FMP | #12

  

  

Final Statement:

1/

Initially, my project began with the intention of creating something entirely new to ‘bridge the gap’ between divided communities, the area I was exploring was Social housing and the apparent injustice that surrounds it. It had occurred to me that there are inconsistencies with housing in London, there is a huge demand for affordable housing especially in areas of wealth but there are very limited options for those who need it. However, over the course of my project that initial intention began to morph into something different but also still along the same lines. Instead of ‘bridging the gap’ between communities, I felt it would be more appropriate, and also achievable, that I fixate on trying to alter people’s perceptions of social housing.

I felt more inclined to pursue this as my experience as a social/council housing tenant allowed me to have a unique perspective into how these forms of housing are viewed from both those that reside in and out of London’s social housing sectors.

2/

I started by visiting site specific locations, first with my own estate. I took photographs of Cherry Orchard estate where I live. I also visited the site of Grenfell Tower and documented the remains of the building. The visit to that specific site helped me to contextualise my ideas and intent with this project. My secondary research included documentation of places such as Balfron Tower and Trellick Tower, that was very beneficial in my search for examples of social housing that was publicly viewed as successful and desirable places to live. I also invested some time into exploring the other end of the spectrum with ‘failing’ estates such as Aylesbury estate in north London and the condemnation of the redevelopment by previous residents. That was a pivotal moment in my research and something that essentially directed my design process. I was able to pull out quotes from articles about the estates redevelopment and use them to influence some of my initial design ideas.  

My artists research into practitioners such as Sol LeWitt, Barbara Kruger and Jenny Holzer allowed me to incorporate specific design elements and techniques from their work. Although not all of them made an impression on my final outcome they aided the design process which ultimately led to the fulfillment of my final design.

My designs got me to think about materials and how they will be used, this thought process was helped and solidified with the addition of some books from the library to help my knowledge and understanding of what would be the most appropriate building material.

3/

This project was an important opportunity for me to work on my idea generation, it was always something I had lacked as a skill. However I feel that my ability to be less fixated on the final outcome has benefitted my design process even more. I explored idea generation through simply using quotes, trying to create physical interpretations of words and phrases I had found whilst researching about ‘failing’ estates, I used these words to create little models and structures and aim visualise these words through what I was making. One technique I was particularly proud of was how i was able to reinterpret a set of drawings I had made and create something new from them. I used perspective drawings of the models I made to create silhouettes and test them on a site to see what they would look like from a birds-eye view. I laser cut the phrase I was using on a piece of spare wood to contextualise the models I was making and then began to research graphic designers who use text on buildings, I looked at people like Barbara Kruger and Jenny Holzer and developed a series of small structures, with the phrases I had initially chosen laser cut onto the side. This was more of a Fine Art approach to my project and so I decided that I wasn’t going to develop it any further, although it was definitely refreshing to explore as an idea.

I was most enthused by the work of Sol LeWitt and his use of structure, I added elements of his cubist structure to drawings of my previous models, made new models based off of developed drawings, tying in the original phrases I was using for inspiration and LeWitt’s influence of cubism, space and structure. I then took the idea of details and applied it to some images of social housing examples. This was the turning point in my idea development. It really allowed me to look more in depth at details. I began by tracing over interesting elements on the exterior of the buildings, rearranging them, multiplying and manipulating them to create more interesting and vivid shapes. I recreated them in Google Sketchup and tried to domesticate these shapes in order to create something even a little bit suggestive of a building. I narrowed it down to a few designs that I liked and picked the final design based off of my own preference.

4/

The systems used to help organise my project include the initial timetable we had each produced alongside our project proposal. This had the exact dates of each week, looking at it would help me to realise if I was behind or ahead of my schedule but most importantly it taught me to manage how much time I need to allocate to each part of the project. I didn’t really need two weeks of making my final model as I managed to get it done in one week. The regular, fortnightly one-to-one reviews with the tutor was very essential, it started as a weekly crit but that was changed as it took away a lot of time and was far less effective at getting the feedback I needed. The feedback was definitely the most important thing I received during this project as half of the ideas probably wouldn’t have occurred to me had I not adhered to some of the provocations I was given. The learner planner was something I had used a couple of times but it wasn’t something I found helpful and so my desire to fill them out died out towards the last few weeks of the project, though it was a good mental reminder to write things down in my blog.

5/

Material manipulation and making was a monumental part of my project. It was important I got to familiarise myself with these materials as I was always going to have to create a final outcome by hand. It also helped with my idea generation. It was much more effective to create tiny models to help illustrate my ideas than to simply draw them all the time. It also offered a new medium to my process and helped me think about what materials I want to use for my final thing. Digital modelling was something is something I have always found as a strong skill but I chose to try and leave that to the very end of the project when I was considering final ideas. I did this in the attempts that I was more hands on with things and use materials more instead of taking the shortcut and just creating a 3D render.

I feel I have improved with my laser cutting ability, before I was pretty new to the software but through experimentation I have become more familiar with the software and have actually been able to solve some problems with the making of my final model using my newfound knowledge in that area. Something new I have explored is the use of digimaps, the software was a bit of a headache to decipher but it proved to be very useful with my site-model. I would have loved to use 3D printing as a practical skill but I didn’t allow myself the time to learn the software. It was something I wanted to explore, even with an experiment and then hopefully aim to use it in my final outcome series but unfortunately that never happened. This is definitely something I look forward to trying in the future.

6/

My blog is definitely the most prominent example of a reflective record, it has allowed me to evaluate my progress over the course of my project. It has allowed me to look at my work differently and progress in a different direction. I think the most important thing it offers is the ability to stand back and almost disassociate yourself from your work and look at it from a different perspective. That is great because a lot of my creative direction has come as a result of taking a step back and critiquing the way I have done things. My book is also an example although less so than my blog.

7/

I have produced three final outcomes as it is the best way for me to illustrate, physically, my project and the outcome of what I have been doing for the last few months. Each model shows a different aspect of the final outcome. One is of the building as a whole and the exterior design, one is an interior view of one of the floors of the building, and the last one is a model showing the building in its proposed site. I was adamant that I was going to produce more than one model at the end of my project, this is because I feel there is so much more to show than simply what it looks like on the outside, what does it look like inside? What about the building in relation to other buildings? Where will it be? What will it look like in the location you have chosen? I have aimed to answer all of these questions with the models I have made. There will also be A4 presentation sheets on show at the exhibition to show other aspects of the final thing which will include photoshopped images of the building in real world scenarios.

8/

In my eyes I feel that this project has provided me with the right provocations and problems that I have needed to solve. I have always been very confident with my ability to take a project from proposal to final outcome but I have always gotten caught up on things like idea development and appropriate research to help inform my ideas. This project has given me the opportunity to improve on all of those aspects and create something I am actually quite fond of. I think something I could have improved would be to have gone more in depth into why I was doing this. My aim isn’t overly apparent in my book and I would have wished to have done that differently, to possibly have put more importance on why I was doing this. I think that because there was a major change of direction in my project proposal that was why I was unable to consider something like that. I think If I were to change anything in this project it would be about presenting my intentions in a more coherent and clear way and to do it early on. There is no doubt that things change in a project but it only matters when you fail to address that change.