2021 ski trip

 

Though this is not to do with landscape architecture, I just wanted to document what I spent my time doing over the Christmas break. Skiing! 

I have been skiing before in Austria, this time we travelled to the French Alpes for our week away. It was incredible to see the scenery up the mountains, its breath-taking and a realisation to how small you actually are when going up the ski lifts. 

I don't travel often, however it highlighted the importance to me. I think its valuable to visit different places of the world to get and experience of how they live and their culture, and I think this is very important in my landscape design goals of travelling world wide, and you can begin to pick up how people use landscapes. Though I didn't stay long, I picked up that  people often sat in bars that were outside (whether permitting). This was there areas to socialise and interact. This is there 'public park'.

What I'm trying to get at here is the importance of designing each place to their needs. a public park wouldn't work in the Alpes because vegetation wouldn't survive, and without entertainment I know I would just prefer to ski!

I think its important to prioritise traveling in our lifetime as landscape architects. As we will begin to see these places first hand and pick up on people and how they use public spaces- something that would be much more challenging through research. 

Sure research is still a priority in creating good outdoor spaces, but having that first hand knowledge you can pick up on those little things that will make the landscape even more valued by the community.