Landscape.is Tenerife and the Canery Islands........

Towards the end of the easter i went to the Canery islands in Spain. Seiing a beautiful series of islands that have been created from volcanic activity was amazing, it was seeing a totally dry desert type Landscape that had been formed and is constantly changing in a different dimension to what the landscape is like in the United Kingdom.


Even though the Volcano that is the main focal point on the island of Tenerife is now dormant, its past still remains as a key element to the landscape. The landscape now is made up of vast hoills and valleys, and very dry rocky terrain all around. And the beaches are made up of black sand which has vast quantities of volcanic material in it.

No matter where you go in the world the landscape is never the same, it is always different and constintly changing...............................

Landscape.is Ham House Surrey

More pictures of the stunning Ham House In Surrey. Enjoy.................

Landscape.is Ham House Surrey

Ok so i havent been able to post any new blogs on here for a while but i decided that now i have some spare time, that this page is getting a whole new update of what i have been doing regarding interests with landscaping.

Back in December 2005, day after boxing day i made a visit to Ham House in Surrey with my parents. This was due to a History essay that i had to do aswell as everyone else. I had manby options to choose from but i decided ham house as i have never been there before and thought it would be of great interest. The first impresions of Ham house on this freezing cold winters day, coldest of that year as a fact lol!, were that it has been designed and built to perfection, this is following the italian renaisance. This is noticable with the grand gardens at the back and also in the main courtyard that leads up to the front of the house.

I took loads of photos whilst i was there, and i am going to get all of them posted on here as soon as possiable if it lets me. Here are just some of them

Enjoy...................................

Its that time of the yeah again.. yes landscape is lego im affraid

Ok well i hate to say it but yes it is that time of year again when i have to say hey look im back at lego!, man what was i thinking going back, and also my tutors are going to read this and think, that has nothing to do with landscape architecture!, is spencer going mad....?, well know im not mad, but i thought i would pu t this on here as one of my other jobs over the summer is working in a landscaped park which has been made out of millions of little lego bricks, amazing!. Anyway bit of a random blog which i have done for a laugh. By the way the lego men dont know who they are, they were just passing by when i was at work!.

Landscape. is the landmarks of britain and the great parks that are sittuated there...

Ok so going back to are walk through London we walked past trafalger square and then up the mall where we looked at how the parks have been regenerated and new modern cafes have been placed there now to allow people to onteract more in these large public spaces. From here we ended up walking to the british museam and seeing over famous landmarks in the city of London



















This iamge is showing the new war memoraill that has been placed along the mall. It si not yet finished and is still under construction.














This is the new restaurant that has been built in the royal gardens along thre mall. It has a very modern design by being placed into a grass verge.

























As this psicture shows, never be fooled by the january weather, this day was so so cold i cant even explain it. still had a brilliant day though!.

the route through the Kingston landscape to my destination in the town

Landscape. is the route through the kingston landscape from knights park to my destination in town.....

Right well your all probably thinking why has spencer recorded his journey from uni to sainsburys?, is he really going mad?... well im affraid im not going mad there was a reason behind this and this is it. Ok well for our first project i had to record how i came accross choosing my object which was an apple, and quite simply mine was from sainsburys so what over way than too record my journey there hahahaha!. here it is, not the most interesting blog but its something to be proud of i suppose. Enjoy.

Landscape. is Kew Gardens

Back in April i defided that i would make a visit to the amazing gardens known as Kew gardens. I went them to see how a place of scientific interest had been designed into a large open space for the general public, and how different areas had been created and also to view the amazing glass house they have there which dates back from the victorian time. It is the largest glass house in the world and it houses saome astonishing plants from all over the worls, nad even some rare species being over a centruary old.

Whilst i was there i took many different images of plants using different shutter speeds and all and i collected what i think are some brilliant images of plants that can hopefully be used in my future landscape designs. Please enjoy some of the images from kew that i have on show.

Walking around London

In February some of the Landscape students and Architects went to london to see how you can learn alot more about the landscape from walking to each place rather then relying on public transport to get from a to b!. we met at waterloo station and then walked along the embankment to the londopn eye and looked at how new investment is being funded toi create a park for the general public in the open area which is now unused at the base of the London eye.

This work is due to start in August of this year so i will post more information about that as it begins to develop. From here we walked to here more funding has taken to place to redevelop the royal festival hall in London. Alkong the embankment here they have cerated larger areas for public space by having more outdoor restaurants and the paving used is almost like agrey lime stone but it really blends in with the new architecture being built around it and on a cold damp day like it was when we were there it still shows carecter. Also what i noticed and really likred was the way they had created the change in levals with the paving for access from diabled people and to add more carecter to the area of embankment. It looked fantastic.


