We are Landscape Architects and the roots of the practice are founded in close collaboration with the arts, which has led to us fulfilling an Urban Curatorial role. This process is flexible and collaborative, allowing us to bring in artists and other facilitators to work with space and community as the project unfolds. These collaborations feed into a design process stimulating it with real public opinion, artistic input and one to one tests of ideas and space; the results are innovative urban interventions that truly address the complex contextual challenges of a place.
Our work also draws on some common themes: Building capacity for change in communities through innovative public engagement and inclusion in the design process; The shift from the car to bike and the role of the bicycle in the city as a stimulator for social and physical change; An approach to play that explores urban playfulness in its widest sense - for all ages and in all urban locations; A preoccupation with history, memory and past identity of places; Forest or “Witness” trees in the City which root individuals in community, place, and mark the passing of time; the role and need for water in urban landscapes.
Long term research and commitment to developing these ‘common themes’ within the practice support our goal to create meaningful and appropriate intervention that are valued by clients and communities. These themes are also often common to the creation of more sustainable, distinctive, characterful and liveable urban environments. As we have worked and developed these themes across projects of differing scale we have come to understand them in depth. The practice is currently collating our research into a series of reports, to inspire, inform and to promote their value within the Urban Realm.