Category Archives: Landscape

Blog, Landscape, Public Art, Public Realm, Rochester, Rochester Riverside

‘UNDER THE SHADOW OF THE CRANE’ ROCHESTER RIVERSIDE – PHASE 3 (3) CRANE POINT

February 21, 2020 Christopher Tipping Leave a comment

‘B’ is for Bespoke…

RR Amphitheatre Public Art Proposals – Bespoke Letter ‘B’ in Honed Granite or Porphyry + Laser Etch – 400mm High x 30mm thick. Image: Christopher Tipping

RR Amphitheatre Public Art Proposals- Bespoke Letters 200221 Christopher Tipping

The proposals for the PCC Amphitheatre Steps and Seats are currently being considered by the client. In the meantime I am working up some drafts for the use bespoke highly detailed letters in a variety of materials ranging from granite and natural stones, to cast iron, enamelled steel, glazed architectural faience and Terrazzo. These letters will be fixed into the rebated text detail within the cast concrete seat riser, which will be 450mm high. Each bespoke letter can be 400mm high. The depth of the rebate will vary from 5mm to 30mm, however, the bespoke letters will all be best at 30mm deep, keeping them as robust as possible.

RR Amphitheatre Public Art Proposals- Bespoke Letter ‘O’ in Glazed Ceramic with Laser Etched Polished Granite inset detail – 400mm High x 30mm thick. Image: Christopher Tipping

Detail: PCC Amphitheatre at Rochester Riverside by LUC – Public art proposal for bespoke letter ‘O’ in architectural glazed ceramic with laser etched polished granite inset detail – 400mm high x 30mm deep. Image: Christopher Tipping

I am proposing to work in creative collaboration with a number of specialist manufacturers, amongst them Evans Concrete, Darwen Terracotta, Hardscape, A J Wells, Quiligotti and Hargreaves Foundry

RR Amphitheatre Public Art Proposals- Bespoke Letter ‘B’ in Scratched Polished Stone with Laser Etched detail – 400mm High x 30mm thick. Image: Christopher Tipping

RR Amphitheatre Public Art Proposals- Bespoke Letter ‘B’ in Honed Granite or Porphyry – 400mm High x 30mm thick. Image: Christopher Tipping

RR Amphitheatre Public Art Proposals- Bespoke Letter ‘B’ repeated in a variety of materials and finishes – 400mm High x 30mm thick. Image: Christopher Tipping

RR Amphitheatre Public Art Proposals- Bespoke Letter ‘B’s’ repeated in a variety of materials and finishes – 400mm High x 30mm thick. Image: Christopher Tipping

‘Under the Shadow of the Crane’ was initially an idea for a large scale granite ‘drawing’ to make up the pavement and public realm of the Crane Point site. Water jet cut granite slabs in two colours would form this extensive mosaic pavement, making permanent the ephemeral passing shadow of the crane, creating a physical memorial to the industrial heritage of the Riverside site.

Draft Plan drawing of granite paving ‘shadow’ mosaic to Crane Point. Image: Christopher Tipping

Detail: granite ‘shadow’ mosaic paving to the public realm at Crane Point. Image: Christopher Tipping

Blog, Landscape, Public Art, Public Realm, Rochester, Rochester Riverside

‘5 CRANES DANCING’ & OTHER STORIES FROM ROCHESTER RIVERSIDE – PHASES 1 & 2 (5)

January 7, 2020 Christopher Tipping Leave a comment

By mid-December 2019, a number of the bespoke public art units (5 of 24) had been finally installed into the footpaths and thresholds of new properties along sections of Common Creek Wharf and Thalia Way. These parts of the site were fully occupied during the weeks leading up to Christmas. I will update as more units are installed –

Granite Unit ‘GOLDEN SAMPHIRE’ installed at Rochester Riverside. A variety of granites with water jet cut, inlaid, laser etched and sandblasted detail. Image: Christopher Tipping

Granite Unit ‘SHELDUCK’ installed at Rochester Riverside. A variety of granites with water jet cut, inlaid, laser etched and sandblasted detail. Image: Christopher Tipping

Granite Unit ‘SHELDUCK’ in progress at Hardscape England prior to being installed at Rochester Riverside. A variety of granites with water jet cut, inlaid, laser etched and sandblasted detail. This was a really complex unit to achieve. Image: Hardscape England

Granite Unit ‘WILLIAM CORY & SON LTD’ installed at Rochester Riverside. A variety of granites with water jet cut, inlaid, laser etched and sandblasted detail. Image: Christopher Tipping

