Ramblings of an Englishman

The Memory Project

2008-05-09T17:22:00.004Z

The Memory Project:

Whilst looking at a news click on the bbc for The Cans Festival I came across an interesting clip for a project known as The Memory Project sponsored by O2 and designed by Gabby Shawcross and Jason Bruges.

You can watch the video clip here and it tells you about how the gallery works. The nearer you move to the images that line the gallery space the further you move forward to recent moments in time. The further back you move from the images to the middle of the gallery the further back in time the images you see go. There are a number of cameras on the outside of the structure that record images in various timed intervals and inside the gallery there is a motion sensor camera that can determine how near to the centre of the gallery you are.

It was show in the London's South Bank in mid April and is currently touring various cities across the country.

Below are some clips of the installation:

Blood on Paper - the Art of the Book

2008-05-09T16:03:00.010Z

V&A: Blood on Paper Exhibition:

This free exhibition on from the 15th April to the 29th June 2008 showcases contemporary work by modern day artists who are trying to challenger the concept of what exactly is a book.

The area is split into four different sections. Section one has works by artists including Matisse, Picasso, Miro and a giant "book" by Anselm Keifer titled "The Secret Life Of Plants", which looks to be constructed out of giant sheets of lead. In section two works by Damien Hurst and Ed Ruscha look at Christian iconography and artistic creation according to the leaflet anyway. Personally I think the book of "Stains", 1969 by Ed Ruscha is just plain weird! Who else makes a book of stains that contains apple juice, their own blood, urine and sperm and can class it as being art?? If this is a book and it is art then I think I will be making my next book from a roll of used toilet paper.

Only in the world of art can people get away with so many things, by using complete dribble to explain something that generally has no explanation and I should know. When doing art we were constantly told to give everything an explanation. Even though most of the things we created were because they came from the heart, a moment of inspiration or just out of the plain love of it.

Anyway! In the room there was one quite nicely bound book Isamu Noguchi titled "18 drawings, 18 photographs" (above). It was in a concertina design, nicely bound with fabric and used some nice thick paper/ card and just looked nice and neat. This could also be said about Eduardo Chillida's "Reflections" (below), which can all be stored in to a nice compartment.

Another piece of work in this section was by Francis Bacon, that wasn't exactly a book but his suitcase with various things he had collected from his travels over the years, but it was all quite nice to look at.

In the third section were works by Lichtenstein, Jeff Koons etc... That specialise in poetry and use modern and ancient materials and techniques, including papyrus, paper, plastic and photography. Cai Guo-Quaing's "Danger Book: Suicide Fireworks" is an exploding book filmed on a projection.

In the 4th section are works by Keifer, Vital, Caro and Anish Kapoor that look at the contemporary development of the idea of the book at an art form. Where Kapoor has carefully carved through paper to make something interesting, which resembles the crack in the Tate Modern. Work by Caro titled "Open Secret" (below) doesn't represent a book at all and are forms created from metal.

All in all I thought this exhibition might inspire me a little to give my current projects some form of identity, but they did nothing and I wish that the ticket person would have sold me a ticket for the China Design Now exhibition in the same place, which I still wish to see :) But I am not big on books so if you like books then you may enjoy this exhibit! In fact i'm going to go back on myself and say really it wasn't that bad at all :P

All images are from the V&A's website, as you are not allowed to take photos in the exhibition.

Des Res @ NLA

2008-05-09T14:54:00.013Z

Des Res Exhibition:

In the building centre off of Tottenham Court Road is the new exhibition by the NLA called Des Res, which looks at the pressures the capital is under going to cope with the construction of buildings to cope with an estimated population increase of over 700,000 in the next 15 years. The mayor's housing strategy proposes almost a quarter of a million new homes by 2016, which is represented in the model pictured below.

The exhibition relates to my extended essay I am currently doing on new developments in the Thames Gateway area of Kent Thameside.

The exhibition looks at areas including sustainability, affordability, design, the public realm, communities, mixed use developments and previous post-war housing examples. Like with all NLA exhibitions it comes with a great supporting booklet, lots of lovely new architect models and many large print outs of photographs, models, CGI and photoshop representations of the new developments.

Each development profile includes architect, client, project manager and landscape architect! It also includes a break down of the developments density, mix of units (per no. bedrooms), retail, commercial and residential percentages, amount of public space included and the percentage of homes in that are socially rented in each development. This makes it all very clear and easy to compare different developments across the capital and see which are the most effective.

Developments I particularly liked were the narrow Monmouth Road building designed by Pitman Tozer Architects and Landscaped by Nurture Nature, which has been nominated for the Grand Design building of the year award. I also like Donnybrook Quarter (pictured above) designed by Peter Barber Architects, which has a very Spanish or Greek feel about the style of the housing. Another development I particularly like for it's strong use of colour is St. Thomas' School (pictured below) and Flats in Kensington and Chelsea, designed by Pollard Thomas Edwards architects and the landscape architect is Jenkins and Clarke.

The Cans Festival

2008-05-09T13:08:00.014Z

The Cans Festival, Waterloo:

Following on from my previous post about street art I was so excited when I heard there was a festival on the subject in London. The Cans festival organised by Banksy is situated in Leake Street, a half mile long tunnel that runs the width of Waterloo Station. The installation was given permission by Eurostar who own the site and Banksy invited around 29 other street artists from all over the world to take part and create their own pieces in the tunnel. In Banksy's words he has turned a "dark forgotten filth pit into an oasis of beautiful art".

I was too late to see the props and see members of the public create their own pieces of work over the bank holiday weekend, but I did manage to see the remaining works. It was so refreshing to see so many different styles in one place and each was witty, creative imaginative and colourful.

