Graduate Landscape Architecture Portfolio - Meredith Will

Meredith Will Landscape Achitecture Portfolio

Contents 1-14

Thames Rising MLA Masters Project

15-20

The Wilderness Assembly University of Greenwich/ Zaha Hadid Studio/ Museum of Architecture/ Royal Parks Design Competition

21-24

The Wilderness Assembly Example Technical Details Accompanying Technical Project

25-28

Paradise Reimagined: An Ecological Interpretation of Redemption in Landscape MLA First Year Design Project

29-30

Greenwich Park: Sharing The View MLA First Year Design Project

31-32

Volumes and Voids in Transit MLA First Year Design Project

Thames Rising: Declaration of Mutiny Founded beside and dependant on the Thames, London became one of the most important trading centres in the world. However, the exploitative nature of this relationship with the Thames has run its course in even the deepest eastern wharfs of the city and the parasitic industry itself fell to the powers of capitalism and scale. However, lessons have not been learnt and this repeated pattern of opportunity, growth and decline continues.

On behalf of the river, Thames Rising declares mutiny.

The Government has failed to address concerns over inequality between the river’s sources and estuary, changing working conditions and ecological security. It is our duty to rise in mutiny on behalf of our river to protect it’s future. We must learn to view it with humility, respect and wonder.

Habitat Compensation London has failed to provide adequate habitat restoration in compensation for those lost through London’s expansion and industry. The Thames deserves fair ecological compensation.

Demands: Suitable habitats must be re-created along the banks of the river. Where natural succession is not possible, habitat maximising materials and structures must be installed in compromise.

Ecological Security Despite progress being made after the decline of heavy industry and efforts to reduce river pollution, the Thames faces uncertain future conditions. Water temperature rises and the resultant rise in sea levels, periods of drought and flood events will put increasing pressure on the Thames to continue providing it’s existing services as well as attenuating environmental fluctuations.

Demands: London must commit to legally binding policy ensuring Net Zero carbon by 2025. All urban areas must have remediation and attenuation SUDs infrastructure in anticipation of pollution in storm water and drought.

Rights of Nature The Thames, and it’s inhabitants, have a right to exist. Recognising the right of the river in law gives us the legal authority to enforce it’s rights and prevent legalised enivronmental harm.

Demands: Enshrine Nature’s, and the Thames’, rights to life into law.

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HMS Hannibal (1854-1904) at Castle’s Charlton Yard

HMS Ajax (1880-1904)

Riverside Wharf post 1970 active Tarmac- asphalt production

Previous Structure

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Sand

Access: ladder

Shingle

Maybanks Jetty 1964 inactive paper recycling Westminster Waste- recycling

Mud

Proposed Building

Artefact: steam now diverted into a conduit

Existing Building

Artefact: Charlton Ballast Wharf pre 1900 inactive ballast and aggregates

Thames

Aretfact: Castle’s Shipbreaking 1828-1953 inactive shipbreaking and timber merchant

HMS Anson (1860-1904)

Vaisey’s Wharf (was Charlton Wharf) pre- 1853 active- residential coal and aggregates

HMS Duke of Wellington (18523-1904)

Anchor and Hope Pub current building: 1889 oringal pub ~C16th active

Access: slipway remains: causeway

Durham Wharf 1896 inactive glass and gas works

1:600

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THIS IS MUTINY.

The Government forcibly clears the camp, removes the tidal genorators and arrests all Thames Rising members and occupiers.

The Government grants permission for the disputed residential development schemes in Charlton Riverside.

Work begins on demolishing the existing buildings in Charlton Riverside.

Local environmental activists and historical conservationists resolve to embark upon a campaign to appropriate Charlton Riverside on behalf of the Thames, and demonstrate the urgency for an ethical realignment in planning process.

Thames Rising publish their Declaration of Mutiny, and deliver it via flashmob to the Government. It details our duty to protect the Thames and the future of the river and the city.

The Declaration is distributed widely around London, and in international envionmental activist organisations, calling for support in the name of the Thames.

Act 1: Formation 5

No amendments are made to the planning permissions to ensure habitat creation, carbon neutrality or educate and immerse Charlton residents in the power and importance of the River.

The demands of the Mutiny are not met.

Thames Rising occupy the Charlton Riverside in their thousands. The authorities underestimated the numbers and the site of the occupation and are not able to prevent the establishment of camps on-site.

Tidal generators are installed within one of the Thames Barrier channels, generating electricity for the occupation camp.