Granite Unit ‘WILLIAM CORY & SON LTD’ in progress at Hardscape England prior to being installed at Rochester Riverside. A variety of granites with water jet cut, inlaid, laser etched and sandblasted detail. Image: Hardscape England

Granite Unit ‘WILLIAM CORY & SON LTD’ being laser etched during production at Hardscape England prior to being installed at Rochester Riverside. A variety of granites with water jet cut, inlaid, laser etched and sandblasted detail. Image: Hardscape England

Cast Iron Unit ‘5 CRANES DANCING’ installed at Rochester Riverside. Manufactured to my designs by Hargreaves Foundry. Image: Christopher Tipping

Above: Concept Development Masterplan circa 2017, Rochester Riverside by BPTW. Below: Rochester Riverside 1936, Photograph by permission of Britain From Above.

Above: You may just be able to make out the ‘5 Cranes Dancing’...just below the CORY’S WHARF text . These cranes were eventually replaced by 2 x 200 tonne Cranes, each capable of lifting 10 tons at a time.

Granite Unit ‘WALRUS & NELLIE’ installed at Rochester Riverside. A variety of granites with water jet cut, inlaid, laser etched and sandblasted detail. Image: Christopher Tipping

Granite Unit ‘WALRUS & NELLIE’ in prodution at Hardscape England prior to installation at Rochester Riverside. A variety of granites with water jet cut, inlaid, laser etched and sandblasted detail. Image: Christopher Tipping

Granite Unit ‘ADA & EDITH’ installed at Rochester Riverside. Image: Christopher Tipping

Granite Unit ‘ADA & EDITH’ during manufacture at Hardscape England and now installed at Rochester Riverside. Image: Christopher Tipping

Blog, Landscape, Public Art, Public Realm, Rochester, Rochester Riverside

ROCHESTER RIVERSIDE – PUBLIC ART IN PRODUCTION – ARTSCAPEOLOGY AT HARDSCAPE ENGLAND – PART 4

November 20, 2019 Christopher Tipping Leave a comment

My recent trip up to Hardscape at Logistics North near Bolton was a ‘more than hoped for’ brilliant success. This work was conceived with care, skill and emotion. I feel I can honestly say it has been manufactured with care, with enormous skill and equal amounts of emotion. This is what I want to be doing with my time! Achieving beautiful things, creating good work, working with great people. Focussing on craft and natural materials, on age-old skills of hand and eye, fused with technological innovation. I want to work alongside and collaborate with people who are proud of what they do and shout it from the rooftops. –

OK – so with that out of the way, let’s take a look at some of the day’s outstanding work.

Detail: Bespoke public art units for Countryside Homes at Rochester Riverside in production at Hardscape England. Image: Christopher Tipping

Above: My good friend, the ampersand. ‘WALRUS & NELLIE’. Unit size – 900mm x 300mm x 75mm. More ‘Tales from Rochester Riverside’…

Above: Details of ‘ADA & EDITH‘ , 900mm x 300mm x 75mm with an inverted ‘WALRUS & NELLIE’. at top. Unit size – 900mm x 300mm x 75mm.

Above: Details of ‘ADA & EDITH‘ , 900mm x 300mm x 75mm with a rectangular block of Carlow Limestone crisply laser etched with the name ‘ADA’ & inset into a slab of Porphyry. An inverted ‘WALRUS & NELLIE’ at top, was also sandblasted and inset with text – unit size – 900mm x 300mm x 75mm.

Above: Eleven of the fifteen units being created up at Hardscape are visible in this image.

Above: At bottom, ‘DUNLIN A SALTMARSH BIRD’, with water jet cut, inset, laser etched and sandblasted granite – unit size – 1200mm x 400mm x 75mm . At top, an inverted ‘GOOZERS & WATERMEN’ – unit size – 900mm x 300mm x 75mm.

The beautifully detailed DUNLIN in black Carlow Limestone is laser etched, then water jet cut from its slab and inset into the red Shiraz base slab. The letter ‘D’ is also water jet cut from green Kobra Granite and inset into both the red Shiraz and the Black Carlow, bonded in place with a golden yellow resin specially selected for colour. The letter ‘U’ and other visible text is sandblasted. This is highly skilled and complex work. Looks bloody amazing too…

Above: ‘GOOZERS & WATERMEN’ is no less complex, with water jet cut and inset text in Maple Red Granite, inlaid into a Black Carlow Limestone base slab, which is in turn sandblasted with text and laser etched to two depths to create the rippling water effect. See images below.

