Nick Russell Landscape Architecture Portfolio May 2023

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

NICK RUSSELL

I am nearing the end of my degree in Landscape Architecture and am now keen to develop my skills with real-life projects. I am proficient at using AutoCAD, InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Sketchup and Twinmotion.

07739545033

sylvatico@protonmail.com

linkedin.com/in/nick-c-russell

Experience

My favourite aspects of Landscape Architecture are conceptual masterplanning and planting design. Digging deeper into the hidden narratives of everyday experience of landscape is something I’ve loved exploring during my time at university.

I hope to go on to specialise in planting design. My previous training and experience as a horticulturist has provided me with a good foundation of knowledge for the subject and an enthusiasm for the endless possibilities it can provide to outdoor spaces.

Profile Contents of Portfolio

While at University I was the founder and President of the Botanical Society. I decided to found the society with the dual purpose of bringing students together for fun, informal events and helping to grow other students’ knowledge of plants.

It started as just a plant identification club that I ran but over time the other committee members and myself organised day trips to gardens, house plant exchanges, residential weekend trips to large garden destinations, wreath making workshops and more.

I also gained access to a previously forgotten campus greenhouse and used it to propagate and try out a number of plants that I’d been curious to experience growing myself.

2018-2019

2017-2018

2016-2017

National Botanic Garden of Wales, Carmarthenshire Highgrove, Gloucestershire

Ashridge House, Hertfordshire

Horticulturist: Working in all areas of the Botanic Gardens including the Great Glasshouse, Tropical House, Boulder Garden, Walled Garden and Broad Walk. I also assisted in the plant propagation schedule for the Garden’s large Mediterranean collection, and temporarily took over the schedule of work completely while the Propagation Manager was away on sick leave. Lead designer for the NBGW’s feature garden at RHS Cardiff Flower Show 2019.

Horticulturist: Working with the Amenity, Ornamental and Production teams in their respective areas.

Horticulturist: Helping maintain the historic Humphrey Repton designed gardens. While here I designed and implemented a planting plan for an area and grew all the plants from seed in the estate glasshouses. My report on this is included in my LinkedIn.

2017

Iribov Young Plants, Netherlands

Nursery Worker: While at Pershore College I won the Peter Williamson Travel Award from Wyevale, which organised and paid for me to travel to a specialist nursery in the Netherlands and spend the Summer working there. The nursery I worked at specialised in propagating and growing on herbaceous perennials.

University of Gloucestershire

3-7 ........................Year 3 Design Project - Castle Meads

8- 15......................Year 2 Design Project - Northplace

16-17....................RHS Cardiff Flower Show 2019 Feature Garden - Gardd Lles

18-19....................Chaumont Garden Festival Entry - Edge of the Anthropocene

2008-2006

PGG Traineeship Programme

Pershore College, Worcestershire

Bridgend College

University of Glamorgan

Porthcawl Comprehensive School, Mid Glamorgan

BA(Hons) Landscape Architecure (Grade not yet known). Completed numerous projects covering planning development, sustainable technology, planting plans and conceptual masterplanning. The Botanical Society, for which I was President and founder, won the Best New Society at the Student’s Union Awards 2022

At the end of this three-year traineeship programme with the Professional Gardener’s Guild my Head Gardener’s evaluation of my work and my own written reports earned me a Distinction

City & Guilds Level 3 Extended Diploma in Horticulture and Landscaping

- Distinction*

City & Guilds Level 2 Diploma in Horticulture and Landscaping

- Distinction

Art Foundation Diploma

A levels - Art (A), Maths (B), Geography (C)

GCSEs - Maths, Biology, Physics, (A*), Geography, Chemistry, Music, R.S., English Lit, English language, (A), Art, (B), Welsh short course (C)

-CASTLE MEADS Concept development

The brief for this project was to create a landscape design for a large greenfield site in Gloucester, just across the river from the City centre.

The design was intended to have a deeper concept behind it and respond to an important issue inflicting the envirnment or populace.

I became interested in the Biophilic design approach, especially thinking about the deeper reason why people are so calmed by being in nature and around life.

I also began reading about ancient spatial archetypes connected to the human psyche.

The form my design concept eventually took is shown in the sheet to the right.

I arranged these stages and archetypal forms into layers on the site plan before bringing them together to form the basis of what my design would be.

