Accelerate students join the Landscape Institute to make ‘Lockdown Landscapes’

To celebrate the return of young people to their schools following the government’s first easing of restrictions on the 8th March, Open City teamed up with the Landscape Institute to deliver 2021’s first face to face Accelerate workshop at Oasis Farm Waterloo. Thinking about the relationship between landscape and architecture, our students used sketches, photographs, words and found objects from their local areas as inspiration to create individual layered contour models out of sheets of grey card. Working in ‘bubbles’ the students placed their models down on a 5 metre long sheet of paper, and began to draw lines in-between, to begin a collective ‘Lockdown Landscape’. A colourful tapestry of collaged texture was developed through the day as the students began to consider how the changing seasons would affect the light, aesthetics and mood in different environments.

Additionally, students created plaster casts of their own ‘Lockdown Landscape’, working with alginate and plaster. Beginning with their layered card contour models, students created a mould before pouring in plaster dyed with pigment to create beautiful green tiles. There were some very green hands at the end of the day. Between activities, we met Bumble, Bee and Jupiter (the resident goats at Oasis Farm) and had a peek into the offices of Feilden Fowles Architects.

We will be displaying the students incredible work at an end of course exhibition in July. As soon as we have the opening date finalised we will publicise the exhibition dates and location. In the meantime you can see examples of the students brilliant work on Accelerate’s Instagram page @opencityaccelerate

Photos: Luke O’Donovan