Above: The laser etched text ‘Watermen’ on the ‘GOOZERS & Watermen’, panel is wonderfully delivered with a deeper etch to the centre and a delicate lighter etch to the outline. This attention to detail and finish it what makes these bespoke units so outstanding.

Above: Detail of ‘SHELDUCK’, Laser etched bird motif on black Carlow Limestone, water jet cut-out and inset into a Kobra Green base slab. Letter ‘D’ is also water jet cut and inset. The other letters are sandblasted into the Kobra Green. Unit size – 960mm x 400mm x 75mm

Above: Details of ‘SHELDUCK’ & ‘PERENNIAL GLASSWORT’, just two of our 15 tales from Rochester Riverside. ‘SHELDUCK’, is a laser etched bird motif on black Carlow Limestone, water jet cut-out and inset into a Kobra Green base slab with large letter ‘D’ also water jet cut and inset. The other letters are sandblasted into the Kobra Green. Unit size – 960mm x 400mm x 75mm. ‘PERENNIAL GLASSWORT’ is a red Shiraz slab base sandblasted to two depths for text and plant motifs. Royal White & Carlow Limestone letters have also been inset into the surface.

Above: Detail of some of the letters of ‘PERENNIAL GLASSWORT’ sandblasted into red Shiraz granite.

Above: ‘MARSH COWS GRAZING’..& other tales from Rochester Riverside’ is Unit No. 8 in a sequence of 15 bespoke granite units along with 9 bespoke cast iron units together create a story about the history and use of this site from Medieval times to the present day. The slabs are robust and heavyweight, adding a physical presence to the narratives they embody. The lives and livelihoods of Rochester people are represented here. These histories live on in stone and cast iron.

Above: Detail of letters ‘C’ & ‘O’, bot water jet cut and inset from Maple Red Granite and Porphyry respectively and inset into sandblasted Kobra green Granite.

Above & Below: ‘BLUE BOAR CREEK’ & ‘GOLDEN SAMPHIRE’, 2 more Tales from Rochester Riverside. Large letter ‘B’ water jet cut from Maple Red Granite, inset into Black Carlow Limestone with laser etched detail.

Above: ‘GOLDEN SAMPHIRE’ still has the resin bond material smeared over the surface…the cleaned up version can be seen below.

Above: The large letter ‘S’ is water jet cut from black Carlow Limestone, which has beautiful white shell deposits within its matrix., which are wonderfully contrasting when wet.

Above & Below: ’15 BARGES STARTED THE RACE’ & ‘RUSSET BROWN & OCHRE SAILS’. Both bespoke units exhibit great colour contrast and use of stone. Deliberate use of coloured resin bond to fix water jet cut motifs in place adds another dimension.

Above: Detail of the red Shiraz base slab with sandblasted text into which is inset a 2 colour motif with Maple Red granite and Kobra Green, fixed with a coloured resin bond.

Above and Below: ‘THE FIVE BROTHERS’ & ‘SPRITSAIL BARGE’, share a base slab of Porphyry, with sandblasted text and motifs. FIVE BROTHERS has the word ‘FIVE’ inset in water jet cut Maple Red, whilst SPRITSAIL has three letters ‘S’ ‘g’ & ‘L’ inset in Royal White for contrast.

Above and images below: ‘COAL – METER HEAVER WHIPPER’ & ‘WILLIAM CORY & SON LTD COAL FACTORS’. 2 Tales from Rochester Riverside…

Above: Top slab – 1200mm x 400mm x 75mm – Crystal Black base slab with sandblasted text & water jet cut and inset Maple Red rectangle with additional inset text in Crystal Black. Bottom slab – 960mm x 400mm x 75mm – Black Carlow Limestone base slab with sandblasted text and motifs with water jet cut and inset Maple Red granite letters and motifs.

Detail: Bespoke public art units for Countryside Homes at Rochester Riverside in production at Hardscape England. Image: Hardscape

Blog, Landscape, Public Art, Public Realm, Rochester, Rochester Riverside

ROCHESTER RIVERSIDE – PUBLIC ART IN PRODUCTION – HARDSCAPE ENGLAND – PART 3

November 12, 2019 Christopher Tipping Leave a comment

I’m travelling up north to Bolton this week to see the final units completed and hopefully sign off the work so it can be delivered to Rochester Riverside for installation. Can’t wait to see them all.

Hardscape’s stone specialists continuing their great work on my bespoke granite public art granite features for Rochester Riverside. Image: Hardscape Mathew Haslam

Above: “BLUE BOAR CREEK”…& other tales from Rochester Riverside. Detail of a water-jet cut & laser-etched paving panel in black Carlow Limestone with inset text of Amarelo Real (yellow granite) & Porphyry.

