Portfolio synopsis

Fallow Occupation; Evidence of Decay has developed as a project from numerous origins. Significantly my personal interest in local scale activist activities and architecture. Looking to the Situationist International for reference, alongside modern day approaches for change, my blog http://emmaharrisondesign.blogspot.com/ refers to a number of these interests. 

Across every city there are countless oppourtunities for design, my project is based in one of these ‘wasted’ spaces often targeted by activists. A derelict petrol station on Wandsworth Road; when a petrol station ceases to work it must stand fallow for a two year period. My instalation will occupy the space for this time period and at the end the space can be further transformed. 

My project is a piece of design which addresses questions raised in my 

thesis, how city inhabitants can claim land. I have developed a charachter who creates this project, he is an artist/ activist/ anti -developer who spends his time wandering the city streets analysing them, much like Patrick Keiller. Therefore the projects he works on tend to be well considered intractley planned ‘guerilla’ projects that grow/ develop alongside the city but at a different pace. 

The instalation has developed through his interest with intervening with the balanisation of the city. The instalation I have created inverts preconceptions; from manipulating the typical routes one follows in a petrol station, to the beautifully carved ‘anti’ gallery walls responding to the typical galley layout. Questioning the art gallery as a frame for art much like the Situationists, here the gallery becomes the piece siting within the city context. 

The two year fallow period is one of the crucial elements that my design responds to. A structure which dissapears speaks not only about time but also sustainability. Could a waste material gain a new use but also be reused at the end? After numerous experiments i found luto (a waste material from the local Chelsea foundry) can have this circular life. It acts as a stimulant in the breakdown of the plaster and can be crushed into a fine powder. Hence as visitor numbers increase a ‘blanket’ of powder will signify the existance of ‘something’ in the space, leaving a sign to the city. 

New Reading!!!

Look! This magazine looks amazing it's all about guerilla art - I love the fact that increasingly guerilla activities are being published - it shows that my thesis was on trend with what people respond to in the city. It's reassuring to know that something I feel so passionately about (reinvigorating the city) is now becoming acknowledged by the media. I haven't had a chance to read this yet with my project deadline but even flicking through I'm excited. 

This will be my next book - I have stopped reading the past few weeks really as I have been manicly finishing my project - I hope it pays off. 

Experiential images

 The model has achieved it's purpose of providing the experiential images. I have worked into a number of the images but these 3 are my favourite, they give the experience as individual images but it's also interesting to combine different styles of images to tell a story. 

I would like to use my model as a tool to make my final images, almost like a set. I have been thinking about the best way to show the 'real' experience and believe this would be best doen through film. I could use my model and film what it is like to pass through the space with the correct lighting conditions. Te plus side of making a scale model is that I should be able to use a scale remote control car to do this, thus you can experience 'driving' through the space. This would be great if I could get this doen for the show, allowing an interactive piece that reflects the project - with live feed video to guide you through the space, although my tutors reckon there may not be space for this and didn't seem too enthusiastic - I will try though.

Model construction

The model construction had a number of elements, and was really helpful in making me consider all the more technical aspects of the project. The drawings I needed for the model are the same drawings that would be needed to build this installation full scale, thus bringing some reality to the project.

Stages in building the model:

I, like the activist would completed these stages in my garage

- work out exact plan and wall thicknesses/ angles.

- build wooden frames to surround walls.

- varnish and prepare frames to allow quick release from plaster.

Move to foundry

- secure frames

- prepare luto (waste from metal moulds)

- prepare and pour plaster mix

- remove frames to reveal white forms

- carve forms with surfaces corresponding to construction drawing.

I also thoroughly enjoyed making the model, in previous years there has never been an emphasis on producing 1 piece, but preparing for the degree show has been an excellent platform for this. It has been enjoyable to be able to spend time in the foundry developing my skills but also testing materials that I had little knowledge of previously. The only downside is the length of time it's taken to build, although I've learnt a lot.

Even from photos taken on my phone you can start to see the kind of experience I am trying to create and the sort of spaces that will be created. 

Sharp angles juxtaposed against soft organic surfaces. 

1:20 scale model

I have decided to build a 1:20 scale model in order to show both the construction process and the space created. The process of building this model will be important as well as the finished model, as it will begin to suggest the construction process. I will use the same materials as the real product so it will be like the activist minature test model.

