myma

hellopanos jump

2009-11-13T14:22:00.000-08:00

Have you been wondering at all why this blog is not updated for so long?

Why not coming here? It is only around the corner!

See you!

Exhibition

2007-09-10T06:36:00.000-07:00

The exhibition is up and running now. Hooray!
One week left for the assessment and next Monday we meet the external examiners for the last assessment.

So is it over?
Unfortunately yes.

I promised myself to continue working on certain subjects. There is still Colonel's Walk (the Underpass) that we are developing through Spawforths, amazonails that myself and Pandora are working and of course the book that I want to finish and print, so I guess it is not over yet. University is though and those great Wednesday brakes are sure to be missed.

I hope I will continue posting a few things every now and then, the progress of the book and the Underpass and any kind of interesting links for inspiring works around the world.
Let's keep in touch!

The Underpass: Proposed Plan Sketch

2007-09-04T07:52:00.001-07:00

Avril Sanderson (landscape architect and part of Spawforths Urbanism team), did this beautiful image for Colonel's Walk (the Underpass) which, along with the rest of the document, is going to consultants for further commends.

Learning Agreement

2007-08-31T05:16:00.000-07:00

The Learning Agreement is done and handed in. After a few days of frustration and long hours in front of InDesign, it is all ready and gone in. There are obviously a lot of things that could be improved for such a document, especially in terms of presentation, paper choice and layout but it got to a stage that could be paused and presented, so I hope it is fine.
Now all focus goes to the setting up of the exhibition which starts in less than two weeks..

The Table: Photos

2007-08-29T11:31:00.001-07:00

Some photos of the Table taken today at the photography studio at Leeds Met.
An extremely intimate moment with me and the table :)

Learning Agreement Layout

2007-08-28T18:01:00.000-07:00

I am thinking of using the template that I have started designing, for the learning agreement presentation. Since the book is going to be presented as work in progress, then maybe this smaller document is a good chance to try it out. Here are some basic page layouts.

Manifesto

2007-08-28T17:50:00.000-07:00

hmm not really, just a few sentences from the Learning Agreement that should be ready by Friday..

The Poster: Another Poster

2007-08-28T16:49:00.001-07:00

Another idea for the poster. The two courses and.. the exhibition.

.//

2007-08-26T10:46:00.001-07:00

I moved today in the kitchen. Just to change room or whatever I see in front of me everyday. It is a bit frustrating being at the same place all the time, seeing the same things around you and hearing the same sounds again and again.
A small change I thought, which might result on either some ispiration (from the pans?) or some extra weight (due to the strategic distance between workspace and the fridge)..

The Learning Agreement is driving me insane!

The Poster: Another concept

2007-08-26T10:22:00.001-07:00

This is a second idea for the exhibition poster. I am trying to represent both schools (Graphic Arts and Design + Contemporary Fine Art Practice) on the same poster by placing the title on two different typefaces.
The solid, clean and really defined type on the back is set in Politca, a clear sans font which has a lot similar properties with graphic design. On top of this I am placing type on a quite more abstract way that is identifying properties that are related with fine art and the freedoms that such a field has. This type is created by taking the original Helvetica letters and braking their snap points to more random positions, altering the type in a more abstract shapes with random outcomes (not particularly nice or eye pleasing).
The combination of these two types of type are showing somehow the unity and uniqueness of the school of Art at Leeds Met.
One idea could be screenprinting the two layers with two different colors. Maybe the bottom type (graphic design) could be in one of the basic CMYK colors whereas the top layer could be on a different tint of the same color establishing as well the expendable research and freedoms that fine art has opposed to the restrictions of graphics.
This surely does not try to place graphic design into a more trapped possition of lack of freedom or constraints but is more of an attempt to represent the similarities of these two disciplines (and the thin line that one becomes the other and so on..)

This is just another idea thought and maybe tomorrow is going to be something else!

The Table: Final Screenprinting

2007-08-22T14:49:00.000-07:00

Today I spent the whole day at the Leeds Met Printmaking studios printing for the last time on the Table. This time it was the final part of the project (well almost) and we printed the data of the whole project (people involved, cost, dates, table data etc) on the four sides. It was a challenging process as we could not place the table on the printers so it had to be done on the floor. Dick and Sarah were there and once more they were of great help with all the printing. Unfortunately almost at the end of the day, while we were trying to print on the fourth side, we had a small accident and one of the legs came off! Nothing major though as the table is already in the woodworking studios and the nice people there will fix it for next week.
That’s all for now; back to the poster and the learning agreement..

Update/ The Poster

2007-08-20T16:26:00.000-07:00

I am currently focusing on the writing of the Learning Agreement. I find it a bid difficult to identify the most important parts of this MA. Most of the experiences were (and still are) a vital part of the research and experimentations that I was doing all year.

I also started putting some ideas together for the exhibition poster for the MA Graphic Arts and Design course as well as the Contemporary Fine Art Practice in Leeds Metropolitan University.
The exhibition is going to run after the assessments for both courses which is the 20th and 21st September on H Block's 6th and 8th floor.

I will soon come back with some more ideas for the poster. Until then, just a first idea of basic typography. I particularly liked the character of this font (Politica) on its different weights. I believe it manages to promote the contemporary character of the course but at the same time, its clarity and legibility can also represent some of the core values of the course.

Experiments: photos & vinyl

2007-08-18T03:53:00.000-07:00

I keep on coming back at these photos. Today playing with vinyl cut and stuck on top of a print. The feeling of the mat vinyl on top of the glossy paper has some really nice qualities. I don't really know what I want to do with these photos but it is an interesting process.

you can see previous posts about them here and here

MYMA games pt.3

2007-08-17T06:55:00.001-07:00

Just a couple of photos from my games with MYMA stuff..