These new images are just in this afternoon thanks to Mathew Haslam of Hardscape – as their skilled stone specialists focus on the applied detail. Water jet cutting, inlaying, sandblasting and laser etching their way through 15 bespoke units destined to be embedded into the landscape of the new housing development at Rochester Riverside for client Countryside. This highly bespoke work needs to be handled with care and demands high levels of craft skills.

Hardscape have been excellent at providing this form creative collaboration. Public Art Strategy & Artists Commissions by FrancisKnight .

Below: This unit is 9 of 15 – ‘SHELDUCK’, a Kobra Green Granite base slab with water jet cut inset motif & text in black Carlow Limestone, which has been laser etched with surface detail. Further sandblasting of text into the green granite, will complete the work.

Above: The almost completed ‘WILLIAM CORY & SON LTD’.

Above: This is the base slab of black Carlow Limestone, which has been laser etched first & then water jet cut – but the large letter ‘W’, the ‘&’ and the diamond motif have yet to be chiselled out. See Below –

Above: The water jet cutting removes a series of lines from the granite, which are determined by the CAD programme, which creates the cutting paths. These pathways are interesting in themselves as patterns, but in this instance they have to be chiselled out carefully by hand, to create the void space for the granite inlay to be fixed.

Above: This images shows the void spaces chiselled out from the Carlow Limestone. The letter ‘W’ in Maple Red granite has already been inset and is awaiting bonding in place – the diamond motif is just about to be inset. These images are wonderful for showing process, craft and the mix of skills from CAD technology to work by hand & eye.

Blog, Landscape, Public Art, Public Realm, Transport, WINCHESTER STATION APPROACH

WINCHESTER STATION APPROACH – PART 7 – WELCOME TO WINCHESTER

November 12, 2019 Christopher Tipping Leave a comment

In June 2019 I was issued with early draft plans for the public realm proposals at the Station by LDS Architects on behalf of Winchester City Council. I proposed to add a layer of creative interpretation to these plans, based on my contextual research and employ the setting out details within the LDS plan as a secure foundation into which I could set my public art concept drafts. My proposal was always going to be about utilising the need for paving, seating, retaining walls and other practical details of public realm highways engineering to keep visual clutter at a minimum. This would also be more economic in terms of budget use and future management and maintenance.

Concept & interpretation draft studies for seating and public art for Winchester Station Approaches. Base detail plan drawing by LDS Architects. Image & Colour Artwork by Christopher Tipping

Above: The Station building is on the left of this plan drawing (as seen from above). The plan for the public realm is primarily a sequence of parallel horizontal bands (green) delineated in the paving, which flow downhill from the Station towards City Road and another series which flow uphill along Station Road. However, this baseline geometry is combined with a radial pattern (also in green) which expresses the radius curve in the highway as it transitions from Station Road to Station Hill. This radial pattern provides the anchor for a series of seats (red) and secondary barrier structures (blue). These are concept ideas only – and not designs.

Concept & interpretation studies for seating and public art for Winchester Station Approaches. Base plan drawing by LDS Architects. Image & Artwork by Christopher Tipping

Above: This concept study shows a series of interrelated structures – which could be seating, walls, barrier structures or paving – set out in a radial pattern. These forms are presented as interpretive devices which exhibit combinations of materials and motifs, which seen together in this way embody ideas and responses developed from the contextual research I have undertaken.

Draft form for seating or paving. Terrazzo with exposed polished flint. Image: Christopher Tipping

The building materials of Winchester. Image: Christopher Tipping

Draft forms for seating or paving. Terrazzo with exposed polished flint. Image: Christopher Tipping

Draft forms for seating or paving. Monolithic Stone with laminate stone extensions & inset text or applied pattern. Image: Christopher Tipping

Detail of Illuminated Initial in Gold. Winchester Bible Illumination. Copyright Winchester Cathedral. Image: John Crook

Above: The Winchester Bible is regarded as the largest & finest 12th century Illuminated Manuscript. The script is by the hand of a single monk scribe from Winchester. However, the magnificent illuminations were often drawn and painted by itinerant artists – lay professionals who travelled between monasteries and centres of learning. These Illuminated Initials have been inspirational, as has the Morley Library, of which the Winchester Bible is a part. Bishop George Morley bequeathed his collection of rare books to the Cathedral in the 17th Century. His collection is also monogrammed.

