In church, a recessional is a hymn or piece of music accompanying the withdrawal of the clergy and choir from the chancel to the vestry, at the close of a service. The term is also used for the music after…
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Lecture on London Cycle Network Planning
Lecture by Tom Turner on 23rd April 2018, the LI London Branch The Landscape Urbanism Design Method should be applied to the problem of giving London the Cycleway Network it deserves: for getting from A-to-B, the aim should be to…
Playing chess on the Stockwell Street University of Greenwich roof garden
Does London have a better place for a game of chess than the University of Greenwich’s Stockwell Street roof garden? If so, please tell me about it. While smelling the sweet scents of spring flowers, you can pick mint, gaze…
Posted in green roofs, landscape architecture
Hal Moggridge lecture: Slow Growth: On the Art of Landscape Architecture
On Wednesday 21st February, Hal Moggridge lectured to the London Branch of the Landscape Institute on the theme of his 2017 book Slow Growth: On the Art of Landscape Architecture. A Wikipedia article explains that Slow Food is ‘an organization…
Posted in landscape architecture
Ian McHarg’s boyhood in Glasgow, Clydebank and Craigallian Loch
Ian McHarg was born on Clydeside and became the most famous landscape architect of the 20th century. The importance of Clydebank in the development of his Design with Nature philosophy is explained in McHarg’s last book: A Quest for Life: An…
Posted in landscape architecture
Which is the older art: Landscape or Architecture?
Short history of the word ‘landscape’ The word ‘landscape’ was formed by adding ‘-scape’ (or ‘-skip’ or ‘-ship’) to the noun ‘land’. This made it an abstract noun. When it came into English, from Anglo-Saxon, the word ‘landscape’ had a…
Posted in landscape architecture
IS landscape architecture one of the ten most important professions?
Is landscape architecture one of the world’s most important professions? Yes. There is an immense public demand for good urban and rural landscapes. We want to live in them. We want to visit them. We want them to exist. So…
Posted in landscape architecture
The brilliant landscape architecture of Edinburgh New Town
Was Edinburgh’s new town planned by a landscape architect? Yes. One could argue that the term ‘landscape architect’ was not invented until 1828 and could not apply to a competition design submitted in 1766. But the term ‘architect’ did not…
Bad landscape architecture 1: Creekside non-village in Deptford, London
Inspired by James Kunstler’s Ted talk How bad architecture wrecked cities (video above) I am planning some blog posts on Bad landscape architecture. Much of it, of course, is designed or commissioned by architects. But you can’t blame them. They have no…
Posted in landscape architecture
You’ve got to hand it to the Grand Canal in Venice
‘Giant Hands’ at the Ca’ Sagredo Hotel on the Grand Canal during Venice Biennale 2017. The sculpture Support is by Lorenzo Quinn (an Italian and a son of actor Anthony Quinn). The hands were modelled in resin-coated polyurethane foam and based on…
Posted in flood prevention, landscape architecture
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