Exploring the duality of the Picturesque and Counter-Picturesque, this project proposes a landscape that provides both picturesque views as well as a hidden productive landscape.

The Picturesque movement coincided with great changes to the agricultural industry. Born from the woes of food uncertainty in the early 19th century, the Counter-Picturesque movement championed redistribution of land to be used for subsistence. The agrarian crisis of then has parallels to the current agricultural uncertainty in the United Kingdom and the world. It is this duality of land use that will be explored in this project.

The site is situated between Lord Cobham’s Picturesque Gardens at Stowe and the farmlands that now fill the surrounding countryside. Stowe was chosen due to its historic significance, pioneering the use of the Ha-ha as well as the ‘Brownian’ landscape. Taking advantage of new technological developments in farming, it is within this intermediary site between Stowe and its surrounding farmlands that a new dual-purpose landscape is created, a symbol of The 21st Century Counter-Picturesque.