Monday 27 December 2010

The Gopher Hole

Already written about a dozen times in the space of but a few hours, to add the same story to an already over told enigma would be fruitless. Instead, i will simply direct you to the already, smashingly written articles that touch on the first exhibition, "about a minute" by aberrant architecture and Beatrice Galee.

Have little look at the domus site (http://www.domusweb.it/en/art/the-gopher-hole-/) to see the visual delights, or perhaps take your feet and let them lead you to the basement of el paso and indulge....with a beer...



Wednesday 27 October 2010

It's Nice That

I first saw this little on the page of mmmlovely.com. I'm not sure I want to think about it for too long, or even consider the limited possibilities of this particular graphic. All i would say at this point is to buy the the thing. They don't come out too often, and its no more than a square tenner.

No Directions

Not a word written, not a comment to be had, not a thought developed, discussed, or destroyed. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, nothing wanted. Devoid of attention, love, or care, the blog goes without anything, neither love nor hate. It sits patiently...

...yet new light, a cautious flicker, dwindles over the stalling enigma. The pointless ramblings of an unknowing student didn’t heed the wants of the unknowing student and thus died. But re-born as a "learning blog" the potential lay dry and distant, but we shall see what develops, and I can only hope that the unknowing rambling student cocoons...waits...and with all the cheesy grit that this sentence requires…blossoms..

I give you the learning blog.

Enjoy.

Sunday 9 May 2010

Iris and the Snail


Recently brought to the attention of Matta Clark, and ye old Richard Wilson, a hearty attack on the IRIS building was inevitable. The current project that is to be worked on is the advertising company Iris Nation based in a Cold War Relic. 10inch thick concrete lines the outside of this cold and ultimatley dead building that is meant to hold one of the brightest and quickest growing advertising agencies in the world. An international branding firm, held captive in one of architectures mistakes. So whats the soloution? I cant help but loath the coating of this site, a dense and uniform, rough and grey material, so why not show it off, why not highlight the brutality of the unit? So i begin the quest to spatial attack this building buy cutting and pulling sections out to re align the building and make it interesting, exciting, and valuble to Iris and the new enhabitance by the general public. Alas i feel that my progress is on a par with a snail challenging the mighty quest of the garden path crossing, essentially, fruitles. But like the mighty snail, i will battle on, snuggle in the shell when times are hard, leave trails of drawings, and achieve the goals of any garden insect, to avoid the wrath of the tutor bird!!

Sunday 2 May 2010

Pooh and Daniel

In just over 48 hours I was taken to a place that I can assure you, I don’t like going to, neither do I believe that I will be able to avoid it again. Like a bear to honey, or be it, the one bear, whinney the poo to honey, I will arrive at this point with absolute certainty. The sheer disgusting and totalitarian state of exhaustion got the better of me on Thursday. After spending two nights at a university library, working, clicking, deliberating, nursing another can of cancer giving stimulant, weary eyes started to close, hands started to twitch on their own accord, and ever surface began to look more comfortable than a 5 star king sized, turned bed with a chocolate on top, preferably a rolo chocolate. And to what avail, well, a sheet of mediocre work that Tigger himself could have produced with a pencil nailed to his tail with him bouncing around like a kid on E.

The evening however turned into something more successful, more honest to the stories of pooh, piglet and donkey. Tired, distressed, agitated, and a little sweaty from the disgustingly warm environments of our critting environments, I took an adventure, with brother in lead, to the cultural and historical depths of Exhibition road, South Ken. Our final destination would be to the Geology Centre for a talk by an architectural great, Daniel Liebeskind. I won’t even attempt to regurgitate the things he said, or jest at the points he was trying to make. And yes I was listening! Get the video, watch it, love it, watch it again, buy his book, then watch it again, then tell everyone, then watch it with them, and then bask in his delayed glory….for a second, then realise that his style is the same….everywhere….everywhere…in-fact, yeah, everywhere, bud sod it, I will be shallow just this once and enjoy his architecturally stunning sculptures, and I think you should to.

Saturday 24 April 2010

Virgin Bloggin

Well its been a week, and what a week its been, currently I want nothing more than to type, so eager to close those pop ups that turn up when you switch on the computer, so eager to ignore the chatty man next to me as I ride the train home. I’m pent up with conversation, with something to say, with something to discuss. I had nothing at the beginning of the week, hence the lack of posts compared to my first week of virgin blogging.