I think in the end I probably ended up taking a photo of every piece, as it was so fun and interesting and if you like street art then I recommend you see it. If you don't like street art, then go see it anyway, as it might change your mind :)

Artists include Banksy, James Dodd, Kaagman, John Grider, Logan Hicks, Bandit, Dotmasters and my favourite artist of the festival C215, where I like his style and the lines running through the images mixed with a wallpaper pattern background, but you have to look at it closely to appreciate it most.

I also liked Banksy's graffiti cleaner who's removal prehistoric styled art work, the painting gorilla and more a less everything else!!!

Street Art @ Tate Modern

2008-04-02T12:20:00.008Z

Street Art:

Browsing the beeb I saw an article about the Tate Modern and that it is commissioning 6 street artists to adorn the front wall of the Tate over looking the Thames in the summer. The external wall shall have a protective layer put on first so that the brick work will not get damaged when it is later removed. I think this is an excellent idea, as you can't get more modern than street art and street art will connect and bring more young people to the Tate Modern. Galleries can be perceived as a rather high brow places to visit with endless pointless annotations about the work on display. It will also show what is inspiring people in the art world and what is relevant in today's society. I do not mind street art I find it creative, inspiring and imaginative.

However, I hate tags that have no point and look terrible. All they do is ruin an area, whilst with good street art it can become attached to the community that surrounds it and become part of the urban landscape.

The six artists being commissioned art are JR from France who uses photos of people from deprived backgrounds and places them in affluent city areas.

Otavio & Gustavo Pandolfo are twins coming from Sao Paulo in Brasil and their name collectively is Os Gemeos, which means "the twins" in Portuguese and their work represents life in South America. The pair also paint on canvases, sculpt, graphic design and also do photography.

Another artist is Blu who's subject relate to death and uses paper montages to create some of his work. One of his works I saw yesterday in Shoreditch, but I never knew who it was by until today and the website is good!

Smithfield to Shoreditch

2008-04-01T16:20:00.016Z

The beauty of London is that you can quite easily get lost, which is great for discovering new things! However, another good thing about London is that however lost you may be if you walk in a random direction you some how eventually do manage to get to your chosen destination.

Smithfield:

Starting off from Smithfield's market, an ancient meat market that has been trading for over 800 years. Near to the market is St. Bartholomew the Great a church founded in 1123 as part of an Augustinian Priory. I then walked through the narrow streets before coming to the Barbican and Fann Street Wildlife Park. It is one of only two wildlife sanctuaries in the city and helps to create a green grid of habitats. Managed by the city of London and the Barbican Wildlife Group it has areas of rotting wood, beech hedging, cut and uncut lawn that help promote wildlife in the middle of a high density residential area.

Dreamspace Gallery:

Near Fann Street is the Dreamspace Gallery at Adrem. Currently it is exhibiting work by Amin Taha Architects, an up and coming practice in London. The exhibition shows models and projects of current and future projects, including the Custard Factory (Birmingham), Vauxhall Tree Gardens (London) and the New Islington Footbridge, which stretches over a crossroads in the canal system. Existing projects that can be seen are Marlborough House in London Fields and Gazzano House in Farringdon that uses Cor-ten steel to blend it in with it's historic surroundings.

By Dreamspace is Whitecross Street Market, which is Islington's oldest market. Due to it's location near Old Street it has a confused identity of scruffy run down shops and expensive boutiques. In some cases it seems that vacant shops are just used as storage for the various market stalls along the street.

At the end of the market is a church on Old Street called St. Luke's. This is an unusual church due to the fact that instead of having a spire it has an obelisk. The church is a grade 1 listed building and is now home to the London Symphony Orchestra and is used as a rehersal, recording & education space and an intimate concert hall.

Shoreditch:

Wandering along Old Street I came in contact with Shoreditch country. Shoreditch is a great place because although it has a mix of new architecture and expensive bars it also has contrasting run down buildings, street art and graffiti. There are Victorian buildings that resemble ancient ruins being propped up and quirky converted customised tube carriages being used as offices for arty types.

Sweet:

From Shoreditch I went to Bethnal Green to see "Sweet" at the Museum of Childhood. Edible architecture has been created by artist Jaimini Patel and local school children. The work of Jamini Patel uses produce from Britain's colonial past that bought the wealth to construct the actual buildings. With detailed models being constructed from sugar, spices and cocoa. Primary and secondary school children used a trip to the museum to inspire them to create buildings of their own and replicate famous London landmarks out of recycled material, packaging, chocolate and sweets.

Butterfly Conservation Project:

2008-03-18T13:21:00.004Z

Butterfly World is a new £25 million pound project aimed at conserving world and native butterfly & moth species. The project is aimed to be completed in three years time and will cover a site of 27 acres near St. Albans. The site will be laid out in the shape of a butterfly's face with the eye of the butterfly being the main focal point of the project. Here there will be a tropical dome that uses the same design principals of the Eden Project in Cornwall, but it shall be even larger in size.

Outside of the dome there will be gardens and large wild flower meadows aimed at encouraging, attracting and stabilising British butterfly species as well educating the public on the topic. A key aspect of Butterfly World will be "Future Gardens", a showcase for contemporary and sustainable garden design which will become an annual event from June to September.
The project will approximately attract 500,00 to a million people a year. The project aims to be self sustaining and estimates at bringing £123million to the local economy over it's first five years of operation.

Site Plan:

East London Photos:

2008-03-18T12:45:00.010Z

As well as all the new developments happening it is still easy to find some dereliction and eeriness, which is good as without it east London would have no character what so ever and all of it carries it's own special beauty!

Focus Week- Go East

2008-03-17T21:14:00.021Z

New East London Architecture:

Using the DLR, as a means of exploring East London I set off from Bank station along the DLR to West Silvertown Station. It is interesting to see how London's landscape changes from built up offices to baron wastelands, industrial estates and forgotten housing.