The demands of the Mutiny are not met, and Thames Rising is added to the Home Secretary’s watchlist.

Diggers are bought onto site via the river, barges and Maybank Jetty. The river bank is broken and excavation works begin to create riverbank habitats onsite. Excavated earth and the parts of the river wall are also removed by barge. Cranes are erected on site by the last barges not confiscated by the Government.

Act 2: Rising

A wrecking of a petrol- burning cruise ship is staged, Thames Rising having bought the ship before the Mutiny began. Media channels are invited to document the wrecking and the recylcing ofthe ship parts in workshops within the camp.

Footage of the wrecking and camp clearance is circulated in the media and online, calling out the expolitation of the Thames, our reliance on it and the Government’s failure to protect it.

The rights of Nature are established in the Environmental Justice Act 2020, through a cross party initiative spearheaded by London MPs, amid rising pressure to hold the Governement to environmental targets.

Thames Rising issue a statement admitting to the staging the wrecking, and accept charges of damage to developer’s property.

Publicity from the staged wrecking generates public support for the restoration of tidal habitats and carbon neutral policy.

Mounting public pressure results in carbon neurtal policy becoming legally binding.

The planning permission for residential developments is rescinded due to public senitiment against the development.

Two of the four tidal generator blockades are reinstated to provide energy for the recycling center and refurbishment workshops established in the footprint of previous recycling works in Charlton Riverside.

Act 3: Ruse

Act 4: Reckoning

Wetland habitats are allowed to develop through succession. Remnants to the wreckage are kept on the foreshore as monuments: a reminder of our capacity to advocate, inspiring others to act on behalf of the Thames elsewhere, as well as advocate for other ecosystems globally.

The Durham Wharf is used as a space for social space for groups to discus ways to affect social and environmental advocacy.

The wetland habitat management is paid for over the first 20 years of establishment by the Countryside Stewardship grant CT5.

Act 5: Legacy 6

a

b

c

d

e

Spatial Record of Mutiny Tactics a Monument and Legacy b Wonder c Prefigurative Intervention d Occupation e Blockade f Hoax g Forum Theatre h Geurilla Urbanism Existing Context/Other

g

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h

f

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Castle’s Shipbreaking business moves to Chalrton Foreshore aorund 1861, their original site at Baltic Wharf becoming a timber store.

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HMS Hanibal is broken at Charlton, 1904

HMS Neptune is broken at Charlton, 1875

Remnants of shipbreaking are found along the foreshore, 2019

Thames Rising stage a wrecking of a diesel-feulded cruiseship at Charlton foreshore, 2020

Remnants of the wrecking contribute to the artefacts along foreshore, 2025

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Tides Model This model was used to demonstrate how the topography of the site can be manipulated to introduce the greatest diversity of conditions to support different tidal plant communities and habitats within the site. By creating slopes of varying degrees, tidal pools and areas of tidal pasture, the landscape can accommodate a wide range of tidal and floodtolerant ecosystems.

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The Wilderness Design Competition The Wilderness Assembly- 2nd Place The Wilderness Design Competition run by Greenwich University in collaboration with the Museum of Architecture, Zaha Hadid Design and the Royal Parks. The brief was to design a structure that would use direct action to address issues like waste, post- human landscapes, ecological injustice and urban inequality, as well as the failings of traditional institutions.

The winning project will be constructured in Greenwich Park in 2022, and the short listed projects will be exhibited in the Greenwich University’s exhibition space in June 2021.

Pepys 1675-80 Tree Plan

Moreton 1780 Tree Plan

OS 1897 Tree Plan

Story 1984 Tree Plan

Current Tree Plan

Ancient woodland is woodland that has existed since 1600AD

Beyond Politics?

The Intersection of Climate and Social Justice Photographic Research

Over-mowing, soil enrichment and visitor footfall are the main detrimental impacts upon these acid grassland types within the park.

September-October 2019

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As research into environmental protest, these photos were taken during the September 2019 National School Strike for Climate, the Extinction Rebellion (XR) October Rebellion and the National Maritime Museum’s exhibition of the Polly Higgins boat, used to block Oxford Street in XR’s April Rebellion.

Tree planting should be carefully located on areas of amenity grassland away from any acid grassland. This is because tree planting, and the shade created by the tree canopy, would damage this rare and threatened type of grassland that houses many invertibrates not found in other grasslands habitats.

