Skip Garden

Skip Garden is an award-winning project run by Global Generation, a charity providing opportunities for young people to create a sustainable future. It gives a set of invaluable skills for young people building upon gardening skills and even a business acumen. It is partly funded by the Big Lottery and the materials are provided by The King’s Cross Partnership, BAM Nuttall, Carillion and Kier.

Initially, Skip Garden was positioned in different spots in King’s Cross and has now just above Lewis Cubitt Park and the King’s Cross Pond. It used to be garden plots built into skips and has expanded by the local community. Some of the structures on site were created by students of the Bartlett School of Architecture in collaboration with Global Generation.

The garden was built collaboratively between children as young as 7 years to businesses, local families, teenagers, students, architects and engineers in helping build and providing resources to bring it together. Recycled materials were used to build the garden with most of the materials found from the construction sites at King’s Cross.

The plot grows fruits and vegetables such as apples trees and pumpkins. The garden is for the most part self-sustaining employing such practices as aerobic and worm composting, fertilising with comfrey juice, companion and rotational planting, rain water harvesting and bee-hive maintenances. The produce from the garden are harvested and used to create delicious food at the Skip Garden Kitchen.

Earthbag Coolstore - the structure made from recycled timber was created by Aleesandro Conning-Rowland of Bartland School of Architecture. The structure is layered with recycled coffee sacks from a local coffee rostery and each one is filled with earth. A cooling effect is provided from the evaporation of the moisture of the bags and helpfully collects rainwater to keep the plants within the structure hydrated. Ventilation is added in through the designed stacks that give the structure the maximum area to absorb the sun keeping the produce fresh.

100 Hands Wall is created by Christophe Dembinski and features a walled space made entirely from earth, showcasing the sustainable ways we can adopt in construction.

Rain Loos by Carrie Coningsby uses reclaimed railway sleepers and boarding are stacked against each other to create two cubicles. Water is collected from the rain water streamed into a membrane covering a steel beam, which is collected into the cisterns of the toilet.

Glass House is created by Rachael Taylor used for a growing space and hosts Twilight Gardening sessions. The skirtings of the Glass House is made from low-tech curtain wall made from recycled sash windows. These are held up with scaffold board wall that leans against a shipping container.

The Chicken Coup is created by Valerie Vyvial which completes the link to the closed system of the ecological cycle of the garden by bringing in a structure to house three chickens. At the centre of the structure houses a 2.4m long silver birch tree from Hampstead Heath. The structure is built with bamboo put into place with steel fixing cast.

The Grey Water Dining, created by Yangyan Liu, utilised a small reed bed system at the back of the kitchen, which cleanse the waste water from the kitchen ready for watering. This design provides a wetland dining area. Pedal pumps are used to lift the filtered water through a water storage tank which is then used for gravity-led irrigation.

The Welcome Shelter is created by Charlie Redman. It is situated by the Skip Garden kitchen and due to its mechanism, it can provide shelter through changeable cover.

#SkipGarden

Berkeley Sqare Gardens

Berkeley Square Gardens is a green space in Mayfair, London, which dates back to the 1740’s. It houses different sculptures which are rotated to different pieces yearly. The garden has come quite a way from its hey-day.

In 1727, Berkeley Square Garden was built as an enclosed space. It had a water meadow that ran off the River Tyburn which was situated just south of the square. The Vestry minutes referred to meadow as the “the Common Sewer”.

 

Arrangements were made through an agreement between the 4th Lord Berkeley, his son and two carpenters Cook and Hilliard, who developed the square. 3 ½ acres were enclosed on the south and west end by “dwarf wall and wooden rails and pallisadoes set thereon.”

Emily Young - Earth/Cassandra II (2014)

There was no upkeeping of the garden of laying it out and keeping the garden tidy, as no one took responsibility of the garden. It was then enclosed for strict access during the mid-1740s.

 

During the 1760s, the railings and walls of the garden were taken down and by 1766, the garden “had gone to ruin”. An Act of Parliament was granted to enclose and adorn the square as proposed by residents who took it into their own hands to plan for fencing and laying of the garden. In the same year of 1766, the act gave residents the power to “raise money to pave, light and adorn the space”, which caused the rates to rise for the maintenance of the square.

“The plan approved at Gwynn’s Tavern in Berkeley Square. There is a grass plot in the middle, a gravel walk around, and iron pallisadoes; but there is no statue or bason in the middle. The undertaker of the work has engaged to finish it completely for £7,000.”

 

The following year, fences were up and the grounds laid with the layout kept to the original. A report from 1767 says that the square became “a handsome green walk next the railing, then a terras walk, and the rest laid out as a grass plot”. London Plane trees were later planted in 1789 by Edward Bourverie and is said to be the oldest Plane trees in London.

A statue of George III was erected but was taken down and replaced by a pump house/gazebo, which still stands there today. The statue was an equestrian sculpture cast in lead made by French sculptor Beaupre. But due to weather conditions and the weight of the rider, the legs of the horse snapped off, consequently causing it to be removed in 1827.

31 years later, Henry (3rd Marquess of Lansdowne) commissioned a nympy statue created by Alexander Munro in 1858, which was created of Carrara marble. It was located on the south side outside of the park offering water to any passer-by. It was later relocated inside the square when a path was laid leading up to the pump house. The water feature was restored in 1994.

During the World War II in 1941, the railings were removed and the square used for armaments manufacture for the units of the US army. After the war, the City Council reinstated it back as a garden, removing any air-raid shelters and replanting the lawns.  

