Shoes #2

We’ve had our first meeting with students from Worcester Uni to hear their initial ideas for the Soul to Sole project. The ideas were spread across a good time period and range of people – from Capability Brown to one of the children of the Krishna devotees.

The image here shows an initial concept for Capability Brown, with gardener’s shoes placed over a transparent pressure sensitive pad which sits on top of a tablet computer. When the shoes are lifted, the tablet plays a slideshow of images – original designs of the Park and photos of its current state.

We discussed the possibility of making the images seasonal, and adding an audio track of the outdoors. We also talked about other ways the images could be displayed – multiple tablets, projections (either into the shoe rack, or out onto the user – upside down of course, so that you can see it on yourself by looking down), photos on a roll. I’m sure that when we hear the next iteration on the 27^th it will have progressed further.

The idea behind this came from the tour of the Park, led by Hugh (our Ranger), that the students did, and Hugh’s explanation of how one’s view is effectively teased and controlled by Brown in his design for the positioning of plants, trees and buildings.

Croome is all about looking: outside, the view is constantly changing as you see the Park and buildings from an ever-shifting perspective. As you walk from the lake towards the Court, it is right in front of you, looming ever larger as you approach. But then you come to the ‘river’ and are forced to walk parallel to the Court, your perspective shifting yet again, until you arrive at the position of the Chinese bridge and your view is framed by the handful of trees on the far side. Once inside, of course, you are inevitably drawn to the large windows, as the varied views of the Park outside are now framed by both the window frame itself, and the multiple frames of each pane of glass.

[I’m writing this on a train from Bristol to Nottingham via Birmingham and have just looked out the window to see the Malverns to the left. And there are the Cedars of Croome, distinct and visible above all the other trees.]