Priority Catchment as identified by the Environment Agency and Water Framework Directive.

The design approach was informed by audits of access, ecology, soils, structures and heritage as much as the engagement process. This was carried out one to one, in small groups walking or cycling the tow path, activity orientated whether play or cycling, that built a network of interested parties, from key individuals and groups in the community to social enterprise, artists, small business and academics. The cross fertilisation of the varied experience of the members of the network helped to inform both design and management strategies.

J & L GIBBONS

GREENWAY

542 Canal Park Diagram Riparian patchiness

Scale - NTS 01_10_2012 Drawing No - 542_SK_017

The Canal Park’s unifying identity derives from the canal structure and tow path itself, framed by the bridges, creating framed an elaborated towpath experience; undercroft, meadow, escarpment, yard, bank, lake, lock. Each vignettes of scenery between the bridges is characterised by the ecological structure, architecture and topography connected together by the subtle alignment of the canal itself.

Jo’s expertise concerns heritage, green infrastructure and urban regeneration and she leads on collaborative cross-disciplinary practice at a strategic and local level, mostly in London. She advocates for her practice and the profession on an international stage. Many of Jo’s projects are international award winning, including the 2011 Landscape Institute President’s Award for the Dalston Eastern Curve Garden as part of Making Space in Dalston. She led the work producing the first SuDS Design Guidance for Transport for London, winning the New London Architecture Award for Transport and Infrastructure in 2017. Jo’s work at Bushey Cemetery for United Synagogues was shortlisted for the RIBA Stirling Prize in 2018. Her recent projects won in international competition include the new Museum of London and the new Munch Museum Island Oslo where she is working in collaboration with Tracey Emin.

Munch Museum Island, Oslo The island is a seed bed. The island becomes a habitat; a dynamic process of growing. It is made porous and absorbent. The structure of the island is made soft by layering of soils and aggregates, recycled from the adjacent development layered up over the concrete slab. Contoured and graded growing media creates a coastal ecology to support invertebrate that in turn support coastal birdlife that fertilise the island, that drop seed from other places coated with nutrient rich guano; tomorrow’s biome.

The sculpture creates niches of shelter where natural regeneration can take hold quicker than elsewhere, creating a variable pattern of biophytes, grasses, sturdy resilient scrub planting and indigenous trees, wind pruned to reflect the prevailing wind.

The soil in the wind shadow of Tracy Emin’s Bronze fast becomes a seed bed. Paths would be trodden rather than made, meandering amongst around the sculpture and through the artificial topography. Facing into the wind and to the sea, The Mother protects her soil and her landscape behind and around her. The presence of Mother creates a deep ecology that slowly establishes, ever changing and evolving in her shadow over time and through the seasons, evolving as a rich and unique coastal habitat to challenge perceptions of natural beauty.

The landscape provides a backdrop that embraces time in a dynamic cycle, where the balance of human intervention in ongoing management is ‘light touch’; more conservation than facility management.

Johanna Gibbons Making Space in Dalston, Dalston Eastern Curve Garden, London

j&lgibbons

MAKING SPACE FOR DALSTON: J & L GIBBONS/ MUF/ EXYZT/ AGNES DENES

Making Space in Dalston, Dalston Eastern Curve Garden, London Dalston has been in a period of significant physical change over the last 10 years. Sometimes the wider regeneration benefits of development are not immediately apparent.

Making Space in Dalston began with the identification and celebration of existing assets, social, cultural and physical. It then generated strategies, design moves and a programme of cultural activity to inform and enhance the public realm as shared spaces for both residents and visitors.

The study placed equal importance in the promotion of a process of engagement as in the delivery of an enhanced urban setting in seeking to nurture Dalston’s inherent creativity and diversity. It demonstrated the impact of action research and the opportunity and willingness for fledgling creative partnerships supporting grass-roots efforts. To this end, three strands emerged from the engagement process to form the framework for the study; valuing what is there; nurturing the possible and defining what’s missing.

The idea of the mapping emerged from the process of consultation. The mapping demonstrated the potential for capturing responses, debating and challenging the preconception that regeneration inevitably displaces existing value. The brief called for 10 costed projects, public consultation and an action plan for amenity space, cultural programming and management. In fact, 76 projects were identified, one being the Dalston Eastern Curve Garden on a piece of abandoned and neglected railway land.