Guerrillas hit Selfridges

Selfridges often have really cool art displays and this wasn't one of the best, however I couldn't help but be uplifted by the theme. Guerrilla activity seems to be publicised more and more - this is really amazing as it's often hard to hear about things as they rely on their network of supporters. I like the seed bomb vending machines -  this really relates to my 2A project - I can't believe I didn't know they existed until I started designing something similar - often the way for designers.

Derelict Mayfair

Whilst wandering around mayfair I found this derelict petrol station wedged between a lovely victorian building and a construction site - no doubt this will disappear soon, once it's 'released' from its' sleep.

Narrative development

I am developing the narrative through the introduction of characters, I have categorised the types of visitors to the installation. This links back to my initial interest following my thesis in trying to make an environment  which would heighten the experience of the pedestrian in the city. Thus one of the characters/ visitors is inspired by the urban wanderer, I am by no means the first person to project experience through a character - this is how the figure of the urban wanderer developed - he appears in a number of novels; Robinson Crusoe to name just one. 

The wanderer. 

Being an art gallery I needed another figure - those people who want to see the structure. Someone looking for something; this is where the 'seeker' originated from. I then built a further narrative around the seeker. If there were no formal advertising then there needs to be a way people hear about the instalation - yes word of mouth, but something more subtle would be seeing an element of it 'out of place' this fits with the dissolving. I produced this map - which indicates how the project infiltrates into the city and affects it on a wider scale but also acts as a trail for the seeker to follow. 

Drawing this map was a rather challenging exercise. 

The seeker - has planned his journey to be as direct as possible. 

Character + Design Tool.

As I have developed the character I can fully develop a narrative for him as an obsessive man (this is a good way to show my research through him, I can present all sorts of analysis and details abut the site and project, as as it's fragments of a mans workings they don't necessarily need to be all tied together - as the narrative can be the thread that binds them. 

I have chosen the style of an obsessive character as my site analysis was particularly detailed in some areas, take the prediction of visitors - something fundamental to describe the dissolving process in a larger sense. So I can use my research into both routes and visitor numbers to present a detailed fragment of the activist thoughts - thus the project can become graphical and include a layer of more technical information without loosing the delicacy that the structural form has. 

This sheet is all information about visitors, but now I have a narrative about over analysing it fits perfectly. Using pedestrian count results from site over a period of days I was able to extrapolate the data to predict the number of passers by in 24 months, and thus decide that of all total pedestrian passing 4% would enter and experience the installation. Each line represent 100 people. 

Similarly for cars I predicted that 0.2% would enter. The road has a huge volume of traffic, but I need to consider that many of these people are accessing central london, and therefore would not deviate from their planned journey. It is a lot more likely that when in a car you have a planned destination than a pedestrian necessarily would. 

The character/ activist

The scheme has evolved from analysis of the city and how people intact with it, the design reflects on the city in a larger scale. The activist has closely analysed use of the city and this analysis and research needs to form a vital part of my project, many elements of which link to my thesis. The project needs to reveal his thoughts and workings in order to reveal the depth behind the scheme. I need to consider how to present the intricate workings and testings of the activist. I think in this way my project almost needs to develop a dual personality in it's presentation.

How the space works

I am trying to express the spaces created by the instalation. From the plan I have tried to compose some of the interior views. These images will form a vital part of expressing the feeling and athmosphere inside my instaltaion. I will draw from the perspective of a pedestrian but also from inside the car, as these are the two ways the instalation can be experienced.

Time - the two year driving force

These sketches show the drawings I need to do to show how the structure is  effected by time. 

Depictions

I have done a series of drawings to depict how the structure is effected by time and the conditions that develop over time. Hopefully this graph shows how things fit together over the two year period, I have tried to consider the project at 5 main points: instillation, +6 months, +12 months, +18months and +24 months. 

Reference - Clare Twomey

Clare Twomey is a ceramic artist who makes large scale ceramic installations.  Images from consciousness/ Conscience, which was in the ceramic biennial in Korea.

This installation of 7000 hollow bone china tiles laid on the floor, forces you to become a participant immediately as you enter you become a part of the work as the floor breaks underfoot. Clare Twomey is described as being like a composer in this piece; she has made the work but it is up to the player in how it is 'played out'.

I love both the idea behind this piece but also the visuals, I am particularly drawn to work which requires interaction and even more so when it is delicate in form and done with such a sense of beauty.

Up until finding this work, a few people had been questioning my work in terms of the physability of my project and how the fallen fragments of shale would have to be collected. I felt this was bringing to much practicality to the project and the essence of this dissolving form which happens without human interaction yet provokes human interaction through its' changing form was being overlooked and almost forgotten by my tutors, to me this is the essence of the project and this angered me.

