Summer's Architecture Ball

Our end of year ball: June 2013

More site analysis

Map of Typologies in Hebden and surrounding buildings to the site

Map of the Natural Acoustics in the Area

Thematic history analysis: Hebden Cord Company

Having chosen our sites in Hebden Bridge, we were asked to do a personal site response under one of the given themes. I chose to follow up on the history of the site, on which a building was just recently demolished. Looking deeper into the history, it turns out that the building actually belonged to the famous Hebden Cord Company who had been on the site with a shop and warehouse for over 70 years. They specialised in producing high class outdoor clothing, and also cycling gear. Rumour has it that they supplied the wardrobes of many noble gentry back in the day. My analysis involved telling the history of the site through a timeline with diagrams depicting the different stages of the company, ending with the demolition and the council's proposed plans for the space.

 fun day out on site

very poetic of Hebden Bridge

clear example of the split level housing

the chosen site....

The Great Gatsby reading room concept

My concept for the brief to design a 'reading space' for the project started with my drawings of the 1920s people. Using ink and water to capture the way their clothes flowed and were tailored. This naturally led me to explore form through material, way of tailoring, pleating, folding and experimenting with materials that had an elastic quality. I decided on creating a room/space that would be raised above all the activity going on downstairs. It represent's Gatsby's constraints in his mind about trying to repeat the past, him living in this delusional world thinking he can do so. This is shown by the elasticity of the material wrapped around the room as if trying to contain the storyteller and the listener. The space focuses down to one point, so if you are the listener you only just about fit in the space while the reader can stand anywhere comfortably. This also shows how the material is wasting space and constraining the area when there is plenty of room left, which is reflecting Gatsby's decadence and ego. There are also quotes in the book where Gatsby is peering out a very high up room in his mansion house, watching people coming and going like moths attracted to light. This led me to create the space into a secret room, isolated above, while there are people dancing and socialising below in contrast. By using lace, a rather delicate yet decadent material, I explored how light filters through and how shadows are created. When the story is being read, there would be constantly changing lights coming from above, so at different parts of the story, the shadow angles and colour of the light would change.

Concept models progression

Final model

"The rock of the world was founded securely on a fairy's wing"

The second part of our project was revealed to us this week. Our task in relation to the title ' Narrative Spaces', was to select a book/ fairytale/poem , for which to base our conceptual design of the project on. We are going to explore how the written or spoken word can inform architectural space, and how the space can enhance the experience for the listener. Based not only on the fact that I have three copies of this book, 'the Great Gatsby', has been one of my favourite books ever since I studied it for A-level 3 years ago. The book is a beautifully written tragedy, Gatsby, the romantic hero pining for the lost love of his past. I love the poetic rhythm in which the book is narrated, as well as Fitzgerald's vivid descriptions of the decadence of the roaring 1920s in Jazz Age America. 

With this end mind, we have been asked to design an intimate space in which the story of our chosen book can be read to a few people, referring to narratives or symbolism in the text. My first brain storming ideas lead to me drawing illustrations of people from the 1920s. I guess this was more of just a fun drawing activity, but these got me thinking about the way people inhabit space and who the storyteller in my design will be, and I will include them as the contextual people in my later work. I used pen to draw out the outline, and coloured them in using black ink. I then scanned the images into photoshop and adding the skin and furniture colour. This is the first time I've ever drawn anything like this and it came as quite as surprise to see how much I enjoyed it!

" I began to like New York, the racy, adventurous feel of it at night and the satisfaction that the constant flicker of men and women and machines gives to the restless eye. I liked to walk up fifth avenue and pick out romantic women from the crowd and imagine in a few minutes I was going to enter their lives, and how no one would ever know or disapprove... Again at eight o'clock, when the darkness of the forties were fire deep with throbbing taxi cabs, bound for the theatre district, I felt a sinking in my heart. Forms leaned together in the taxis as they waited, and voices sang, and there was laughter from unheard jokes, and lighted cigarettes outlined unintelligible gestures inside" The Great Gatsby

all images drawn by me

Site Analysis Day 3

This our group's map of Hebden Bridge, that Bart spent today finishing off, using Digimaps and Illustrator. It colour codes the different typologies, as well as showing the road, canal and river networks through the town and surrounding villages. 

Site Analysis Day 2

Today was spent sorting out all the information and photos that we had gathered yesterday. I started by categorizing the different housing typologies as part of our assigned task and then the afternoon creating a map that showed the areas where the Millstone Grit stone was quarried from.

The start of THIRD YEAR

The start of the third and final year has been a daunting yet very exciting experience, especially with our site visit today to a market town in West Yorkshire called Hebden Bridge. The theme of my group's project is 'Narrative Spaces', but the tutors have revealed very little about the actual design project. This quote on top of our hand out today suggests it is something to do with story telling, memories and imagination.

