St Aidan's initial design development

 

As part of the group task of redeveloping the old site of St Aidan's Church, we decided as a team to collaborate on the intended use, feel, and basics of the design, and then go and individually work on the ideas we each had. 

I felt that the seven sacred spaces could in many ways coincide, meaning that each one didn't require its own dedicated area. I wanted to base the layout on free-flowing lines and circles, which heavily symbolise eternity within Christianity. I do think that the layout was very underdeveloped at this stage, but I wanted to create a base layer of shapes for inspiration.

The aim of the vegetation was to give the feeling of safety and enclosure, whilst not completely screening the site as this might be tempting to trespassers who are after a bit of chaos. It is also strategically placed throughout the space to give a constant relaxing breeze of wind, as this is something the Parish leader said made her feel connected to her faith.

(A bit of labelling could've helped) the dark brown spots are proposed raised vegetable beds to grow food for the community. There is a cascading water feature in the centre and a slightly raised stage to the west for preaching. The southwest corner contains a rock garden, as I find in smaller spaces these are an efficient way to keep a shady corner from feeling too damp, boggy, and unappealing.