I had been trying to think about the practicalities of the dissolving/ crumbling form alongside the narrative of the project when I discovered this project, and this has solved my problem. This is beautiful and poetic yet also relatively practical and even more so in the fact that cars will be crushing the fragment (even better if some of them puncture the tyres thinks the activist).  I can now develop the narrative of the floor through time from tarmac to powder which will coat the tyres so that hopefully they leave a trail across the city when they depart.

Petrol Station Honfleur, France

I love this cool petrol station in france - it's like a greenhouse - yet it sells pollutants.
This design allowed me to see the structure within the roofs of these buildings - it allowed me to consider changing the roof without effecting the structural properties.

ROYAL ACADEMY Modern British Sculpture

I have decided that to support my final model I will also create a series of narrative drawings which describe what it's like to inhabit the space. These will mainly be perspective drawings and I will try to layer information about both their structure but also atmosphere to depict the environment. I am hoping that I can create a series of these drawings which describe the space and materials.

I am currently trying to establish the views that will be vital for the project to be understood, I am exploring these through sketching and referencing, and these will develop into drawings.

Gordon Matta Clarke

I have been reading about Grodon Matta-Clark and there are many things which I can relate to with my own work, as he was not only interested in visuals and appearance but also the community and how architecture can be created to revitalise it.

An extract from a written piece regarding his project Days End.

'it would seem within the rights of an artist or any other person for that matter to enter such a premises with a desire to improve the property, to transform the structure in the midst of its ugly criminal state into a place of interest, fascination and value.'

Remarks from an interview in 1977:

'why hang things on the wall when the wall itself is so much more a challenging medium?... A simple cut or series of cuts acts as a powerful drawing device able to redefine spatial situations and structural components.... There is a kind of complexity that comes from taking an otherwise completely normal, conventional, albeit anonymous situation and redefining it, retranslating it into overlapping and multiple readings of conditions past and present. Each building generates its own unique situation.'

I can directly relate to this quote, in not only what I believe but also what I am trying to achieve  in nearly all my work. It specifically relates to this project in terms of redefining  the space through a series of unexpected holes which will develop in my structure but also in terms of layering information to create a new and dynamic environment which draws upon the past. 

I can identify points of interest and relevance with most of Gordon Matta-Clark's images but these are specifically relevant to what I'm trying to create for 3b, a point at which you can stand and then another view can be opened up to you. The idea of a view within a few is something I began to investigate for 3a and for 3b would like to resolve - I think it's going to be a changing view, something which appears and changes over time so that your view from one point may change over the life cycle of the proposed installation period of two years. 

 Bronx Floors 1972 and 1973

 Bronx Floors Four way wall 1973

 Office Baroque 1977

Splitting 1974

Gordon Matta Clark's collaged images of views led me to create some photoshop composition combining drawing and photographs.

Exploring film and projection

Currently I am thinking that I will project films by Ronni Horn, I like the idea of using something linked to the earth, and her water films are beautiful yet informative. This again links back to the idea of being bombarded with information much like you are when driving, particularly around central london.

26.03.11

I've been trying to do some drawings which represent the theme of my project better - using delicate forms using this idea of history dissolving. I think it could be useful to use this (or possibly something else as a theme for all my drawings so they start to speak about a particular language.

Wall structures and route options

These drawing take the plan and add some useful information about how my proposal works to it, in terms of interaction form different parties.

I have created a series of narratives of thoughts and conversations by visitors to the site, proposing the feeling and views that might be felt by different visitors. 

The route a car can take through my proposed intervention. 

Some of the different routes a pedestrian can take within the proposed space. The pedestrian will be able to wander through small gaps in the walls through which a cars inhabitants can only look. 

Layering the maps to show interaction within the space. 

Composition, wall plan and layered information to show interaction between cars, pedestrians and the spatial arrangement of the walls.

Susan Hiller Exhibition Tate Britain

Early Design Representations

Sketch model trying to show how the walls would be broken up to allow pedestrian to cross routes within the main car route - allowing for further interaction. The model was successful in that the lighting highlights the gaps much as is the aim for the proposal, although as it was made straight onto the plan the suggested drawn routes make this a little confusing to understand. It helped me to see the plan in 3d and the next progression needs to be to think about wall thicknesses which will also affect the lighting conditions.