Experiments: 2d photos revisited

2007-08-17T06:34:00.000-07:00

I recently had a projector at home. It is great fun to see photographs and work in such a big size. All I did was to pick the camera and started shooting pictures in between the transitions of the slideshow. Some new grids? I love the results without any particular reason.

Here you can see the original post on the photos.

The Book: Layout (pt.2)

2007-08-10T08:04:00.001-07:00

Another layout plan of the A4 format for the book. This time with worked out distances, grids and text sizes. Still developing..

The Book: Illustrations

2007-08-09T08:38:00.001-07:00

An almost complete list of illustrations for the book. There are a couple subjects still missing and the format of them is obviously going to change in terms of printing methods, sizes and shapes.

The Book: Layout

2007-08-09T04:24:00.000-07:00

Possible variations of layouts on an A4 page. The grid is a simple grid that is formed of a 5mm edge around the page and a central grid line vertically on each page. The two horizontal lines are calculated from the golden section which manages to create a sense of calmness and legibility.

After a lot of thinking on the size of the book publication, testing different formats and page sizes, I come up to the dicision of most likekly going for A4 (page size). The basic standard size of A4 (210x297mm) is really easy to use, place, read, hold and get familiar with. I feel that any other kind of dicision for random shapes would be quite decorative and is something that wouldn't compliment my work. I have not came up with a final dicision though so we shall see..

Books layouts

2007-08-06T15:28:00.001-07:00

Some book spreads from the three books mentioned below. Studies of grids pictures relating to text, different font sizes, hand-drawn sketches, architectural plans, photographs.

Three books

2007-08-05T14:53:00.000-07:00

Trying to find intresting books for inspiration, what better choice can someone have but looking at these three great publications. Truth is I have never been able to read them all but I think this is part of them too. They are great sources of inspiration, books that you can easily open randomly and read jumping around sections and chapters. The information can be read in various ways, linearly or randomly, refering from page to page and to different subjects / section. There are hidden stories to be discovered, clues to understand and look for more. Parallel stories or short narratives that develop in secret ways (and grids).
I am particularly enthousiastic about the ways that they manage to hold all this information (they are 1330+, 440+, 530+ pages each). Obviously I won't even try to get up to these sizes (I don't even have so much work!) but I would be interested on designing the book in such a way that can be read in different ways.

the building (pt.2)

2007-08-04T01:59:00.000-07:00

a short video with the H Block letters..

link to H Block Publication blog

the building (pt.1)

2007-08-04T01:54:00.000-07:00

H Block, Leeds Metropolitan University

link to H Block Publication blog

The Book: Contents layout

2007-07-21T14:44:00.001-07:00

One of the most important maps of the year, this is the book layout and chapter map. A basic version where the seven red chapters are the main ones (see link) and the light blue are the additional chapters/ sections. A basic outline of what should be included in each subject, is also noted as well as some basic questions for the articles that are needed to be written. This map should be extended and developed in the future, to include all upcoming subjects and sections of the publication.

MYMA games pt.2

2007-07-21T13:36:00.000-07:00

a few photos from the pt.1 poster

The Book: Contents

2007-07-21T13:19:00.001-07:00

These are the six basic chapters of the book in a chronological order as appeared and worked throughout 2006-2007. The sequence of events/ projects is an obvious development of thought and research. One thing results on the other and so the final is a conclusion of all the previous and so on.
The results of such an approach on experimentations and design process are fantastic. The freedom, the advantage of making mistakes and learning from them or just a process of thinking in a linear but adaptable narrative.
These sections should form the basic spine of the book but can (and should) be interapted with other elements / chapters. Research, writing, reading, random thoughts or just observations are the background stories of this process but nevertheless a vital part of it.

MYMA games pt.1

2007-07-20T05:59:00.000-07:00

Having fun at home with a bit of tape and the MYMA blog archive. Just fun!

Music by Jean-Jacques Perrey - Mr. Ondioline (1960)

The Book: Ideas

2007-07-16T16:05:00.000-07:00

I am still in the process of finishing the table while writing this. I try to understand and realise the basic concept behind the design of the book.

The whole year was an attempt to study different design disciplines and discover the interconnecting threats that they all have (should or shouldn't) with graphic design. Looking back at the process, from House X to the Underpass and the Table, I was trying to read the hidden information that was hidden behind and bring it forward.

It is part of my study to find intresting games of revealing information, communicating it by dis-communicating it, making it obvious but still discoverable. The Table managed to tell a story, House X celebrated itself and the Underpass will probably one day learn its own story from its users.

The book is trying to record all these processes and demonstrate the results of the experimentations that took place this whole year. How should it be laid out? In what form it should present all this information? How can it capture all the things that happened, the ideas that they were born and developed?

A book can be a lot of different things. It can be a monograph of a designer, a fashion-style catalogue of some work, a writing about the work, a fanzine, a series of individual pages. It can be all that and nothing together with hidden meanings, grids, layout, format.
Or it can be all revealed too. It can show itself how it was produced, what each page means, what are the relations between the images and the text, the images with the page, their position and grid methods. It can show and explain the process of its own creation, its story.

The book should be no different to anything else.
This book can be another attempt to reveal all the information hidden behind its glossy presentations of pictures and nicely formated text.

The Book: First Contents

2007-07-16T15:44:00.001-07:00

Just the beginning of some ideas about the book. This is just a contents page (with a bit of extra fun) as they appear on this blog. The book should follow the same structure as this blog (or maybe not?). It would be a good idea to follow a chronological order in the book but at the same time, a more complex development could possibly represent better the way of working and researching throughout the year.

