{ Transgression }

Cutting Purlins to size

CNCing

Construction of our model's structure at the Benzie building's workshop using MDF and steel.

First we made a 1:1 drawing of the frame. Then Rameez made the CAD file and we booked the CNC
machine. The next day we went to the workshop and started assembling the bed. We used 25 mm dowells
in order to connect the two main parts. For the bending part, we used hinges attached to a whick plywood piece. We used plywood because MDF could not support so many screws. After the frame was build we layered it with corugated card and bubble-wrap for confort. We also attached a PVC screen. The straps ere made from a thick material folded in three layers.

After we went back to the studio, we started to think about designs that would address the private/public problem and that would be suitable for our site. We agreed upon developing our concept around some key terms: confort, portability, relaxation. We agreed to design a portable bed what would also act as a windshelter when worn, as the wind was the main micr-climate factor.

On the first day we went to our site, Spinningfields, in order to explore it and take photos. The site is privately owned but acts as a public space. Our aim is to test the limits between this boundaries by
creating wearable items that are to be used on site. I photographed some potential spots and signs that were all around Spinningfields. It can be observed that the site is monitored and has restricted areas. We also talked to a security gurad about the site and it’s boundaries.

6// Analysing our transect - pinpointing noises we would use in our animation

16// Our pieces corner at Chorlton Art Festival

5// Carrying on with site analysis and looking further into the recordings that we took and why certain sounds were there (events happening in the area, musicians, dancers, policemen).

15// Setting up boxes for our mobile exhibition

Reflection
Visiting Whitworth Art Gallery on day 1 showed the varying approaches which can be taken when exhibiting artefacts. From simple display cases, to more extravogant interactions within a site's environment. Exhibits such as Cornelia Parker's 'Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View' (Photographed on this post during my visit on day 1) exemplify this point, in this case using the confines of the room pictured to create dramatic shadows and the sensation that you are amidst this exploding mass of objects.

Working with the Brooks building has had a huge impact on my group's design for displaying the Femur stool,due to the prominence of the Spanish Steps. They have created a much stronger link from the molecular framework to the site, making the result much stronger than initial designs seen in my earlier blog posts.

Day 4.
Some quick AutoCAD diagrams and a SketchUp model that are describing my idea about rope usage in the space. In the end of the day we were divided into 4 groups with an aim to put our ideas together into one project.

DAY SEVEN // Today I worked on completing more perspectives for our proposal.

Night time section of St. Luke's Church.

DAY EIGHT // Final presentation sheets of the 'Cornerhouse Brewery' completed.

Events Completed! - This project has been really fun and allowed our group to stretch creativity greater than ever before! We are all really happy with the final video and model along with the other groups models, together we have all really enjoyed the events project.

14// Indoor sketching, The Whitworth Art Gallery

13// Sharing session with the urban sketchers regarding sketching techniques, material and mix media and experience as urban sketchers.

12// 3rd Day. Whitworth Art Gallery. We were lucky to be given the chance to engage with amazingly talented sketchers from Manchester Urban Sketchers Group.

A couple of quick perspective sketches of the shed design, showing features such as the balcony, mezzanine and exhibition space.

11// Indoor sketching in one of the atrium in Arndale

These are some photographs of the sculpture during the melting process. On the left it could be seen how the flames have deformed some buildings. The photograph on the right is of an organic shape, formed on the base from accumulated melted wax.

Second day of construction:
After filing and sanding the backboards to achieve smooth surfaces, a temporary frame of cardboard was constructed around it to allow expandable foam to fill the necessary spaces. The mould was wrapped around cling wrap and rested on the foam. The expansion of foam would take about 1 hour and another 12 hours for it to dry. It was definitely a messy affair. After the foam dried, the mould and cardboard frame around it was removed, leaving the foam stuck to the plywood as intended.

We headed to Albert Square, doing our first sketch walk. It was such a great experience and the task was we were given 30 minutes to sketch which I would usually take an hour to finish it. This is the first sketch that I made during the activity.

[A primer must be applied to the wood before paint spraying to prevent absorption of paint by the wood]

Lesson learnt.

Busy working in studio using Photoshop to render our designs and present our visuals to convey our ideas. Some of our initial images were watercolours and scanning and editing these was a learning curve for some of us less technologically-abled!

[Sketch model of 2nd floor made of foam board and experimented with plaster of Paris]

When one thing does not work, we leave it underneath the table for reference.

[The assembled pieces remained standing after filming]

In total darkness, the light tube works as a source that direct the inhabitants from one part of circulation to the other.

