Urban examples of surface managment

One day in the year level 5 students travelled to the centre of London to see first hand the examples of how landscape projects cope with the chanllages of water drainage. We looked at various surface textures and methods of water drainage. Here are some pictures;

Here is an example of texture warnings on the surface of the ground that mark a change in level. These groves warn people who may be blind, of steps and/or changes in surface level.

When two different types of surface meet, their edges have to 'offset' each other to create a structured engagement. An example of what I mean is when a brick layer is laying bricks on top of each other, he would position the centre point of a brick within the meeting point of the two bricks below it to create a stronger structure. Heres a picture of a brick wall as an example.












Theseis anouther example of surface texture before a set of stairs to warn people of the change in level.















Below is an example of how the designers of the paving have tackled the challange of water drainage by dividing the paving up so that water finds its way easier and sloping the paving towards the chanal and then to a drain. It can look very messy if not designed properly.



















Here is an example of a low profile port of some description. For example, this 'port' could hide some kind of feature that contributed to a design. Perhabs it could be revealed at certain times to play its role. This is a clever feature because the space can be used for a variety of activities.














I enjoyed the first hand experience at seeing the variety of ways to tackle water drainage within a site and learning about texture change in surfaces and understanding the factors to consider when designing a site.