In 1977, the Berkeley Square Ball was held in commemoration of the Queen Silvere Jubilee, which ran through the 1980’s and raised £800,000. The square is reference in Eric Maschwitz’s wartime ballad A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square.

Adaptable House (6 Doughty Mews)

The Adaptable House (6 Doughty Mews) is an early 19th century mews house built around the same time Doughty Street was first laid down. The street was a gated residential reserve in between the London boroughs of the City and Westminster. The house was rebuilt in the 20th century possibly as a result of wartime bomb damage.

It was purchased by architects Cany Ash and Robert Sakula of Ash Sakula Architects, transforming the house into more than just a family home. At the time of purchase, it was completely derelict with the ground floor previously used as a printer’s workshop and the upper levels as storerooms. The house was rebuilt with an additional floor, roof garden and a bathroom. Over 30 years of design ideas and changes were made to meet the reflecting uses and demands implementing different strategies such as miniaturisation and spatial illusion.

Ground floor is the garage where it is used concurrently for storage but can be interchanged to become a wider space for recreational activities such as a playroom, party room, small theatre/cinema and events space.


Bathroom

Bathroom

Tree Room



Kitchen

The first floor contains the kitchen, tree room, bathroom and WC. Kitchen features open shelves and a large rack for crockeries above the sink coated in cast iron. Kitchen cupboard are covered in zinc. The tree room is a spare bedroom, which was previously used as an office and playroom. Two doors are used for the room, giving the first floor a circular motion through the kitchen into the tree room and back into the kitchen.

Small Front Bedroom

Large Front Bedroom

 

Fireplace Room

Fireplace Room

Fireplace Room

The second floor was previously the roof to the original two storey house but was extended with an additional floor and roof. The second floor contains the fireplace room, small front bedroom and large bedroom. The fireplace room is currently used as a bedroom and has previously been used as a living room, studio and playroom. The beams in the fireplace room used to hold up the roof doubles up as bookcases. The front small bedroom makes use of the space above the staircase while the large front bedroom used to hold the stairs to the roof bedroom until rearrangements allowed another bedroom.

Roof Bedroom

Roof Garden



Roof Garden

Roof Garden

The roof held the roof garden and the roof bedroom. The roof bedroom can be accessed from the second floor from a steep staircase or a door on the roof. The roof garden can be accessed from a spiral staircase. The roof garden’s table was an old door and the chimney can be used as a barbeque.

From down the road at 29 Doughty Mews comes another Ash Sakula Architects design which was completed in 1996 and won a RIBA award the year after.

Gibbon's Rent

Gibbon’s Rent is stretch of walk that runs between Magdalen Street and Bermondsey Street that contains all sorts of pots of plant. It is a project in collaboration between the Architecture Foundation, Team London Bridge and Southwark Council.

Originally, the site of Gibbon's Rent was a street of domestic properties owned by Mr Gibbon. It is most recently recorded down by the council as being "Gibbon's Rent" which was end-product name to transform this rundown street to a cared-for green oasis.

The creation of Gibbon’s Rent is formed by designer Andrew Burns and architect Sarah Eberle and launched as part of the London Festival of Architecture and Cityscapes in 2012.

The space is stunningly beautiful and can be very quiet or very busy as not a lot of people of know about it or a lot of people know about it. It is a space used by office workers during the day, especially if it is a sunny one. I came across it during the weekend and not one soul can be seen creating a scenic and tranquil route.

It is maintained by Team London Bridge and St Mungo’s with the local community as part of the Putting Down Roots initiative. Different areas of the garden works well with some plants more than others with some designated areas designed to get the maximum amount of daylight or a lot more limited amount.

There is also a chance to sponsor a potted plant on Architecture Foundation's website or donations of potted plants are welcome at Gibbon’s Rent.

Postman's Park

Postman’s Park is one of the hidden parks of London, enriched with history as well as upholding an honour to heroes who have died to save others. It is located at St Martin’s Le Grand, London EC1A between Aldersgate Street and King Edward Street with an entrance found on both ends. The park is at Grade II meaning it is of more than special interest and do everything to preserve it.

The name came from the local office workers who came from the post office just by the park to sit down and have lunch. In 1887, socialist GF Watts wrote to the Times proposing a park to be builtin honour of “heroic men and women” who gave their lives to save others as a way to mark Queen Elizabeth’s Golden Jubilee. It was created and named Watts Gallery at the Watts Memorial/Memorial to Heroic Self Sacrifice in Postman’s Park with Doultton tablets running along the wall of the gallery of poignant detailing’s of the individual and their heroic acts.

Headstones of can be found on either side of the Memorial and it was said this was due to possibly being two churches on each side. The headstones are restored every so often.

In front of Watts Memorial is four beds of flowers and a sundial at the centre of it. When in full bloom, the flowers present a gathering of splendour and beauty of colours. Arrive on a sunny day in spring or summer as it'll be total treat to gaze at the flowers while you rest under the perfect shade of the London Plane tree on top of a small hill.

Despite being quite a small park, it attracts an abundance of animals such as bats, robins, blue and grey tits with boxes and feeders dotted around the park. Gorgeous Golden Orfe fishes can be found swimming around the trickling Gothic-styled fountain. The Golden Orfe fishes have been there over 10 years.

The film Closer, starring Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Natalie Portman and Clive Owen, was filmed on location. Not one to ruin the film for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet so I won’t give anything away, but Alice Ayres taken off the tiles become an inspiration for one of the characters. The film itself is very much worth the watch and You can catch the Alice Ayres’s tablet above.

#PostmansPark