I decided that the ‘Four Quarters’ area should be as near to the City Centre as possible, which is where I began, and then some distance between this and the Great Round area, though not enough to push it to the edge of the site.

YEAR 3 DESIGN PROJECT -CASTLE MEADS

Early Design Development

-CASTLE MEADS

Late Design Development

As I started to refine the design I began determining where the hardstanding, building areas and trees would be as well as the open space and formal and informal pathways. The diagrams here show this continuing development from left to right.

YEAR 3 DESIGN PROJECT - CASTLE MEADS Masterplan

River of Consciousness

Waterways

These lead from the river to the central circle space. As the river tide changes the height of the water here creates different dynamic to the area

Tree barrier

Line of trees to reduce visual and noise impact of adjacent main road

Grassy Earth Mounds

Arranged in a series of concentric rings with bridges between

Observation

Tower

30m tall tower for viewing the landscape and nearby city. Accessable by steps from the ground level or a bridge from the raised mound route

Attenuation Ponds

Designed to take on water as the waterways fill above a certain threshold, controlling flooding of the site

Community Centre

Multi-use building for the local community to use for cultural, educational and spiritual events, workshops and gatherings

Car Parking

Previous large car park has been removed and replaced with smaller parking area for just disabled access to encourage users to arrive across the bridge from Gloucester

Cloddiau/ Cornish Hedges

Dry-stone walls infilled with earth to create short, sloping boundary lines

Art Gallery

Space for local art exhibitions

Informal Paths

This network of paths weaves through the flooplain level, disappearing during flooding and re-emerging in dryer periods, creating dynamic interest and access

Great Round Area

Can be accessed via the raised walkway or ground level pathways for parallel alternative experiences

Raised Walkways

Raised formal path network designed to make site accesible even during times of flooding

Riverside Cafe and Plaza Cafe for visitors to sit and view the river from.

Area is linked to Gloucester by original bridge

Naturalistic Planting Beds

Series of naturalistic matrix planting beds with benches to view them, all facing in one direction

Four Quarters Couryard

Formal plaza linked to Gloucester directly via new bridge. Includes sunken seating area with fountain and lawns for public to sit

River Steps

Concrete steps leading down to the river

Small Riverside Viewing Platform

Includes steps down to the floodplain level on inner side and down to the river on the other side

YEAR 3 DESIGN PROJECT -CASTLE MEADS Visualisations

The left image shows the view looking inland from the riverside garden plaza. This riverside area is raised up above flooding level and the view inland shows the floodplain area,with informal paths, sculpted waterways and attenuation ponds that relieve the waterways when they reach above +8.5m ASL. The Observation Tower can also be seen in the distance as well as the series of raised mounds, which tie the two main areas together and create little islands when it floods.

The right image shows a view into the Four Quarters area, a formal courtyard and building that is directly linked to Gloucester via a bridge. The specific part shown is the Furnitecture element, required as part of the brief. This is a sunken seating area around a square pool. The inward looking aspect is important to the concept of the Ego, which this area represents, as well as the formal containment of water, often used as a metaphor for consciousness.

YEAR 2 DESIGN PROJECT - NORTHPLACE

Site survey and Analysis

This project was for the redevelopment of a brownfield site in the centre of Cheltenham, currently used as a carpark.

The brief for the design required certain amount of floor area for buildings on the site and to include a car park, work/live buildings and a cafe.

We worked as a class to complete a comprehensive survey of the site and produced our own analysis and appraisal of it

Below are diagrams I made for the group report to illustrate the traffic flow in the immediate area to site and another showing the parking provison to the nearby area

To the right are some of my site analysis diagrams

Traffic Flow

Site for development

Primary road (A4019)

Secondary Roads

Tertiary Roads

One-way traffic for cars

Parking Provision

Site boundary

Charged-for and business parking

Limited time or permit parking

YEAR 2 DESIGN PROJECT -NORTHPLACE

Concept development

While playing with building shapes that could create interesting seperate spaces I came upon the idea of using a magnet as my concept.

I liked the connotations of attraction and flow that this would provde the design and the possibilities that the shape of the magnetic fields could give me for wayfinding and creating a cohesive space

Vision for Northplace

The vision is for a place that attracts life; pulls people towards it with visual magnetism and provides fertile soil for productivity.

A place for community activities to take root and innovation to blossom.

A link between urban life and the natural world, providing the health and well-being benefits of a biophillically designed space.