Peabody Trust Housing:

At West Silvertown is the Peabody Trust's building designed by Niall McLaughlin Architects. Built in 2004 it cost £1.5 million and the design was chosen as the winner of the trust's competition to find fresh ideas for low cost housing. The main structure is a regular timber frame structure but it is clad in decorative materials inspired by the iridescence of dragonflies, peacocks and films of oil. Iridescence is made by light reflecting off of different layers within a material. Working with artist Martin Richman a cladding was developed using ‘dichroic’ film. The cladding is made up of a sheet of glass and a sheet of aluminium with a layer of dichroic film in the middle and was constructed at a window manufacturers. When the quality of light changes so does the intensity of colour on the building's cladding, turning it into a striking building for the area.

Silvertown Explosion:

Walking along the North Woolwich Road I stumbled upon a small memorial and wondered what it was for. It turned out to be that on this site was the biggest explosion in London's history. In 1917 a TNT factory that was aiding the first world war efforts exploded killing 73 people and injuring 400. 50 tons of TNT exploded damaging some 70,000 homes as well as factories, other businesses and the local fire station. For such a major event the memorial is tiny and faded. Positioned under the DLR railway it is not very noticeable and hopefully shall be more focal when the existing site of the explosion is redeveloped for housing.

Thames Barrier Park:

I have never been here before. However, I did attempt to get to it once before but ended up visiting the south side of the Thames where there is nothing! Thames Barrier Park covers 22 acres on a site that was previously a dock. The centre piece to the park is the Green Dock, where there are contoured Yew and Maygreen hedges. The sunken environment creates it's own micro climate attracting butterflies and allowing different types of plants to grow within. Although it is only spring there are some species that are still out in leaf and in flower like the rows of Daffodils. This park has a similar feeling to the Forum in Barcelona except for the grotty windy weather in it's contemporary design and the Remembrance Pavilion that reminds me of the exposed warehouse on the Forum's waterfront.

Laban Dance College:

By Deptford Creek near Greenwich is the new Laban Dance College, home to Europe's largest school in contemporary dance. Sitting amongst derelict buildings and industrial land is this colourful shiny brand new structure designed by Herzog & de Meuron. The building is wrapped in semi translucent polycarbonate sheeting allowing for privacy, but also allowing the viewer outside to see glimpses of what activities happen within the building. When the sun comes out the shape of the building allows for light to refract and for reflections of surrounding buildings to happen on it's large windows. Like the Peabody Trust housing in Silvertown light plays with the colours of the polycarbonate allowing for varying intensities in colour and could possibly be used for other uses other than just cladding. The building overhangs a platform making it seem, as though the structure is floating on it's surrounding vivid landscape. Grass pyramids are created round the college using timber frames that hold back the soil allowing for turf to grow over it. This minimalist landscape contrasts with the college's 'brown roof'. A roof that mimics the qualities of brownfield sites it acts as a habitat for the Black Redstart, which is one of Britain's rarest birds.

Focus Week- London Open City

2008-03-17T16:17:00.009Z

London Open City @ Somerset House:

London Open City is on till the 27th of April and is about the uses of London and how it can be changed to be more fun and useful to us all. I thought this was a really good exhibition due to the way it was designed and that through a series of spaces a different topic is discussed.
By the entrance are three telescopes and when you look through them instead of seeing the view across to the South Bank you see views of various projects that are shown within the exhibition. The exhibition is split into three rooms titled City of Surprises, Changing Places and Greening The Grey.

In the first room are a series of plywood houses on stilts and each house is an individual theme. Ranging from geology and the Green Grid in one house to an illustrated map of London and a film of how current areas in Aldgate can be transformed into pedestrianised areas of fun and calm.

In the second room is a large map of London on a wall mapping the proposed 100 new public spaces, as well as people's thoughts of what they think should be going on in their area. There are also three circular canvas's showing moving images from the city supported by a series of works from current projects happening in London including Potters Field Park and Bankside Urban Forest, which was my favourite. The work showed that you could create detailed and accurate drawings or diagrams that can be creative, artistic and have their own identity.

The third room is called "Greening The Grey" and is to do with London's existing green space, how they can be improved and linked together so that London can have a complete Green Grid. The room has chipboard flooring and photographic prints of woodland on the walls to make the room seem like a woodland.

Focus Week - The Building Centre:

2008-03-17T15:34:00.007Z

The Building Centre:

Underground- London’s Hidden Infrastructure:

On till the 19th of April is an exhibition looking at past, current and future developments beneath London’s landscape. Like previous exhibitions in The Building Centre it is a mixture of models, text, design visualisations and photography. It browses over various topics including transport, services, water, geology and underground buildings.

There are large-scale models on the Kings Cross Saint Pancras development and Canary Wharf Station, Arundel Square (pictured above) by Pollard Thomas Edwards Architects shows that in the need for space to build on developers are looking at buying airspace over railways in order to full fill their development needs.
The exhibition looks at past underground structures, such as the Camden Catacombs beneath Camden Market used for horses to transport coal to the railways, former underground stations and the old post office railway as well as the diverting of rivers underground to enable London to expand.

AJ Small Projects 2008:

AJ Small Projects 2008, which is on till the 29th March shows what architects can create in small spaces and on a small budget with project ranging from a matter of pounds to a maximum of £250,000.

“Green Room” in Ealing by Burd Haward Architects cost 5,000 pounds and is a pre fabricated plywood writers den. A mesh around the outside of the structure allows for plants to grow and become part of the structure.

“Dining Pavilion” in Malta by AP architects with artist Aude Franjou uses steel columns to support a fabric awning. A concertina-like glass screen is decorated with 'trees' made from flax twisted around hemp, which is then woven into the metal framework.

“Mobile Eco Second Home” by Sanei Hopkins only cost £850 pounds to construct is part of a series of temporary looking structures for a home in Suffolk that also include “The Peter Pan House” and “The Wendy House”.

