Munching on biscuits and doing diagrams

I've taken a step back from designing my plans and have focused again on the programme of the building.  I feel like I need fatten up the information and make it more plausible and thought through. The above diagram describes the options a visitor has on arriving into the building. Starting at Foyer/Box Office, where you can find out what plays are going on at the theatre or the function rooms and what time the sewing classes run at the workshop. They can then proceed to the marketplace, library or the cafe, via the circulation space of the dressing up box. The diagram shows how all the spaces link up and rely on each for performance. For example, the market place helps to source the clothes for the dressing up box, which are then used for fabric at the workshop, which then get turned into costumes for the theatre productions. As lame as this sounds, it was actually quite exciting to write out this programme, as it helped me understand the spaces and what activities can take place in them.

This drawing shows the life cycle of an item of clothing, starting with the cotton being picked in the fields, its transportation across the world and into shops. I did this diagram to show the possibilities of reclaiming clothes after their initial use and how my building can provide solutions to the re-use of clothes. The options right now for clothes after they go into the skip, is either that they are sourced by vintage shops and sold at quite a high price, sent to charity shops where they are sold at a reasonable price or where they are sent across the world by charities to people that need them. My idea is that the marketplace in my building sets out to do all those things and more. As well as donating clothes that the market place doesn't sell to charity, some of it will feed into the 'dressing up box', where the workshop will pick them up, dismantle the fabric and turn them into something new and usable such as fancy dress items or costumes for the theatre. As well producing these items, people taking the classes at the workshop are learning new skills such a sewing which is a benefit to the community.

Weekend in London

After quite an intense lead up the Interim review, I thought it would be nice to go home back to London for the weekend to take a breather, indulge in home comforts and catch up with the parents.

Having seen the posters for Sarah Lucas's exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery displayed all over the tube on my way home from St Pancras, I was quite desperate to go as I studied a lot of her work for A-Level art and really wanted to see her work up close. Here are some of the sneaky pictures that I took before I got told off by the lady on duty.

The Exhibition was excellent, it was genuinely sometimes funny, very crude and visually striking. At the same time there was a sense of seriousness about it all, Lucas takes a critical approach on the themes of gender and sexuality through her manipulation of form. In her work she often conveys social and political points, as well as referencing historical art traditions. The exhibition displayed two decades of her work and it still hasn't lost its ability to shock the viewer and captivate the viewers, my mum especially! Who went half heartedly, and ended up thoroughly enjoying her pieces and enjoyed amusingly recounting to my dad later on exactly what she had saw.

After the Whitechapel Gallery, we travelled along to London Bridge to visit the Architecture foundation who had an interesting one room exhibition called 'Futures in the Making'. They showcased recent Masters graduates work who had taken a stance on a current topical issue and designed for the future, with examples such as the housing crisis and flooding issues. It was a really nice exhibition and the work was all to an exceptionally high standard, which was a cool precedent for how to present work.

 

It was a really lovely day out, I had missed the crazy bustle and dynamics of London in comparison to Sheffield. We also ended up walking along the South Bank where my mum insisted of taking photos of me with the skyline of London in the background!

All pictures taken by me.