Sketchbook - Roman Revitalisation - Week 2

Alney Island is a large floodplain and wetland area surrounded by the River Severn, located in Gloucester. For our third-year design module, we focused on this site to create a 'festival destination'. The figure below shows Alney Island.

My initial concept, named Glevum, was a family festival celebrating Gloucester's rich history, from food to music to wildlife, creating a mosaic of dynamic spaces for everyone to enjoy.

The second part of the project builds on this, designing a festival destination with various attractions. As I moved into this phased, my concept evolved, delving deeper into Gloucester's history, inspired by the defining feature of Alney Island - water. The wetland landscape must be central to the design, and I chose to connect this with the history of the Roman invasion of England and their significant influence on Gloucester. The following figures explore the conceptual elements that may feature in this landscape.

Figures 1 and 2 depict a typical Roman temple, which reflects key aspects of Roman architecture, such as stone façades, columns, frontal stairs, pediments, intricate roofs, and alters. On a drier area of the island, this style of architecture could serve as a central gathering point, providing a space where people can come together and enjoy each other's presence. It would be interesting to incorporate Mediterranean plants, such as Foeiculum vulgare (fennel) and Organum vulgare (oregano), known for their medicinal properties. While Mediterranean planting may be challenging in the wetland conditions, exploring how these plants could be integrated would add a unique element to the design.

Figure 3 shows Roman baths, which were central to Roman leisure and social life. As one of the first civilisations to prioritise cleanliness, the baths were used for relaxation, socialising, and bathing. They became common features throughout the Roman Empire, offering a variety of rooms with different temperatures, as well as swimming pools. 

The water surrounding Alney Island and its wetland landscape can be directly linked to the Romans and their reverence for water. Neptune, the Roman god of water, controlled the seas and storms, and scarifies were made to him during droughts. The Welsh goddess Sabrina of the River Severn, further emphasises the connection to water. As previously mentioned, water was central to Roman baths, used for leisure and relaxation. The juxtaposition highlights Alney Island's importance.

My design concept at this stage is to transform Alney Island into a spa focused on relaxation, meditation, and purification, with water symbolising life, movement, and connection. Other Roman themes/ideas that could be incorporated into deisgn include natural swimming ponds, courtyards, atriums, paintings, exercise areas, follies, sport facilities, education spaces, villas, pergolas, terraces, columns and arches, statues, mosaics, aqueducts, fountains, and gardens, all embodying hope, wisdom and power.