It is true that all events followed a linear progress and one would become the result of its previous and the generator of the following but it would be good to represent all the small side projects, ideas, experiments and research that was done simultaneously.

This is just the basic ideas and the first mapping attempts in order to realise the volume of work between September 2006 and July 2007. This should all change soon..

The Table: details

2007-07-12T07:29:00.001-07:00

a few photographs showing details of the printout.

The Table: screenprinting

2007-07-11T14:07:00.000-07:00

Today I spent all day in the printmaking workshops with Pete, Dick and Terry. The wood was ready to be printed and after a long night of last minute changes, text writing, drawing, stressing and coffee drinking I was there with the artwork and the table top.
Here it is then. Only a few things left now.
The legs are going to be stuck with the top in the next week and then the second phase of the screenprinting will take place, in order to print on the sides and legs.
A few mistakes already though, something which to be honest does not dissapoint me as it is part of this process which is totally new for me.

The Table: story of a table

2007-07-11T14:03:00.000-07:00

My story begins at the John Boddy Timber store where I had been living for some time now. I am a native Jelutong wood that was born in Thailand. I have never met my parents. Somehow we lost each other years ago. I do know however that my mother is a guitar and my father lives somewhere in Europe. I had been in this timber store for some time now, living in one of the back corridors. They say that living in the front is a whole different story. You meet more people, they treat you better, you never get mixed with other woods that are not from the same family. Well, some prefer this but surely us in the back, we have always been happy being there and I can say, we made some good friends.

The sun started hitting the roof lights quite early and soon everybody was awake. The store opened once again. Saturday today, always quieter than weekdays. Not many people around, no pushing, rejecting or bad comments about a couple of grains that most of us have. But that Saturday was special!

There are times in your life where you need to take decisions. You need to do something than just seating down with the other woods. Or so they taught us..
Some of my friends have become houses, some kitchen tops, chairs, tables, doors, toys. I always said that I wanted to either become a toy or a table when I grow up and, lucky me, that Saturday everything was about to change.

I first saw these two people coming in. They were loud (greeks I thought; always loud). I overheard them when they were meeting Sanded Bitch, a friend of mine on the next isle. They were checking each one of the other woods too, looking at colours, weight, dimensions, textures, prices. They were talking about making a table for a university project and what better choice than me, I thought. I am clean (no grains whatsoever), I am durable, relatively cheap, and after all I always wanted to become a table!
Yes, this was my time and I quickly tried to attract their attention with my good looks. It didn’t take me long to be discovered and soon the three of us were making our way to Asterios’ workshop to start working. How exciting!

It was hard putting me in the car. I sat in between them and was driven to Leeds. On the way there I began to know Panos and Asterios better. I heard their plans, all these exciting things that would happen to me. My life had changed. I was already missing my friends back in the store but what was about to happen gave me hope and comfort. New places, new people, new experiences.

I had never been in Hyde Park before. Nice place it is! We parked the car outside the house and Panos and Asterios carried me inside. I was placed in the hall where I would spend the rest of the afternoon.
I was waiting by myself for hours (greek hospitality some say!) but then the three of us went up in the attic. I had heard about all these machines that can trim you, sand you, give you shape, help you become a better wood, but always sounded as a dream that might never happen.
I was tall and skinny, they said, and needed to be cut in half. Then they would stick me together and I would again become one. Oh, I was used to that. I remember back home, I was ten times bigger.

Cutting is no problem; sticking is. It needs a lot of effort, a thing called ‘glue’ and a good fifteen hours to concentrate and stick, with the great help of clamps; a pair of, what someone would say, quite scary metallic objects that squeeze you.

It was a hard night but it was all forgotten next morning when Panos and Asterios came again to continue working with me. They were both really happy to see me and they soon released me from the clamps to place me on a table in order to start drawing on me.

Panos used a ruler and a setsquare and started doing a fine line with a pencil. It took a lot of concentration but this was only the easy part. I was then handed in the hands of Asterios and soon heard the incredible sound of the electric saw. So much power, noise, dust. I was ready to start taking shape! He placed me carefully on the machine and slowly and softly, he started cutting off all the extra bits leaving me a perfect 800x400, tired and happy piece of wood. On the side, I saw my four legs, carefully cut and placed on a table. It would take time to get back together but all we needed was patience.

I was itching all over but I knew what was coming. The sanding! I had heard about this. It can happen in three ways, by hand, with a hand-operated machine or inside a big metallic box that you go in and everything is done for you without extra help. We started with a bit of hand sanding and straight on to the second method that seemed to be much more complicated than I thought.

It took them long and it was a hard thing to do. After an hour or so, I was much smoother but probably not enough for letting ink get printed on me. I didn’t mind the small bumps on me. They were part of me in some way. I wouldn’t have mind having them to be honest. They looked kind of cute.

But they insisted. I needed to be perfectly smooth for the printing and so we went for a small trip to the Leeds College of Art & Design where I met Derek and his machines. It felt a bit weird going inside that dark box but I came out of it and I was the smoothest wood in the world, all nice and slick; god, I would become such a nice table!

We returned with Panos at his place where he left me in his bedroom, covered me with a piece of cloth and let me rest. I would have my show again two weeks later, in the Printmaking workshop of Leeds Metropolitan University, but until then he had to decide about what was going to be written and drawn.

The idea was to reveal all the hidden informati¬on about me. How I can help people with things I can do for them, what are my possible uses, what is my story and how I ended up being a table. The later is what I am doing now. I am a written witness of this great experience that I lived so far from the time when I was living back in the wood store until now. I am not sure what is coming next. I know I am going to be printed in the printmaking workshops and my legs will be attached on my body, I will be photographed and filmed, I might be on an exhibition. I will be living with Panos in his flat and who knows what the future holds!
I will always be an ordinary table. An ordinary table with a story like every other table around.
My only difference is that I had a chance of saying it.

