Sowing design on New Islington’s fallow ground

http://www.bdonline.co.uk/sowing-design-on-new-islington’s-fallow-ground/5008448.blog

The assumption by the comment: that allotments would be the 'most constructive' way of using the land was argued against quite well. In the task of inserting natural spaces, we are often too quick to jump to the conclusion of allotments. Can we describe walking through a field of flax as 'simple community use of the site'?

'the buildings seem almost swallowed up by the vastness of the landscape'

How do we design for vast open areas...issues of scale...contrast of horizontal vs vertical.

T20 Next steps....

Looking at garden cities and their relation to the importance of green spaces and conservation in today's city. This ties in well with our unit work as its focus is on conservation in the tottenham area and spaces near the sea/lake in odessa. There was also a big emphasis on the 'Health Walk' along the coast of Odessa, which was scattered with outdoor gyms, pavilions and people cycling/walking. This conservation in Tottenham and Odessa could be promoted by better connectivity to, and use of, the spaces in terms of health and leisure, linking in with the green grid plan and the olympic park further down the valley. For this reason I am interested in the lecture given by Will Steadman on the philanthropic planners and current collaborations with organisations such as tesco in Bromley by Bow, (inclusion of frontage to canal, improvement of transport links, and catering for needs ie primary school relevant.)

I was also very interested in Monday's lecture on the Olympic park and its fringes, and its relevance to the develpoment of green healthy sports spaces in Tottenham - would like to look at 5th studio fat walk with this. On a side line to both of these lectures, the talk on urban markers may be useful as I would like to explore how these markers can be used effectively to create a 'destination' quality to both Tottenham and Odessa, especially when going from the dense infrastructure of Tottenham Hhale to the canal, similar to connections to the olympic park from Stratford.

T19 Rip It Up Lecture #5 Belfast

‘There are in the country beautiful vistas, lordly parks, violetescent woods, fresh air, sounds of rippling water; but too often one sees those threatening words, “Trespassers will be prosecuted”’ Sir Ebenezer Howard, Garden Cities of Tomorrow pg. 5

These words reminded me of the beginning of the Belfast lecture. I know relatively little about the history of Belfast, only that it has a history of sectarian conflict.

Howard's quote above holds a similar contrasting quality to that of David Brett's who spoke for the first part of the lecture, giving an atmospheric depiction of Belfast, traditional in his use of a white board and marker pen. Geographical lines were layered whilst describing its physical terrain, its beauty, its historical background and how the linen industry formed around the river banks. I'm not quite sure when these descriptive tones changed to those of unease. Perhaps it was when a hypothetical walker was suddenly faced with an angry farmer claiming they were trespassing. Yes, that's probably the relevance of the quote.

Before long the dialogue settled on the hostile environment of the scarred city: the transformation of previous straight grid road systems into cul-de-sacs to prevent the number of drive-through shootings, the peace lines...'Fragmented regional governance creates fragmented peace'...perhaps this is why it was said, 'the nature of cities is something we have no control over.' I'm not sure what this sentence was alluding to. Is it an explanation of what has happened historically in Belfast through consequence of differing religions? Is it in relation to the organic growth of settlement surrounding the river and the linen industry therewith? Or the fragmented government's lack of control? Is it because the peace walls sporadically appeared overnight? All of the above perhaps.

And a sprinkling of Heidegger: Existential space vs Metric space, if we didn't have enough to think about...

The second half of the lecture was a little more practical in its depiction of Belfast. Mark Hackett from Hackett Hall McKnight is co-founder of the campaigning group Forum for Alternative Belfast.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/jun/03/public-inquiry-mark-hackett

The loss the city has experienced was evident, especially in the mappings of used and unused buildings, and the complete lack of pedestrian connection between north and south. A car dependent city, too unsafe to walk. The housing conditions looked dire, 3 meter wide living rooms, sometimes not even that. Mixed used developments that people were proud of housed car parks on the ground flour, inbetween a network of cold concrete walls. Government masterplanners turning their backs on peace walls...it was evident that a 'start again' is needed in Belfast.

What FORUM appears to be doing looks like a good start. I especially liked the barber shop boys, and thinking of ways to inspire community confidence - to trust design confidence - to build commercial confidence. The summer school has started to encourage people who have a common interest in helping to do it themselves.