“The Causey” in Edinburgh by Arcade Architects was a temporary installation. Transforming what usually was a busy traffic island into a fun public space that could hold events that involved the community. Acting as a catalyst to make the area have more of an emphasis on the pedestrian than the car.

Adverts :)

2007-12-12T12:08:00.001Z

Olympus Mju "Tough" Camera:

To me this is a nice fun light hearted advert, that is cleverly thought out, although i would never treat my camera that way, although i did break my camera after falling over some Stiles after being chased by a heard of Bulls in a field!

Glenfiddich "Every Year Counts":

As with most alcohol adverts they are usually great and creative :) I like the way this advert is just set out and filmed and how it feels like a dream with the flying clay bird and a big block of ice being dragged through the streets. It just makes me want to travel to India or where ever that was filmed.

Tango Advert:

A nice English, well Welsh take on the Sony Bravia advert, as it's set in Swansea!

Guiness Domino Ad:

Like all Guinness adverts, they are always the best and it's very imaginative and just great!

Focus Week: Barbican and Museum of London

2007-12-12T11:57:00.000Z

Shirana Shahbazi @ The Barbican & The Window Gallery.

On an evening last week whilst walking back from Oxford Street along Charing Cross Road I came across an art gallery called The Window Gallery. Sited opposite a bus stop, the window is screened off with performing artists behind it, only showing the shadows and silhouettes of their movement. Passers by are intrigued to watch the event to see what will happen next and how the two performers interact with each other, as they both try to seduce one another. It is part of a series of events being held at The Window Gallery titled “Seduced” created by graduates at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. It is running in conjunction with The Barbican’s exhibition “Seduced Art and Sex From Antiquity to Now” that looks at the representation of sex in art through the ages with works spanning some 2000 years including works by Andy Warhol and Pablo Picasso. However, I did not go to that exhibition in The Barbican, as it was too pricey. Instead I went to see Shirana Shahbazi at The Curve Gallery within the same building.
The last time I visited The Curve Gallery there was a London cab with a large hole drilled all the way through it and a rotating caravan so I wondered what would be happening there now. Inside the curvy space there are a series of large-scale paintings on the subjects of fruit & flowers, portraits of a young woman and a landscape. The paintings are produced in collaboration with billboard painters and artists from her native Iran. Each painting is painted from a photo, which she has previously taken. After painting the image she then tries to replicate it again, but by trying to copy an existing image the scale ends up changing and the over all image differs from the previous.
Museum of London.

The museum of London seems to be going through a bit of a refurbishment as the bottom gallery for world war London and post-war London was not open, but the rest of the exhibitions were still open :) The museum of London takes your through the entire history of the city, from early settlers, to Roman Londinium, to the great fire of London. There are lots of exhibitions and displays showing how Londinium was organised in the Roman times and the size of London and how it has expanded through the ages. With Londinium being where the heart of the city is and then in the Saxon times another settlement was set up further down stream where Charing Cross is now. Westminster and the Houses of Parliament was constructed on what previously once was a marshy island and the majority of current day settlements would have once been completely under water, as the River Thames was constantly changing it’s path through the ages. Another exhibition currently on display is about the Great Fire of London in 1666 showing some of the original artifacts that survived the fire and how Londoner’s fled to the banks of the Thames to escape the flames taking only their most valuable, but not always their most useful or important of belongings.

Focus Week- Triton square & Spitalfields

2007-12-12T11:12:00.000Z

Triton Square & Regent’s Place.

Located opposite Warren Street Tube Station is Regent’s Place, a mixed use area of glass retail units and office buildings. Designed by EDCO and Sheppard Robson Architects for British Land PLC with ARUP as the engineers it was the winner of the 2004 Civic Trust Award. The square at the centre of this development is a mixture of sculpture, lighting and architecture all blending together to give a dramatic effect. There are two main features to the square and they are the illuminated fan and a planting area that is suspended above the paving on a series of metal poles and clad with a 19th century work by Edward Hodges Baily. The landscape is linked with the surrounding built environment with strands of illuminated fibre optic lighting set into the paving. To me it is a place, which is probably best viewed at night when the art works of the space are lit up and showed at their best. In a wet environment the users of the space tend to not used the seating given and therefore the space becomes under used. In dry conditions there are lots of areas for people to sit and eat with benches that reflect the undulating turf and a spiral stone seating area as well.
Spitalfields Market.

For lunch we went to one of my favourite places in London, Spitalfields Market. Currently it is under going further refurbishment in order to complete the re development of the area, with new retail units housed within the existing market that has different markets every day. Within Spitalfields market Spencer and myself decided to eat at this new place called Leon, which is described by The Times to be “the new place in fast food”. Expecting it to not be too good I was very surprised. At lunch you get a range of veggie of meat dishes to choose from and all dishes are served in biodegradable boxes, which looks quite different. All their meat is from farms in Devon and dishes are made using seasonal ingredients. The lemon, mint and ginger quencher is yummy. I shall stop there, as I’m not a food critic, but it was all very nice and good value too! :)

Surrounding Spitalfields Market a number of shops have kept their original facades from the Victorian times. However, within them are more modern businesses or businesses trying to recapture the time when there was a greater choice and not everything was all packaged in plastic. These shops provide a great contrast to Liverpool Street itself where modern glass office blocks have been constructed and Starbucks and other chains line the road.

