GRANTON CASTLE WALLED GARDEN
SITE ANALYSIS
CONTENTS 1. DISSONANT CITIES • First Impressions • Methodology • Selecting locations • Outcome
2. DESKTOP ANALYSIS
• Historic buildings • Coastal Changes • Heritage & Conservation • Community consultation
3. SITE ANALYSIS • Existing Landuse • Cycle Access • Urban Character • Vegetation • Garden Existing Conditions • Garden Materiality & Character
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DISSONTANT CITIES: EDINBURGH’S DISPARATE LANDSCAPES
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GROUND-LEVEL
EYE-LEVEL
SKYLINE
PARLIAMENT
FIRST IMPRESSIONS 4
DUNBARS CLOSE
MAKAR’S COURT
GRANTON CASTLE WALLED GARDEN: A Lost World
“I’ve lived in Tollcross for years. [The garden] was a mystery [to me]. [I had] never heard of it [until] the Open Door event.” Roger, Granton Castle Walled Garden Visitor
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In developing our creative project, we shared our experiences of the sites and recorded our conversations and brainstorming sessions to help capture initial ideas. This allowed us to revisit anything that was lost in a big discussion. We agreed that key contrasting components between the ‘familiar’ and ‘unfamiliar’ Edinburgh were the soundscapes and materiality of the sites. We considered creating a podcast using soundscape and narration and a film with a soundscape for audio. We decided a film would best convey the distinction between the narratives of the areas, but with an emphasis on the soundscape. We chose to interview volunteers at Granton Caslte Walled Garden and Granton Hub, and considered using this in the film, but found the content more suitable for supporting site analysis; quotes from these recordings can be found throughout the document. Further brainstorming in situ helped us develop a more robust outline for the film and focus on the most important elements – the sound, skyline and ground level materiality. Developing ideas on site allowed us to immediately test out ideas and potential locations for shots as well as experiment with shots from different angles.
METHODOLOGY 6
“[It’s] not a bad thing that the property bust did away with [the waterfront regeneration project], it would have been gentrification.” Granton Castle Walled Garden Visitor
GRANTON
We discussed capturing footage across a transect from the city centre to the coastline of Granton and considered recording a the journey between the two locations to demonstrate how the landscape changes between the two sites. However, we decided that this would not be the best approach to illustrate the differences in sound, materiality and character of the places filmed.
EDINBURGH
CENTRAL TO COASTAL 7
Instead filming locations were chosen based on significance and how effectively the two sets of recordings from the opposing areas of the city emphasized the disparate qualities between these two landscapes within Edinburgh, through the lens of noise polution as well as from a sound an economic and social perspective. Similarly, the soundscapes juxtapose the bustling city with the more peaceful character of Granton. To emphasize these differing characteristics, we chose to use more condensed, loud, busy and close-up shots and noises of Edinburgh’s city centre (such as cars, buses, people, construction work, sirens) whilst the shots and sounds captured in Granton are longer and slower paced, with calmer qualilties such as birdsong, waves, but with distant industrial sounds and noise pollution from the flight path above Granton.
LOCATION: SCOUTING & SELECTION 8
We tested different methods of caputring footage including moving shots from different angles, walking across still shots, and capturing the sounds of walking on different surface. Some approaches were deemed to not be appropriate and plausible for the scope of the project. Instead we decided that simplicity and consistency was most effectiveat communicating the narrative; using static shots on a tripod. We also experimented with using an umbrella as a parabola to capture specific sounds in the landscape such as distant birdsong and used it to create a more distinct sound of rainfall. We considered an appraoch that would split the frames into three sections to convey the character of three different levels, but settled on splitting the frames in two; using shots of the skyline and ground level, removing the usual ‘eye-level’ viewpoint to better emphasize the variation in locations. The shots of the skyline and ground-level help communicate the sense of enclosure and the busy, urban character the city centre. Conversely, in Granton, this composition conveys the sense of space and the industrial, almost “forgotten” character of the area.
STORYBOARD & EXPERIMENTATION 9
Noise pollution: Loud, Traffic & Construction / Birdsong, waves, peaceful, quiet, aeroplane Visitors: International & high number / few visitors, mostly local, some coastal path cyclists Building density: Compact & enclosed / open & spacious Footfall: High density & busy / low density & footfall Urban character: Grand, well-kept & historic / industrial, abandoned & historic Amenities: High level of amenities & very commercial / uncommercial, very few amenities
Regeneration without gentrification Through developing this project, it is evident that Edinburgh’s ‘visible’ city centre and Granton receive vastly unequal awareness, visitor’s and financial investment. The film, paints a picture of Granton as a neglected, almost ‘forgotten’ neighbourhood but with ‘hidden gems’ to be (re)discovered by both those who live there and those who visit. Building on the premise that sound contributes to stress (Basner et al, 2011), this project helps identify Granton as a potential refuge from the noisy, chaotic, urban environment of Edinburgh’s city centre, and a place for spending time outdoors in greenspace that can contribute towards the health and wellbeing of citizens. It is important to note, however, that through the lens of sound, such a scenario for Granton is somewhat undermined by the presence of the flight path. Undertaking this project has highlighted the importance of focusing on the local community and the social value that could be generated in Granton using Granton Castle Walled Garden as the catalyst for this.