Grasslands make up 74% of the habitats of the park, of which amenity grasslands (which support the lowest biodiversity of the park) makes up 80%.

No lichen survives from pre-industrial times in Greenwich Park

Greeenwich Park is not a rich site for fungus. Because the park is so heavily used and so intensively cared for conditions for fruiting are not often ideal. Nevertheless over the last few years we have recorded about a hundred different species.

Deadwood, long-grass and mulch offer the best habitats for fungi in Greenwich Park.

Only common pipistrelles have been identified in the park. They nest in mature trees and benefit from tall grass and herb stands.

Uncut grassland habitats support the great butterfly diveristy, while woodlands support the greatest number of moths in the Park.

Spider fauna is impressive, wih 92 species found in 2003. However, pioneer species dominate The Wilderness, indicating that the area is over grazed.

One of the competition’s requirements was to produce a banner outlining the focus of the act of protest. I chose to adopt an ecocentrist stance for the competition, and created this banner in the style of a traditional 19th century union banner.

The Index of Ecological Continuity (IEC) for Greenwich Park is currently 35, so is classified as a site of national importance (IEC 25-79).

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The Wilderness Assembly

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Ecocentrist Reprioritisation in the Anthropocene

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Congo B

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Eastern Africa

Gr ea te r

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We once thought the universe revolved around the earth.

We now must accept the earth does not revolve around humans.

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Accepted anthropocentric, neo-liberal world views have dangerously diminished ‘nature’ to the subordinate role of supporting human life. In order to survive the changing climate we need to respect other species’ right to flourish, as well as value the complex ecosystems that they create and we all rely on.

Protest Objective: Greenwich is a global reference for time and space. It must now become a global reference for the re-evaluation of our relationship with the planet. The needs of organisms within the park must be prioritised and habitats managed to accommodate greater biodiversity. Existing established habitats within The Wilderness must be protected as they support the greatest biodiversity. They must be allowed to recover away from human footfall and interference. In addition, management practices must allow other ecosystems to develop in diversity over time.

Changes in park management and use must come from the bottom- up and top- down. The prioritisation of human experience of the park over the habitats of other organisms must be confronted and disrupted in order to challenge accepted park maintenance. Park users should be educated about the needs of other organisms whilst causing the least disturbance to biodiversity within The Wilderness. By changing the views of the park users, management will be empowered to implement further radical changes across the park. In turn, the esablishment of The Wilderness Assembly can be used as a model for ecological and ecocentric education, inspiring egalitarian management of ecosystems throughout the world.

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500mm Custom handrail sections will be made to comply with BS 8300: - handrail width - clearance from walkway walls - height from surface of walkway

462mm

Posts made from 4 standard scaffold boards, sanded and glued together with D4 wood glue and screwed into the screw pile foundation bracekt with 50mm screws.

Side pannels made from standard scaffold boards.

3500mm

3mm

Support joists made from standard scaffold poles, precut to size and bolted to the scaffold boards on site

Handrail made from standard scaffold poles, cut to length and welded on-site

450mm

270mm

10mm

3000mm

Various

Not to scale 48.5mm 160mm

1000mm

1:90 70mm 100mm

2505mm

4200mm

Cedar shingles

3500mm

15mm

11100mm

40mm

20mm

Hooped willow canes to form joists fixed to forum panels, 150mm apart

6900mm

1500mm

270mm

150mm

150mm

8mm

190mm

First course to be doubled

1:15 20mm

224mm 222mm 22.2mm

6-9mm 60mm

Cedar shingles should be fixed with stainless steel shingle rood nails to prevent rusting.

150mm

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90°

1:45

Screw pile foundations area easily installed by hand to reduce disturbance to the woodland habitat.

The wooden posts will also be kept clear of the ground to reduce the risk of wood rot.

2235mm

The panels for the forum structure will be made from used scaffold boards, cut to shape offsite and assembled on-site.

Domino joints will be used with D4 wood glue to fit 22.2 X 8 X 40 mm dominos. All edges must be sanded down before glueing.

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Ground Cover Mixes Melica uniflora f. albida

Anemanthele lessoniana

Carex divulsa

Luzula sylvatica Ground Cover Mix B

The disruptive aesthetic of the scaffolding is complemented by ornamental rubrus species.

The thorned Rubrus biflorus is set away from the path so the thorns can be seen whilst not creating a potential health and safety hazard.