The Table: some thinking..

2007-07-05T04:12:00.001-07:00

Just an update on what I am up to, since there are a lot of things running at the same time!

After the table was sanded perferctly with the great help of Derek from Leeds College of Art & Design, I took it back home until next Wednesday that I am going to screenprint on it.

The table looks good, very promising and the total printable area (probably all the table surfaces to be honest!) is big enough to house any kind of comments, histories, outlines of uses and other staff that I will need to include.

And this is the problem maybe!

It was easy enough to decide to go along with such a project but when the time comes for the final product, you start realising how permanent all this information will be. Since we are screenprinting (and ultimately vanishing the wood), the words that are going to be on it are never going to come off!

Hmm, what a challenge. Should this raise a few questions? Should it all maybe be a bit more hidden? Should it be in such a way that is not as easy to read as an article in a newspaper? Should it be a narrative of ideas, information, data? Or maybe just random facts about the table (that the user is called to discover, answer and question them?)

Definitely a nice and clean presentation of the data is something I would go for. Something I always like is legibility and ease-of-use. But the challenge is maybe trying to be more fun this time. Try to make the table stay interesting even when you look at it for a thousand times. Afterall its an everyday object that you are going to be facing all the time. I guess having a person in your living room, telling you the same thing over and over and over again, gets you a bit tired (except if this person says ‘I love you’) (should I forget everything and just print a huge ‘I love you’ on the top?)

We shall see.

The Table: Information Layout

2007-06-23T18:03:00.000-07:00

Possible layout of information that is going to be printed on the table. Different text sizes, objects' positions and footnotes.

Research: Clothes-making Patterns

2007-06-22T08:41:00.001-07:00

Two extracts from clothes-making patterns. On the top one the amount of information is massive, absolutely confusing and full of different lines. The original (these are just b&w scans) has also different coloured lines as well as different types of them like dashed, zig-zag, straight etc.
The second pattern is much simpler and most recent one. It obviously does not include as much information as the first one and is dedicated to a signle design for a woman's top. The shapes here are clear, the information is obvious and the ease of use is much better.
Legibility versus information then but for a personal opinion I would rather go for the top one and make my way through the info that I need to extract..

The Table: Information Map

2007-06-21T15:44:00.001-07:00

The first map of information that should (or should not!) be included on the table.

The Table: Screenprinting Test

2007-06-20T15:16:00.000-07:00

Screenprinting today! Well, just a test print of a series of lines and text on different sizes on a sample wood but nevertheless was another great experience. Let's go through it though:

This is the Leeds Metropolitan University Printmaking studio where it all happened. Normally a place with lots and lots of students but since end of student year was a couple of weeks ago, it was all left just to the few brave ones (who all seemed to enjoy the quietness by the way!).

I met Dick who was a great help (doing almost everything for me!) and straight on we started preparing the screens. After putting them on the UV light, we washed them and set up the actual screenprinter.

Printing on the test wood piece was not difficult or long to do but it helped me understand a lot of things that should consider for the next phase of the final printing of the table. The fact that the wood was not really well sanded created an uneven surface and therefore the ink could not lay on it properly. The thickness of the wood was also a small problem so we decided to screenprint without the base of the printer and do it on the floor. This should give us the flexibility to print to whatever thickness we want and even on the sides of the table (which was an unsolved problem until now!). Apart from this, all lines thicknesses and font sizes printed fine which was rather satisfying.

The Table: Experiments

2007-06-19T17:46:00.000-07:00

Test layout for first attempts on screenprinting on wood. Just a series of lines, letters, numbers, symbols.

The Table: In the workshop (day2)

2007-06-18T12:21:00.000-07:00

On the next day I was really looking forward to see how the wood was stuck and then start working on it, doing some actual design work. Everything was in place, we instantly started drawing the plan of the table on the wood and cutting it.

After a few experimentations on the sanding method we would use (including machine sanding, hand sanding or a smaller sanding machine that can easily give you wings and fly you around the room when tying to control it!), we ended up doing the table top on all the sides while seeing at last the actual shape of it coming in light. What a great enthusiasm we were getting of it! The table top started being formed and it was only the top and the bottom side left to sand (something that would prove rather exhausting in order to make the two separate pieces even).

It was the table legs time after that, something much easier and quicker.
Since the design of the table is pretty basic (a basic rectangle with four legs!), there was no need for special treatments, detailing or sculpturing the wood. Sometimes we tend to think that making something so simple is an easy thing and sure this table proved this wrong considering how precise all the joints should be, how vertical the pieces should be joined together or what a great mistake you can do by even hitting the table in a small corner while moving it around (and yes, I did manage to do this!).
After cutting the four legs, it was sanding time again and quite quickly we were finished with this too.
The only great reward we could have so far was to put the table together without actually using glue. The pieces have to stay apart until the next phase of this project will be finished and this is the screenprinting.

At the moment I am trying to research and design all the information that will be applied on the table, the ways it should be represented and the actual screenprinting tests that should start soon. Until then, enjoy this small video from the very last sanding of the table legs. How nice!

The Table: In the workshop (day1)

2007-06-18T11:50:00.000-07:00

How optimistic we can be sometimes.. I mean I remember myself doing some work in the workshops of Leeds Met a few years ago when I started the -never finished- architecture course. I remember it as an easy thing that just needs concentration and good will. I mean how hard can it be cutting a piece of wood using the right tools and machines. How difficult it can be to measure and sand it afterwards, to organise everything in order to have vertical surfaces and angles.
Well it is..
We sure would not end up with a table if it was left to me. I mean drawing the 'box' on the wood was fairly easy but trimming the wood afterwards takes some great skill and on my first attempts I knew poor Asteris would have to almost do it all; and he did.