But I’m not sure I actually want to write it, I want to say it, I want to fucking scream it!!! Vigour, attitude…I don’t know what it is, what has come across me these past couple of days. Alas, my junior writing skills will only articulate so much, in such a grey sort of manner that what I’m actually feeling will be lost under a blanket of uncertainty, and lost vocabulary.

As for weeks in the large spectrum of things, the volcano in Iceland, the election in Britain, the beautiful sunshine, what are we supposed to be thinking? Dismay…confusion…joy? For me its been a rather off week, for both actions I have committed, and emotion that conjoins my ever move. I last left you with a couple of images for my latest “complete” project for a retail store. Some of you may say they’re great, some may contradict that comment. As for my assessor, she was quick to say that it was a “lazy” approach to the scheme at hand. Now I am not sure that this is entirely true, considering my anxiety about getting this scheme complete, but maybe she holds some water. It could have been better, more considered, sharper, cleaner, evocative, classy. And it does make me sad that I can’t seem to reach the standards that I set my self….for absolute perfection. Some say that it’s ridiculous to reach targets disproportionate to what you are expected to achieve, but put it another way, if your not setting your GPS to get to Rome, your never going to bloody get there!
So there I was at the end of a long Friday, listening to the rest of my class being crited, with the knowledge that I hadn’t pleased my client, and that I wasn’t that able to reach the goals I had set. But we live and learn, and strive for more. So we take what we learn, and re apply, re address, and in my case, it was to draw. Now this is not just on an A4 sheet of paper for a few minutes, this was to draw to death any notion, any idea, any random nuance that had the delight of popping into my head. I must destroy this project through the art of pen to paper, on what has become known as the studio tapestry. Drawing on a 25m long piece of paper, I have begun a timeline of my work, that I must say, I’m rather proud of, and will continue till the end of said project.

The week continued with a variety of topics of varying maturity, but the last day, the Friday, caught me out…the knowledge that came to me is that, I have no style. Now maybe this would not be a problem if I were, for an example, an accountant, its just sums! But for a designer, were style is the all important, to have “the eye” for materials, for colour, for the juxtaposition of programmes flowing together….shit, I cant do it…..



….yet. I have to believe in the “yet” rather than the “never”. The never will leave me as a consultant for waste management at a Chelsea nursery school, a dull repetitive smelly excuse to rub shoulders with the “elite”. No no no…I cant be settling for this, I just can be, so how do I take on the challenge of finding the elusive “style” that I so desire? You tell me…!

Thursday 15 April 2010

Fruition

Weary eyed, grey and wrinkled, the night goes on...without an ending insight. Darkness folds in, enclosed in the blackness of the night sky, a row of laptops beating a bright aw onto the disgruntled faces on my fellow workers. Red Bull cans littler the floor around us, pizza boxes and their crust counterparts cover the work tops. As the eye lids become heavier, jokes become stranger, more forced, more incomprehensibly bad! We draw upon old classics, and misguide our energies into engaging and imagining more ludicrous scenes concocted by our peculiar minds, rather then spending it on finishing the work.

But why do we put ourselves through this repeated session of sleepless nights...well this time, its for a display of work to be held at the magical, historical, beauty of space we all know as the V&A. So, as promised from before, i share with you, some of the images to imbed themselves on the eyes of the audience to which we present tomorrow.

The concept is for DePloy, a womens high end fashion brand, to be situated on the prorifery of Covent Garden. We were to combine the the store with a secondry social function, and in this case, it was for ex-servicmen that had become homless.

Tuesday 13 April 2010

A Promise

Fury with ones self is a common occurrence in the ongoing battle fought between you and....well, you. A sense of despair with your mind running a riot with ideas, fulled with concepts and theories from the latest Frame Magazine or Monograph, or the daily ritchual of Dezeen. But the problem is, none of these ideas seem to materialise themselves..pen in hand, paper in front, the simple task of putting the two together should be easy as falling over, alas, it isn't to be. Your held back...by what?! is it arrogance, to much pride that you wont allow your self to be criticised. After all, if there is nothing to look at, how can anyone judge it?!

