How to use spaces

Following on from the Crater Lake post a developing theme may be the creative use of space in different ways.
Edward Lifson's blog has an interesting article on the use of the untitled Picasso sculpture in the Daley Plaza, Chicago.

All Images from
http://edwardlifson.blogspot.com/2010/04/skateboarding-on-picasso-is-fun.html

Whilst much has been written on this subject.  It seems that the images once again show more than words possibly could.  The use of an environment rather than merely a passive, viewing response has got to be healthier for the environment and for the user.
As Edwards Lifson states:
When necessary, we'll make a copy to put in the plaza, like the Florentines did with David.
This to me seems a much better response to your environment than leaving the sculpture behind a screen, forever protected from, but unable to be experienced by, the world.


How this could be translated to a natural environment, as we began by talking about with the mediated landscape of the Lake District is a question still to be answered.

Derwent Forest Cont.

Broughton Moor - the old name for Derwent Forest - at first appeared a fantastic location; between the Lake District and the coast, combining tourist locations with areas of deep deprivation:

However, under further examination it becomes clear that this is perhaps further from the Lake District proper than we would find acceptable... The hunt for a site continues.

All Images from
Google

The Derwent Forest story does, however, remains interesting:

Story Construction has taken over the management of the site and will work with the consortium in taking forward the regeneration.

Firm plans about what will be built there have yet to be decided but ideas have included a festival site, eco-friendly hotel, an organic farm using sustainable techniques, a heritage centre to tell the story of the site and West Cumbria and green energy production.

The so-called Utropia project will be funded by the sale of housing plots around the edge of the site.

The councils jointly bought the site from the Ministry of Defence in August 2008 for £1.

The consortium was selected as the preferred developer for the site in the spring from an original list of 12 interested parties.

From the Times and Star website http://www.timesandstar.co.uk/news/business/derwent-forest-is-finally-handed-over-to-developer-1.909310?referrerPath=/t-s-news-feed-1.17079

Crater Lake

This piece also appeals due to its usable but transformable quality.  It acts as shelter and somewhere to sit, but it appears that it can be used however the user wishes.


It was a winner at the 2011 Shitsurai Art International Competition,

All Images from
http://www.yankodesign.com/2011/10/19/inspiring-installation/

Wind Dyed House

Came across this house by acaa in Yokosuka Kanagawa, Japan, it wasn't the design of the building that first caught my eye, but the name.


The idea of a building being changed - perhaps relatively quickly - by its environment seems very interesting to me.  It also throws up ideas of using instillation to chart the winds effects across the environment and design accordingly.  Giving both a built outcome and, somehow it feels, more importantly, a physical manifestation of the design process, a piece of design in its own right.


The house is pretty interesting too...

All Images from
http://www.dezeen.com/2012/01/25/wind-dyed-house-by-kazuhiko-kishimotoacaa/

Derwent Forest

Came across this during the initial research of the topic - it may warrant a closer look.

It is a decommissioned Royal Naval armament storage facility of 425ha which now represents the largest brownfield site in the UK.

It is in north west Cumbria, close to the Lake District National Park boundary, between the towns of Cockermouth, Maryport and Workington.

As the blurb from this development guide says:

The redevelopment of the site presents an exceptional opportunity to deliver real benefit to the West Cumbrian economy, and to the people who live in and visit this unique region.

Due to this 'live' and 'visit' idea, this 'borderland' site could prove to be ideal for the scope of our thesis.
Especially given the assertion that this site gives the opportunity to:

capitalise upon the popularity and tourist economy of the Lakes and create a commercial linkage with Cumbria’s scenic West Coast

 A brownfield site could also yield interesting opportunities for examining decay, re-use, refurbishment and employment.

All images from Derwent Forest Development Guide
http://web.me.com/davidnsaunders/ceu/proposal/partnership/DerwentForestReport.pdf

Eccentric, avant-garde, architecture.

Found on BLDGBLOG, as 'speleological superparks', an extremely interesting article on the form of architecture being discovered by private firms aiming to cash in on the growing appeal of outdoor activities for people who live within cities.


Fantastical architectural forms clinging to life on the side of other built forms, reminiscent of parasite, using the others energy for itself - but perhaps more similar to a symbiosis of mutual cooperation.

Image from BLDBLOG

Or tube networks such as the British Caving Associations Artificial Caves by Entre Prises.

Image from Entre Prises

Whether this may be of use is yet to be seen, but with a project based in an area used for, and with thought processes around, outdoor activities, this typology may prove to be a useful route to follow (or a blind-alley).

To Start

Beginning this month will be the final semester of a two year Masters of Architecture degree I have been undertaking at the University of Liverpool.

This semester is solely dedicated to a singular piece of work - the Architectural Thesis Project.
This blog will follow the course of this thesis that I am undertaking with James Perry, the ups and downs and trials and tribulations.

I will attempt to keep this blog up to date with the latest work, research and developments which we make, and along the way post in links to related information and other blogs.

I have a further blog - Image-A-Day - which features an image created by myself, daily, throughout the year.  Whilst this has, in the past, been less that successful (!), with renewed vigour I will aim to keep this up to date as well throughout this process.  Between them, they should show a snapshot of life as an architecture student in 2012.

Prior to this semester, we were required to submit our initial musings on our subject to the course staff in order to 'bid' for tutors.
I will go into more detail in the future, but as follows is that bid document...

 Our proposal centres on questioning and evaluating  

the widely acknowledged  romanticised view of the countryside

 It followed to choose a location which has been well documented

and contained both idyllic locations and areas of deprivation

 Exploring the history of the area to find what skill and trades may have

been lost, and what they have been replaced with

 Questioning the long-term sustainability of any future economy

 Searching out the root of the idyll that is well represented

and re-interpreting this for a modern society

 Where the landscape is still romanticised but in an ever increasingly

mediated form

 Alongside this is the problems of rural decline

a loss of jobs

and the myriad of social and mental issues this can create in a community

 Our proposal follows the course of 'Adventure Therapy'

and experiences with the wilderness

 Aiming towards isolating social conditions and responding to them

by a return to a more idyllic age

 Within an ever changing landscape

But yet one with a permanence, unchallenged by human occupation

This has left us with a wide field to work from - it is hoped that we will narrow down the question and the location of our intervention, the nature of what we intend to achieve or even investigate within the next couple of weeks.