In Ken Worpole’s The New English Landscape Blog 2018 , he says of the garden: ‘The Dalston Eastern Curve Garden has become an international exemplar for the re-habilitation of derelict urban land awaiting development … In a short time, the Dalston Eastern Curve has become one of Hackney’s best-loved meeting places, which may not have been predicted, but is now an established fact. The popularity of the garden is firstly due to its ecological impact that has grown with the imaginative way it is managed for people as well as for plants. The garden has succeeded because of the dedication and love its workers and hundreds of volunteers has put in over the years – and you don’t often see the word love in many ‘regeneration’ mission statements. Secondly, that what made Hackney such a special place was that it was precisely a place where people did such things – especially around Dalston Junction. Without these radical, eccentric, people-based projects, which attract interest from all over the world, the junction would be just another angry traffic jam churning out particulates into the lungs of all the passers-by. The borough has always been a social laboratory, and that’s what makes many people want to live in Hackney, rather than the enticement of expensive apartments and opportunities for fine dining.’

Previous Graduates of David Skinner and alumni of Edinburgh College of Art / Edinburgh University

Cathy Johnston FLI, MRTPI Group Manager, Glasgow City Council

Seven Lochs Wetland Park – Scotland’s largest nature park: a place for heritage – a place for nature – a great place to live The Seven Lochs Wetland Park Partnership came into being in April 2016 to oversee the 16sq km park. There is a 5 year work programme of £6.8 million, of which £4.5 million is for the 7 Lochs Heritage project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The Vision for the Seven Lochs Wetland Park is of a new park of national significance, sustaining and enhancing a high quality, innovative wetland environment that will: Protect and enhance biodiversity and heritage Promote health and well being Contribute to environmental, economic and social regeneration.

Strathclyde Structure plan 1995 and a Vision for the Clyde Valley: Greening the

It is an asset for the existing communities, visitors from further afield and for those that will move into the new developments that are being built – a ‘New Setting for Communities’ as envisaged by the original ‘Greening the Conurbation’ initiative, and a ‘Leisure belt’ for Scotland, not just North East Glasgow.

conurbation

www.sevenlochs.org

Gartloch – Gartcosh Development Corridor Seven Lochs Wetland Park – Scotland’s largest nature park: a place for heritage – a place for nature – a great place to live

This is Designing with Nature now Cathy graduated from Heriot-Watt University in 1980 with a BA (Hons) in Landscape Architecture. She gained a Masters in Environmental Studies in 1996 (Strathclyde) and is a Fellow of the Landscape Institute, Chartered Member of the Royal Town Planning Institute and a member of the Academy of Urbanism. She has served on the Board of greenspace Scotland, Central Scotland Forest Trust, and Glasgow and Clyde Valley Green Network Partnership, and is currently on the Place Standard Tool Board.

Cathy has spent a large part of her career in the public sector, working mainly in central Scotland, latterly for Glasgow City Council. She leads a group responsible for the current City Development Plan and its role in Clydeplan; the emerging Open Space Strategy for Glasgow; City Design; the Place Standard Tool; H2020 Connecting Nature programme; and enquiry into the future of cities and city regions. This means that Cathy works collaboratively with many partners including communities. Current priorities include supporting the recently appointed City Urbanist for Glasgow, Professor Brian Evans, and his development of a Place Commission.

Cathy remains inquisitive about the world and the way it works. She wants to make better places for people to live and to thrive in, and so thinks globally whilst encouraging local action.

Strathclyde Structure Plan 1995 and a Vision for the Clyde Valley: Greening the conurbation The aims of the Structure Plan included strengthening the Regional economy; reducing deprivation and disadvantage and their effects; protecting and enhancing the environment; using non-renewable resources prudently, and minimising pollution. The Regional Development Strategy therefore required the Greening of the Conurbation through integrated environmental projects to improve the Greenbelt (first established in the Clyde Valley Plan in 1946) and related urban corridors. The Greening the Conurbation initiative identified 9 area based projects and a strategy for action that attracted funding from local authorities, European Union programmes and other strategic partners such as Scottish Natural Heritage and the Forestry Commission. ‘New Settings for Communities’ aimed to identify issues and constraints and seek to connect people to their environment. The area that became known as the ‘Gartloch –Gartcosh Development corridor in subsequent Structure Plans was identified as one which had complex landscape issues. These range from the understanding of previous settlement and the existence of significant archaeological remains, to the complex hydrology and natural habitat. It was also noted as ‘The North East Glasgow Leisure Belt’ as a priority for the Kelvin Valley Countryside Project.

