eleanor campbell | landscape architecture | student portfolio 2012
About me: I am a fourth year student of Landscape Architecture at Edinburgh College of Art. I love to draw, paint and take photographs. I try to let my artwork influence my design work and vise versa. I love to listen to and make music. I love to travel and this is a constant source of inspiration for me. My passion for the earth and an obsession with big ideas led me to study the landscape and its design.
About my work: My approach to design sensitive and very site specific. I try to solve problems creatively. While I like to take ideas from principles found in permaculture; new advances in green infrastucture and landscape engineering inspire me. My interests are starting to focus in the areas of regeneration and remediation.
My Skills: Well developed drawing skills. Competent user of AutoCAD, Sketch-Up, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign. Expanding horticultural knowledge. Enthusiasm!!
Contents: Urban Regeneration, Fort William 4 Landscape Reclamation, Valleyfied Ash Lagoon 10 Park Design, Saughton Park 16 Contact Me: eleanor.campbell.is@gmail.com www.eleanorcampbell.wordpress.com
Urban Regeneration Fort William, Scottish Highlands, 2012 This project began as group work in the outdated and traffic conjested town of Fort William, then we each took parts of the design to work into further detail individually. This was a brilliant way to work. Our group design focussed on working with the existing beauty and giving character and a sense of place through materiality.
A rhythm of closes cut through the town to the loch side. This rhythm formed to basis of our masterplan. One of the main problems in the town was the dual carriage-way running along the waterfront. We found alternatives to this and allowed to waterfront to be opened up and enjoyed. Closes now led to points of interest along the shore, maybe a marina or an architecturally interesting public building. Mixed use buildings now gave the town a constant energy.
Materialty played a big part of our masterplan, and was one of the areas that I was most involved with. To deal with the traffic problem we used different surfaces, an idea taken from shared surfaces and applied to the whole town. Closes and courtyards were also given details within their materiality to give them character and uniqueness within the town. These sketch sections show the distribution of materials.
I took one of the closes to work into detail. This space had to accomodate public and residential access to the high street, waterfront and housing while dealing with a steep level change. Stepping dealt with the level changes and helped to separate the space into sub-sections. Strategic planting created a still space (public) and a moving space (residential access) without any need for gates, hedges or walls.
Landscape Reclamation Valleyfield Ash Lagoons, Fife, 2012 A huge section of land reclaimed from the Forth estuary, the site was made up of layer upon layer of Pulverised Fuel Ash - a by product from the near by coal power station. As it was, the ash lagoons were simply an expansive area of baron, jet black ash. The design used bioremediation techniques to make the land useable, productive and attractive. Working at such a large scale on such an unusual site was both challenging and inspiring.
Part of the design process involved deciding on the placement of future layers of Pulverised Fuel Ash. This meant that it was possible to design the landform and in doing so manipulate microcimates, soil conditions and views. Valleys were created to frame the dramatic industrial views across the water. Steep slopes provided dramatic landscapes and also created shelter across the rest of the site.
Sections and models were invaluable design tools when working at this scale, especially when designing the landform. These three show how playful the landform became; opening and closing to provide views or shelter. The aesthetic of the finished site was to be wild; beautiful but with industrial leftovers providing interest.
The undisturbed fields of ash had become a wildlife haven, with many rare birds nesting there. With the wide views and the busy wildlife presense the site had a feeling of wilderness, of adventure. To preserve this the masterplan was minimal and senstitive. Surreal pavillions and art installations would pop up during a visitors exploration of the site. Pathways were designed to suprise and interact.
The birds that had made valleyfield their home provided the main attraction when considering new uses for the site. Although the surrounding area is rich with wildlife there are no sites to interact with it. Being able to design the vegetation and habitat from scratch meant that even more wildlife could be encouraged onto the site. Visitors centres, viewing platforms and boardwalks created spaces for people and wildlife to interact without disturbing one another.
Park Design Saughton Park, Edinburgh, 2011 In a run down area of Edinburgh, Saughton Park was an overlooked asset to the city. Despite its rich history and connections to green corridors and walkways; the park was neglected. This project was about bringing locals back and grabbing the attention of visitors from further afield. The design focussed on community involvement, connections and the parks history.
The park masterplan was very flexible. Ideas came from community led planning and allowing users to have space and influence within the park, so as to promote feelings of ownership and stewardship. A lot of time was spent interviewing park users and locals. Connections to the river walkway were strengthened to give the park regional importance. The historic walled gardens were restored but given new functions; while some remained ornamental areas, some were made into community food produciton areas. A large section was devoted to a sensory garden due to the high volume of users with disabilities, this also reflected the parks history as a rehabilitation garden. An important part of the project was to generate revenue for the parks maintence. Proposals included green energy initiatives and the renovation of old stables on the site to hire out for functions, with events like weddings being held in the walled gardens. The flexible landscape around the stables is detailed on the right.
The short length of the project meant that ideas had to be articulted quickly and effectively - resulting in the production of lots of sketchy concepts and visualisations which were later made into postcards. So many design ideas came from stuctures already on site that the process became centred around drawing over photographs - most of the design work was done on site which was a fun way to work.
Part of the project was the the creation of a conceptual model. The cube shows the layers that I hoped to intoduce to the park compared to what was currently there. Each layer represented a user group that i wanted to attract to the park, with the lady on the bench representing the current park. The dream image is an old postcard image of the park. The sketchy collage aesthetic of the final design presentation came from this model.
Thankyou for looking through this short selection of my work, If you would like to see more of my landscape work or some of my artwork and photography, my website can be found at www.eleanorcampbell.wordpress.com