Additional words form Fran Balaam, Michael Corr and Lara Gibson emphasised this need to inspire confidence in residents to want more from their city. I suppose this endeavour holds similarities to the efforts of the biennial in Liverpool, sparking interest in the community through art and architecture and public events to get people excited and involved.

Ideas of unity within the city were posed by the ending panel. Unity through language? Or would this create divided cultural quarters? Linguistic differences creating new barriers? According to Patrick Lynch, 'Good walls make good neighbours...' should we be looking to the 'contrade' of Sienna and its competitive Palio as precedents? The football crowds of Rome? All cities need a bit of good and bad...in this case I think not. Connections in the city are a good thing sometimes.

T18 Manifesto #2

I just re-read my initial Manifesto. I'm quite embarrassed. One of our tasks recently was to write a job application for a position we're definitely not (yet) qualified or ready for, I think this is how I felt writing the last manifesto. I don't think any of the previous experience I talked about in that manifesto applies much to what I'm learning now. And what I should know from previous lectures I can't remember. Thank goodness it's all written down in books.

I have a way to go in getting used to the world of planning, its lingo, and what it all means, but this course is definitely giving me a window, a rather large viewing window into it. I thought my previous work in practice would be relevant. In some ways it is, in lots of ways it's not. Topdownbottomupbottomheavylocalismpolicy...it's still all a little confusing. But my physics teacher used to say that it'd all decant through in the end, and it's quite nice having things trickling through up there again.

We were asked today whether we have experience in submitting planning applications. I don't really think I do. I'm not sure if I want to, not with the way the system is at the moment (said in hope of making change). I understand now why the word 'propositional' was being bandied around during our introductory talks. It seems quite hard to be propositional where planning is involved.

The word 'Consultation' is also used a lot. It's almost a defence mechanism for anything that gets built, or for anything that wants to get built. The dynamic between planner and architect was an interesting one on the 'Mayor's Great Spaces' talk day. Some had consulted each other more than others it seems. And strangely enough, the ones who had done this ‘consulting’ had a closer relationship and tended to speak a similar language. This is the language I'd like to speak; the inbetween one. (Welsh isn't really that useful).

T17 Glossary of Terms #2

PLANNING - General controlled creation through policy.

Planning – Setting of parameters that define how a built form is developed, in consideration of its historical context and current surroundings.

SPATIAL PLANNING - Placing/taking away to optimise an enviornment.

Spatial Planning – Improvement of a space used by the public, from small to large scale, assessing its social use and movement patterns, to optimise its environment.

DESIGN - Creating through thinking and testing.

Design – Creative thinking regarding all facets and use of an object or space, allowing for ease and comfort when experienced.

URBAN DESIGN - Consideration, on a number of social, practical, and political levels, in the design of spaces.

Urban Design - Strategically creating a set of rules or ‘framework’ on a wider scale that, through analysis of context, user groups and infrastructure, protects existing attributes and culture, yet allows for the development of new routes, public and private architecture, and the spaces inbetween.

CONTEXT - Our surroundings. Awareness.

Context – Researched information regarding the surroundings of a site, that can be approached from many aspects: historical, environmental, social, economical, political.

EDGES - Change in condition

Edges – An area or border line that exposes a contrast between contextual issues ie Religious boundaries, old and new, rich and poor.

SCALE - Relation of size to space

Scale – The ratio at which an area is observed, that dictates how detailed the observation is, and how large an area is viewed.

URBAN - Un-empty built space.

Urban – Classification of a type of settlement, different to a rural area due to an increase in built form and public space and amenities.

AESTHETIC - Visual appearance

Aesthetic – How an object, graphic, building or any visual is evaluated in terms of its appearance.

INFRASTRUCTURE - Hard, social, green, anything that serves.

Infrastructure – An arrangement of services connecting to feed a space or building.

FACADE – Frontage.

Façade – Materiality of the external envelope of a building.

CONSULTATION - Talking to people.

T15 History, Theory and Policy Essay

How are the changing roles and relationships between reformist movements, philanthropic organisations, and the state in planning up to 1940 relevant to the present day?