[The fascinating texture of Plaster of Paris]

Very, very fascinating. Although it was a time-consuming and sticky process.

The physical model vividly conveys our concept. The shadows cast by the roof allude to the destructive event they are meant to commemorate but they do so in a very ethereal way.

Interior perspective ideas include incorporating the abstraction of the primary colours as part of the fabric of the building reflecting Schwitters' ideas and work. Display panels and part of the mezzanine in the exhibition space are show to be coloured in this design.

The photographs above show our final sculpture before it has been melted. To finalise its look we spray-painted some of the wax buildings silver and painted the base black.

4// Using a software programme, Blender, we tried to link animations to a recording of a transect through Piccadilly Gardens

10// Group photo for the day

The final part of our project involved melting the wax city, therefore we fit wicks into some of the sides of all the cast wax buildings.

The final build of the 1:1 booth, complete with the DJ table. For Pangaea festival a UV light will be used to illuminate the string structure.

Photo of the finished site model with our proposal.

Having roughly finished the site model, my group met to develop our own design for the memorial. We developed our narrative, explored potential roof patterns and did a test model. The central piece of our design is the roof which is inspired by the aftermath of the explosion, when the structure of the church collapses.

Having finished the wax buildings we made a square base for them using MDF. As there is a wooden rod running through the buildings we decided to slot them onto the base. In order to do this we had to drill holes in the MDF and then chisel them into square shapes. Photograph above shows all the buildings fitted onto the base.

9// Sketch of The Market Street, using pens and coloured marker

Day 3.
Everyone came in with their own precedents and research. After presenting our own ideas we had to narrow our choice to one. The images above show the idea that I decided to focus on more, try to find a way to mix playfulness of swings with functionality of set design (for theatre).

8// 2nd day of our sketchwalk started at Piccadilly Garden. We started off the day with sketching the garden and later move to the Market Street. We were given task to do a quick sketch, as quick as 15 second to adapt with moving scene.

First day of constructing the wearable furniture.
The product is meant to be customised to fit the user’s body shape therefore the first thing we had to do was to create a cast allowing us to have a less rigid backboard so as to provide a more comfortable leaning position for the user.
Plywood was chosen as the material for the backboards mainly for its sturdiness, adaptability to harsh weathers and also because in comparison to materials such as metal, plywood is lighter in weight, making it more convenient to carry around.

For the final build we started off by constructing the pentagon frames together and then weaving the string in for the parabolic curve effect. We then attached the frames together and cladded the structure in translucent plastic. By assigning tasks we managed to work well as a group which made the process quicker.

Some of the final building casts we did could be seen in the left photograph and on the right are the 'skeletons' of the painted on wax models. The casts took a much longer time, as we built five moulds we had to do the casts over two days to get more buildings.

Day 6. 20/05/2015

Assembled construction at its finest, placed in front of the Birley Campus.

We finished our project on Thursday. We had everything set up from the day before and all we needed to do was project our videos/ animations/ images on the panels. The final product represents an assembly of visualizations on five different topics, each topic being represented on 3 to 5 panels.

We set up what we needed for the project on Wednesday.

Day 6. 20/05/015

We added several colors to water so we can fill the rest of the plastic bottles and make a colorful roof.

7// Trying the exaggerated perspective technique for the first time. I guess as a first timer, its not bad after all.

On Tuesday we experimented with some software which allows us to project multiple videos at a time, in different places. Each member chose a theme relating to architecture which could be expressed visually.

Foodietecture || Blog Post 7 || The Presentation 'Plate'

Relating back to the Ancient Mayan architectural style, here we've created a simplistic levelled Ancient Mayan Temple. With the outer edges providing as the basis for the presentation of the 'Poc Chic', the Dark Chocolate-Chilli sauce can be poured over the top and will be able to flow its way down the stepped features to the bottom - the idea of the flow to therefore represent the flowing of blood from the human sacrifice rituals carried out at the top of the Ancient Mayan Temples. The inside of the model acts as a chamber for smoke to be poured into. The smoke will then rise to the top and out of the model through loose gaps on the sides of the walls - thus adding to the overall effect of presentation.

After having a concept to work on we decided to visit various different sites to find the best possible location for filming our movie/trailer.

6// Trying out the hand-eye coordination technique thought by the fifth year earlier during the morning session. This technique requires us to draw/sketch without lifting the pen and without looking at the sketch. This is important to not lose the coordination.

The first few days of events we spent experimenting with wax, this gave us a chance to learn different wax manipulation techniques as well as some of its characteristics. The photograph on the left shows a roll of wire mesh that has been coated in wax using a brush. Adjacent photograph is of the first wax cast we did. In the end it was decided for both techniques to be used for the skyscraper models.