Gartloch – Gartcosh Development Corridor The area between north east Glasgow and settlements in North Lanarkshire was identified as a strategic growth area for housing in 2006. There was the potential for up to 4,600 homes to be accommodated, subject to masterplanning and integrating the development into the landscape.

Understanding the conditions by which this might be achieved required both significant research and strategic thinking about the consequences of development action. Many partners and organisations were involved in the investigations which could be done under the auspices of the Glasgow and Clyde Valley Green Network Partnership. They include hydrological and surface water studies; development capacity and site selection studies; Wetland Park and visioning studies specific to the area, and were informed by the other work being done to create an holistic green network across the conurbation.

All of these studies can be found at www.gccvgreennetwork.org

Stuart Bagshaw FRIAS, RIBA

Rock House and The Broch Borve Lodge Estate, Isle of Harris The aim of this project was to create buildings which belong in the landscape, are bio-diverse, enhance the place, and importantly, improve with the action of time.

The resource and inspiration, as with the vernacular of the islands (particularly St Kilda) was to use the naturally occurring materials in the landscape – rock and heather - complimented by glass.

Director, SBA Architects Ltd. The Projects I have chosen to illustrate: Blacksheep House, Strond, Isle of Harris

Rock House takes cues from the traditional blackhouse as lies long and low, nestling and becoming part of Lewisean Gneiss terraces. Predominantly rock carefully blasted from the site, frameless windows, with limited use of larch carefully curved for fascias and chains for downpipes. The building is capped with a heavy heather turf roof taken from the adjacent area so the natural habitat/flora are retained.

The Rock House and The Broch, Borve Estate, Isle of Harris Bochs of Coigach, Polbain, Achiltibuie The Stonehouses, Ullapool I am an Architect, aged 70, so let’s say mature, and I have never spoken with, listened to or met Ian L. McHarg.

Being the son of a Builder, with two brothers who when I started my career were Bricklayers, it was inevitable that I work on building sites. I soon became bored and found work in an Architect’s office prior to starting at Leicester. I studied at Leicester School of Architecture, which I chose because of it’s relationship with the School of Building and the Art School. As it happens, I needn’t have bothered, as I never went into either after I started my course. However, I had an advantage – a practical background, knowing what Architects did and I could draw!

So, what has this to do with Ian McHarg?

At College, a subject called Urban Design was thrown in as part of the course. It wasn’t a major part, however the Tutor was Scottish and he introduced me to a book entitled ‘Design with Nature’. When reading this it made complete sense. I already had a healthy respect for the Hippy Movement and had had a Great Grandfather who was a talented Gardener.

My final year out, prior to qualification and sometime after qualifying, was spent in Warrington working for the New Town Development Corporation. There I spent most of my time trying to change policies on Urban Design and working in the Landscape Department; we had a good budget for structural landscaping, which was an advantage, and some very talented landscape architects. My employers were keen for me to design large housing schemes; I, on the other hand was not. So I decided to do the Hippy thing and opt out, to live off the land. I failed, and finished up, through choice, in the Outer Hebrides. First in the Uist’s and then in Stornoway, Isle of Lewis.

In Stornoway I started my own Practice, in 1982 on a purely philosophical basis. I had no thoughts of Ian L. McHarg at this point in my life or how I had been infored. The philosophical base was as follows: Our buildings must fit: • Into the environment aesthetically and environmentally • Into the context of their surroundings Their purpose must also: • Improve with the action of time • Enhance local identity therefore helping maintain and create a sense of place • Encourage ownership of the design from the end user • Encourage caring and awareness of the environment • Encourage the use of traditional skills • Encourage training The words are not as eloquent as those of Professor McHarg and it was only when re-reading ‘Design with Nature’ and particularly his chapter on ‘Process and Form’, I quote:

“Certainly we can dispose of the old canard , “form follows function”. Form follows nothing – it is integral with all processes. Then form is indivisibly meaningful form, but it can reveal ill fit, misfit, unfit, fit and most fitting.

There seems to be no good reason to change these criteria for human adaptations. Is the environment fit for man? Is the adaptation that is accomplished fit for the environment? Is the fit expressed in form? There does not seem to be any good reason to change the criteria when considering the symbol. If the purpose of fitness is to ensure survival and evolutionary success for the organism, the species, the community and the biosphere, then adaptations are primarily directed toward enhancing life and evolution. Can we then avoid bringing concern with form into the realm of the enhancement or inhibition to life and evolution? When we link form to life we must retreat to a more basic but united concern with adaptation as creative or destructive. Fitness is then by definition creative and will be revealed in the form of fitness that is life enhancing.”

