Working Within a Team – Chaumont-sur-Loire International Garden Festival

 

A few sketches I completed at the beginning of the project based on the theme of Biomimicry

As part of my Cultural Context module, we were given the opportunity to choose a group project from a range of competitions. After forming a group of seven, we chose to do a competition based in the Loire Valley, involving the design of a plot around 210m². The theme of this years competition is Biomimicry in the Garden. After several meetings as a team and many drawings, we came to the concept of the golden ratio, which can be seen throughout nature, as well as associated with Leonardo da Vinci, who spent his final years in the Loire Valley. From this stemmed the idea of utilising hexagons to create the golden spiral within our design. The hexagon form was chosen as it is frequently used within nature as the most efficient use of space – something we were hoping to emulate within our design, alongside recycled and recyclable materials, to encourage visitors to implement sustainable practices within their own garden. Unfortunately, we could not enter the competition this year, but are hoping to enter as team another time.

Left to right: Chloe, Harvey, Jacob, me, Jordan, Niamh, Joe

I have absolutely loved working as a team for this project, especially as we collaborated so well, utilising our individual skills and talents in a coherent way to produce the required work. The element of group work I enjoyed the most was the atmosphere – working within a positive, productive and stimulating environment was inspiring, and I am very much looking forward to more collaborative teamwork when I go into practice.