Ok, so this project isn’t completely engaging. Nonetheless, I deconstructed a half-dozen crackers, trying to keep the shells as intact as I could. Unfortunately the central tongue was a casualty on all 6 crackers (it was simply too stiff to remove politely).
I have however managed to keep the sounding tongues/popper strips intact, and I’ll investigate them at some point.
So, what with it being essay season, I started typing up my lecture notes today, and got a little bit of reading done (yay!). Also, advised a friend on essays, and how I approach a conclusion.
Conclusions. The request for advice led me to trawl through my old, old University work (which I still have archived, I’m an information hoarder) in search of any reports or essays I wrote that may be of use. Then I remember that they were all… sub standard. But one thing I found was an old blog entry of mine which I never posted. Typed up during some very dark days.
That journey concluded a long time ago. I am on a new one now, with better, brighter opportunities and if I am honest, one that is far, far more enjoyable. Closure really is a great thing.
Had a week’s break, and now back to work. In theory (& practice hopefully).
My plan for next week is to read & take notes from a book a day to aid with the essay, then brainstorm the essay. I also need to type up my lecture notes as well. I’ve also been donig some sketching in my old Amsterdam journal at long last. Some of the sketches are a bit trippy, but it is a relief to find sketching fun again.
In other news: saw Star Wars yesterday. It was good, yes, however it was also stagnant. The best thing to come out of the film was Rey (Daisy Ridley’s character).
Also planning on getting some much needed clothes shopping done tomorrow.
So, we had to incorporate the concept of “multiples” - that is, using the same material/shape/object/style/technique over and over to create a final outcome.
I decided that I wanted to revisit the idea of building with sticks, but at a larger scale. One of my original goals was to create a sculptural pyre of some description - linking a prior theme of mine of rebirth/The Phoenix. However, time was pressing, so I decided to go for an iterative approach.
I still had some of the pine board left from my “Repair is Beautiful” project, so I cut that into strips, and then I cut a little over half of those strips into sticks. I ended up sanding those strips down by hand (too small to be machined). Fortunately however, I could sand the ends of the sticks into stakes on one of the belt sanders, which saved a lot of time.
I followed the same procedure as the small scale model - create 3 walls using sticks, however I added inner & outer walls to the model this time. Bunch the sticks up, play, and photograph the result.
I’ll post some close-ups of the structure later.
I started off with some small scale conceptual structures based off of some sketches I did last weekend. Those are the perspex and perspex/balsa models shown first:
The sketch envisioned an outer shell, with a central piece “floating” in the centre. I have a feeling my sub-concious was taking inspiration from La Grande Arche de La Défense en Paris.
The second model (perspex & balsa) was cobbled together without any direct goal in mind. I was just playing with shapes. I feel like really need to get away from cubes & cuboids, more often than not, it feels like playing with kid gloves, that I’m not stretching myself.
The last structure - made out of foam - was also based on a sketch. Originally I attempted to create this structure out of clay, however that was unsuccessful. Instead, I went back and used up some of the foam cuttings from my prior foam model, and created the central spire.
Yes, the central spire is wonky, although it is not meant to be. These models were supposed to be made reasonably quickly - I’m trying to get better at time management, especially when you’re only doing initial concepts. The smaller structures you see around the spire are the off cuts, which I decided to include in the final model, as I found their shapes quite interesting.
The colour scheme I used reminds me of “Mirror’s Edge”, an old (soon to be expanded upon) first-person platformer/puzzle game released in ‘08/’09.
More models. This week was primarily about making models.
The first model I started on was that of a pyramidal shelter, created using perspex. I ultimately abandoned this large model for a smaller one, as I made a rookie error - for these triangles to join together, I would need to chamfer the edges and then use a capillary action based solvent to join them. This method suceeded on one set, however the larger pyramid was missing a section. Originally I tried to bridge this gap using a thick acetate sheet, however this snapped. At this point I decided to scale down my model, as time was becoming a factor.
I moved on to another design which I wanted to model - this time sculpting it out of foam. This took a while, and it is still not shaped to how I would like; however for the purpose of an initial basic model, it is adequate. I’ll start work on a photoshop render of the design, and hopefully it will aid the visualisation of it.
Three smaller models not pictured - a hypothetical extension to G-Block, which I created during an exercise run by the School of Architecture last Monday; Another “shards of glass” assembly; The small-scale version of my pyramidal shelter.
Firstly, profuse apologies for the photo quality. The weather was shit, and a couple of these were stiched together using my phone. Combine that with being dog tired, and my brain wasn’t really functioning well enough to get into great photo-taking positions.
So, this is what (part) of the QE Olympic Park looks like 3 years on. The park is in the middle of an area undergoing a 20+ year development.
There were some lovely views from the Kapoor tower, however, no tripod + night + old camera = grainy photos. Hence why I haven’t uploaded any.
The final photo is of some canal boats and graffiti on the border of the park, and I thought it was a rather amusing juxtaposition.
Busy day.
The School of Architecture organised a field trip to London today, heading around various locations. I made my way up separately with the intention of meeting up. Well, I never did. Despite that, I managed to fit in:
Eames Exhibition @ The Barbican
Palladian Design @ RIBA
Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
London Aquatic Centre
Anish Kapoor’s Observation/Guard Tower
Originally the plan was to round it all off with a talk from Sir Peter Cook at The Doodle Bar, but that was going to start too late. Also, the bar didn’t do food, and after walking around London all day, I was hungry.
Pics will follow as an when. (It was cloudy, got dark early, didn’t have a tripod, so night-time pics possibly not brilliant).
Did have a lovely steak though (if expensive!) at The Butcher @ Grill over in Battersea, nr the Doodle Bar.
The first model I did - acetate & wood - was based upon a sketch. One way I like sketching is to just through shapes together onto a pile, “read” the pile, and then sketch forms which appear. Not quite as random or procrastination bound as you may think.
I also had some sticks, and some modelling clay which I had yet to use (bought it during the Carousel, that seems so long ago now). Used some of the clay a as a base to stick the sticks into, and went to work playing with shapes. Not entirely displeased with the outcomes.
Lastly, we had a modelling workshop with Sim (sculpture & welding tutor), who showed us how to do a basic plaster relief. Clay has admittedly never been my strongest suit, but I thought this came out rather well.
A new week, a new project. Fortunately this one will run until the end of term (I can’t believe that is only 2! weeks away).
Our tutor was kind enough to roll the last 3 projects into a single brief - I’m finding it a lot less stressful now because of that. The overall theme is Geometry, whilst incorporating model making & repetition or the use of multiple forms (Made by Hand & Multiples briefs). I’m able to plan a bit better because of this.
This week I spent researching, sketching and creating a couple of basic models. The models I’ll show in the next post, the sketches will have to wait (yet to scan them in).
I’ve researched Foster (not pictured - didn’t find anything overwhelmingly gripping), Libeskind (not pictured, but I have images compiled on an A1), Hadid & Kengo Kuma. Also flicked through a book called eVolo Skyscraper Vol 2… some really awesome stuff in there, but either borderline Sci-Fi or completely Sci-Fi. Despite that, the aesthetics used in the book proved useful for a starting point for some ideas.