Focus Week- Wellcome Collection

2007-12-10T16:01:00.000Z

Focus on being Human:

Wellcome Collection & British Library:

Wandering along the Euston Road from St. Pancras International with Mr Darg we came across the gardens for the British Library, which were rather red and very 1980s, early 90s in design. Continuing along past Euston Station we went to a building opposite called the Wellcome Collection, which i had never heard of before. It is free to enter and contains a bookshop, cafe, library and three exhibitions mixing medicine, life and art all in one building. On the ground floor is a special exhibition called "Sleeping & Dreaming", which investigates the science and need for sleep and dreams. Inside the exhibition there are videos and films showing people and their sleeping patterns and how this can be shown through diagrams and artwork. There are three photos that show the mapping of light across a city through different times of the night and how this relates to people's sleeping patterns. The exhibition blends a mixture of scientific experiments, with food's, sculpture and art through the ages that all have a connection with how sleep and dreams are perceived and can be controlled or understood. Upstairs are a further two exhibitions Medicine Man and Medicine Now. Medicine Now looks at current day medical issues including Malaria, obesity and genomes. Reflecting on the experiences and interests of scientists, doctors and patients. Exhibits include a cut through of a donor's body showing how the muscles, veins and bones are laid out with in the body and the colours of each, which is fascinating. There is a film recording a year period of a womans life from her 23rd to her 24th birthday and every meal she has eaten with in that time frame. This is part of the obesity and Malaria section, which compares an illness associated with developed nations and a disease associated with developing nations.There is also a wall for the public where they can write or illustrate their thoughts on science and medicine and then display it with other's thoughts.

To the Zoo

2007-12-10T13:16:00.000Z

ZSL London Zoo:

London Zoo on the edge of Regent's Park is one of the world's leading places in animal research and is the oldest scientific zoo in the world, being found in 1828. Covering a total area of 36 acres the site houses numerous species of mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, amphibians and invertebrates. London zoo also houses many historically listed buildings including the clock tower, giraffe house and penguin pool. However, due to the amount of listed buildings with in the zoo it has considerably restricted the zoo's options for growth and modernization.

London Zoo's newest attraction is Gorilla Kingdom, which cost £5.3 million. It houses three Western Lowland Gorillas, two female and one male. When the gorillas are fed each day they go through 2-3 sack loads of fruit and vegetables, which also includes popcorn!

Other popular creatures at the zoo include the Black footed and Rock Hopper Penguins from South Africa and sub-antarctic islands.Another relatively new enclosure is Butterfly Paradise. Housed within a giant caterpillar is very humid environment that supports 100s of species of butterflies and moths and a pupae breeding room.

Focus Week

2007-11-04T15:54:00.000Z

Focus on Architecture:

This week was the first time I have been to Riba and I went there in order to see the Sterling Prize Competition 2007 exhibition. To be honest there wasn't too much to see, as they were in the process of setting up a new event or exhibition. Consisting of boards with text, images and videos that were not working the six buildings on show were designed by David Chipperfield Architects, Foster + Partners, Glenn Howells Architects, Haworth Tompkins and the Office for Metropolitan Architecture with Arup-AFA. With the America's Cup Building, Casa da Musica, Dresden Station, Savill Building, Young Vic Theatre and the winning entry The Museum of Modern Literature in Germany all being featured. For more information click here.From RIBA I went to Hyde Park to see autumn arriving and to also see what's on at the Serpentine Gallery and also the new temporary Serpentine Gallery Pavilion. The current exhibition in the Serpentine Gallery (probably the hardest gallery to get to in London) is a mixed media exhibition by Matthew Barney, where he uses restraints on the body to create his outcomes in work.
The new Serpentine Gallery Pavilion is designed by artist Olafur Eliasson and Norwegian architect Kjetil Thorsen, of the architectural practice Snøhetta. It's form is like a spinning top with a ramped walkway running around the outside of the structure. Inside the pavilion is a cafe area with staged seating for possible lectures. At the top of the ramp you walk through a door way and onto what can be best described as a bird's nest that allows your to look over the cafe below. I like the way that it is so different to the rest of the landscape yet it seems to fit it well and that it is a simple yet effective design :)
From the Pavilion i walked through the park to Wellington Arch where I saw two of the queens horse drawn carriages moving along the roads, probably for the King of Saudi Arabia's royal visit.

Focus Week Day 2

2007-10-31T22:06:00.000Z

Focus on Architecture:

On Tuesday I went to visit the Greenwich peninsula to see how the area has changed since I have last been there back in 2000 when it first opened. Going with the knowledgeable guide that is Spencer we walked around the O2 complex. At the moment they were constructing a giant pyramid to advertise the new Tutankhamen exhibition alongside a giant Tutankhamen.

Inside the O2 it still feels as large as last time even with the majority of the dome being taken up by the new arena. All the shops are in an Art Deco style with tree lined "streets" to make you feel like your more outside. However, about 3 quarters of the O2 is still a building site and when there are no major events on it feels like a ghost town. Considering how large the structure is you would think there would be a great deal of opportunity to put many other developments inside it that would be beneficial to the surrounding communities.
From visiting the dome in 2000 the best thing I thought about it was the outside space facing the Thames and how nice it was to walk around the outside of the structure. However, since the re-development it doesn't feel as connected to the river with footpaths being restricted by fencing, as your made to avoid large areas of land still unsure on development. It also feels that no money has been put in by the council to maintain the Thames footpath since 2000 leaving it very under maintained and cold (although that could just be the sea breeze). Although it is early days and the areas owned by the O2 have been landscaped nicely. Considering it's not that long off till the Olympics and the O2 is holding a great deal of events I hope they will make better use of this large peninsula of land by then.

