Contextual Studies:

I have tried so so hard to concentrate on this but I am genuinely struggling. I understand why we do it at uni but I would just like it to really be a little bit more interesting haha! Instead, I found this: A Theatre in Australie. BEAUTIFUL

Final Report, Urban Environments

The Weekend

So.

Thursday was assessment day, after having very little sleep for a few weeks finally Thursday night i managed to get a few more hours than two worth of shut eye to wake up and create a report about the project.

Friday night was all about a bit of punk rock at El Paso. Having been asked to become the head barman on the downstairs bar in the Gopher Hole on my own from 7-2 was quite an effort but still a very rewarding night! Good music, good crowd, good atmosphere! What else could be needed!

The weekend has been spent reminiscing on old times with dear friends from back in the days of apple, sketching and doodling and watching films.

Bring on Deploy

Tom Judge: Paper Chair Design

I got a nice email today saying:

'Here's a couple of pics of my current ptoject: A Paper Chair!

Tom'

So here are a few images of his work

Just something very beautiful

This came up on an RSS feed, I thought it was very interesting and rather beautiful.

Taken straight from BLDGBLOG:

Nic Clear, from Unit 15 of the Bartlett School of Architecture, recently got in touch with some links to his students' newest work, all of which explores architecture through the lens of both narrative and abstract film. Clear, as you might recall, instructed both Keiichi Matsuda and Richard Hardy, and there's some really fantastic work coming out of his studio.

Amongst short films by Paul D. Nicholls, Jonathan Gales, Richard Reginald Young, and Christopher Lees, I was particularly struck by the premise (and visual execution) of Kibwe X-Kalibre Tavares's "Southwyck House," seen above.

It is part of what Tavares calls "a collection of images of what Brixton could be like if it were to develop as a disregarded area inhabited by London's new robot workforce." To accommodate the rapidly growing machine-population, "unplanned cheap quick additions have been made to the skyline."



Together with the image "Brixton High Street," this mechanized borough presents a compelling visual backdrop for future narrative explorations—spatial, technical, economic, and sociopolitical—in a kind of robotization of favela chic.

Crit Day Over, Bring on the next project!

Well, the presentation for urban environments has been finished. The feedback was as follows:
The presentation was described as punchy, sexy and very graphical, however there were weaknesses in the project that will need to be looked into. Cross through sections are needed I'm surprised we managed to get away not having them! Render wise: we tended to use sketches we had drawn but we did decide to edit our work greatly which might have been a bit of a weakness.

Anyway, I have attached a few quick images that we have produced from our project. One is of the school. A mixed use school with primary and secondary education taking place. The idea is that having both year groups together will help to stop the stress of going from primary to secondary school in education. The cladding is made from a see through concrete that allows light to pass through the structure, letting in as much natural light as possible.

The next are a few images and sketches of what became fondly known as the 'power' or 'eco' walls. These are honeycomb patterned structures that have joined up shipping crates traveling through them. The crates become low cost flexible housing that have virtually a carbon free footprint. The honeycombs are also full of photovoltaic panels and wind turbines.

Also the hotel design is attached, this is effectively a shed; The ides of this is that pods can be inserted into the outer shell to allow for the longevity of the building.

The whole aim of the project was:

To create a sustainable development that becomes flexible with time.

The structures will have a longer life cycle as the programmes will be flexible and can be moulded to the wants and needs of the particular site.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Well first of all the Good: A project that I have been doing with Aberrant Architecture based in Kilburn, has been selected to be in the top two. We are just waiting for the winner to be announced.

On the bad.. Deadline tomorrow for the Urban Environments Project. NOT good..

On the Ugly: I will most likely not sleep tonight!

Chris

Late night of CAD

Late night working getting ready for Thursday's assessment with Jason Taylor

17th January 2011

Today, well it's all been about preparing a half done design ready for presentation on thursday. Theres still so much work to do and it seems to all be being done between myself and one other. After a few stutters the design started to flow and i think that there is a real sence of excitement about the scheme that we are generating. The idea has a strong use of eco friendly technology which will help to improve the carbon footprint of the site being used: Lavapies, Madrid.

After spending much of the day designing a what can only be described as a crazy horizontal tower that has a multitude of functions. It's primary idea is to be used as a way to provide cheap housing for homeless as well as studio space and rentable flats. Each of these units will literally be a unit made from Shipping crates.

The urban environment project also includes a school, hotel, office and retail unit. As soon as we have a completed design I will post some images up.

Bring on the all nighters!

Tom Judge: Whiskey bottle design

A variety of different whiskey bottle designed to be entered into a competition. Hopefully Tom will write on here soon explaining a bit more about the design of these.

Tom Judge: Jug Design

This is a design of a jug by Tom Judge, the idea appears to be based on how molecular structures are constructed. The water is stored inside the cylinders and theough the tubes.

Tom Judge: Lamp Design

This is a lighting project carried out by Tom Judge. The light is designed to be one that produces minimal shadows. It is powered by LEDs and this is a working prototype

Tom Judge: Graffiti

This is a bit of Graffiti By my dear friend Tom Judge. He is studying product design at Rochester UCA and has been working on projects with Will Smith, recently having done an instullation at Somerset House over Christmas about objects 'cheap' objects, for example things from 99p stores

The final step from my experimentations was to design a piece to exhibit. I decided to think bigger.. As in about 15ft tall kind of bigger, taking up a whole corner in the studio. The structure was painted a gloss black with the two most inner parts having a mirrored section to reflect the inside. A red stall was placed inside as the interior of the space had a surreal red glow to it and light was empowered down the central column with light sources hanging down each of the spines. The structure managed to hold alot of its own weight due to the simple idea of repeating shapes in triangles which give a surprisingly large amount of strength. BUT health and safety insisted a supporting beam was run through, just in case.

That concludes the UCA reminiscence.

UCA: 'The Prawn'

Taking the experimentations to the logical next step meant constructing on a larger scale, welding elements together to create a much more dynamic sculptural piece. This lead to what became nicknames as the 'prawn project'. The metal structure was allowed to age and rust outside in the elements.

UCA: mirror Project

This was a whole project that evolved around the idea or mirrors, and how mirrors could be used to distort and manipulate in a number of different ways. I became fascinated with the idea of continually repeating a shape to create a new structure. Using one shape as a building block to create something that would be all around stronger. Parametrics and algorithms in its simplest form?

UCA: experimentations

I was always told that there's nothing wrong with experimenting. So these are a series of images showing some of the experiments I did whilst I was at UCA. Lots was learnt.. Haha!

Shorne Country Park Redevelopment

This was a project involving Shorne Country Park. At the site there is already a very interestingly designed research center but the park itself is very dull and bare. Here are photographs of a proposed idea on how to redevelop the site.