The Northplace site is well placed for the task; a tabula rasa, it sits along an important artery of flow directly between the town centre, Pittville Park and the Racecourse - three of Cheltenham’s most valuable components.

And the design can combine aspects of all three of these:

• A productive hive with modern workspaces for craftspeople and digital trailblazers.

• A green oasis of water, trees and patchwork meadow planting.

• And a cultural petri dish; with a public plaza for markets and art installations as well as an open-air theatre framed in hanging greenery.

YEAR 2 DESIGN PROJECT -NORTHPLACE Masterplan

THE CREATIVE MAGNET

Workspace Building

- ‘The Creative Magnet’

Overhead Feature

-Metal arches support overhead covering

-Creates a gateway into the inner courtyard, making it feel seperate

Raised Planting Bed

-Large Magnolia x soulangeana for pink blossom in spring

Footbridge

-Links the two buildings together via the top floors whilst giving visitors an element of ‘peril’

Eco Hub

-Activities linked to utilising and developing the adjacent Urban Forest as well as sustainability initiatives

Wayfinding

-Yellow overhead structures of varying heights run in tandem with the magnetic field lines on the ground.

-Provides wayfinding to the main building and plaza from North East

Trees

Perennial Meadow

Rooftop kitchen garden

-Fruit and vegetables grown here to provide the workspace refectory, Culture & Community Centre and cafe with food

-Large double-span glasshouse for effective propagating and overwintering

Stepped seating

-Surrounded by perennial planting

-Provides visitors with a good view of the plaza and the events taking place there

Public Plaza

-Space for seasonal gatherings

Wayfinding

-Turqoise glazed bricks set into the paving

Cafe and Restaurant

Workspace Building Secondary building

Bike hub and recharging station

Open-air theatre and cinema

Culture + Community Centre (top two floors)

-linked to rooftop kitchen garden via footbridge for easy access to produce

Car Park Building

-Three floors above ground and two below.

-Roof garden accessable via stairs on North side

Paving with glazed bricks

Water

Productive Glasshouse

Rooftop Vegetable crops

Glass covered Walkway Shrubs

YEAR 2 DESIGN PROJECT -NORTHPLACE Strategy Maps

These diagrams illustrate different strategies elements of the design that were factored into the thinking

YEAR 2 DESIGN PROJECT

-NORTHPLACE

Serial Vision Images

YEAR 2 DESIGN PROJECT -NORTHPLACE

YEAR 2 DESIGN PROJECT -NORTHPLACE

ANNOTATED SECTION DRAWINGS Sections

Raised

at

Inner Courtyard of the ‘Magnet’ - the main Creative Workspace Building

YEAR 2 DESIGN PROJECT -NORTHPLACE

Planting Palettes

Raised Bed Planting

The raised beds in the south west and south east areas will be planted with a mix of herbaceous perennials with pink, peach, purple and blue flowers.

Harmonising colours with some bolshy contrast to match the bustling activity around

Clockwise from top left: Linaria purpurea ‘Canon Went’; Salvia pratensis, Agastache auantiaca ‘Navajo Sunset’; Salvia patens; Echinacea purpurea; Malva moschata; Valeriana officinalis; Althaea officinalis; Penstemon barbatus ‘Twizzle Coral’

Urban Forest Planting

The Urban Forest planting has a softer colour pallette of pink, white and blue, with an aim towards creating a relaxing atmosphere

Clockwise from top left: Veronicatrum longifolia; Astrantia major ‘Pink Sensation’; Geranium pratense ‘Mrs Kendall Clark’; Hydrangea macrophylla; Leucanthemum vulgaris; Penstemon heterophylla ‘Bodnant’; Hesperantha coccinea ‘Pink Princess’; Sisyrinchium ‘Quant and Queer’; Pulmonaria officinalis ‘Blue Ensign’; Alchemilla mollis; Geranium ‘Wargrave Pink’

Ephemeral Structure Use of Space

in the centre of the plaza This imbues the space with new atmosphere and ideas, igniting debate and conversation

This permanent overhead feature in the covered walkway can be clothed in temporary decorations for festivals and events to transform the ambience

Market stalls can be laid out in the plaza along the turquoise magnetic field lines

The main building becomes a giant frame for the sculptures or art installations erected

WELLBEING GARDEN / GARDD LLESS

Visualisations from Sketchup model

Early concept painting

Planting palette

During

The brief was to create a wellbeing garden to promote the benefits gardens can bring to mental health and was intended to subsequently be put into Morriston Hospital in Swansea as a place for staff to relax.