Draft artwork playing with text & the texture and pattern of knapped flint. Image: Christopher Tipping

Draft artwork playing with text as illuminated initials & the texture and pattern of knapped flint. Image: Christopher Tipping

Draft artworks playing with text as illuminated initials & the texture and pattern of Winchester building materials. Image: Christopher Tipping

Above: Polished flint terrazzo circle with inset letter ‘W’ in Swedish Marble with sandblasted detail, resin bonded in white.

Draft artworks playing with text, texture and the richness of architectural decoration in Winchester. Image: Christopher Tipping

Above: Plan study (meaning ‘seen from above’)of a monolithic sandstone bench with a flat seating surface with the inset letter W and Circle motifs in flint aggregate terrazzo. Below: Sandstone & Flint are primary building materials in Winchester.

Sandstone is a primary building stone of Winchester. Image: Christopher Tipping

There is one sample of Swedish Marble in Winchester Cathedral. A Ledger Stone for the daughter of Sir John Clobery. Image: Christopher Tipping

“Of particular interest is the ledger stone (memorial) of Francisca Clobery, the daughter of Sir John Clobery. She died in 1683 and her grave is in the south aisle of the Retrochoir, in front of her father’s monument. It is of a distinctive Ordovician limestone (around 465 million years ago) from the Island of Öland, Sweden, containing the straight-shelled Nautiloid.” from ‘Winchester Stone’ by Dr John Parker 2016. ‘John Parker studied geology at Birmingham and Cambridge universities. He is a Fellow of the Geological Society of London. For over 30 years he worked as an exploration geologist for Shell around the world. He has lived in Winchester since 1987. On retirement he trained to be a Cathedral guide’. John has personally shown me around the Cathedral and pointed out many geologic wonders and quirks.

190507 BENCH laminated 1 Winchester Station Approaches. Christopher Tipping — Draft artworks playing with text, texture and the richness of architectural decoration & materials in Winchester. Image: Christopher Tipping

Above: Studies for objects (seating?) in Timber, Sandstone and Swedish Marble employing techniques of inlay, lamination, polishing and sandblasting.

Draft artworks playing with text, texture and the richness of architectural decoration & materials found in Winchester. Image: Christopher Tipping

Above: Study for two concept benches in monolithic black Tournai Marble with inlaid detail and laminated stone additions of Swedish Marble.

Ledger stone of black Tournai Marble with carving in Winchester Cathedral. Winchester Station Approaches. Christopher Tipping

Detail: Carved figures from the 12th Century Tournai Marble Font. The building materials & memorials of Winchester Cathedral. Image: Christopher Tipping

Draft artworks playing with text, texture and referencing the richness of architectural decoration & materials in Winchester. Image: Christopher Tipping

I hope to investigate manufacturing processes which allow stone to be cut, laminated, decorated and finished in a manner which embodies the richness of the Cathedral interiors and it’s ongoing repair and regeneration – BUT – in a functional manner, either as seating etc or as a method of improving wayfinding for visitors.

Concept & creative interpretation studies for seating and public art for Winchester Station Approaches. Image & Artwork by Christopher Tipping

Blog, Landscape, Public Art, Public Realm, Transport, WINCHESTER STATION APPROACH

winchester station approach – Part 4 – Materials, ABSTRACTION & PATTERNS

November 7, 2019 Christopher Tipping Leave a comment

The image above is a detail of the beautifully carved ebony black polished stone 12th Century font, with its depiction of the miracles of St Nicholas. It is without doubt one of the Cathedral’s greatest treasures. It was brought from Tournai, in modern day Belgium. It has been in use ever since. It is astonishingly fresh and wonderful.

It isn’t too hard to find odd and quirky combinations of both mundane & exotic materials and examples of spectacular & naive decorative arts and crafts side by side in Winchester, especially in the Cathedral. Almost one thousand years of continual occupation of this religious site bears witness to an unbroken architectural legacy, one that is brimful of odd juxtapositions, exotic materials, renewed or replaced fabric, scratched graffiti, vandalism and destruction. Like walking through a time-warp. Robust Norman Romanesque Architecture to Perpendicular Gothic in one step. Swedish Marble to Purbeck Stone in another. Extant 13th Century inlaid ceramic floor tiles to 1960’s replicas. Striking thresholds crossed mixing time and material, yet the experience is not jarring or disjointed. Time itself has softened these transitions and blurred the edges.

I am continually cherry picking from the world around me, plucking at things, tucking things away for later – like a squirrel, gathering nuts for winter or in the manner of a herbivore, continually grazing, & chewing the cud. I am gathering visual information – an extraordinary cabinet of curiosity in my mind. Certain things catch my attention, whilst others pass me by. This eclectic meander is not a considered or deliberate creative manoeuvre. It is innate. It is my pattern of speech, it is my handwriting. It simply is.

