Details

On Thursday we had the last crit for the diagram project. I have to admit i was a little bit nervous about presenting my idea as i felt that maybe i could of done a little bit more work into contemplating my reasoning's behind the finished product. I personally felt that the crit itself went on for too long. If im honest i didn't even listen to the last few presentations because everyone started repeated themselves and there is only so much self indulgence you can listen to until it gets old. 

After the crit we were given a short research project where we had to go and collect images of details ready for the seminar that we will have on construction detailing next week. 

I came across this staircase when i was applying to take a Japanese language course at the Glasgow university...im not sure if it comes under the umbrella of detailing but i really liked the way that the stairs are separate from the handrail. And the shape of the 'canopy' at the top of the stairs, it looks really complicated so i wonder if Drew will be able to figure out/give some hint as to how it is being held together.

A Chinese exhibit

China is the theme of my next project. We have been asked to design an exhibition space within princes square to showcase some elements of Chinese design/history and promote Chinese tourism. When i first got this brief i didn't really understand the reasoning behind having this project and saw it as more of an experiment on my tutors behalf because of some similarities in how the students from china design. For the first project most of the Chinese students included some kind of Fish tank and or used bamboo as a material in there design. I think that my tutor kind of sees this as a test to see if we can (attempt to!) embrace a completely different culture, take into consideration its customs and create something that will speak of china's past whilst expressing its present.

As soon as i began research for this project i was careful to not to let things that i would not really be able to get a good understanding of in the time we have been given before the first crit. This was also a good way to help me avoid creating a pastiche of the china style and help me to try and understand at least part of the culture respectively without doing it in a condescending or patronising way.

At the moment a big chunk of my research has been around that of the concentrated nature of China's city's, i really like the way (Aesthetically) the buildings come together creating patterns of repetition and interesting collisions. I like the idea of trying to represent ALL periods of China's history unlike the Beijing opening ceremony that just focused on the wonder of the ancient and completely left out the Rule of Chairman Mao. I think i can do this by combining materials and by thinking about ways that there could be two structures intertwined with each other.

The image above is a good example of the kind of 'communist' style building that i could use to get inspiration for my exhibition display. There is quite alot of building works like this one but i liked the recesses in particular picture, somehow i could integrate the stands into a wall so that it would be able to be seen from both sides...likes a two way fireplace. Im not sure where this project will be going but, today i will be playing around with the floorplan a little so i can see how too fit my display cases etc into the space.