I'm not sure this is always true, but maybe I'm just protecting myself...of course, being judged is no wild brown bear that could slash your feet, or a bee that could sting you in the eye, or even an elephant that could sit on your face, but its certainly something that everyone is a little fearful of...

They say to overcome any fear, you must face it head one....stair down the barrel of a gun....pee into the wind! You must take it by the horns, thrash it around, beat it to a pulp, conquer that that you never felt you could conquer. Kick it, embrace it, brake a porclin jug over it, tackle it to the ground and make it submit under your directions!!!! Think William Wallace, Nelson Mandela, Bob the Builder....can we do it? of course we bloody can....so today i leave you with this, a promise to be open and frank, to show my work to the masses (or few, as followers are only at 3), be it shameful or whimsical, effortless, pointless, great, or weak...and allow you to comment, applaud, and critic.

Saturday 10 April 2010

Truncated

As I filter through the never ending pages of a “google” search I discover a plethora of under world activities. From donkey racing to slug keeping, egg collecting, cheese rolling, mother tattoos, yet another travellers blog, a guide to the political race, how to get thin fast, how to get thin really fast, how to get thinner faster by eating more, and of course, the unknown speciality, and mysterious notion of “architecture”.


You see, the words I search was for Buckminster Fuller, a well known architect from the regions of ye old America, better known for the Geodesic dome and lesser known for his washing up methods. Still as I went looking for the Truncated Octahedron for a display at the V&A, I found myself pondering….yes pondering, pondering why we create shapes, forms, styles, anything. Does anyone actually care if I use a truncated octahedron, or some mysterious shape I pulled out of the murky depths of my weary brain? Does the joe actually care if its this that or the other? I often discuss this notion with friends, and we conclude that….well actually, we never conclude, it’s an ongoing battle against no one…it’s on a par with the British and the Weather! We will fight it, with hammer and tongues, with umbrellas, patio heaters, and Mediterranean beer we will stand up and fight it, but alas, the weather will always prevail. And in this case, we always out talk ourselves into a continuing loop of metaphors, theory, and practicality to no avail. So I ask you…yes, I can now say “you”, my one follow, what do you think? Do we need theory? Does there need to be depth in architecture, or can we judge it like a book: by its beautifully drawn, colourfully depicted cover with the fat “half price” sticker on it?

Friday 9 April 2010

Strange Beginnings

Today seemed like as good a day as any to start what i hope to be a fruitful, engaging, and perhaps strange attempt to share through the ever tested medium of "the blog". I'm not sure what i wish to gain from doing this, especially as i have a readship of the lonely few....me. So as i write i am in fully conciousness that i am the only one to read this. So whats the point you may ask? you?...i'm asking a question to no one. What is the point i may ask? well there is no point now, but sod it, some dreamy man from pengium publishers may stumble accross my blog whilst trying to research the latests ASBO connundrum. It may become one of those serrindipitous moments where he asked his secretary to look up "ASBO", where she miss hears him for "ESPO", without hesitation, for she fears to question her boss, she types in the miss heard pronounciation, and stumbles across said blog, the Pengium man is passed a printed documents of my blog, and bobs your uncle...I have been discovered...hurrah!.....Hurrrnoooo. For you see, i'm not that lucky, and also, i have made a clear sexist steryotype to the roles my charachters play in the discovery of me...no well founded publisher would invest in that? or would they....? Time of course, will play its roll, and in due course, we shall find out.

But i suppose this has been no real introduction to who, or i guess, what i am. A dare not say that i am a student of design, as the mere mention of student would suggest a care free attitude, not learnad of the world, insicure, stupid, pathetic, drunken lout....the usual. I will admit, i cant spell, and i rarely check, so for this i can only apologise. But i will stand by the fact that i am not your typical student, and i'm not the "High rennaisance man" of Bristol, neither the gentlemen from "Gap Yah", i am a Student of Architecture, working a 95 hour week, content on exploring, understanding and questioning the things i know and see. The problem however, is that i explore insignificant things, i dont always understand, and the questions i ask? well...we need not dabble in that one.

But i can only hope, as i listen to the awe inspirinig tune to Gladiator, that as this Blog is to progress, the exploring, understaning, questioning....it will arise in spoons, spades, trucks....any sized container of moving the metaphor. So i leave you for now, with a smile, a jaunty wink, a pat on the pat notion...