In progress

T14 Rip It Up Lecture # 4 Liverpool

This lecture seemed quite fragmented in its approach to presenting current work being done in Liverpool. On one hand there was an emphasis on Art and Architecture, and the biennial, and on the other, the state of disrepair of the housing in parts of the city. The Biennial didn't seem to be adhesive enough in its approach to merging the two themes, apart from its use of central derelict buildings for its exhibition spaces. As the article in the Times stated, presenting art was its aim, not drawing attention to the state of low income housing.

http://www.biennial.com/

"The shows are scattered all over the city, often in pretty strange places, but the overall ambition — to introduce British audiences to up-and-coming international artists and trends — is adhered to excellently." The Times

In terms of art and architecture, there were a number of projects that were interesting, not purely due to the aesthetic quality of said pieces, but due to the inclusion of the community and different organisations in their production. The barge project made the canal more accessible to all, involving locals, British waterways organisation, the barge owners and passers by, to create a lively atmosphere, introducing a more playful use to the canal.

The neon animals on buildings, though perhaps seemingly pointless, brought communities together as the school children were the ones to produce them; in the same way that school plays can often bring parent groups together whilst the children rehearse, the bright and obvious pieces would generate conversation between residents.

Though I believe the biennial could have done more in drawing attention to housing and architecture in the city, the benefit of such community inclusive art projects is that the ball begins rolling in activating public participation in surroundings and strengthening their duty of care. This personal relation to surroundings can also be seen in the promotion of old Beatles' houses as tourist destinations, meaning that these housing areas don't get demolished and left empty or replaced by equally bad housing, but are kept as a relics to British pop and 60's housing. The next step would be bettering and caring for the neighbouring housing rather than just leaving it to fall into disrepair like many other buildings seen in the lecture.

Public inclusion can also be seen in the use of a residing artist from the Netherlands working with locals around the old Liverpool FC stadium and in the themes of the actual Biennial, where reuse of materials (ie clothes fixing) is encouraged.

On a different note, I found the last part of the lecture very interesting, partly due to its relevance to the morning lecture at the building centre on Urban Markers. The talk turned to the "Big Art Project" as featured on TV, where due to the local people's want for this art work, it went ahead, and was well received by the community who all came to its opening/unveiling ceremony, standing tall in the landscape promoting Liverpool's urban renewal.

T13 Photo Essay: Soho Spaces

T11 Site Mapping

Current Policies in Place on our site in Tottenham




Walking routes on site and around reservoirs










Land Typologies

Physical Mapping - Pylons and Bridges and other industrial fixtures

T12 London's Urban Markers

The Building Centre Breakfast Talk, 28/10/10

The lack of promised breakfast on this early Thursday morning at the Building Centre hinted at the disappointment one was to feel when talked to about current public art schemes proposed for London and its surrounding regions. The four urban markers presented were unimpressive, mainly due to a lack of design development and strength of concept, and a general feeling of pointlessness. (OK, perhaps I'm getting carried away with the cynicism, I quite like the white horse.) The four schemes presented were:

Anish Kapoor & Arup & Katherine Finlay – ‘Orbit’ an urban marker for the Olympic Park

See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8597069.stm

‘A spiralling sculpture designed by Turner Prize-winning artist Anish Kapoor has been chosen as the monument to mark the London 2012 Olympic Games. The 115m tall piece, named the ArcelorMittal Orbit, will be placed in the Olympic Park and will be 22m higher than New York's Statue of Liberty. The £19.1m design incorporates the five Olympic rings and will offer visitors panoramic views of London.’

The red spiralling upside down trumpet seems a bit pointless, my favourite description found so far being: “(it) looks like a rollercoaster that’s been in an earthquake”.Read more: http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2010/04/02/the-orbit-tower-olympic-park-stratford-east-london-2012#ixzz15wG3bZN6


Alan Baxter from the Euston Arch Trust – The Euston Arch

‘The Euston Arch Trust campaigns for the rebuilding of the Euston Arch, destroyed when Euston Station was redeveloped in the 1960s.
A proposed redevelopment of Euston now offers the chance to rebuild the Arch.
Built in 1838, the Euston Arch was the first great monument of the railway age – an architectural marvel. Standing an incredible 70 feet high, it dominated the approach to Euston Station until 1962, when it was demolished despite widespread protest. In an extraordinary turn of events, the stones from the Arch ended up at the bottom of a river in east London.'

