Salowmead Park

This was an individual project completed as part of the AD6605 Design Projects module for semester 2. The brief was to design a flood-resilient landscape masterplan for Alney Island in Gloucester, embracing the island’s relationship with the River Severn and the Severn Bore. I applied a sponge city philosophy throughout - a park that absorbs, holds and releases floodwater while delivering rich ecological, cultural and community programming. The scheme was drawn at 1:500 across the whole island, with a detailed area plan at 1:200 focusing on the central hub zone.

At the heart of the design sits a triquetra-inspired pavilion housing a café, community spaces and a Severn Bore interpretation centre, set within a limestone plaza with distributed shade kites. A red resin-bound primary path network - inspired by Yu Kongjian’s red walkway at Houtan Park - threads the site, edged in corten steel and fully permeable, while an elevated hardwood oak boardwalk network stays passable during flood events, crossing ponds and meadows. Bronze statues of the first Severn Bore surfers are framed by ornamental grasses including Miscanthus sinensis and Calamagrostis 'Karl Foerster'.

The wider programme weaves together woodland nodules with hut structures and a native understorey of hazel, elder, dog rose and bluebell, alongside a Meadow Camp Fest seasonal event space set in a species-rich wildflower meadow of knapweed, yarrow, field scabious and red clover. I produced a full hard and soft landscape schedule covering ten surface material zones - including hoggin secondary paths, a travertine pavilion surround, a cobble sett entrance gateway, permeable block paving feeding bioswales, a bore-watching jetty and a cycle and pedestrian bridge - and ten planting zones, including stream-edge marginals, floodplain woodland, a wildflower orchard of traditional Gloucestershire apple, pear and damson, rain garden bioswales, and a children’s natural play area with living willow structures.

I developed the entire scheme independently in Vectorworks, resolving the drainage strategy, path network, landform, planting and programme across the island, then designed and drew the detailed area plan at 1:200. I built the physical 1:500 model by hand using cardboard, moss, paint and timber, produced all six rendered visualisations, and wrote the concept poem "The Bore Comes In" as a unifying design narrative.