My Favourite Piece of Work

“The good building is not one that hurts the landscape, but one which makes the landscape more beautiful than it was before the building was built.” – Frank Lloyd Wright

Over the course of the past 3 years, I have completed many pieces of work, some small which has helped develop ideas and some large pieces which are for final submission. However, my favourite piece of work is a second-year general arrangement plan which was completed in May 2020.

The site chosen for this project was Lightmoor Colliery, a despoiled landscape located on the northeastern edge of Cinderford, Forest of Dean, and based within and around an old mine shaft and workings that have left mounds of partially burned shale and other industrial legacies. In the centre of the site, a large lake, polluted with toxins from the spoil water run-off, surrounded by large mounds of spoil with complex topography.

The task for the module was to include a large list of features and buildings, all of which created a beautiful, naturalistic landscape. With the incorporation of a wellness centre, ten chalets, a cycle repair shop, cafe, car parking, and additional roads and footpaths that allow for easy access around the site.

My main aim for the site was to incorporate more water within the site and create an enjoyable space for the holiday tourists who stay within the chalets. For the general arrangement plan, I had to choose a section of my design and display how the landscape would be created. I chose the north of the site, where I had placed four of the chalets, two additional lakes, the cycle shop, cafe and additional planting. 

This piece is my favourite as at the time the UK was in its first national lockdown, people were working from home, students were not at school and exams had been cancelled. As a university student the expectations for us had not changed, we had to submit the same amount of work at the same quality that would have been expected if we were still at university. At the time I thought this was impossible.

This piece of work for me shows a lot more than just a general arrangement plan, it displays my first piece of work that I had created and thought “wow it actually looks like a real landscape architect has done this”. Whilst also showing the hours, days, months’ worth of hard work I had put in to create the best arrangement plan I possibly could, all whilst being in a national lockdown.