Wednesday 21 December 2011

Badeschiff


The "Badeschiff" ("bathing ship" in English) is a floating public swimming pool in Berlin, the capital city of Germany. The Badeschiff allows citizens to swim in a sanitary environment near the river. The Spree itself is far too polluted to permit safe bathing.

Monday 19 December 2011

The Concise Townscape

I just started reading "The Concise Townscape" by Gordon Cullen and I found a quote that is noteworthy: "...if at the end of it all the city appears dull, uninteresting and soulless, then it is not fulfilling itself, it has failed."

Garden Museum

The Museum was set up in 1977 in order to rescue from demolition the abandoned ancient church of St Mary’s which is the burial place of John Tradescant (c1570 – 1638), the first great gardener and plant-hunter in British history. His magnificent and enigmatic tomb is the centrepiece of a knot garden planted with the flowers which grew in his London garden four centuries ago.
In 2008 the interior was transformed into a centre for exhibitions and events by the construction of contemporary gallery spaces. Three exhibitions each year explore the making of British gardens, and a programme of over 30 talks and interviews celebrates heroes and heroines from the forgotten plant-hunters and gardeners of the past to the designers and writers in fashion today. Visitors will also see a permanent display of paintings, tools, ephemera and historic artefacts: a glimpse into the uniquely British love affair with gardens.
http://www.gardenmuseum.org.uk/

Thursday 8 December 2011

Roberto Burle Marx - "A garden is a complex of aesthetic and plastic intentions; and the plant is, to a landscape artist, not only a plant - rare, unusual, ordinary or doomed to disappearance - but it is also a color, a shape, a volume or an arabesque in itself."