As part of my course, I do a design studio module. The first project assigned to us in that module was to design a prosthesis which enhances/ alters one of our senses. As part of the documentation for the group project, we are required to keep a blog to track it. The project is also based off the same places which I have been exploring in this blog, so I feel it ties in quite nicely at this point to the content of this blog!
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Below is my drawing of St Barnabus Cathedral. It was informed by the place itself.To me, a place of worship should be just that. A place to worship. In services there is often a lot of singing and praising, sometimes even dancing. This is what I wanted to show with my drawing. I felt that the Cathedral should be shown not as a quite place with nothing happening, but with people using the building for it's purpose and engaging with the space.
I focused purely on the people in this drawing. I included only a few pews and the ground as any form of structural element. I was thinking about the idea of material & immaterial, of phenomenology. A place of worship definitely has a strong immaterial aspect to it. It is not about what the building looks like, it is about what happens within it. So I felt no need to draw in the surrounding physical architecture, albeit beautiful. Because the immaterial aspects of the architecture speak the whole story on their own. The drawing below is representative of my experiences of Magistrates Court in Nottingham.The Magistrates Court in Nottingham features several floors that can overlook anyone walking below. That space made me feel as though anyone above were looking down on me.It is quite intimidating and comes across as very judgemental, an aspect which is essentially key in a court.
I wanted my drawing to show this intimidation. I lined the floors with the anonymous, near shapeless, figures of onlookers. I have purposely tried to make the space seem bigger by playing with wide angle distortion, which causes lines to bend and perspective to be stretched. My drawing has achieved the feelings that I wanted to portray, at least in my eyes. It captures the feelings that I think are caused by the building. The image below is of a drawing relating to my experiences of Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem.This drawing represents one of the primary feelings that I felt during my visit to Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem - claustrophobia. This is not to say that I did not enjoy my trip there, I really like the pub and it's design and general atmosphere. However, there is definitely a sense of claustrophobia to be found within the system of caves that make up some of the rooms inside.
During the time I was there, there were times in which people had to squeeze past one another. For example to get into one of the back rooms, there were two lines of people moving against each other in a very tight space. It was undoubtedly cramped. The drawing is of one of the spaces at the back of the inn, located in one of the caves. I wanted to show the sense of claustrophobia by filling it with people. I could have added more people into the image and really exaggerated the point, but actually the amount of people in this small space is quite realistic, and to me that is all the more powerful. For me, this image genuinely represents the real idea of claustrophobia from the inn. "So much for stone; we must now deal with lime. . . ." - Leon Battista AlbertiThis quote is small and simple, but in my opinion it is at the same time very representative of Alberti's text. Alberti's text focuses on the physical, material side of architecture. Covering wood to stone, the text provides very in depth explanations of the various properties of all kinds materials. It also goes into explaining construction techniques and which materials are suited to what. This quote, to me, represents the text as a whole, as well as the view that the text takes. Alberti talks very much about the way in which materials work as objects. The only context that he refers to them in combination is to explain how they work with one another in regards to construction. He makes no reference to the immaterial aspects of any materials, there are no mentions of the experiences or feelings that the materials provide. In my opinion, the quote above shows how easy he finds it to disregard materials to move onto the next. The way in which it is written, whereas perhaps intended to be light-hearted, simply reads as though even Alberti himself is getting bored of the materials. There are multiple places in the text where this comes across. I have a very keen interest in the physical side of materials, the way in which they work and in what/ how they can be used, so I genuinely do have a lot of respect for this text. I enjoyed reading it and learning from it. But I could not help feeling that Alberti was only looking skin deep in the text. There was no sign of emotion. Bibliography Smith, Korydon H. (2012) Introducing architectural theory, Chapter 4, “Material and Immaterial”, pp. 113 "Architecture is expected to be solid, stable and reassuring - physically, socially and psychologically. Bound to each other, the architectural and the material are considered inseparable. But Immaterial Architecture states that the immaterial is as important to architecture as the material and has as long a history. . . ."This quote is slightly longer than the first. I chose this quote because it is essentially a statement which defines part 2 of the chapter. It states that immateriality is a fundamentally important part of architecture, hence aspects like experience, emotion and atmosphere are all key to a good architectural design. I feel very much the same way about this idea. As previously stated, I do indeed have a profound appreciation for Alberti's explanation and understanding of materials, as well as for the materials themselves. I believe that it is important to understand how these materials work physically, but I also believe that there is more to them that just their literal presence. Each material is fully capable of possessing an immaterially to it. Around a year ago I visited the Jewish Museum in Berlin, designed by Daniel Libeskind. That particular building has got a strong immateriality to it and it was also the first time I knowingly experienced the proper force of what immateriality in architecture can achieve. Before that point the concept felt purely theoretical, but now I have experienced it myself, it has influenced every idea for architectural design that I have since. Bibliography Smith, Korydon H. (2012) Introducing architectural theory, Chapter 4, “Material and Immaterial”, pp. 132 Below is a drawing based on my impression of the Derby Road Tunnel.My impressions of the Derby Road Tunnel (also known as the Park Tunnel) were what informed my drawing of it. The image above is not intended to be an accurate representation of it, but an amplified example of my interpretations.