Since the wood was not wide enough we had to cut it in half, connect the two pieces together and let the glue dry for 16 hours. That would give us time to think, relax and get ready for the next day where all the fun should begin..

The Table: getting the wood

2007-06-18T08:59:00.000-07:00

After a short research around Leeds in order to buy the proper wood, we ended up in ‘John Boddy Timber Ltd’, a great woodworkers superstore with quite a variety of different wood types.

I am saying we and here I should introduce a great friend that is involved (in great means) in this project, Asterios Christaras. Asterios is a civil engineer, living in Leeds and I know him for a few years now. One of his greatest interests is woodwork, making amazing little things with his magic hands. He managed to set up a personal studio in his attic, an amazing little place with hardly any health and safety regulations applied, great heat levels and a lot of dust and wood trims around. Just the perfect place for us, hidden from daylight or normality, our great exit to the magical world of woodworking..

So here we are, surrounded from lots of different types of wood in all sorts of colours (and price ranges!), ready to choose the right wood before we start cutting.

We needed something really light, with no other colour or extra finish, something that can be adaptable and neutral in order to apply –later on- all the information that is going to be printed on it.

We ended up with a sort of wood I had never came along before called ‘Spalted Beech’, a nice ‘white’ wood. We bought it, we tried fitting it in the car and we drove home. Later on we would start cutting it and drawing our first lines..

The Table: a quick introduction

2007-06-18T08:46:00.000-07:00

A new project.

This project is about the creation of a table that will be designed in order not only to serve its purpose as a table but also demonstrate all the process behind it, its possible uses, the cost, the struggle, its history, the though process and hopefully the fun of making such an object.

It is true that things we see and use everyday are perceived as finished products, ready to be used according to our needs. In most cases, we can hardly realise the work behind such projects, the people that were involved working on them, the design, the hidden or possible uses.

I personally struggle to realise all these stories in most of the furniture around my house. When was the table that I use everyday for eating or studying, was made, how much did it cost, what wood was used to make it, what was the designer or the worker was thinking when he/ she was doing it..

And sure all this information is exceeding the amount of data we need. How a world filled with such small details would be if anything was so thoroughly explained around us is a thought that can surely lead us on the easy answer that all this is not needed.

But again, this is just a game. Just an experiment likely to prove me wrong, demonstrating that not all information is valuable, not everything is needed. Is there a way to embed all this into the actual design? Can graphic design become more than just the servant on such a design process? Can furniture design become one with graphics?

Inspiration: Tauba Auerbach

2007-05-31T13:48:00.001-07:00

great inspiring (mostly) typographic work from tauba auerbach

Experiments: 2d photos

2007-05-29T18:40:00.000-07:00

The buildings on the photos are perceived as two-dimensional shapes that can be isolated and moved to create new structures and arrangements around the page.

the Underpass: Section

2007-05-11T08:47:00.000-07:00

Section through Underpass identifying different areas and sequence of events

the Underpass: Details

2007-05-10T07:30:00.000-07:00

some detailing sketches on various features around the Underpass. Light installations, forms, shapes, seating, materials.

Underpass: Experimenting with volumes

2007-04-27T10:21:00.000-07:00

This video demonstrates the basic concept behind the design approach of the Underpass design. The walls of the Underpass will lose their verticality and develop inside it like rocks, shapes that represent an abstract form similar to a colliery site, linking the history of the Underpass to its main use years ago from the Tanshelf community.
The process has four parts. In first we divide the Volume of the Underpass into 15 equal parts (every 1 meter). The 15 planes that we have, are divided into a square grid that represent points in space and then we connect these points in order to create volumes. The final result is then attached back to the original volume.

This process is on a conceptual stage at the moment and will be examined more specifically with accurate measurements. That is the stage where the design will be examined in ways of connecting with the surrounding area, materials that can be used, light fixtures and other details.

Research: Poème Electronique

2007-04-24T01:17:00.000-07:00

In 1958 Philips commend to Le Corbusier the construction of its Pavillion at the International Fair in Brusels, Belgium. Le Corbusier - Xenakis - Varese compound Sound and Image Technology, Architecture, Music and Poetry under the Poème Electronique.

The Philips Pavilion at the Brussels World's Fair in 1958 was designed in large part by Iannis Xenakis, at the time one of Le Corbusier's architectural assistants. The program in the pavilion during the World's Fair consisted of Edgard Varèse' Poème Electronique played through 400 loudspeakers, projected images and colored lights created by Le Corbusier, and Iannis Xenakis' Concrète PH played as an interlude between shows.

As Varèse later described it, the sound followed paths through the loudspeaker arrays, and groups of speakers were used to create effects such as reverberation. He said, "I heard my music literally projected into space."

Influences: Tod Hanson

2007-04-20T11:37:00.000-07:00

At Cell Project Space, Hanson will continue his characteristic manipulation of architectural space, decoration and the language of interior design to explore the rush of an over-amplified globalised environment – its war, celebration and delirium. Once in the white gallery space visitors are enticed to walk over the threshold into an Alice in Wonderland riot of line and form. Hanson creates a 360 degree painted and taped world where floor, walls and ceiling become one through the meticulous graphic accentuation of every plane, every join, every architectural detail.