Something has lingered in my mind and influenced all my buildings. I have always ploughed a lone furrow, perhaps Professor Ian L. McHarg is responsible for this!

One aspect of my work is ‘Cottages’ in the Hebridean Islands and on the West coast. These buildings started with the MacGillivray Centre (now Temple View Café) and developed into numerous projects, each reacting to it’s site brief, but with a commonality of bio-diversity and fit.

Black Sheep House Strond, Isle of Harris A unique opportunity involving a sensitive client with a limited budget but the skills and desire for a self-build project.

With only 3 walls standing Black Sheep Cottage was largely a ruin and home to some local sheep. With the addition of a large curved window an open plan living space was created. The new space now enjoys uninterrupted views over the Sound of Harris.

The turf and stones from the croft created dry-stone walls supporting the flora and fauna on the roof. Natural local materials which blended and merge with the landscape were the focus of this project. Better yet in this exposed situation they only improved with the action of time.

Awards - Grand Designs Awards Home of the Year 2008 - Grand Designs Awards Best Conversion 2008

In contrast the Broch rises tall out of the trees, commanding the hills like a defensive structure. Its elevation gives opportunity to survey the land from the protection and warmth of home. With a 6 metres internal diameter, it is entered across a bridge to a boot room/utility at half level. The main areas are accessed through curved pocket doors with a kitchen/diner below/living, master bedroom and bathroom above.

The houses on Borve Estate are both confident and audacious design statements yet, they seamlessly fade into the Harris landscape.

The Stonehouses

Design Methodology Each design follows the same design methodology: • • • • • • •

First of all, find a client. (Up ‘til now, however, they have all found me!)

Established a brief and a budget.

Site visit – this is essential to ‘get a feel’ for the site and to establish what local materials are available.

Investigate if local skills are available and training opportunities (a skills audit of the local area is desirable but not always possible).

Obtain a full Topographic survey of the area, in 3D. This survey is to include all services, all site features including trees/shrubs, rock, outcrops, etc.

Analyse views to ensure windows frame the view.

Analyse sun path and prevailing wind direction to maximise sunlight and shelter – create external and internal shelter locations – ensure sunlight in correct areas of house during the day i.e. morning sunlight in kitchen and evening sunlight in living room.

The Brochs of Coigach Polbain, Achiltibuie Overlooking the Summer Isles at the mouth of Loch Broom this pair of cottages are sunken into this luscious green landscape.

The process of sourcing local materials was a key aspect of this project. The stones were reused from nearby crumbling dry stone walls, timber lintels and posts were reclaimed from a local pier being dismantled and the turf was cut from grassland in front of the Brochs and all the meadow flowers and fauna were preserved.

Awards - Shortlisted RIAS Andrew Doolan Best Building in

Scotland Award 2011 - Regional Finalist Civic Trust Awards 2013

• • • • • •

Ensure relationship of built form to landscape in plan and section maximising fit.

Design to ensure use of local materials maximised, e.g. rock from site, locally sourced timber.

Design to reduce CO2 emissions from Build and Building in use.

Maximise use of natural, locally sourced materials that mature and are enhanced by the action of time. Recycle materials if possible.

Create buildings which encourage biodiversity in all senses.

Add natural form.

There may be elements missing but the above gives a clue to a holistic approach where ‘form does don follow function’ unless function is redefined to include fit and is all inclusive in terms of environment and sustainability.

Ullapool These two luxury cottages brought together local crafts people and artisans utilising traditional building techniques with modern design and environmental considerations. Situated to maximise views from the steep woodland site and designed to integrate into the surrounding “Turf Cottage”, to the west, was built into the slope of the hill with a grass roof contoured to blend with the natural gradient.

The beautiful south westerly views of the landscape are captured from the principal living, bathing, dining and kitchen, including specific features such as the Sea loch, Summer Isles and Ben Goblach. External spill-out spaces furthers the connection between the inhabitant and surrounding environment.

“Waterfall cottage”, to the east, takes advantage of the nearby waterfall by providing views towards it from almost every space. To increase the relationship to the landscape the house is partially cut into the slope with three different levels to accommodate the slope of the site and to define zones of utility, social and sleeping. Views are also maximised from the social spaces. The cottage sits higher above “Turf Cottage” on the slope to maintain clear views. Connections to the surrounding environment is provided via external living spaces.

The landscaping strategy was to increase the levels of existing native species; returning the site to a more natural state. Native trees, shrub and bush planting replaced non-native species.