'WELCOME TO TOLWORTH' PRESENTATION

"The art of 'not waffling'."

Today we presented our 'Welcome to Tolworth' presentation to the clients involved such as 121collective and The Community brain (and Clare and the georgraphy teacher (unsure on name)). It went well, our ideas were presented clearly and the presentation flowed throughout which is definitely thanks to a bit of rehearsal the days before, which I have never done before but it was so so worth it. I, not being very aware of how short 10 minutes is to present our work, came in with a huge essay describing all of my visuals, The Observatory collaboration and my entire life story, I soon realised that it was complete and utter waffle, my group made it very clear that I needed to cut the 1000 or so words down into bullet points of around 100 words overall, which took me by surprise because I thought I wasn't say enough (lol) but also the fact that the ideas are quite large so I thought that was important to have this much information in.

Here is what I was going to say before the culling of my transcript (in regular font) and what I said after the editing (in bold font).

"Visiting tolworth gave us a good indication of what there is but more importantly, what needs to be done.The underlying sense of neglect can be felt as soon as you come off the train station,

it being a skeleton of a building with no life or soul and it actually feels quite demoralising… group this with the incredibly busy roads causing air and noise pollution as well as the fact that even more houses are being developed, wiping away green space and introducing even more cars, i could sense that the council had put the community in the back of their mind and focused on profiting through other means. Having these initial thoughts as soon as you enter Tolworth isn’t the best start…However there are signs of hope, throughout with the work from yourselves, the green route as well as the murals are a glimpse of what can be done and further exploration of the area and we could see there is potential in the green areas such as the parks and the nature reserves as well as small but lovely pockets of nature throughout Tolworth."

"Our primary research involved visiting tolworth. as soon as I stepped off the train you feel a sense of neglect, the train station is soulless and leaving the building you are met with huge traffic jams. But there is hope, through the green routing and natural beauty that can be found throughout tolworth we soon realised there is beauty in the local area."

"As we have all mentioned, the underlying theme of Tolworth is that, yes there is heritage, old heritage such Toby Juggs, the ace of spades and the nature reserve, but the Toby Juggs is demolished and the ace of spades is a pharmacy even the nature reserve seems abandoned. through our research we have found their is a lack of care and emotional attachment to Tolworth which is acceptable because of the lack of investment and care by the council, knocking down Toby Juggs for new houses sums it up. So our solution is to build up from the old heritage and invite the community to create their new heritage, heritage that they are interested in and are passionate for."

"Same routes new ideas is the idea of using the old heritage that has been lost and forgotten about such as the Toby Juggs and bringing it to life through nature and creativity."

"The use of Biophilic design is now more important than ever, constant unsustainable development of areas such as tolworth is resulting in increased in pollution and congestion, which is effecting our climate, our species and our well being. Through the use of biophilic design, we can create beautiful areas that instantly please the eye, such as these images on the screen. The bridge that goes across the A Road is extremely ugly and has not aged well, but by adding moss panels and wall climbing flowers it is now transformed into something that is pleasing to the eye.

We also realise that congestion is a major problem at that part of the A Road coming into Tolworth,so creating a space for art and photography underneath the bridge will benefit walkers who are passing under the tunnel and the cars stuck in traffic as they will now be able to admire natural beauty as well as creative pieces instead of staring at an old concrete slab, in hope to imrpove the happiness of the locals as we know nature brings many benefits from cleaning the air as well as mental benefits. As this is an entrance into Tolworth it is extremely important to give a good impression and I believe that this is a really good way of sending a good message to the public entering from the A road. Another entrance point is the train station, as I mentioned before it is un cared for, we hope that introducing nature and art work throughout will give the community a sense of pride for their station and this will, we hope, encourage them to look after it. And we hear that the community has proven their willingness to contribute to maintanace as the new plant pots in the broadway are being looked after by local shop owners which is great to hear. Another example is the use of wild flower meadows along the pavement which is very good for the eco system as it attracts many types of insects including bees and then birds and other small creatures as well. Using benches and small ‘view’ blockers which remind me of a frame for a picture, I designed it so that it would block out the foreground and then in this picture you can see a huge moss panel on the side of a wall, the road and cars will be blocked out leaving you with the view of nicely designed copper pillars and the nature in front of you."

"As well as our way finding signage, Using biophilic design such as moss panelling, wall climbing plants, wild flower meadows as well as encouraging local artists to show their work in local spaces we can we can route the public around the natural beauty of tolworth as well as combatting issues such as pollution in areas such as the A road and the train station these are also the first point of entry coming into tolworth, so it is visitors are impressed by what they see as first impressions are very important."

"The observatory, a pair of multi award winning structures, which are a (quote on screen).

These are incredible benefits which will bring new life to the nature reserve as yes, the nature reserve is beautiful, but I didn't go to the local nature forests/areas in the new forest because its the same, I knew it and it didn't excite me, but when The Observatroy landed, I went several times so this proves that is can become a social hub for all ages whether it is for education purposes or simply admiring these alien like looking buildings. Through the benefits of art and photographer residences we can bring the community into the position of being able to create the artwork that will be displayed in the areas suggested which fuels the idea of the community creating their own heritage. As well, educational programmes that come with the observatory will get young people involved and get them outside enjoying the nature reserve that may have never been to or cared for, this ethos, we hope, will encourage them to enjoy it throughout their life and even when the observatory leaves, the fact that people re kindled their love for the nature reserve will live on.

Now it isn’t a definite that we can secure the observatory, it is definitely possible but it will need to present and win the opportunity for it to come to London, however I have a foot in the door as I know Mark Durey and his close assistant very well, so it could definitely happen we just need to make it happen."

"Wanting to build up from the heritage that is here in tolworth, we want to collaborate with SPUD who commissioned the build of an award winning pair of structures called the observatory that act as a space for artists to work, as social hub and educational programme. We want to place this in the nature reserve in hope it encourage the public to this great space and re ignite the nature reserve that deserves attention."

I must have been dreaming to think I could say the unedited transcript within about a minute per section (my designated time slots for my slides as our overall presentation needed to be 10 minutes). It was a very good idea to have do practice sessions for our presentation otherwise I could have really damaged our timings and overall performance of it on the day. I will definitely be taking this on into the future.

I will do a blog detailing the feedback in more detail but one thing they kept saying was that 'we cold have gone more in depth into our ideas' or 'You started it but didn't quite round it up'. I understand these points entirely because our concepts are big and overall 'Welcome to Tolworth' is a huge project so making sure to having enough information to back up each separate point and visual is important, HOWEVER, when you have to do a 41 page presentation in 10 minutes, some information has to be left out and as you can see above, it isn't that we/I didn't have enough it was simply the fact that we couldn't go over the time slot.

But overall I am really happy with this project and our presentation, I like how my ideas run through out from The logo and slogan (logo being made into the way-finding signage) to The Observatory collaboration and to the use of nature and Biophilic design, I am glad the group backed them and I think that our concepts can be done on many levels, it can be done with small investment (plant wild flower meadows, wall climbing plants and use cheaper material for the signage) or we can do it on a greater scale both quantity and quality wise by introducing copper sculptures that are more than just a sign but now a piece of art, bringing The Observatory to Tolworth which would give so many benefits and use Biophilic design on a greater scale by introducing big moss panel's to the area which would be extremely cool and help the community in more ways than one.

http://landezine.com/index.php/2013/11/prince-arthurs-landing-thunder-bay-waterfront-by-brook-mcilroy/pal036/