From the centre of the gallery a frenzy of what at first sight appear to be party streamers festoon the walls drawing the viewer into a bright golden back space. Here the streamers morph from torn rags through ticker tape and bandages into cut straw and rays of sunshine. Enveloping the viewer in a comic book world, Hanson constantly plays with their visual expectations through his bold graphic style and ability to create changes in atmosphere through colour and altered vistas.

source: http://www.cell.org.uk/

Influences: Vier5

2007-04-20T04:30:00.000-07:00

The work of Vier5 is based on a classical notion of design. Design as the possibility of drafting and
creating new, forward-looking images in the field of visual communication. a further focus of our work lies on designing and applying new, up-to-date fonts.

The work of Vier5 aims to prevent any visual empty phrases and to replace them with individual, creative statements, which were developed especially for the used medium and client.

intresting work. see more!

Influences: Peter Eisenman - Casa Guardiola

2007-04-16T06:13:00.000-07:00

great video studying Eisenman's Guardiola House and Deconstruction concepts..

the Underpass: Materials Research

2007-04-12T07:16:00.000-07:00

Theatre Square Schouwbergplein / West 8 / Rotterdam

Maritime Youth Centre / PLOT Architects / Copenhagen

Westblaak Skate Park/ Rotterdam

Memorial Bridge / 3LHD Architects / Croatia

Brogard Square / SLA Landscape Architects / Copenhagen

Blue Carpet / Thomas Heatherwick Studio / Newcastle, UK

the Underpass: Movement Studies

2007-04-12T05:36:00.000-07:00

Based on the 3d model created, these are some studies on movement (people, sound, light) that is dictated from the form of the Underpass. Yellow lines represent frontages, Red line a vertical and horizontal sound movement (or light too) and the blue line a sort of combination of the other two. These lines can help us identify potential positions of lights or other installations that can be developed inside the Underpass.

the Underpass: History Research

2007-04-11T11:40:00.000-07:00

The Colonels Walk Underpass was a pedestrian link from the Tanshelf community with the Pit Yard Colliery site of Prince of Wales.

The Community was built close to the colliery in order to house the people working in the colliery. A series of houses as well as small businesses, a theatre and a cinema, shops and small streets were developed inside this area which was a kind of a town within the greater town of Pontefract.

Most of the people (men) were working in the colliery. The approach to the colliery depending on where they needed to be was from a number of small pedestrian routes that were connecting the town of Pontefract with the Pit Yard. Colonels Walk was one of the most major roads of Tanshelf and the Colonels Walk Underpass one of the most used and important access points to the side of the Colliery. Its only use was from workers that would need to walk from their houses to work.

In the 1960’s, after the colliery was closed, the Tanshelf community had to be demolised as it mostly had small two-room houses in not the greatest state.

'..It was inevitable that the old terraced properties would have to be demolished, the houses were small and cramped, having mostly only two bedrooms, one small scullery, and one living room, with others a little larger having three bedrooms. There was no indoor bathroom and the toilet was situated in the back yard. Open coal fires provided a source of heat while the lighting was by gaslight and candles..'

Maurice Haigh from TANSHELF - A Bygone Community

People speak about the Tanshelf community with a sense of a great communal place, where people were feeling really close to their neighbours and their place. After a small telephone interview with mr. Peter Cookson (Pontefract Railway Society+Civic Society), I discovered myself this great sense that Tanshelf had and how people were feeling living in such a place.

'..Every street had a corner shop. At the bottom of our street was the fish and chip shop where Mrs Bessie Beaumont and Mrs Mabel Ellis worked. You always had a good laugh when you went in there. Opposite the fish shop was Tonks shop. Many a time we had been playing rounders in the street (men included) and somebody had sent the ball into Tonky’s shop and knocked the pop bottles over. Another game we played was skipping, with a clothes line the full width of the road.

Colonel’s Walk was all cobbles and every winter, after a fall of snow, it became the venue for sledging from top to bottom. It was like a sheet of glass until the council workmen came and salted it or one of our parents came out with shovels full of ashes and threw them all over the road..'

Maureen Holt (nee O’Hara) from FURTHER MEMORIES OF TANSHELF

You can read three very intresting stories from people that were part of the Tanshelf community taken from the Pontefract Digest publication. [story 01, story 02, story 03]

the Underpass: Massing Model Video

2007-04-11T02:24:00.000-07:00

massing 3d model animation

the Underpass: Massing 3d Model

2007-04-10T08:17:00.000-07:00

a couple of renders from the initial massing model..

the Underpass: Initial Masterplan

2007-04-03T01:15:00.000-07:00

'..This initial concept design for Colonels Walk shows our intentions within the masterplan and the wider area surrounding the site and into Pontefract. Within the prince of wales masterplan, there is a strong aspiration to greatly enhance this pedestrian route from the site through to the centre of Pontefract. It is on a key desire line through the site which will enable pedestrians to walk through the site to the proposed retail and community units and beyond to Pontefract park, racecourse and ultimately up to Xscape and Freeport.

Colonels Walk Underpass strides both adjacent sites to the north and south and is located on a clear spine route that connects these two areas. We would like the pedestrian to interpret both sides of the Underpass as one space so that the Underpass is the key transitional element that links these spaces. Therefore, it is important that we ensure that the design intentions on both sides (and within the underpass itself) are well designed and ultimately, coherent. It is paramount that this area is promoted as a safe, attractive and pleasant environment for pedestrians. We can enable this by creating an urbanised environment, with buildings that front up to and onto the spaces around the underpass to allow good overlooking opportunities and levels of interaction and also by continuation of the building line with a high quality wall, lighting, landscaping, seating, etc.