OUTCOME 10
DESKTOP STUDY: GRANTON TO GARDEN
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1479 – Granton House surrounded by Fields/farmland and estate hunting grounds 1552 – quarrying stone in the Area for Edinburgh and Holyrood House 1592-1740 – changes hands at least 11 times – it is regularly altered and the wall is rebuilt falling into disrepair- becomes a ruin 1716 – renamed Royston Castle / House 1700’s Castle refurbished Rock quarried from West of Royston Castle to build Granton Harbour 1830-40’s 1838 – trainline built Lighthouse - built circa 1850 as a training centre; however, it has since become a cultural hub - exhibition space 1850 – world’s first ferry-train began operating between Granton and Burntisland
HISTORY OF GRANTON AND GARDEN 12
1898 Madelvic Motor Carriage Company started manufacturing electric cars. The site is now the oldest surviving car factory in Britain, is a listed building and the site of Granton
BUILT IN 1890’S 13
Glasshouses added to Granton Castle Walled Garden at the end of 19th C and early 20th C. Part of the granton Castle estate was sold off to build the Granton gasworks. The first of the gasometers was built 1902. Granton Railway Station was built 1903 to serve gasworks
BUILT IN 1900’S 14
Quarrying recommenced at the site of the castle in 1921 which led to its demolition.
BUILT IN 1910’S 15
Two gasometers were built in 1930’s (though not yet shown on this map) and demolished 1970’s
BUILT IN 1930’S 16
Granton Railway Station was closed in 1942.
BUILT IN 1950’S 17
Railway tracks were removed 1960’s. 1950’s to 1980’s Ice works were in operations in the area.
BUILT IN 1960’S 18
Gas manufacture came to an end and the two newer gasometers were demolished in 1970’s.
BUILT IN 1970’S 19
Only one gasometre remains standing as it is a listed example of Victorian industrial architecture.
BUILT IN 2010’S 20
DEVELPMENT OF GRNATON 130 YEARS 21
EDGES IN FLUX 22
HERITAGE & CONSERVATION 23
“The plan is to do something but they don’t know what. National galleries have the land for building their facility on the other side [of Madelvic factory from Granton Hub], where they are going to house all the paintings that aren’t on display and then they will have to make that very open [to the public]… 40% of it is supposed to go to community use, but we don’t know what for yet. Granton Hub Coordinator
COMMUNITY RESPONSE - EXISTING ASSETS 24
SITE SURVEY: GRANTON TO GARDEN
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EXISTING LANDUSE GRANTON 26
I grew up in trinity just up the road. I’ve lived [on the same road as Madelvic House] for 10 years and its shocking because all they’re interested in is putting up flats… all new flats and no amenities what so ever, no bars, cafes, shops… nothing. And it’s always been like this. It’s like this forgotten little corner. Which is pretty, we’ve got Crammond and stuff…” Granton Hub Volunteer
EXISTING LANDUSE GRANTON 27
It would be great if they linked up the cycle path with the Hub, so that it is clearer to people cycling through the area that [Granton Hub] is here.� Granton Hub Coordinator
ACCESSIBILITY: Cycle paths 28
“We regularly take seeds and cuttings from [the site of] the Gasworks as it has so much wildlife, and use what we find to replant the garden with native species.� Granton Castle Walled Garden, Volunteer
LANDSCAPE AS A CLEANSER 29
OUTSIDE GARDEN WALLS
GASWORKS & STATION
GRANTON HUB
“I would love to see [Madelvic factory] turned into something, like they do in Europe. I went to a music festival in Lisbon and they have this great big factory but it’s filled with studios. It’s got this amazing venue in it and I’m [thinking] why can’t we do something like this?! Because of Edinburgh council.” Granton Hub Volunteer
URBAN CHARACTER GRANTON 30
COASTAL ROAD
HARBOUR
“If you were going to keep one [tree] I would keep the Ash, because it’s historically significant as an example of what used to be in the garden. It had ten mature Ashes that were planted in the 1600’s. I often wonder if a building could be reinstated here that doesn’t obstruct the [public] path… but that floats above the surface… at the same level that the castle would have stood. If all the sycamores were removed or coppiced but not the Ash. So the tree could somehow be amongst the building. It need a bit of TLC and a bit of a crown lift. But it would be great to get a view out towards the sea and over the garden.” Granton Castle Walled Garden Volunteer
Left to right • • • • • • • • • •
Sea Rocks Wall Cycle path Fence Unused Road Pavement Wall Fraxinus
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Sambucus Sambucus Acer Acer Acer Sambucus Sambucus Acer Acer Acer
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Populus Nigra Fraxinus Sambucus Sambucus Salix Acer Acer Acer Salix
VEGETATION OUTSIDE WALLS 31
“The trees were planted to stabilize the embankment after the castle was demolished and the quarrying ended.” Granton Castle Walled Garden Volunteer
FOOTPATH VEGETATION 32
EXISTING CONDITIONS: WALLED GARDEN 33
EXISTING CONDITIONS: WALLED GARDEN 34
EXISTING CONDITIONS: WALLED GARDEN 35
EXISTING CONDITIONS: WALLED GARDEN 36
EXISTING CONDITIONS: WALLED GARDEN 37
GARDEN VEGETATION AND LANDUSE 38
CANOPY
UNDERSTORY
FIELD LAYER
GROUND LAYER
VEGETATION 39
OUTSIDE WALLS
MATERIALITY 40
WITHIN WALLS
“A gardener’s family ran the garden from the beginning of the [20th] century” [for three generations] growing fruit and veg [and later] flowers. [They sold it to the council who were going to develop it as part of the] waterfront project but then the credit crunch happened and it got forgotten about for 10 years…We fought for years to save the garden because [the council] wanted to build luxury apartments on it.” Granton Castle Walled Garden, Volunteer
GARDEN CHARACTER 41
PRDOUCED BY: MINGYU XU ZHIHUI LYU YUXIN HU DAVID RIBEIRO TELES LUCY ELDERFIELD-SHEEHY
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