"A need to tell and hear stories is essential to the species of Homo Sapiens- second in necessity apparently after nourishment and before love and shelter. Millions survive without love or home, almost none in silence; the opposite of silence leads quickly to narrative and the sound of story is the dominant sound of our lives, from the small accounts of our day's events to the last incommunicable constraints of psychopaths" (Reynolds Price, 1978)

Having lunch in the town centre

Walking along the canal

Today's site visit consisted of us starting the site analysis and exploring Hebden Bridge, which sits in a valley surrounded by steeply sloped hills. My group started to look at the typology of the town, including the vernacular, form, materials and technology. One of the most interesting things about the architecture in Hebden Bridge is the typology of the houses which is unique to the town, called the 'over and under' houses, as a local resident called it today or the 'split level system'. In the 1700s, they built houses 2 storeys high on a slope facing the main street and behind attached to it they built 4 storeys facing the garden street on the lower level, with the two houses being attached back to back. History says, that the lower entrance houses were more prone to flooding from the nearby canals and received the less light and were therefore more likely to be owned by the poorer population. It was a really interesting day, especially when we trekked up a huge hill to get to a village called Heptonstall where we stumbled upon the grave of Sylvia Plath, which was a nice bonus for all the literary lovers in our group!

Houses built on the steep slopes

2 storey terraced houses perpendicular to the canal

A mill factory situated on the canal

An example of the split level system,  4 storeys on the back and 2 on the front

Last ever Freshers week

It's nice to be back in Sheffield again for the last year of my undergraduate Architecture degree, and I'm so happy to be living in a lovely new house with 5 girls that I love. The week started with my parents driving me up from London on Monday with a car full of stuff, ready to move into my new room. The most significant parts of the week night involved going to 'Tuesday club' at the union to see Shy Fx, Ms.Dynamite, B.Traits and Dismantle, which was a great night especially as the union venue 'Foundry and Fusion' is finally open again after a year of refurbishment. Wednesday night was basically a reunion of all our friends at uni at a night called 'Gold Teeth' at the Harley Pub, and the last highlight is an unexpected impulse buy at Oxfam on friday; a reclining armchair for my bedroom!  Sitting here on sunday night the day before the first day of term, I'm feeling nostalgic already about never going to a freshers again and my housemates and I were discussing that is the time when everything is our 'last', ie our last september together, our last house together... rather lame I know.. However, I am quite excited about never having freshers flu again!

Tuesday Club

Me and Jasmine in an obligatory pre night out photo

Estelle getting a feel for the new armchair in Oxfam

First proper house meal: Courgettes, Feta Cheese, Sweet Potato, Wine and Jazz music

South East Asia: 16 stops in 8 weeks

This summer my best friend Estelle and I set out on a 2 month adventure across South East Asia. Starting in Bangkok, we travelled north via Ayutthaya to Chiang Mai and then onto Pai. Taking the slow boat into Laos from Chiang Kong, our only stop there was Luang Prabang. From there we flew via Hanoi in Danang in Vietnam, working our down the south coast (Hoi An, Nha Trang, Saigon) before crossing into Cambodia. There we started in Sihanoukville in the south and travelled north into Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. Our last two weeks were spent on the Thai Islands of Koh Phangan, Koh Tao and Koh Phi Phi.

I can honestly say that it was one of the most fantastic things that I have ever done and I truly had an amazing time. We also met so many cool people along the way, which made the trip even better. One of my favourite places that we visited was Pai in Northern Thailand, where we had the best time staying in a hostel called 'Spicy Pai' and where we made friends who we then travelled with for a lot of the trip. It was a very chilled place surrounded by picturesque mountains and just planted fresh rice fields. The town itself was backpacker heaven, filled with the most gorgeous food and book shops and market stalls selling some of the coolest jewellery and bags that I have seen! We had a great few days renting scooters and driving from waterfall to waterfall, exploring the scenic countryside. It was my first proper time on the back of a scooter and it was just so exhilarating; I felt so free riding along, watching elephants go by with the cool breeze from the wind blowing my hair from side to side. At night we made our own party with our new friends from the hostel, pretended we were at full moon with bright neon face paint and then danced the night away at a wonderful Bamboo club where the floor felt like you were on a trampoline. We were so sad to leave after the 3 nights we spent there, but they were some of the best days of our entire trip.

Wat Pho, Bangkok, Thailand

Ayutthaya, Thailand

cycling amongst the ruins of Ayutthaya, Thailand

Tiger Kingdom, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Luang Prabang, Laos

monks in Luang Prabang, Laos

Marble Moutain, Hoi An, Vietnam

Estelle cycling to the beach, Hoi An, Vietnam

Hoi An, Vietnam

Waiting for our flight to Vietnam

Pai Canyon, Pai, Thailand

Estelle chilling in a hammock in Spicy Pai hostel, Pai, Thailand

Taking a break from scootering in Pai, Thailand

 meditating on the beach in Sihanoukville, Cambodia

Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, Cambodia

Sihanoukville, Cambodia

Estelle looking great in Sihanoukville, Cambodia

A tuk-tuk in Sihanoukville, Cambodia

Estelle, myself and Vicki at Lotus Bar inKoh Tao, Thailand

Dancing the night away at a beach party in Koh Phangan, Thailand

 watching the sunset in Koh Phangan, Thailand