It is intended that this route is to be retained as pedestrian only allowing the pedestrian user to feel in a unique place. So it is also important that this route goes beyond a simple thoroughfare and is conceived as an intuitive and unique experience. An instinctive route will be achieved in design terms through the landscaping of quality public realm materials. A sense of experience will be created with visual design features like the installation of light on the floor/walls/ceiling. We want to signify the importance of this route by creating an element of interactive design in the receptor spaces either side of the underpass. We currently looking at the potential of Colonels Walk in terms of experiential and interactive design and the possibilities of light and sound installations within the Underpass. Promoting the three major elements of Colonels walk (as shown on the diagram) as interconnecting threads is key to the success of this area..'

extract from the first issued document

the Underpass: Concept Ideas

2007-03-25T10:55:00.000-07:00

In order to explain this process, we need to divide the experience in three parts. The old Pontefract town centre is area ‘1’, the Underpass is area ‘2’ and the new Prince of Wales development is area ‘3’.

The interaction between these three areas should not be isolated from each other. In the diagram below, we can see all the possible interrelations between the three key points in no particular order. In simple words, we are not seeking a logical progress from point 1 to point 2 and then 3 but more an experience that can jump from point 1 to 3, then 2 to 1 and back to 2, 3 and so on.

This can be achieved by mixing the qualities of these three points (either by the use of sound, light or any other technologies) and therefore ‘brake’ each point’s individuality. Therefore point 1 becomes another version of point 2 or 3 and vice versa. These ideas should be more developed in future research and ideas as well actual facts that will be posted here soon.

the Underpass: Initial Sketches

2007-03-25T10:24:00.000-07:00

Here are some initial sketches in order to study the flow of movement through the underpass. By extending the actual area of the Underpass experience, we can manage to eliminate the ‘dangerous’ aspects of it. A logical progress from one side to the other can be established with a series of events. A series of events that progress as the user walks through the Underpass from one side to the other.

the Underpass: Brainstorming

2007-03-06T18:23:00.000-08:00

first notes on project approach

Interaction Design

2007-03-03T09:36:00.000-08:00

Interaction Design (IxD or IaD) is the discipline of defining and creating the behavior of technical, biological, environmental and organizational systems. Examples of these systems are software, products, mobile devices, environments, services, wearables, and even organizations themselves. Interaction design defines the behavior (the "interaction") of an artifact or system in response to its users over time.

Interaction designers are typically informed by user research, design with an emphasis on behavior as well as form, and evaluate design in terms of usability and emotional factors.

Existing Underpass Video

2007-03-03T09:18:00.001-08:00

Research: Greyworld - The Layer

2007-03-02T07:14:00.000-08:00

' The Layer is an art system created to articulate transit spaces through a series of contact sculptures.

The Greenwich Foot Tunnel was the first installation in a public space to use the Layer system. We had been experimenting with different ways to articulate these transit spaces, from purely analogue methods of sound capture and distortion, to more complex means of digesting movement and form.

A long blue carpet was installed in the dark tunnel running underneath the Thames. Tiny sensors, beneath the carpet detected the direction weight and speed of pedestrians as they passed along its length and translated this information into a generatively produced sound environment. An album - 'Various Walkers' was created by recording these performances.

The installation was commissioned by the London Docklands Commission and sponsored by the Daily Telegraph.

The Layer has undergone many changes since the Greenwich foot tunnel. These allow both a wider range of inputs to be used, such as colour and shape as well as a large range of expressive outputs, such as light and generative display. Essentially though, it is the legibility of the installation to a broad public that remains paramount to us.

The work of art was also installed along the Millennium Bridge that runs across the Iffey in Dublin, Ireland. It gave pedestrians crossing an opportunity to crate and interact, simply by passing through the space. The installation was a counterpoint to another work of art, which we installed in the Guinness Storehouse.

We installed a bright blue carpet along the bridge, to signify that something was different in the centre of Dublin. We then embedded sensors in the carpet that responded to each footstep across the bridge, generating unexpected sounds and melodies - a plaintive piano phrase or the sounds of footsteps crunching through snow or sploshing through puddles. '

extract from Greyworld's website

The Underpass Project

2007-03-02T05:48:00.000-08:00

A new project.
The Underpass Project is a side project of the larger Prince of Wales regeneration in Pontefract, Yorkshire.

Prince of Wales Masterplan (copyright Spawforths)

Spawforths have been working for the last two years for UKCoal on a Development Framework and Masterplan for the re-development of Pontefract Pit Yard Colliery Site (Prince of Wales) and recently, in December 2006 submitted an outline planning application to Wakefield MDC.
At the moment, Spawforths - alongside sub-consultants - are working on a Design Code for this proposed development, which explores detailed design aspects.

The Underpass is an existing pedestrian link between Pontefract town centre and the Prince of Wales site. The opportunity to improve and urbanise Colonels Walk will help to promote it as a key pedestrian connection between the new development and the old town centre.

The Underpass detail

I am really excited to work on this particular project that can definitely test some ideas of how graphic design can co-exist with architecture and urbanism. This is an opportunity to apply graphic design to a wider context, to make it become part of the design process and introduce it to other disciplines.

This is a project to explore cultural factors, experiences, spatial environments and links. An exciting process after all that can introduce new ways of thinking about design solutions and will attempt to explore opportunities of a multi-discipline approach.

Research: Project needs + Development

2007-02-23T14:10:00.000-08:00

On the last seminar (21/02/07), we talked about research needs for our projects. We tried to identify them, expand them and interlink them in order to discover ways of expanding the projects.

‘What research needs to be done to help contextualise/ inform what you are doing?’

The main categories that were identified (in terms of areas of development and concern) are the following:

TECHNICAL
AESTHETIC
CULTURAL
SOCIAL / ECONOMIC
POLITICAL

The professional world (contemporary+historic) in graphic design and architecture, new technologies that can be explored and studied, tested and finally used, as well as the psychology of the client / designer on accepting new methods on multidisciplinary design projects, were just a few of the first questions of such a research.