Initial 1:1 prototype created in the studio. This model was testing the stability of the framework and connection nodes. Once we took this model onto site, we made amendments to the overall shape,creating the abstract human form seen in previous blog posts.

Day 2.
The following day was spent drawing plans and sections so that they could be shared with the whole group. Later on, while in the model making workshop, drawings for laser cutter were created.

On our first meet up, we had a brief on the activities during the 2 -week event and more about urban sketching. Afterwards, Hakim gave us tutorials and tips on it such as how we draw the lines, drawing people in the scene, using different mediums in sketching and composition. Those were really helpful when we did our sketch walk.

5// 1st sketch: The Central Library. I must admit my live sketching skill has become rusty

Probably the mos important result we expected from this project was the public's involvement. And we had anticipated we were going to have to encourage the public to engage with the installation. This was not the case. All the boxes were not even finalized and we were still all working when the public stated focusing their attention on us, engaging, enquiring, and most importantly, PLAYING with the provided elements.

Day 5. 19/05/2015

We assembled the construction and thrilled little holes in the lids of the plastic bottles through which we passed a wire, so that we can attached them to the roof.

Foodietecture || Blog Post 6 || The Nest

Having created a number of layers, the nests were left to harden in the fridges in order for their form to harden. Once taken out, the balloons were carefully popped and slowly deflated in order to remove it from the now hardened chocolate. The result can be seen in the photograph with the differing layers of white, milk and dark chocolate creating an abstract vessel ready for the containment of a blue milkshake.

While we may have expected the transportation process to not be easy, it turned out to be downright an adventure. Once we got that sorted, we managed to get down to assembling the boxes on site. Everyone contributed, everyone got their hands (and knees, mostly) dirty, and this was a great proof of great teamwork.

Foodietecture || Blog Post 5 || Drizzling a Trio of Chocolate over a Balloon

In order to be able to create the best, and create a volume capable of containing a liquid, we had to drizzle the melted chocolate over a small inflated ballon. The shape of the balloon would therefore act as the basis for the volume of the nest with the chocolate able to take its form, and harden once left in the fridges to set. The process was repeated to create a number of differing layers.

Day 4. 18/05/2015

We attached the wheels and all the other little bits together.

Finally, we set up our 1:1 model installation and seeing the good respond of the publics of all ages were keen to get involved. It showed how a simple cube cardboards used to drag the public attention in the busy space.

The work of the second week, after finalizing the actual box templates, focused on how to make them more attractive. An extraordinary idea was to use chalkboard paint to cover some of the surfaces and turn them into virtual drawing spaces for passerbyers. We also covered some surfaces in colourful materials, spraypainted various designs and inserted improvised wind chimes in some, to create more playful elements.

These are some initial concept drawings. Illustration to the left is a personal concept showing a wire mesh sculpture coated in wax. The illustration to the right is my take on the idea the group came up with. It shows a city made of wax sky scrapers that would in addition melt and drip into a water basin, creating organic shapes.

box kite

Howl's Moving Castle and the initial concept inspired by the movie. We were intrigued by the notion of augmented reality and an another dimension.

Foodietecture || Blog Post 4 || Becoming a Chocolatier

Having now had a clear idea for the main meal, it was time to think about a second dish and so we chose to explore a desert. The idea behind it was based on a chocolate nest and the Mayans love of their sport that was in essence similar to football. With the nests acting as a decorative and elaborate representation of the ball used in said sport, it could provide as an edible shell for the containment of a liquid drink.

box kite

Day 3. 13/05/2015

We did our first attempt to build up the construction, then we thought of what more we need so that we can make it more stable and easily moveable. We decided to order more materials like wheels, bamboo sticks and etc.

Presentation poster of final output.

The final day begun with how we struggle to bring all the cupboard nets to test out our installation on site ( Picadilly Garden )

Day 3. 13/05/2015

After we did rough sketches of the construction, we gathered the materials, which we needed to start building it. We collected plastic bottles from the recycle bin and ordered pallets.

Development sheet for Special Collections presentation.

The model at site with context to give an idea of how the design really works

Foodietecture || Blog Post 3 || Marinating Over a Period of Days

Having decided to re-cook the 'Poc Chuc' dish, we decided to leave everything just that little but longer when it came to timings. As a consequence, the pork was left to marinate in its sea salt and orange juice marinade for a number of days in the fridges. The result after cooking them in the oven was tasty and provided new levels of interaction with the food through thr smell, and crunchy exterior texture of the pork.

Brooks Building site photos.