Hadlow

How do I really feel about Hadlow??? I didnt like it very much when I lived there and then I missed it when I moved to London and started lectures at Averyhill. Funny enuff, I missed the cliquishness of it all- the 'personal touch' (which Averyhill certainly doesnt have).
I have visited Hadlow again recently but this time round, I tried to experience it like I was there for the first time. Hadlow is an interesting place and it would be even more interesting to see how 36 people respond to the same site.

Liberate Me

When we were first given the theme liberate me, I understood it as liberating the courtyard (courtyard 14) but after we had selected the subtopics and I picked ‘maintenance’, I started thinking of the theme liberate me on another level.


The presentation on the wall- improved slightly by all the Precedence.

Living on campus (1st yr), there was a thot that came to me and some of the other residents on several occassions –“get me out of here”. I thot I could use the themes to design something that would be a way to relate somehow to our experience. My design was meant to be a room (not unlike my last room on campus in dimension) that only had in it a bed (very Tracy Emin – urgh!).
The bed was going to have bedding plants with vibrant colours and the head board was to be like a sculpture. The maintenance was going to be of the plants which were to be changed quite often to form different patterns, in the temperature of the room (unlike my campus room), and of the walking surface – gravel- which was to be raked into different patterns (- carpet/ rug).

Did I pull it off????
NO!
I ended up with a very boring model and it was downhill from there. The plan was pants, the section was not much better and the photos of the model were very boring (I’m not sure what I expected seeing that the model was just that – boring!).
The logical question would that be “Y didn’t u just redo the model then?” and the sincere answer would be “B/c I had run out of time”. When Jamie said some of us still don’t know how long it takes us to work, I knew without a doubt that I was one of such people. I had calculated the production time wrongly (of cos not allocating any time for things going horribly wrong… I thot “it is a very simple design and anyone should be able to pull it off in no time at all” I guess that would be anyone but me L)


An unsuccessful attempt at making a very boring model look interesting.


My maintenance man standing beside the plant bed within the courtyard.

I have looked at all the work on the wall several times now and I must say it all looks great (I mean as a whole- bc if u were to consider it individually, u may not think so e.g. if u were to look at my work and then the one next to it which just happens to be Richards… well, draw your own conclusions!)
I have a new interpretation of the theme liberate me and this time it has nothing to do with Hadlow- it is rather a cry from deep within me to be liberated from myself!
Liberate Me from Myself! ( …and no! I don’t have multiple personalities nor am I possessed).



An open head with the ideas in it actually coming out clearly

Liberate my ideas from my head could be another way of putting it without sounding like an utter nutter.
I better get back to work. Well done guys- the corridor looks very impressive.

Duality Model

This is what it should have looked like and not like it did when I presented it.
Another thing (while I am revisiting the Monday crit), the reason why I used the coloured railing was because apart from having the theme 'Duality', it was meant to be a multisensory garden. The bright colours were used because they are eye-catching, the grasses by the wall (which u would have to image as they have not been included in the model) were used because of their sound in the wind) and the fragrant climbers were used for their smell.
I wish I had remembered to say all this during my presentation (not like that would have made my weak presentation a masterpiece but at least I wouldnt have stood there like a stutue when I was asked about it).
Well that those mondays are in the past now. The challenge is not to make the same mistakes EVER again. Plenty more Mondays to come; plenty more opportunities to prove to myself that I have learnt the proper way to do thgs.

Monday - Monday

My feeling change from one week to the next. O some mondays I feel so fired up that I can hardly wait to start producing work (this process mostly takes place in my head and not on paper which is a shame bc I do get some really cool ideas which sometimes get lost somewhere between my head and sketchbook) and on other mondays, I just want to get to bed and watch TV (someone else's fantasy) for a forthnight!
I know that I should have better control of my feelings and confidence but I usually dont realise that it is slipping away from (i.e my confidence) until it is too late then I drag myself home, eat cookies for dinner and watch TV!
I do have to diverse I system that would make it possible and easy for me to monitor myself.

My exploratory model

This is a model that I made while trying to explore the perforation and holes in my first model and how this can be used to make an interesting space.
I ended up with a couple of spaces which were connected but the bit I liked most about this model was the shadow that it cast. It had a series of negative and positive spaces (some where actual but most of it was perceived).

Monday.

I'm not sure y I keep doing this... I pinned up a weak and incomplete sheet!!! I was almost fast asleep when it got to my turn to present my work and so I was faced with the challenge of trying to stay coherent while trying to defend work that I knew was very weak.

Wot is the correct response in that sort of situation? Own up to not completing the work and hope that you'd b given the opportunity to explain what u'd have done if u had finished it? Or do u try to blag it and hope that u are not chewed up and spat out?

I left Uni kicking myself bc I had planned a different outcome from that which took place. I hope I dont do any permanent damage with all this kicking! I hope I can pick myself up on time for the next project but in the meantime, I guess I'd just keep kicking myself.

Analysis of initial paper model...

Informal/loose


Formal: straight repetitive lines


crumply vs structured

I remembered the exercise we did with the adverts when Jamie asked us to look at the picture in front of us and tell him the words that came to mind. I tried to come up with words that I thot of when looking at the paper model (whilst pretending not to notice the funny looks I got as I tried studying this thing that looked like it belonged in the bin: actually it looked like I fished it out of a bin) ... Anyho, I came up with some words which included corrugated sheet, metalic, beaten copper, bronzy, formal, loose, blah blah blah! Well I tried to reflect these...


Beaten copper vs corrugated metal



fluid vs Rigid

Paper Model- Initial idea behind garden.

Initial paper model- the inspiration!


A sketch showing the relationship between the rough carefree lines of one side and the straight careful lines of the other half.


Looking at it here, u r again made aware of the contrast between the two sides. The background and shadow of the left half emphasize the curvy/ wavy nature of this part of the model.