A mash-up of the decorative building materials of Winchester & my own patterns. Image: Christopher Tipping

SANDSTONE – FLINT – LIMESTONE – EBONY BLACK TOURNAI MARBLE – HAND MADE BRICK – OAK TIMBERS – INLAID CERAMIC TILES – MONOLITHIC GRANITE – CAST IRON – GUN METAL – CARVED OAK – STAINED GLASS – WINDOW TRACERY – LEAD

The building materials & memorials of Winchester Cathedral. Image: Christopher Tipping

An abstract mash-up of the decorative building materials & styles of Winchester mixed with my own ‘Winchester inspired’ patterns. Image: Christopher Tipping

Abstract drawings based on knapped flints, one of the building materials of Winchester. Image: Christopher Tipping

Blog, Landscape, Public Art, Public Realm, Rochester, Rochester Riverside

Rochester riverside – public art in production – hardscape england – part 2 –

November 6, 2019 Christopher Tipping Leave a comment

Oh my word…we’re on a roll in production up at Hardscape in Bolton.

These images are hot off the press, as skilled stone specialists at Hardscape focus on the applied detail. Water jet cutting, inlaying, sandblasting and laser etching their way through 15 bespoke units destined to be embedded into the landscape of the new housing development at Rochester Riverside for client Countryside Properties. This work needs to be handled with care and demands high levels of craft skills. Hardscape have been excellent at providing creative collaboration .

Bespoke detailed granite Public Art Units in production at Hardscape England, Logistics North, Bolton for Rochester Riverside and client Countryside Properties. Image: Hardscape

Artwork for bespoke detailed granite Public Art Unit ‘WALRUS & NELLIE’ in production at Hardscape England, Logistics North, Bolton for Rochester Riverside and client Countryside Properties. Image: Christopher Tipping

Above: This is the ‘&’ from ‘WALRUS & NELLIE’. Water jet cut into a slab of Red Shiraz Granite 900mm x 300mm x75mm. It is awaiting the inlaying of the circle of yellow Amarelo Real Granite. It looks amazing. WALRUS & NELLIE were the names of two portable aggregate conveyors loading stone and cobbles on and off barges at Cory’s Wharf, Blue Boar Hard.

Above: This is the laser etched ‘DUNLIN A SALTMARSH BIRD’, , waiting to be water jet cut from its slab of beautiful Carlow Limestone & inset into a slab of red granite. See image below, where the DUNLIN has been partially cut out from the block in concentric linear patterns. This is a complex unit, with other letters inlaid. Precision is key. These beautifully crafted objects embedded in the landscape, will be a gentle reminder of the natural, social and industrial history of the site.

Detail: ‘DUNLIN A MARSHLAND BIRD’. Bespoke granite water jet cut motifs. Public Art Units in production at Hardscape England, Logistics North, Bolton for Rochester Riverside and client Countryside Properties. Image: Hardscape

Artwork for ‘DUNLIN’. This motif is to be Laser Etched onto a Carlow Limestone slab, then cut out and inlaid into a red Shiraz slab. Bespoke detailed granite Public Art Units in production at Hardscape England, Logistics North, Bolton for Rochester Riverside and client Countryside Properties. Image: Christopher Tipping

Artwork for bespoke detailed granite Public Art Unit ‘DUNLIN A MARSHLAND BIRD” in production at Hardscape England, Logistics North, Bolton for Rochester Riverside and client Countryside Properties. Image: Christopher Tipping

’15 BARGES STARTED THE RACE 1930′. Sandblasting underway with delicate handling of the vinyl stencils required. Bespoke detailed granite Public Art Units in production at Hardscape England, Logistics North, Bolton for Rochester Riverside and client Countryside Properties. Image: Hardscape

Artwork for ’15 BARGES STARTED THE RACE 1930′.Bespoke detailed granite in Kobra Green & Shiraz. Public Art Units in production at Hardscape England, Logistics North, Bolton for Rochester Riverside and client Countryside Properties. Image: Christopher Tipping

‘RUSSET BROWN & OCHRE SAILS’. Sandblasting underway with delicate handling of the vinyl stencils required. Bespoke detailed granite Public Art Units in production at Hardscape England, Logistics North, Bolton for Rochester Riverside and client Countryside Properties. Image: Hardscape

