Mapping deadline!

So I realized I have no posts for the whole mapping project, which was a part of our induction. And since today is our deadline, I thought I should write a post on what I've learnt from each of the 5 projects we have to submit.

I'll be honest with you, when I first heard we had to map, I wasn't so impressed. But mapping out spaces brings out spatial qualities I never knew.

Initially, we were chose to discover Chelsea in a new light. The focus was on body positions and how they provide us with different perspectives around the university. We chose to have our group stand in a circle, almost like statues to gain various viewpoints. From that, we took pictures and created a map of our journey.

Our second project involved 'stalking' - this was fun! We had decided to start off in the canteen, as it pretty much the centre point of our university, and from that scatter according to the person we're following. I chose to follow the cleaner and I thought it was quite interesting, as he took me on a different route to get to the library, which is somewhere I go very often. We went through the crypt and fire escape. Although it was a short journey, it was hectic as well, as he had to keep running back to the storage room to get his cleaning equipment if he spotted a spill. From that, I mapped my journey and combined it with our group. We each used a different coloured string and eventually you see our strings rolled up into a ball - each of the people we stalked will continue with their journey back home...

We were then told to map a book. And as vague as this sounds, it can actually be quite interesting. I found a book on tree house living, and according to that mapped out my safe spots which traced back home and other countries.

Mapping the victoria and albert museum was quite a task. Although it was incredibly beautiful, and there was so much to see, like a child, I got easily distracted. Thus, I decided to follow children around the museum to see what they got up to, and I must say it made the project a lot more enjoyable. Lastly, we were told to map London! My first and final idea was to think about places which are familiar to me, and yet I still need direction. I chose Harrods, as I always get lost there! After drawing out a rough cross section, and then eventually a scale plan of the ground floor, one that I visit often, I was able to understand why I need direction. The floor is so busy, that it almost seems like a maze when I walk in, but in addition to that, there are so many distractions; confectionary, perfumary, handbags! I feel the need to stop and look for something every time I try and get to my destination.

So I have to say the journey has been quite a ride! But for now, a much deserved break from mapping is needed!

Friday crit

As always, friday crit's are genuinely very important, as we get to discuss what we've been working on. The tutor's raised some very valid points, which we need to start discussing:

- If we keep in mind a political concept, it would make our story a lot more interesting. Don't resort from our initial inspiration, which is the concept of the Berlin wall. We were told to look at a book, 'Wolves in the Wall's', which tells the story of wolves living in the walls of a girls house, except her parent's don't believe her.

- We could create our own word which reflects this escape from the parasites. Is 'hibernation' the best word to use? Or should we be creating our own word?

- Are the spaces only used for sitting? Should the curves be distinguished - one could be used for 45 minutes only, or an hour etc. The space could become more habitable, for example there could be bookshelves placed in the corridor, as opposed to just having resting spaces.

- Maybe the story could start from inside the wall, rather than showing the student getting confused with the light projections from the corridor.

- Decide on a fixed filming technique. Do we want the film to be bleak and misty throughout or do we want it to be more animated, with colour? In my opinion, the colour blue should be prominent when filming, as it gives off a dreamy atmosphere. In addition, because the corridor is very narrow, we should consider the type of lens used. Moreover, we could even film through a crack, as if a person from the outside is looking in.

- Do we want to convey the feeling of claustrophobia? Or do we want to show that the space is cramped, but in a more beautiful manner, perhaps through the projections of various shadows blending together.

- How do we want to represent the parasite? Eventually when our walls disintegrate and break down, the parasite's win - it could be shown as a red glow, rather than just a large shadow.

- We keep mentioning the word 'people', however we need to think about what type of people would inhabit such a space. Do they simple come here to rest, or is there another meaning behind this. This could tie into our unresolved political concept. Instead of using people, we could use other words, like 'tribes'.

Crit of orthographic drawings:

- Incorporate the physicality of our model with our technical drawings. Don't be afraid to show the light, textures, shadows, and materiality of the wall!

- Trace the elevation and plan to incorporate these physical features.

- Show how the wall has been constructed - construction details!

- Create a series of sections - show the different resting spaces, and body positions, how they change and perhaps how long these positions can last for.

Storyboard/Filming

Second term begins, which means we need to start finalizing our story board as well as considering filming our model. The only major change we decided to make was to make an additional wall, which contained the fiber optics that we initially wanted to incoporate. The wall which contains the fish wire can be used for the ending of our story - this is when the wall eventually disintegrates due to the overcrowding of our space.

We split the tasks where some people will be working on model making, as well as the storyboard. I decided to work on the storyboard and show how overcrowding will take place. But what needs to be kept in mind while drawing is how we are going to film it.

After coming up with a few sketches, we had a small group meeting to discuss how we want to film each of our scenes.

My scene involves the build up of people who start to discover our space. Thus, from this I started to picture crowded areas which in could film in London. I thought the tube would be a perfect place, as the space is limited, which reflects our narrow corridor. This would allow me to incorporate the sounds of a busy crowd into my scene as well. In addition, I tried to picture the feeling of being in a crowd and how I would want to show that in my scene - portraying almost a blurry effect, as if the person is moving frantically in a crowd, or maybe getting dizzy. Rather than showing the figures clearly, it would all be blurred. Or, I could just film the increasing shadows. I would have to try out both ways to see which one suits our scene.

Moreover, I would have to experiment with sound - rather than just capturing the background noise at a set volume, I could play around with sound. For example, by increasing and decreasing the noise at certain parts.

Reflections

Looking over our project, we were told to reflect over our work during the christmas break - are we really satisfied with what we have presented to our tutors?