Focus Week Day 1

2007-10-31T20:57:00.002Z

FOCUS on Architecture:

This focus week I have decided to look at events, exhibitions, new building projects and current projects within London.
On Monday I went to look at the progress of the new Eurostar terminal in St. Pancras Station. The old St. Pancras chambers are being converted into a top class hotel, numerous apartments and a "unique" TEN MILLION POUND penthouse! The Barlow shed where Eurostar shall arrive has been carefully restored and there is a large semi open extension on the end of the shed, which is where Midland Mainline trains have been located and later South Eastern trains shall be operating high speed services into Kent. The main entrance currently has been moved to the side of the station, which is quite a long and confusing walk from the refurbished underground station. However, this may change once the station is completely finished in two or so weeks time.
To support this huge project an exhibition has been opened in a building opposite called the Gymnasium, which was where gymnastics was first introduced into this country by German Immigrants. Inside are models showing St. Pancras and it's surroundings, how the huge tunnels were constructed, the general history of the station and plans on the surrounding Kings Cross development. Upstairs was a photographic exhibition showing the some of the people and the skills they used in the construction of St. Pancras International, which was okay in places if a bit too corporate.
After seeing the Gymnasium I had a wander round the Kings Cross area looking at all the old disused railways buildings, warehouses and gasworks and seeing how in a few years time it shall all be gone and replaced with shiny glass offices, which is nice but they won't have any heart or character like the existing ones do, but this is how London works.

Holiday Diaries: Day 4

2007-08-13T16:00:00.000Z

Kuala Lumpur to Langkawi:

After a breakfast of cheese omelette by Mr "Sunny Side Up" man and lots of fruit juices I went for a walk round the park taking photos of the waterfall and the tower AGAIN! We were then collected by David Marshall-Singleton who had to emphasis his name and claimed that he had been round Malaysia 700 times. He used a mini-microphone to talk to us, whilst reading a schedule, whilst also trying to drive & change gears on the motorway.
David speaking in a west Indian/ Indian/ Malaysian accent told us lots of facts about our new destination of Langkawi & KL and then talked about fish restaurants before suddenly changing the subject to wrestling and some guy dyeing in an on fire limousine. He then pointed out of the minibus to the left saying what a superstar hotel is, however we thought he was talking about a run down hotel and then only later out behind a McDonald's popped a palacial "7 star" hotel where all the rich and famous stay. Mr Singleton also said that Malaysia is a couple of years away from becoming a developed country, due to it's natural rubber and palm oil plantations and its oil reserves.
After having my photo taken with our very interesting guide we checked in at the airport and watched TV in the departure lounge for a bit. One of the main stories was about an angry elephant who trod on a person, then nosed a car and continued with head butting a palm tree, as part of it's way for coping with stress. News seems to be much more interesting here in Malaysia than back home.

Landing in Langkawi the weather 40 minutes flight north of Kuala Lumper is very different...rather than being sunny with rain at night it's just rain, rain ocassional sun and then some more rain. Having said that it is sooo hot and humid and you really feel like your somewhere completely different.

My accommodation is at the west of the island in a resort called Berjaya Beach Resort. Set on a hillside with a long sandy beach wrapping round the coastline, there are little cabins on stilts hidden in amongst the jungle, as well as hovering ones propped above the sea on concrete posts, which is what I shall be staying in. :-)

Holiday Diaries: Day 3

2007-08-13T12:49:00.000Z

KL-"The BIG Salad"

Day three and it's the city tour with our Chinese tour guide John (that's his English name I guess, who knows what it really is) who resembles a cuddly Panda :-) He says such phrases as, "the Muslims pray five times a day and the Chinese eat 5 times a day" he says jokingly chuckling and rubbing his tummy. He calls Kuala Lumpur the big salad due to it's mix in cultures, with Malay, Chinese, Indonesian and Indians amongst the many cultures living in this city side by side.
I read in a travel guide that KL was formed on muddy unattractive land of a confluence of 2 rivers where Kuala Lumpur gets it's name from meaning 'Muddy Rivers' founded by the Chinese, in their search of tin and later trading posts were set up with the British taking it over, as part of the Great British Empire installing the most important of necessities , such as a cricket pitch.
First stop on the city tour was a Chinese Temple, with it's bright yellow hanging paper lanterns, pond full of terrapins, a garden with animal sculptures of all the Chinese new year and numerous statue's the worship...the most popular being the one associated with the seas.
Next stop was to go to KL's war memorial. It's a wonderful peaceful place situated on the top of a hill amongst government building's with fountains everywhere. There's a tall column commemorating those involved in the 2nd world war with a pavilion behind that has badges on the roof associated to all the different battalions. At the centre of a deep blue mosaicked pool is a gigantic bronze sculpture of Malaysian soldiers surrounded by bubbling fountains.
From the war memorial John drove us through a tropical park, which houses the largest covered bird park in the world, as well as Orchid Garden's before stopping off at the Colonial Square, which was the heart of British Kuala Lumpur. Red and white bricked colonial architecture lines one side of the road with a cricket pavilion on the other side of a cricket pitch and at the far end is the worlds tallest flagpole at 100 metres high and the old colonial train station...all surrounded by ever towering sky scrapers. Moving through the busy afternoon traffic we got to the Indian quarter, which is full of narrow roads with street stools selling all manner of items. The centre piece of the Indian quarter is a ornate Hindu Temple bustling with people and surrounded by flower stands. John continued to say more things about the city, whilst weaving amongst the traffic before taking us to a silly craft shop and then to the final destination of the golden triangle.
The golden triangle is made up of 3 large shopping centres with Imbi Plaza being the oldest full of lots of computer shops, which you can easily get lost in. Low Yat Plaza has many floors and has a very Chinese feel about it with the smell of foods wafting through the air and little mobile phone stands, big clothes and record stores and web cafe's.

Holiday Diaries: Day 2

2007-08-13T11:32:00.000Z

And so it begins...