I felt like being surrounded by thriving greenery is an important element of well being gardens. My early inspiration was the holloways you find in nature paths where the surrounding trees create an enveloping green tunnel around you.

I wanted there to be a clear portal into the space that marked the arrival and exit so it felt the user was arriving somewhere different. I decided a square edged structure would also contrast and emphasise the informality of the rest of the design.

My plan for the planting was to have rich green structure surrounding the benches and garden edges with shrubs and trees, while one larger planting area is focused on for colour. This area is directly viewable from both benches and with a colour scheme of blue, pink and white. An illustration of this view from one bench is shown above.

my traineeship at the National Botanic Garden of Wales I was selected as the lead designer for our feature garden at the RHS Cardiff Flower Show 2019.

Layout of paths, benches and entrance structures

RHS CARDIFF FLOWER SHOW 2019

WELLBEING GARDEN / GARDD LLESS

Images of Completed garden

Detail planting plan for focal area

CHAUMONT GARDEN FESTIVAL ENTRY -THE EDGE OF THE ANTHROPOCENE

THE EDGE OF THE ANTHROPOCENE

This was an entry for the Chaumont Garden festival for which the theme was ‘Resilient Garden’ and entrants were free to interpet that how they pleased. My group decided to look at the idea of nature enduring, even in the eventuality that humanity becomes extinct as a result of catastrophe or war.

I wrote the following as explanation for the plan and design:

THE EDGE OF THE ANTHROPOCENE

The visitor is first met with a rising structure, full of blue coloured flowers and plants, and surrounded on all sides by burning orange and coral colours. Upon closer inspection the landscape is littered with abandoned and decaying structures of human design but which look to have not been used for decades, maybe even centuries.

The atmosphere is peaceful but slightly unnerving, as the mind wonders what caused the creators to disappear. The colour contrast is stark; the objects in the outer realm seem to be scorched, while the objects in the blue, inner place are broken but not ruined in the same way. The realisation prompting more unanswered questions about what caused this.

To the right a curved wall of mirror reflects the scorched colours back, but is distorted so that the visitor can see nothing recognisable as a human form looking back. Moving through to the back of this area the visitor turns a corner and slips into an alternate reality; swaying grasses and cottage garden plants, surrounded with neat gardened edges. Pockets of human ingenuity knitted into the greenery, upright and working.

Polished mirrors return an image of humans alive and a sister structure to that of the previous garden hangs overhead. Like everything else in this side of the reality, it raises a question. The earth does

This side of the garden is visually very different with tall trees and shrubs. The layout allows people to explore and relax, representing a way forward with humans working and being resilient with nature instead of against.

1:100 @ A3 GENERAL LAYOUT FOR RESILIENT GARDEN

This side of the garden would provoke a sense of questioning, showing the rsilience of the natural world to rebuild with or without us.

Toona sinensis leaves appear bright pink in spring creating a focal point for visitors

Cut-out doorway in mirror to enter left side of the garden

Recycled crate seating circling a small pond.

Broken

The mirror is undistorted, allowing plants and humans to be reflected clearly, showing a future with us in it

Corten steel sructure which has not degraded, mirroring the shape of the structure on the right side

not care if humans disappear or stay. They are simply two different possibilities. But how does it make you feel?

A warped mirror where the planting and people are distorted

Overhead structure surrounded by water creating a stillness to the garden

Decaying Corten structure with blue flower and foliage planting surrounding you when inside

Peachy and amber coloured prairie planting evoke a scorched landscape

Patchwork paving of stone, bricks and flagstone with grass and plants growing through

Entrance to the graden strewn with human relics, giving a feeling of abandoned place. Plants have taken over and softened the landscape

1:100 @ A3

patchwork path transitions into a smoother finsh

CHAUMONT GARDEN FESTIVAL ENTRY -THE EDGE OF THE ANTHROPOCENE

This is the planting plan I created for the design, which provides colour and interest from spring to late Summer and Autumn

The colour key on the left is for the left side of the plan, and vice versa for the right side. Where the same colour has been used to key different plants on the same side they would both be planted in this area and one would succeed the other as the year passes, ensuring that colour presence is carried over the following months.