Walking around london it was clear to see that there is alot of new and re- development going on both with new designs being constructed and also to prepare london for the 2012 olympic games.

With my love of photography i decided to take some rather unique images of the construction of some pof these buildings so that is was clear to see the frame work in all its beuty before cladding and other materialls are then placed over this and hide the tremendous huge framework which kjeeops these new buildings upright. Here are some of them....

Landscape students trip to Bexhill.....

In december of last year the first year architecture and Landscapoe Architecture students went to Hastings to carry out investigations for there new projects. On the way back we stopped of at Bexhill to observe the famous Architecture building along the sea front there. The building once used to just be used to allow people to meet up and unwind with a book and watch the worls go by. But now it has been revamped and saved from going into decay and it has now been transformed into a modern art gallery which displays local talent from the surrounding areas.

I would not say its the most interesting place to visit but its a day out and it is interesting to see. What else i liked about this was the large area that has been given for public space over looking the beach front, this is a very good design and it still uses the same techniques which the older generations used to use of relaxing on the prmanade reading a boook over looking the beuty of the english channel...

Landscape. is Portsmouth

Ok so a couple of days ago myself and a few freinds decided we would go to Portsmouth to have a look a round, have a look at some of the maritime history there and try and go on the new viewing tower there k own as the spinchter tower.( im guuessing that is how you spell it?, i will double check soon though)!. Anyway i was amazed at how much portsmouth has regenerated itself tinto a main central hub on the coast of britain to attract large amounts of tourists and create new areas of bustling public spaces.

There are a series of new areas in portsmouth to walk along and they have regenereated the town with shops and cafes and large entertainment areas for people to relax, unwind and interact with what is going on around them. And also the introduction of the new viewing ower has helped to attract alot more tourists and public to the area and this is helping in visitors wnating to see more pof what portsmouth hads to offer.

However when first impressions of seeing the famous navy port of portsmouth that holds nelsons ship and has alot of wartime hiostory behind it, i began to think, right ok does this new viewing tower really fit in here with the rest of the landscape or is it going to insult the community because of adding such a gigantic new attraction to the old sea port?, well only time will tell but as for now i see this as being a sucess and it has shown how new landscaping and architecture can be m,ixed in with the old to create more modern architecture for future generations.

Portsmouth is one of the many places that has proved this, and to beleive it its worth seing for yourselfs........

Landscape. is the sunset over a public space.....

On a very cold december morning in 2005 we went to hastings to carry out some investigation into the site and how we could incorparate a new design and majke it fit in with the exsisting surroundings. Also i was looking at how the landscape around the ew design would be used in ways that how people would wind there way through the space, where people would park and all these ameniaties. But one thing that i hadnt taken into consideration was the way that natural light can have a majoutr effect on the way that tcertain infrastructure is placed around the site and how it can help to develop a better understandin of where warm and cool areas will be on the open space and also the natural light scource into the building itself.

As we were leveing hastings we stopped of in a town about half an hour away and the sun was just beginning to fall from the low dull winter sky, this must have been around 4ish. and the effect it had as the fire red coulours ignited the sky almost was amazing so i captured pictures of this to show how an open space can have its carateristics changed by the different types of weather.

Landscape. is Hastings and the coast line of England and beyound.....

Right well for the third project of the year we had to look at Hastings. Hastings is welll very old fasioned if youbask me but we had to come up with an idea to develop somewhere along the beach fron t an idea of something we found would fit into the area and remebber the fishing industry of the townb. The fishing industry in Hastings has been a majour part of the town since the romands came over to briatain, but with modern technology taking over this magnificent peice of bauty is slowly being phrased out.



So i had decided to build an inform,ation centre for visitors to Hastings where they could collect information on the town. Also it would be designed in the shape of a lobster pot so that it would relate to the fishing industry in the town. I would have a main central dome that would have perspex glass like the eden project to allow natuarl light into the dome. Based in the centre of it there would be a large cinema and conference room, and then on the walls around would be displayed history about the fishing industry and also local art work from artistds in the town to display there art skills as hastings is a majour place for artists to display there natural beauty and also poets and writters come here as it is very tranquall and it is away from the city life and is a cleaner atmosphere with the sea breeze.








Theese images are showing the part of coast line in Hastings called the strade where all the main fishing takes place.