See http://www.eustonarch.org/

Quite an entertaining folly, doubt it will ever happen, not if they need £10 million

Donis Architects – The London Gate, Aldgate

A tall skinny set of goal posts to be constructed on a traffic island next to Aldgate station as a ‘gateway’ to street 2012. Probably the weakest scheme presented, and the most unoriginal. Descirbed by the architect as ‘mass produced classicism’. Really?!

I quite like the simple comments made in this article:

http://londonist.com/2010/07/giant_rugby_posts_to_be_built_in_al.php

Mark Wallinger – The White Horse

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/4599446/Mark-Wallingers-white-horse-is-a-winner.html

My favourite of the four, I liked the honesty of Mark Darby, the curator of this competition for a new MASSIVE piece of public art in Kent. The budget was BIG (and set before the recession), the scale needed for the site next to the 6 lane motorway BIG. Why not just make a BIG horse? Simple.

----

The introductory speech covered ideas of orientation and navigation in the city, a topic that arises often in writings about the city due to their relationship with the legibility of the city and the use of landmarks as a means of identifying place. Apparently, urban markers were used initially as a place around which a city was formed; a ‘stake’ in the ground as it were, though an increasingly unnecessary device in current times due to the ease at which we can orientate ourselves using interactive maps on phones.

If people now turn to their phone rather than looking at their surroundings to navigate and hence experience the city, one might question why these urban markers are necessary. Personally, I believe the character of a place can be strengthened by 'urban markers' but only those that are appropriate.

An interesting question was raised in the final Q&A, ‘how do you masterplan these markers?’ As the nature of London’s plan is ‘adhoc’ should this public art be strategically planned at all? or should it just happen? Or should it not happen? Aren’t we just adding clutter to a city that we are constantly trying to ‘de-clutter’? Don’t we have enough famous markers in London?

In my opinion, if these schemes were conceptually stronger, and perhaps more tastefully designed, then yes, there is a place for public art in both the city and when masterplanning, but the designs shown today were not good enough, de-cluttering should take away the bad, to make space for the good. In Wallinger’s case, it’s an empty field. Go for it (or fill the field with lots of little horses, or even better, cows - they'd also look nice, make money and strengthen the milk industry).

T10 Presentation: The Inbetween

When assembling this presentation, choosing pieces of work done for Unit 10 and thinking about what I wanted to say, the idea of ‘the inbetween’ was the most prevalent.

In terms of thinking about what I thought the course would be, what it is and what I want it to be (at least I think these were the general subheadings to the presentations) I decided that it was best to interrelate my studio work as much as possible to the MA, as by thinking in this manner I hope to add depth to my studio work, and a working case study to my Masters; vice to the versa.


With this in mind, I used our initial unit exercise, conveying 3 spaces from childhood: Urban, Landscape and Interior, to formulate what my previous perceptions of the city, urban design and planning were. This exercise highlighted the distance I felt from the urban as a child, the strongest memory being the chimneys of the oil refineries further around the coast (of Pembrokeshire). This led to the questioning of the divide between urban and rural felt, as having grown up in the countryside, the urban seemed far away, though how do we define the difference between Urban and Rural? Even in coastal towns there are buildings, and communities, and planning and design needed for activity to take place, therefore do we describe this planning as urban design? Something I think I need to explore.




The next use of ‘inbetween’ related to explorations done on site in Tottenham. A very green site, (rural or urban?) and the spaces experienced underneath outdoor railway bridges. Sat alongside my ‘interior’ memory of the loft of a shed at home, the image beneath the bridge felt more interior than exterior, a threshold, though not dividing one side of the path from the other in materiality or use, an inbetween between exterior and interior.

From early mappings of the site in Tottenham, problems of connection and legibility of the spaces available for public use were clear. Though the canal/river is littered with bridges, hardly any are for pedestrian use. There is a sensation of being lost, and no idea of what is there until explored. The study of ‘Rainham to the River’ as seen at the Mayor’s Great Spaces talk day could be useful in exploring what can be done to increase legibility and use of this green/reservoir space, creating connections through bridges and providing additional public buildings/spaces/amenities, to enhance the existing.

Simplified, I believe this course is an education in the inbetweens of professions: Planner/Architect/Urban Designer, and the whole umbrella of professions that have come up in previous discussions.