continued...

after looking at the dunes for sometime and then eventually from above i realised that they were in fact man made.

it was this confusion between man made and natural objects that interested me and eventually led me to movements such as land-art and artists such as Richard Long and then Mehmet Ali, who uses scale to make everyday objects seem alien.

i latched onto this idea of creating confusing / alien landscapes that toyed with peoples perception of the immediate environment and created an experience.

and this is my response...

the building / installation is a 6m cube that acts as a transitional element on the otherwise bleak environment. being so alien to its environment its designed to draw people to it to experience it. the interior is designed to play again with the expectations of its users; because its such a regular shape externally you would expect the interior to be of the same regularity, but as its so irregular you are driven to explore what it has to offer as you negotiate its tight spaces.

placed close to the waterline they are designed to be flooded so that the interior will also change over time by the addition of sea life and the gradual erosion of the walls.

structures on the edge pt1

in my previous year at lincoln i started work on my final project of my pt 1 degree. the studio i chose to be a part of was named structures on the edge. this was based upon a competition called bathing beauties (can be found here). the brief was to create a 'structure' that was a reaction or a reflection of an aspect of the site.

after spending countless hours on the site(s) and looking over site pictures i still had no idea of how to approach the brief... after taking the previous year out from uni i had reverted to the way of working in a practice and so with such a vague or open brief  i just didnt know where to start. luckily my tutor understood what was going on and after chatting with him i realised my connection with the site.

i became very interested in the construction of the beach, especially the dunes. these natural land forms are/were effectively acting as sea walls these dunes protect the low lying farm land behind them and they're (in conjunction with the marram grass) self sustaining. continued...

if only i had paid attention in school

unfortunately because of a hasty format of my old laptops hard drive i've lost most of part 1 work in digital form. i am, however scanning sheets in and remodelling some of those projects to post up later on (when i have the time). i might add a page for old/re-envisaged  projects. although its horrible only being left with hard copies that i cant edit, i have learnt to backup my work in more than one location and to keep each backup updated!

always backup...

i think im going to spend this evening drafting up a post for the work, which has acted as a foundation to my final project in the hope that over christmas i'll be able to have this blog up to speed with the progress of my uni work...

breaking and entering can land you 5 years at her majesty's pleasure...

today for one reason or another i found myself in the grade II listed lillesden school for girls, which was built in 1855. unfortunately i had no idea that i wouldve ended up here so i only had my sII hence the reason why the quality of the pictures are so bad and that they have been put through an android app (although i like what i have got).

its a great place to explore although you do take your life in your hands in some areas as the roof leaks and the structure has suffered a bit. after being 'caught' (i dont really think you can get caught if youre making no secret of being there) by a groundskeeper we decided to leave.

as well as being a beautiful building (even in disrepair) its also home to some amazing pieces of graffiti. some people have a porblem with it but considering the building has been left to become totally derelict i dont think i can really have a problem with it.

if you would like to see anymore pictures of the site then go here. this persons work captures the building perfectly. 

interesting what you find in these places

it did, however, make me wonder what happens to buildings when they become derelict like this. who uses them and what for. almost like what happens to an animal when it dies, the corpse becomes host to all manner of insects and other life.

time to start a fresh...

well apparently ive had this blog set up for a little while with a few odd posts from 2009. those have since been cleared and and blog has been given a new look as well. this will hopefully be a good tool to showcase my work as well as other things.


i guess i should put a little piece about me just to give any readers some kind of understanding of who i am and what i do:

im currently studying architecture (part time) at the university of lincoln. im also working full time at a local architectural practice that keeps me fairly busy and also gives me the real world experience, which i just wouldnt have if  studied full time. it is more work and the 300 mile round trip to lincoln isnt fun either but the tutors i have had over the past few years have been really good at pushing me and my ideas. what i do after i complete my part 1 is undecided at the moment but ive got another year of study ahead and ive got a full time job so theres no real rush just yet.

i really love 3D modelling right now; i have always championed google sketch-up as a modeller as its so accessible and intuitive. i also use a v-ray plugin to render my images. together they work really well and produce some great results and because of this ive never felt the need to go back to maya or 3ds. i am starting to look towards maxwell render as i've heard great things about it but i doubt ill have much time to play with that before christmas.