Practice Profile
One of the modules of our initial year as landscape architecture students was called First sights, whose aim it was to increase our awarness of the resources avalible to aid our study and develope a knowledge of the professional industry in which we hope to work.
An assignment was set to carry out a study of a landscape architect’s practice from which we could conduct a short presentation to our fellow student’s. In search for a suitable practice we were encouraged to select a study which inspired our own interests. As a first year student my knowledge and experiance of the landscape archicture industry and its various forms was limited, but found myself attracted to contempory design which attempted to absorb and reflect the natural beauty of nature.
On a field trip to Hyde Park to visit The Diana memorial i was made aware of its designers the internationally reknown landscape practice Gustafson Porter based in Kentish Town, London. Through their website i was able to gain greater insight into their practice and was taken by the variety of the projects undertaken and the vast experiance within the company. Just readng the differant pages of their website was a huge lesson in itself. The approach page for the first time provided an explanation, with definition and clarity the essence of the design process and what it should encompass for a landscape project.
Having chosen Gustafsen Porter as the focus for my study i sent them am e-mail requesting a possible visit with a list of questions i hoped to ask and fortunately enough recieved a reply from Sibylla Hartel an associate at Gustafson Porter allowing just that.
So at 9.30 am on the 25th April armed with an array of questions i hoped would come across as reasonably intelligent i entered the Gustafson porter offices which to my surprise were laid back and informal and put me immediately at ease. The office itself is situated in a section on the third floor of an old victorian warehouse with an open and bright feel with various workstations laid out employing on my initial impression contented, friendly people.
Lucky as i was to be granted the time, 30 minutes goes extremely quickly and was only able to ask a few of the questions intended. Regrettably i wasn’t allowed to use a dictaphone, so i apologise for the broken nature of the answers.
Q 1. What was the time scale of the Swiss Cottage Open Space Project, London from inception to completion ? ( This is a project that Sibylla worked on personally )
Ans . A total of 7 years. 1999 – 2000 was the planning period followed by 2 years of stalling due to local council bureaucracy. 2003 – 2004 detailed design followed by issuing of tenders to various contractors. Work started early 2005 and was completed March 2006 with a 12 months defects obligation. After this period no contractual obligations responsibilty down to client.
Q 2. What was the brief behind Swiss Cottage Open Space.
Ans. There existed a large split within former space and the local community. The surrounding building housed differant uses, a cinema, offices, pensioner homes, Barrett’s developement and an existing concrete centre which had become a waste of space and had been left to the elements resulting in a lack of desire for it to be used by the people for thom it was intended. The aim was therefore to unify the adjacent area and it’s local community. This was helped greatly by the construction of recreation centre for the local community and a large water feature designed for the pleasure of play as well as the aesthetic.
Q 3. How did Gustafson Porter become chosen to carry out the project ?
Ans . 4 teams were invited to provide a proposal for Swiss Cottage site. 2 were English and 2 were French. Gustafson Porter proved the most popular with client.
Q 4. What events exist prior to the start of construction ?
Ans. Formalisation of idea and detailed information, including construction details, specifactions of materials, qualities of works are passed on to Quantity Surveyor. It is either the team or the client who ensures everything is within budget. A bill of quantities or booklet of costs is then sent out to a minimum of 4 vetted contractors for tender. Contractors are chosen most importantly on quality of work, but also on financial standing and level of public liability insurance, the cheapset tender is generally selected.The main contractor then employs the various sub-contractors required and construction starts.
Q 5. How do you see the future for landscape architecture industry ?
Ans . Believes it’s looking very bright with much work about.
Q 6. As a freshly diploma qualified landscape architect student where if employed would i start within your company ?
Ans . Would join team of Assistant landscape architects.
I told you 30 minutes goes quickly. Although i didn’t get to ask all i wished, it was a great experiance to visit the office of a landscape architect practice, to get a feel of the working environment and discover how informal it was. On a more personal level it was fantastic to see the conceptual models illustrated on their website which went to develope the final project and realise that the methods are not far from our own experimentation with white plastercine.
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