Looking at our model, I would have to say I am definitely satisfied with what has been presented. The work that lead up to the final result was pleasing for all group members, yet there are some things that we still need to think about.

Material research was a key consideration throughout the project. How do we want to construct the perfect wall, a hidden wall that we call our sanctuary. The constructed wall, which supports our resting structures was a success. The moulds looked great, but is it really that comfortable if we think practically? But the question that needs to be asked is are we looking for comfort or a sleek design, or maybe a combination of both? Looking at our final design, we have striked a combination of an appealing design, as well as comfort. The many layers make it easy for the person to get to that plateau where they can finally rest. In addition, the shapes are organic, which is not only eye catching, but allows various body positions to be adopted.

As for our storyboard, wax as a material aids our story: because the corridor is narrow and becomes congested with time, due to the many people that discover and inhabit our space, the wax eventually melts and our space no longer exists. However, if we think about practically/real life construction details, we have to think of other materials. Something that I personally like is foam. An architect that I have been closely researching is Tokujin Yashioka. Apart from the many designs that have caught my eye and inspired me for this project, something that I loved was his spongy chair, made of polyester elastomer. It looks comfortable, and because of the flexibility of the material, it can create interesting shapes. In addition, this type of material is translucent, which ties in with one of our main concepts, light.

End of term crit

So after staying at uni for hours the last week of term, friday finally came!

Sleep deprivation and coffee addiction was evident amongst our group members, but I have to say it was all worth it! Looking at our presentation, projections and finally our model was so fulfilling.

The past few weeks, we have been discussing our model and a few changes were made. For our existing wall, our initial plan was to incorporate fiber optics and concrete together to create a translucent wall. Transluceny is a major concept in our project; the materials combined with light projections is what gives off the dreamy atmosphere that we wanted to project. However, because the fiber optics did not arrive on time, we resorted to our back up plan - fish wire! Although this doesn't give off the same effect, I have to say it was quite successful, in terms of the texture of the wall, and a slight hint of light running through the wall. The fiber optics eventually arrived, so we will definitely be making the wall again!

The main wall which incorporates our resting structures was very eye catching. There was a question raised as to why we chose this shape. Initially, the curve almost looked like a traditional telephone, which means it would only be able to accommodate one body position - sitting. Thus, we expanded upon the idea of playing with body positions to create the curve that we have now. The shape is more organic and raises the possibility of resting in whichever way we desire to. This could involve, sitting, lying down, resting your arm/elbow/leg and so on.

Our light projections were varied - we wanted to show a human shadow in different lights. Hence, the backgrounds changed with every projection. Various colours and lighting were used, but the tutors seemed to take a particular liking for the colour blue. This is something we all agreed on - blue emits a peaceful, meditative atmosphere, a colour that when projected, would be easy to get lost into. They loved how we were very abstract with the light projections, which is something that is usually hard to show with model making. But the fact that we could incorporate the two, they wanted this idea to be more prominent. Because our projections and model were shown separately, this could be the reason as to why they wanted to see how it would all look combined. This is where filming comes in! We need to make further discussions as to how we want to film our model after the christmas break.

Experimentation

The escape from the parasites

After various design proposals and discussions with our tutors, my group and I have finally decided on our story. We were given the responsibility of managing the 'walls and boundaries' for the film project. And as this task was given out, we immediately went around Chelsea College looking for the most interesting walls. For us, interesting turned out to be the walls which had many cracks running through them. They gave off a feeling of mystery, as if flow of the cracks were leading to a space.

These cracks are valued in our story, as they act as an indication to which walls we can run into, thus our environment suddenly becomes interactive. Our story is such, that all of our group members are running away from the parasites; these monstrous, brooding creatures which are taking over Chelsea. The walls thus possess a specific route through the university which contains our hiding spots, or in better terms, our sanctuary.

Our hiding spots possess various resting spaces. For us, the parasites provoke negative emotions, and thus we need this sanctuary to escape the hectic environment outside. Our resting spots, inspired by Zaha Hadid, look like cocoons which emerge from the walls. The fluidity of the structure can be looked at in a deeper meaning. It is intact with the purpose of these spaces - fluidity signifies freedom, which is the emotion that we gain from this escape. It can also be looked at from a much lighter view. Concepts such as freedom and escape reveal strong emotions, however, our whole story is in fact very comical - a bunch of students running away from parasites at university creates a bizarre as well as a humorous storyboard.

It was definitely enjoyable looking at different body positions and researching to come up with our finalized shape, which reflects our design interests. Initially we experimented with wood, which was hard to cut out, and then vacuum formed it to create the space. Further experimentation with clay would be good to define the curve of our hiding space.

In addition, the acoustics of the structure can also be taken into consideration. Because it literally encompasses the subject, it could act as a way of blocking out the noises from people walking in the corridor, creating a peaceful atmosphere.

Material research and experimentation was a very interesting side to the project. The thought of playing around with the translucency of the wall is a beautiful concept. Fluidity is prominent with our design ideas - it exists in our hidden world, as well as what is presented to us from the outside - rather than shining light onto a wall, it can now pass through and create elegant shadows in our space. Thus we tested with materials such as sugar and PVA, but came to a greater liking for wax - its easier to work with and has prominent translucent properties. This further developed into researching construction details - what materials would be used in real life building of these walls, which further deepened our knowledge.

Working with my group members has, so far, been such a great experience. I would say, the fact that we all get along is extremely satisfying. We've been dividing the tasks amongst each other to work towards building our final model and presenting in the end. Fingers crossed that our everything will go as planned!