landscape matters volume 5 - Flipbook - Page 8
2.
Paper trail:
why landscape architects
should value their records
also provide factual information of activities and of the individuals involved. The archives hold the identity and corporate
memory of the business. Collectively they contribute to recording
the history of a profession.
Annabel Downs
THROUGHOUT THE LONG history of designed landscapes in
1. Landscape Plan for Cumberland
Basin Bridges and Ashton Gate
Junction by Wendy Powell with
Sylvia Crowe and Associates
Image: LI/The MERL
Recent academic research on this
the UK, it is the 20th century that represents the most active,
innovative and influential period. Members of the new Institute
of Landscape Architects, established in 1929, quickly became
involved in a broad range of public, social and private work: from
civic and urban design, new towns, infrastructure projects including motorways, power stations and reservoirs, to the restoration
of degraded and contaminated land; they designed public parks
and gardens, garden festivals and gardens for the Festival of
Britain; university campus, science and business parks, cemeteries and crematorium; they have influenced the rise of National
Parks and Country Parks, the aesthetics and management of
forestry commission planting; and some practices continued
designing private gardens and estates.
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project has revived interest in this
neglected designed landscape
2. Step details in toddlers play area,
Brunel Estate (London), by Michael
The physical evidence of some of this landscape work survives,
but what about the drawings and papers that tell the story of how
some of these projects came about and how they were designed
and constructed?
I hope there are landscape practices today that retain and work
their archives in a similarly creative way -not because designers
are running out of ideas, but because it is more efficient and effective to build on the work and learning of others. Michael Brown
must have relocated his archive a few times, at his death it filled
almost two garden buildings. One of the most interesting parts of
his collection now at the Landscape Institute (LI) archive at The
Museum of English Rural Life (The MERL) are the A4 detail sheets
created for each project. He had developed a highly distinctive
brick on slope detail running alongside paths, often twisting from
horizontal to 45 degrees or steeper. Its function was to protect
grass or planting, form one side of steps, or on a larger scale,
become an essential play element incorporating metal foot and
hand holds for children. There was nothing standard about these
details. Drawings were reworked multiple times, adapted to the
specifics of each site. Different handwriting and initials bear
witness of numerous trainee landscape architects, working as
part of a practice then known as a recruiting and training ground
for bright young staff.
Brown, 1972. Historic England
registered Grade II
Image: LI/The MERL
3. Photo of steps Brunel Estate
(London), by Michael Brown,
Photo Colin Moore
4.Thomas Mawson and Sons Saffron
Hill Cemetery (Leicester), planting
How are landscape architects’ records important?
Records include drawings, models, contract documents, photos
and correspondence.They encompass all the documents, physical or digital, created and received in connection with projects,
and they are what landscape practices should keep safe for 6 or
12 years after the contract has been completed. If any part of a
project is contested, these records can be used for the evidence
they hold. After this period, the future of all these documents can
be very uncertain.
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What happens to landscape practice archives?
Thomas Mawson and Sons and Milner White and Son were arguably the two biggest and most prestigious landscape practices in
1929. They were internationally important, successful and reluctant to join a young institute they didn’t need. Both practice principals were enticed, or rewarded, Mawson with the appointment
as first President and Edward White as Vice President. Their
archives had different fates. Much of Mawson’s archive from 18911976 was deposited in the Cumbria Archive Centre, Kendal in
1982. Some is digitised, but the paper used for the 14,000
plan by LA Huddart 1927. Historic
England registered Grade II*. This
drawing was found at a car boot sale.
LA Huddart Collection
Image: LI/The MERL
Many different businesses keep archives of their work.These are
regarded as an essential resource and are consulted and exploited for new projects, repeat orders or variation of products, also
for teaching, publications, and from which work is loaned for
exhibitions.These are actively growing and living archives.They
If you know of any landscape practices who currently keep and
actively use their archive do please get in touch with FOLAR
(Friends of Landscape Archive at Reading).
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