Looking at the man himself....Kim Wilkie, he straight away starts off with a fascinating life, being brought up in the Malaysian jungle and also the Iraqi desert before being sent to the south of England where he started school. Due to some lack of information about Kim, i wasn’t able to find out much about how he grew up which may have helped in establishing some link between him and his love for landscape architecture. Kim studied History at Oxford University, and then Environmental Design at Berkeley (University of California); where he now also teaches occasionally. In 1989, he set up his own studio in Richmond Upon Thames, London; which today is Kim Wilkie associates.
Kim’s past and present development of projects is outstanding, ranging from private gardens for houses, to his current 100 year development project for the River Thames. Some of his works include Borough at London Bridge, a master plan for Hyde Park corner, new square in Greenwich, V&A museum garden, River Thames strategy (Hampton to Kew), restoration plan for Villa La Pietra estate belonging to Sir Harold Acton (with New York University).
Kim Wilkie’s philosophy very much focuses on the link between man and land. When designing a site, he doesn’t just look at the site itself and see’s how he can change it to suit his style; but he researches it. He looks at the history, and tries to connect with the memories of the site, which gives him a sense of place and imagination to understand how and why the site is how it is today. Kim’s first impression and representation of the place is most important, as to capture that first insight. As he said to me in an email “First impressions have a very important freshness that you must capture.” So when it comes to visiting a site for the first time, make sure you have a clear head and ready to allow a lot in. With this he can develop his designs and ideas to continue the story of the site.....connecting man and land in their natural systems and flows. On the ‘Kim Wilkie associates’ website, their page on their philosophy is full with quotes from people which shows they’re inspired by literature throughout history. One of my favourites, and one I did use for guidance, and also i think its one Kim uses himself is...
'All must be adapted to the Genius and the Use of the Place, and the Beauties not forced into it, but resulting from it' (Alexander Pope to Burlington - Epistle IV, 1731).
This piece of literature suggests that the natural beauty of a place comes from its natural form which has been adapted and shaped over time from itself and its surroundings, and the ways in which man and land connect with one another and use that space. Beauty cannot be forced into something just to be beautiful; it must have a purpose and reason. Kim Wilkie in his email to me “You need to persuade hard to present the solution that you believe is right for the place and, if you are pressed to design something that you cannot believe in, walk away!” I believe solely in this, as you can’t be forced to design something you don’t believe in, otherwise you won’t be able to design to your full potential, and also the place’s full potential.
Kim Wilkie’s process is a little cloudy, due to the lack of information available to me. From what i can make sense of, Kim obviously starts with a site visit, which he does without researching it before hand. As i said earlier, the first visit is the most important as it gives you that freshness. He does this to capture the sense of place, giving him a feel for the site. Once he’s done this, he then researches the history, location, topography, soils, maps, literature, paintings and photos. After this he may visit the site several more times, to make sense of how the site has changed and make connections between man and land. Then obviously the client’s requirements, local community aspirations, political and economic issues, and planning considerations come into it. As he said to me in his email, “As a landscape architect you are a true mediator between all of these and the land itself.” From research and planning to put his ideas onto paper, Kim loves to sketch and also use trace. He then likes to convert his ideas into CAD. To the client(s), he presents models of the site and drawings brushed with watercolours.
I looked at most of Kim’s designs for inspiration, and found he has some fundamental ideas plus some odd design motives which stand out. Some of his well known designs are inspired by Britain’s tradition for earth sculpting, and moving large amounts of soil to create almost natural looking landforms which can be considered works of art. One which most took my attention was Heveningham Hall in Suffolk. He creates a fan of grass terraces around the house that arch in the Fibonacci spiral and which rise with the natural form of the land. Although the terraces still give the house room to breathe at the bottom, which gives the feel of a natural amphitheatre with the house being the centre of attention.
His idea for the large scale grass terraces can also be seen in some other of his works such as Orpheus at Boughton in Northamptonshire, Great Fosters in Surrey, another private house in Hampshire, and Claremont in Esher.
Other works that inspired me was a sculpture that he placed in one of his designs, which almost seemed out of the blue. This was at a design for a private house in Hampshire. As you can see in the picture below, it is of a man to scale who is facing out towards the body of water and the surrounding landscape. The reason for the sculpture was that with some other features in the design, it created a distinct boundary for the garden. I saw it personally as a suggestive boundary, which sits on the edge of the garden boundary; and also suggests where he would want you to stand, face and look for the best view. This gave me the inspiration to use sculptures and other works of art to be suggestive to its surroundings and its visitors.
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