What I keep returning to every time I think about the Park Tunnel is how astounded I was at it's scale. There are many small canal bridges and tunnels around the city, and to an extent this is what I was expecting. But I was so surprised by the size of the tunnel that it is the big association that I make with it. The drawing represents this. I wanted to show a huge, exaggerated, darkened area to represent the scale and a small light at the end of the tunnel where you aim for. The size of the person compared to the tunnel was to show how intimidating the scale of the place could feel, there is a sense of insignificance to be felt within it's presence. I included some of the surroundings too, but I did not want to distract from the large centre of focus with too much detail. I am pleased with my drawing of the Derby Road Tunnel. It conveys my intended feelings perfectly to me, but of course as with any art, big or small, it is always open to interpretation.
Alberti’s text was from anthropologist Ashley Montagu. To me, this quote is a comment on how Western architecture is beginning to engage more senses than just vision. It suggests that in the Western world we generally tend to design architecture with the sense of sight being the primary target. It also suggests, however, that we are now beginning to explore the idea of using architecture to engage other senses too. Montagu calls the Western world a “technological world.” In my opinion they are right in saying this, we rely highly on technology now. It is everywhere and in everything, but predominantly we engage with technology using sight, followed by sound, for the majority of the time. I think that perhaps we have put far too much emphasis on the aesthetic properties that engage our sense of sight. This quote stood out to me greatly as not too long ago I went on a trip to Berlin. Whilst I was there I visited the Jewish Museum, designed by Daniel Libeskind, and it changed what I considered to be the possibilities of a piece of architecture. It is more than a building, it is an experience which walks you on a trip. There are places within it that make you pay attention to sound, to touch, to temperature and more. Therefore I find this quote especially important. It is something that I believe all architects should bare in mind. A good piece of architecture should interact with more than just vision. It should allow all senses to take part in the experience. This is something that I will definitely be baring in mind for my own architectural practice and projects. Bibliography
Smith, Korydon H. (2012) Introducing architectural theory, Chapter 4, “Material and Immaterial”, pp. 105-140. As part of our Architecture In Context module, we were required to read through part of a book called 'Introducing architectural theory' by Korydon H. Smith. Specifically we read through Chapter 4, entitled "Material and Immaterial", which featured extracts from Juhani Pallasma and Leon Battista Alberti.Bibliography
Smith, Korydon H. (2012) Introducing architectural theory, Chapter 4, “Material and Immaterial”, pp. 105-140.
of isolation and abandonment that fills a cave. They can be lonely places. However, when thinking of a home, feelings of warmth and happiness come to mind. A home is a friendly place to be, comforting and welcoming. It is a place that has been lived in. I choose the word ‘home’ carefully as I feel there is also a comparison to be made between a home and a house. To me, a house is merely a building, but a home is a place to be lived in.
Bibliography
http://www.stbarnabascathedral.org.uk - 09/10/2013 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00n58pm - 09/10/2013 http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/building/palace/architecture/palacestructure/the-architects/ - 09/10/2013 |
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