The design portfolio aims to use both picturesque principles and ideas of sanctuary to create a space of separation and delight in the city that breaks the monotony of the quotidian experience, taking the form of a zoo in the centre of Nottingham.
Sanctuary, or separation from the city, is also found through insulating between conditions of space and levels of privacy from the city, and a sense of otherness that is found in the space.
New Build: Visitor Centre
Form catalyses movement into and around the site, drawing the viewer through sequential thresholds separating them from the city whilst physically remaining in close proximity. Processing through insulate spatial arrangements allows the viewer to transition from the known city to the ‘otherness’ of the site.
Nottingham Castle
This view demonstrates the attention to foreground, midground and background. The foreground of the seating and wildlife frames the scene. The midground, being an important spatial device is formed primarily of two Cedar of Lebanon trees, traditionally used in picturesque landscapes due to their horizontal emphasis, and the small lake which gives the illusion of an infinity between these trees. Both of these elements lead to the castle in the background, celebrating the monument and grounding the scene in Nottingham.
Church of Saint Mary
This View again uses foreground, midground and background, however it also demonstrates a clear axial view through and beyond the site to the Church of Saint Mary in the City Centre. The trees in the foreground create a sense of enclosure and protection, and provide an initial frame of the church. The existing buildings on site (the blue re-purposed brewery and the renovated warehouse) form a second layer of framing, further emphasising the view of the church. The giraffe enclosure between these layers is acting in a contrasting plane, and the animals themselves also mean that the composition is never static, always being reframed.
Train Station
Queens boulevard (South of the site) has existed since the 1800’s and until the 1990 used to continue through the site. This proposal re-introduces the length of boulevard, connecting it back to the station. This is the most formal axis in the proposal with trees planted in a regimented pattern and a continuous straight line.