We have had no sleep since taking off at 12:00 in the morning at Heathrow and have travelled 12 hours, but have landed at 7:10 in the morning in Malaysia to see the sun rise. KL's airport is miles away from the city and you even have to get a mono rail train to get you to the baggage collection. After fetching our cases we got on a mini-bus and rolled past the F1 track along empty roads and contrasting chock-a-block roads where no one indicates and there seem to be no rules. At least the roads are lined with manicured hedges and flowers that hide the crash barriers behind them.
After an hours drive I arrive at my destination of Trader's Hotel, KL where I shall be staying for the next 2 nights. It is a ultra-modern hotel situated opposite the Petronas Towers. Everything is shiny and glitzy and it is oh so modern that it has to have it's reception on the 5th floor for no particular reason. Trying to operate the lifts is quite hard, it's all about timing...you insert your room card in a slot then quickly with draw it and press the floor, however if your a tiny bit to slow then it won't work and you will go to the wrong floor. For this reason we ended up 5 floors too high and lost my mum in the lifts, as she was too slow in getting out of the lifts. The room is very swish with breathtaking views of the Petronas Towers and park with it's paddling pool, playground and jogging track.
Now after travelling for 12 hours your meant to overcome jet lag by not sleeping through the day and just getting on with it however, the bed looked so comfy so I had to test it out and ended up falling asleep for 5 hours or so. OH WELL! Sleep is good :-)
3 in the afternoon I went for a walk around the park to the nearby shopping centre, supermarket and its strange delights which you can get to if your lazy by the hotel's golf caddy type thing. The rest of the day was spent gauping at the Petronas Towers at various times of the day and night, as they are so spectacular, eating food at an American restaurant, which has really really nice steaks and strolling through the park at night staring the water fountain show, which lasts till about half ten at night.

Holiday Diaries: Day 1

2007-08-13T10:55:00.000Z

In flight entertainment:

I don't think I've ever been on a plane with so much to do, with games, music, books, magazines, films etc... After watching many Family Guy & Simpson's episodes I decided to learn about Kuala Lumpur, but that was pretty boring, so instead I tried to learn Malay (the language of Malaysia).

Here is a little guide to some words for anyone who might end up travelling to Malaysia, however they do speak English so this may be completely pointless :)

Numbers-

0= Kosong 1= Satu 2= Dua 3= Tiga 4= Empat 5= Lima 6= Enam 7= Tujuh 8= Lapan 9= Sembilan 10= Sepuluh 11= Sebelas 12,13,14+ end with belas 20= Dua Pelah 30= Tiga puluh 40= Empat Pulah 100= Seratus 1000= Seribu

Days-

Monday= Isnin Tuesday= Selasa Wednesday= Rabu Thursday= Khamis Friday= Jumaat Saturday= Sabtu Sunday= Ahad

Time of Day-

Morning= Pagi Midday= Petang Evening= Senja Night= Malam

Words-

Airport= Lapangan terbang Map= Peta Bedroom= Bilik tidur Street= Jalan Luggage= Bagasi Taxi= Teksi Supermarket= Pasar reya Train= Kereta Api

Food-

Breakfast= Sarapan Lunch= Makan Tengah Hari Dinner= Makan Malam Chicken= Ayam Coffee= Kopi Milk= Susu Water= Air Wine= Wain Beef= Daging Lembu Pork= Daging Babi Fish= Ikan Fork= Garpu Knife= Pisau Spoon= Sudu

Phrases-

Good Morning= Selamat Pagi Good Night= Selamat Malam Goodbye= Selamat tinggal
Thankyou= Terima Kasih Your welcome= Sama-sama Im sorry= Maaf kan saya Help= Tolong I don't understand= Saya tidak faham.

Questions-

What time is it? Pukul berapakah sekarang?
Where do you come from? Dari manakah anda berasal?
I come from... Saya berasal dari...
How much does this cost? Ber apakah harga ini?
It is... Ia berharga...
What is your name? Apakah nama anda?
My name is... Nama saya...Paul!
Could you take a picture of us? Bolehkah anda bantu meng ambil gambar untak kami?
Yes give me your camera= Ya, sudah tentu, hulurkan kamera anda.

Waffling Update

2007-08-13T10:52:00.000Z

Okay...it has been a while and a lot has happened since my last post so it is time to get posting once again and to see if anybody can be bothered to view my posts! Well at least i have good photos to show anyway :-)

Scotney Castle

2007-04-04T19:45:00.000Z

Scotney Castle & Gardens:

Set in the Kent Weald countryside next to the village of Lamberhurst is Scotney Castle and it's gardens run by the National Trust. Situated on the top of a hill is Scotney Mansion a private Victorian property, which has some rooms open through the year. Next to the mansion is an old quarry that has been transformed into a secluded garden. Further down into the valley is a ruined 14th century castle set on an island in the middle of a lake. Within the lake are a further two islands with an old boat house and a Henry Moore sculpture and framing the lake/moat is the River Teise that flows through to Lamberhurst village. As well as the castle, mansion and gardens is the estate itself that has woodland, flocks of sheep, a farm and the only national trust protected hop farm in the country.

Focus Week 4:

2007-04-04T10:52:00.000Z

Focus Week 4:

Over the previous week i have been making a mahoosive site model for our project in Lowestoft once again with Spencer :-) In conjunction with this i thought that my fourth focus week would be a good opportunity to research landscape architecture practice projects and works within the London and South East area of the country via the Landscape Institute practice directory. Looking in particular at any projects that use model making as a way of demonstrating proposals, as well as other medias that exclude illustrator and CAD drawings.

Practices of note A to D:

Breeze is a fairly new company established in 2004 in North London with a nice refreshing page that reflects the practice's name and even includes some poetry! Projects such as Bonn Square (shown below) and Wigan Pier Quarter use models in both projects. Trees are created using aluminium wire with plain white backgrounds and any key feature is emphasised using colour.

Burns + Nice specialises in urban design, environmental design and transport planning. Based in inner London the majority of it's porojects are based with the city ranging from small squares to masterplanning of a neighbourhood. The image below is of Campsbourne Neighbourhood in the borough of Haringey, where the practice were asked to address the issues of the area in conjuction with the local residents and this model gives a clear idea of the layout of the area and where planting may be implemented (I do like the trees).