It creates a thorny mass of white stems in the winter, flowers in the summer and fruit in the autumn. The climbing Rubrus phoenicolasius is not thorned but contributes to the bramble aesthetic to give the impression that humans are not in total control. Honeysuckle will also climb the structure, embedding the structure in the landscape and creating a sense of reclamation by the plants. Both the Hawthorn and Buckthorn will provide structure to the planting bed in the winter, flowers in the spring/ summer and fruit in the autumn. They will also contribute to the ‘wild’ thorned scheme.

Fern and heuchera mixes will create more year-round colour and interest to the bed, while two different grass mixes will create swathes of texture around the entrance to The Wilderness Assembly walkway.

Ferns Mixes

Ground Cover Mix A

Carex flagellifera

Asplenium scolopendrium

Dryopteris erythrosira

Dryopteris filix-mas ‘Linearis Polydactyla

Polypodium vulgare

Fern Mix A

Climbers

Heuchera MIx

Fern Mix B

Heuchera ‘Peach Flambe’

Heuchera ‘Crème Brulée’

Heuchera ‘Zipper’

Rubus biflorus

Rubus phoenicolasius

The Planting concept is based on demonstrating a low maintenance, ecologically beneficial scheme that creates seasonal interest in order to complement whilst subverting the existing approach to planting in the Flower Garden. As the planting bed will be at least partially shaded by the existing exotic coniferous trees in the Flower garden, all selected species are at least partial shade tolerant. Where additional shade is created by trees and shrubs, ground cover species are full-shade tolerant.

Lonicera periclymenum

Rp

Lp Lp

Rp

Lp

Trees and Shrubs

Fern Mix A Fern Mix B

GC mix A

Heuchera mix

GC mix B

Amenity lawn 23

Crataegus laevigata

Frangula alnus

Gravel

Flower Garden Planting Plan 1:50 24

Paradise Reimagined: An Ecological Interpretation of Redemption in Landscape The design of Brompton Cemetery was based on St Peter’s Piazza in Rome, which itself reflects the structure of a cathedral. Religious symbolism informed the aesthetics of the monuments, gravestones and planting at the peak of the cemetery’s popularity in the late 1800s. Despite the decline of traditional religion today, society still needs to address questions about our understanding of life, death and our place and purpose within the world.

Today, ecological principles provide a moral purpose and guidance for people looking to redeem humanity by working towards ensuring the sustainability of the planet. The reimagining of the cemetery aims to provide a structure that demonstrates and upholds ecological ideals whilst provoking consideration and contemplation of our place and purpose. The design intent was to acknowledge the spiritual history of the site but to re-evaulate the original design princicples with a contemporary, ecological perspective.

The design is intended to prompt thoughts about personal responsibility, our place in the world and how we will be remembered.

This interactive obelisk installation was created as a method of taking measure of the cemetery landscape as part of the wider project. Pegs are store in a tray and can be inserted into the obelisk side that best fits the reason for the cemetery visit. This is the original concept drawing for the obelisk and photographs from the final construction.

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Greenwich Park - Sharing the View

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The aim of the project was to create a historical and location- sensitive, but stylistically distinctive site at the Giant Steppes area of Greenwich Park.

The tiered seating aims to encourage visitors to actively engage with the view, the landscape and the maritime heritage area by expanding access to the protected view and decreasing congestion. As the design does not interfere with the historically landscaped parkland and uses stone in keeping with the wider heritage area, it acknowledges the area’s history but doesn’t attempt to immitate it. Following the undulating topography within the park that is currently at risk of erosion, the ampitheatre design democratises the viewing space and creates a contemporary but sensitive area.

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Volumes and Voids in Transit Ø2.50 Ø3.00

Legend

Ø3.50

Volume chart- Johnny Flynn, The Dectectorists Theme Heart rate Intersection line Peddling pause/ squeeze point Spatial area available to occpy in squeeze points

Ø2.50 Ø3.00 Ø3.50

Ø1.50 Ø2.00 Ø2.50

Squeeze 3: Greenwich University entrance

A-AA

Section: Start of track

B-BB

Section: Squeeze Point 1

C-CC

Section: Squeeze Point 2

D-DD

Section: Squeeze Point 3

E-EE

Section: Bike Parking/ destination Bike Percieved degree of spatial safety First degree: awareness Second degree: caution Third degree: peturb Volume Volume-created void in built environment

Williams Walk

Ø3.00 Ø2.50 Ø2.00 Destination: Greenwich University entrance

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Squeeze 1: Navigating the park gates

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