Artwork for ‘RUSSET BROWN & OCHRE SAILS’.Bespoke detailed granite in Kobra Green, Amarelo Real & Shiraz. Public Art Units in production at Hardscape England, Logistics North, Bolton for Rochester Riverside and client Countryside Properties. Image: Christopher Tipping

‘SPRITSAIL BARGES’ & ‘FIVE BROTHERS’. . Sandblasting underway with delicate handling of the vinyl stencils required. Bespoke detailed granite Public Art Units in production at Hardscape England, Logistics North, Bolton for Rochester Riverside and client Countryside Properties. Image: Hardscape

‘SPRITSAIL BARGE’ . Detailed sandblasting underway with delicate handling of the vinyl stencils required throughout. Bespoke detailed granite Public Art Units in production at Hardscape England, Logistics North, Bolton for Rochester Riverside and client Countryside Properties. Image: Hardscape

Drawing of a Spritsail Barge, used on the River Medway and of a type originally built on our site at Rochester Riverside in the 19th Century. Image: Christopher Tipping

Artwork for ‘SPRITSAIL BARGES’. Bespoke detailed granite in Kobra Green, Amarelo Real & Shiraz. Public Art Units in production at Hardscape England, Logistics North, Bolton for Rochester Riverside and client Countryside Properties. Image: Christopher Tipping

Artwork for ‘THE FIVE BROTHERS”. Bespoke detailed granite in Kobra Green, Amarelo Real & Shiraz. Public Art Units in production at Hardscape England, Logistics North, Bolton for Rochester Riverside and client Countryside Properties. Image: Christopher Tipping

‘SHELDUCK’. Laser Etching of a Shelduck on a Carlow Limestone slab underway with delicate handling of the detail required. Bespoke detailed granite Public Art Units in production at Hardscape England, Logistics North, Bolton for Rochester Riverside and client Countryside Properties. Image: Hardscape

The laser etched image of the Shelduck will now be water jet cut out of the Carlow slab and the motif inlaid into a slab of Kobra Green Granite, which has the shape of the bird already cut into the surface.

Interesting to note also that the Carlow Limestone has beautiful fossil shells embedded. Also note that these are not my feet, they probably belong to Pedro, who is overseeing and also working on my project. Without skilled people like this, I would be lost !

Artwork for ‘SHELDUCK’. This motif is to be Laser Etched onto a Carlow Limestone slab. Bespoke detailed granite Public Art Units in production at Hardscape England, Logistics North, Bolton for Rochester Riverside and client Countryside Properties. Image: Christopher Tipping

Artwork for ‘SHELDUCK’. Bespoke detailed granite in Kobra Green & Carlow Limestone. Public Art Units in production at Hardscape England, Logistics North, Bolton for Rochester Riverside and client Countryside Properties. Image: Christopher Tipping

Blog, Landscape, Public Art, Public Realm, WINCHESTER STATION APPROACH

WINCHESTER STATION APPROACH – PART 3 – Lessons from history

November 5, 2019 Christopher Tipping Leave a comment

WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL

Have you ever thought what is up there, caught between the vaulted ceiling and the external roof? It was this hidden void in the attic, described as ‘a forest‘ , which so disastrously burned at Notre Dame in April this year. On Wednesday 19th June this year I ventured up the Tower of Winchester Cathedral to reach the same space. I have really wanted to venture into this cavernous space – between the 14th & 15th Century vaulted nave we see in the image above and the original massive timbered roof for years. This complex structure is what pilgrims and locals would have seen & looked up into prior to the nave being constructed. It is the most amazing floating world – a dark void – a medieval secret.

Massive Oak timbers in the roof void of Winchester Cathedral Image: Christopher Tipping

Above: This is the timber walkway inside the void space, which sits atop the massive oak beams which cross the nave . The walkway disappears into the bell tower and Norman part of the Cathedral. Images do not do this space justice! This is the longest Medieval Cathedral nave in Europe. The Lierne Vaulted ceiling of the nave lies just below the cross beam timbers.

Human touches in the roof void of Winchester Cathedral. There is a story to this image, but I have forgotten it ! Image: Christopher Tipping

Human touches – centuries of scratched graffiti decorate the stone window tracery in the roof void of Winchester Cathedral. Image: Christopher Tipping

It got in but didn’t get out. Racing Pigeon in the roof void of Winchester Cathedral. Image: Christopher Tipping

The bell ringing chamber of Winchester Cathedral Image: Christopher Tipping

Details in the bell ringing chamber of Winchester Cathedral Image: Christopher Tipping

‘The cathedral possesses the only diatonic ring of fourteen church bells in the world. The back twelve were all cast by John Taylor & Co in 1937. They were augmented to fourteen when two new bells were added in 1992 by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry. ‘One bell was cast by Anthony Bond, an itinerant Founder in 1621.’ Wikipedia Ref

Up in the Bell Tower of Winchester Cathedral Image: Christopher Tipping

Above: This image shows Norman stone carving high up in the Bell Tower. Quite amazing to get so close to it. The stonemason’s tool marks so fresh still.