Coe Design uses various forms of media to portray it's deign ideas including coloured pencil, montages, ink sketches, illustrator and cad work. I like the colours used in this image as part of the design for Jodrell Bank Telescope Visitor Centre and it demonstrates a fun and playful idea. Coe design have done projects in UK and Europe, the Middle East and S.E. Asia and i like the variation in skills shown by the various media :-)

Colvin & Moggridge are a long established practice specialising in historic parks and gardens, leisure, recreation and urban design. What i like about this company is that nearly all their projects incorporate visualisations that are created using watercolours, which makes a change from the illustrator works that most companies use. The watercolour below is from a project for the Royal Albert Hall where a roof garden was created on the south steps.

Cobham

2007-03-17T15:37:00.000Z

Cobham:

On my continued tour of the country...I mean county I went with my parents to discover the delights of a small village in northern Kent called Cobham, which is located between Gravesend and Meopham. The village boasts many pubs...one of which is Ye Olde Leather Bottle, which was a regular watering hole for Charles Dickens and was featured in one of his books "The Pickwick Papers".
The village church St. Mary Magadalene dates back to the 14th century and has the largest amount of memorial brasses than an other church in England. It also has a very ornate buriel tomb to the Lord and Lady Darnley who was an Earl of Cobham. Behind the church is the 16th century Cobham college and almhouses, which also has a tunnel that links it to another village pub The Darnley Arms which was used during the civil war. A third pub The Ship was reportedly constructed from timbers salvaged from a vessel that sank off of the coast of Sheerness.

Focus Week 3:

2007-02-28T15:26:00.000Z

Docklands & Canary Wharf:

After going to the Monument me and Spencer decided to go by the Docklands Light Railway from Bank to West India Quays. Its the best visable way to see the changes in the east of London. On one side of the line are newly growing penthouse apartments with views over the docks and the Thames and on the other side of the line are the post war council estates that are in a desperate need of regeneration and refurbishment. But it shows how so called regeneration pushes out the people that it is supposed to benefit, as they can no longer afford to live there and communities are usually broken down in doing so.

Focus Week 3:

2007-02-27T14:38:00.000Z

Design Museum, Docklands & the Monument:

Yes it's that time of the month again when we are told to focus. So I have decided to focus upon events that are happening in London and to also explore parts of London that I havn't properly explored or havn't seen in a long time. From browsing www.londonarchitecturediary.com I came up with a series of things to explore for this week.
Going with another out of focus pupil Mr Spencer Darg we set off for the Design Museum, whilst passing through More London. A project by Tower Bridge that is constructed around Ken Livingston's City Hall. Good old Ken he wants areas all across London to become more densely populated, so currently my family and neighbours are having to campaign against a planning proposal of a three storey block of flats from being built at the bottom of our back garden, which won't even be affordable housing. Maybe Mr Livingston could realise that there are plenty of empty houses and building plots across London, as well as various inner city areas that would benefit from being regenerated and reinvigorated rather than trying to make the whole of London a building site.

Any how back to normality. By city hall they are re modelling an existing public space called Potters Fields Park at a cost of £3 million, designed by Gross Max Landscape Architects. It is meant to be a design of high quality with innovative lighting and new kiosks. Parts of the park look to tie in well with existing materials, yet the paths running through the space do not complement the existing granite paving surrounding City Hall.
Design Museum:

Beyond Tower bridge through the converted warehouses of Shad Thames is the Design Museum. Currently it is going through a bit of a re-fit so only the second floor is open, but still has three exhibitions on. "Confronting the chair" is an exhibition of the work by Martino Gamper. It displays designs created by Gamper from discarded and donated chairs, mixed and matched to create entirely new seating design. However, some of these chairs are the most uncomfortable things i have ever sat on, but they are all meant to be a bit of fun :-)
"Designing Modern Britain" looks at how design has affected the lives of the British people and what people have designed on our shores. From Harry Beck's circuitboard based design of the London Underground Map, to Penguin book covers, 60s furniture design and the proposed plans for the 2012 Olympic games with visualizations and sketch models.
The third exhibition is of the life of Robert Brownjohn who died before he was even 45. He was born in America, but moved to Britain in the 60s and designed numerous graphical posters; record sleeves for the likes of the Rolling Stones; short films and the titles for early James Bond Films. An area of the exhibition i found interesting were the adverts for the Midland Bank (now HSBC) where words and a logo are animated in ways that can tell a story and bring to life what is a really simple concept. Letters move, dissapear or add in relation to a words meaning.

The Monument:

After going to the Design Museum we went to have a look at London's new public square that is Monument Square, which consists of a decked wooden seating area and a glass pavillion that houses a toilet designed by bere:architects. It is glass encased cube structure with stone gabion walls, that is meant to complement the style of the Monument. The pavillion is the unusual centre piece to this square and has over 100 pieces of glass on it's roof so, as to seem as a feature from when looking down from the monument.

I have never been up the monument and at £2 for entry it seemed like pretty good value so i decided to have a look. Little did i know how hard it would be to get all the way up to the viewing platform at the top. Running all the way up inside the monument is a never ending spiral staircase that is barely wide enough to allow people pass by you. At about half way up you can feel the temperature reduce and the lactic acid in your legs build up causing you to wonder when it is you will ever reach the top. At the top is a caged platform with great views all across London it really is pretty amazing. I have hardly ever seen London from above so it was interesting to see how everything looks from a birdseye view. Below are a series of panoramics i took from up at the top, whilst trying to hold onto my camera and belongings in the wind.

Bloggy update

2006-11-17T17:08:00.000Z

From updating my blog to blogger beta i have lost my previous blog to edit, which is www.paul-bratton.blogspot.com so therefore i am having to start from scratch, which is an absolute pain, but hopefully it can be better than before!