This project was completed in my first semester of second year at Robert Gordons University. The brief was to design a space that could be used as a community garden with the addition of a space that could be used as kitchen and workshop area. The Bon Accord Cresent was an old brick terrace which is located in a central area in the city of Aberdeen. It used to be an ornamental garden as indicated by the signs of old trellis and quality of the soil on the terrace.

The Bon Accord Crescent has been through many changes over its lifespan. Currently, it is a somewhat secluded park which is used by dog walkers, workers on their lunch and for mild acts of anti-social behavior.

I explored the urban context and looked at infrastructure in the surrounding area.

I made a survey and started to interview the users of the park to get a better understanding of what it meant to them and what they knew about it. This helped me understand what might possibly benefit the area and how to best implement a community garden.

Sketches helped me to refine what was necessary and work though all the information that I had learned from the interviews I had conducted. I also further researched the historical context of the area and learned about its allotments, mills, truck yards and rivers that had at one time been present on the site.  

After conducting a survey of the site, I was able to make working drawings which would allow me to accurately engage with the landscape as the design of the project developed.

I compiled all of this information into a booklet and staged a small exhibition in my university to show the work to my fellow students and encourage discussion around the project.

I started to make models to define what it was I wanted to do in my project. I worked with a large level change of 12 metres which occurred over the site. It became apparent that one of the main issues facing users, particularly those who might have mobility issues, was the incline of the slope. This needed to be addressed so I started to think of how a community garden could be used by everyone in the community, even if they might have different physical requirements.

This ramped sloping idea became to be central in the progression of the project.

By making more and more models I was able to separate the various ideas I was exploring. I made models looking at the object and the observed, the slope and different ways the narrative of the existing terrace could be extenuated by a new project.

I started to make drawings of the project moving through concepts that had emerged from my model making and thinking about how to demonstrate them in a two dimensional format.

I started to make very rough visualisations of the project to think through how this might be shown.

I made a large-scale model of a dining area that would be used for community gatherings. I thought about its placement in the landscape through photo montage.

Another large-scale model of the desired parts of the project helped me to get a better idea about light, movement and the relation of spaces to one another.

After this I had my design fairly locked down, I know I wanted a sloping ramped space that could be used for social interactions as a accessible community garden. I wanted to preserve the original structure and allow for it to be integrated into the new project. The sloped garden offered the perfect buffer between the old and new structures through the sifting of material and shape. 

I continued to work on drawings representing the project with a particular focus on the section so as to best explore and explain the changes in level.

I made diagrams at this point to better explain the project and highlight its key features.

At this point I refined and edited my work for my final pin-up trying to establish what information best explained the project.

I made a long ramped area which dealt with the steep level change on site, making it more accessible and allowing for people with different levels of mobility to use it. The ramped area also acted as a landscaped element of buffering between the old historic structure and the new. It allowed a continuous flow of narrative that integrated all elements present on site. This could offer the community a singular piece which not only provided them with new facilities but also allowed them to reflect on their surroundings while taking the long, winding meditative path of the ramp.