Interesting patches and and repairs to the lead sheeting up on the roof of Winchester Cathedral Image: Christopher Tipping

Up on the roof – the views are pretty spectacular. Winchester Cathedral Image: Christopher Tipping

Blog, Landscape, Public Art, Public Realm, Rochester Riverside

ROCHESTER RIVERSIDE IN PRODUCTION – HARDSCAPE ENGLAND

November 4, 2019 Christopher Tipping Leave a comment

Mid-September and it was up to Hardscape, Bolton to see progress on the manufacture of the bespoke inlaid granite paving units. As ever, the works are of a really high quality and Hardscape are always keen to progress & test their creative collaborations.

15 granite units are in production. These vary in size from 1200mm x 400mm x 75mm to 900mm x 300mm x 75mm and are destined to be installed at the thresholds to housing & apartment blocks at Rochester.

15 granite paving units for Rochester Riverside with inlaid and sandblasted details. Image: Christopher Tipping

This work is achieved via water jet cutting and inlay techniques using colour matched resin to bond granite elements in place. Text and other motifs are also sandblasted at varying depths.

1 of 15 granite paving units for Rochester Riverside with inlaid and sandblasted details. Image: Christopher Tipping

Detail: 1 of 15 granite paving units for Rochester Riverside with inlaid and sandblasted details. Image: Christopher Tipping

Detail: 1 of 15 granite paving units in production at Hardscape for Rochester Riverside – with inlaid and sandblasted details. Image: Hardscape

Detail: Water jet cutting paths for 1 of 15 granite paving units for Rochester Riverside with inlaid and sandblasted details. Image: Christopher Tipping

Detail: Water jet cutting paths cleaned up for 1 of 15 granite paving units for Rochester Riverside with inlaid and sandblasted details. Image: Christopher Tipping

Blog, Landscape, Public Art, Public Realm, Rochester Riverside

Rochester Riverside in production – HARGREAVES FOUNDRY

November 4, 2019 Christopher Tipping Leave a comment

In August all was ready for the casting of the iron units and off I eagerly trotted on the train up to Hargreaves Foundry in Halifax to be present during a famous ‘Casting Thursday’! – I have been up to Hargreaves only once before and Andrew Knight, Foundry & Patternshop Manager showed me around the factory at that time. Even though this was impressive, (& it is !) it couldn’t match being present to witness my own work being cast. It is such a physical, visceral process, fully hands on and dangerous with it. The skill & craft is astonishing and it is this legacy of making, which Hargreaves has in bucketfuls, that I wanted to design into the public art work for Rochester.

Rochester Riverside. Hargreaves Foundry. Image: Christopher Tipping

Artwork for Units 1 – 5 for cast iron production at Hargreaves Foundry in Halifax. Some units were cast twice. Image: Christopher Tipping

Original tooled pattern by Arthur Jackson after casting at Hargreaves. Image: Christopher Tipping

Details of EASM 3D files used by Solidworks for cnc tooled pattern manufacture at Arthur Jackson & Co Ltd, Halifax. Image: Arthur Jackson

Elements of cnc tooling & pattern production at Arthur Jackson & Co Ltd in Halifax. Image: Christopher Tipping

Original tooled patterns by Arthur Jackson after use in casting at Hargreaves. Image: Christopher Tipping

Nine cast iron units have now been made, from 5 original cnc tooled patterns manufactured to my designs by Arthur Jackson & Co Ltd, Halifax. These patterns, cnc tooled from a type of resin block are used to prepare the resin sand mould boxes used in the final casting process. The cast units are then hand finished through grinding and polishing methods.

Elements of cast iron production at Hargreaves Foundry in Halifax. Image: Christopher Tipping

Individual one ton iron weights are used to secure the moulds during casting, such are the pressures of heat during the process. The moulds are constructed from a resin infused black sand, which has been compacted around the master pattern, which is then removed.

What I can’t convey here is the noise, heat, smell & excitement of this process during the critical stages of casting. The experience is vivid and visceral. I am watching something being made which could last for hundreds of years.

The units above and below have now been treated with Nitric Acid to prevent rusting through oxidation. The cast iron is almost black and the relief jumps out very cleanly.