In order to ‘discover’ new needs (or at least not obvious research needs) it would be a good idea to work backwards. The five categories that were mentioned before can act as targets and an expansion of their meaning could bring interesting results.

Let’s see a few images of such explorations, where each of the five words/ categories is expanded and explored through language.

'research' word map

'technical' word map

'social' word map

'political' word map

'economic' word map

'cultural' word map

'aesthetic' word map

Alan Fletcher @ Design Museum

2007-01-30T03:55:00.000-08:00

What an amazing exhibition. Went down to London last week and had the chance to see the Alan Fletcher exhibition at the Design Museum.

Very inspiring and full of fun, ideas and inspiration. I could feel the process of making things, the ideas flying around the designer and him just being able to grab them and make them alive.

You can easily say that it was mostly fun, the processes looked very obvious and the ideas were aiming straight to the point without any fancy stuff or really theoretical concepts. And this is what made everything so fantastic, so diverse and gave the flexibility for adaptation of different styles.

It was rather interesting seeing the actual works that I have been seeing in books, there nice and big for you to look at. Unfortunately I only managed to get to the Design Museum 45mins before it was closing although I felt I could stay in there for days..

some extras!

House X - Looking back at the process

2007-01-10T09:10:00.000-08:00

Peter Eisenman’s ideas have clearly been developed and realised on the design of House X, the final part of a series of housing designs that study and extend further more the concepts of deconstruction by the architect.

House X has a special complexity, an architectural form that derives from studies of maths, geometry and philosophy on a combination of planes that create spaces, voids and 3d spaces, highly related between differentiating grids. An extended version of Eisenman’s theories that includes concepts from previous designs to a more complex but at the same time more complete design solution.

This is an attempt to apply Eisenman’s theories of deconstruction onto Typography. In other words, a representation of Eisenman’s architecture through type elements that stand on 3d planes, creating volumes and spaces in such a form, as House X is developed throughout space.

The initial step of experimenting with architectural typography was an attempt to combine the title of the building (House X) with the actual walls, windows and voids of the structure.

Helvetica was chosen as a plain typeface that can easily be absorbed and transformed through architecture. A typeface with such a special character or even more with a non-character that is successfully adapted according to its use.

Firstly, we have to realise the way that House X is designed. Based on a strong square grid (or a repetition of this grid on various positions), different planes and volumes are placed with interacting points of reference. The fundamental element in this composition is the L-Shape block rotated, mirrored and multiplied to form the various areas of the house, corridors, rooms, spaces.
A centre point, divides the composition into 4 smaller groups all set up on the strict x,z,y axis.

What are the linking points? What is the hidden message?

House X, has not only a significant importance (as all the houses from these series of designs) as the conclusion of Eisenman’s long process but also a ‘concluding’ title as it is the tenth and final house. A celebration of its strong character and importance will be attempted with the use of typography by manipulating the letters of ‘HOUSE X’.

House X can be included on a hypothetical cube (6 elevations) which helps us apply each letter of the title ‘House X’ to a different plane. By numbering the elevations of the cube in a series of numbers (1,2,3,4,5,6) we can relate each letter (H,O,U,S,E,X) to each elevation. Therefore:

(1+H), (2+O), (3+U), (4+S), (5+E), (6+X)

This process results on 6 drawings (I, II, III, IV, V, VI), so:

(1+H) = I
(2+O) = II
(3+U) = III
(4+S) = IV
(5+E) = V
(6+X) = VI

The process is simple. We ‘push’ each letter on each elevation and every time any volume of the letter ‘hits’ a volume of the building, it stops there leaving the rest of the letter to continue its movement on that axis until it further hits a different plane and so on. The result (i.e. I) is a representation of the letter (H) on a 3d plane that includes all volumes on that elevation (1). So the result (I) is in some way a typographical elevation of the building.

If we continue this process, the six resulting drawings (I, II, III, IV, V, VI) represent House X on way that not only includes its physical meaning (title) but the architectural solution too as the letters are now 3d objects that are related to the different grids of the building.

The initial assumption of the building being able to be included on a cube, can now be represented on an arrangement of the six resulting drawings on a cube spread, placed on the corresponding positions. (see poster)

If we randomly take one of these drawings (i.e. drawing I), we can revert its 2d representation with a 3d model that its shadow (from a specific distance of light) creates the initial drawing. (see model)

The 3d model has, although its completely different arrangements of objects and volumes, a great relation with House X and its planes on the specific elevation (1).

Although the first part of the process results on the distortion of type’s functional use to a more decorative element, the second part re-invites it to a more functional existence whiten 3d space and architecture.

Elevation 1 and the elevation of the model (a) have a completely different appearance but at the same time are the same things, one resulting from the other from a circular process of designs and developments.

House X - 3d Model

2007-01-10T08:56:00.000-08:00

Research: Detanicolain

2006-12-13T14:50:00.000-08:00

A variation of the swiss typeface helvetica that concentrates the amount of ink that composes each character in a dot. in collaboration with jiri skala.

more info on detanicolain

Experiments: HouseX animated

2006-12-02T07:33:00.000-08:00

House X Poster

2006-11-29T04:34:00.000-08:00

more colours

Experiments: H.O.U.S.E.X

2006-11-28T17:36:00.000-08:00

Research: House X levels

2006-11-27T16:11:00.000-08:00

Research: Developing House X Typography

2006-11-27T05:43:00.000-08:00

Research: Graphic Thought Faculty (UK)

2006-11-20T13:57:00.000-08:00

http://www.graphicthoughtfacility.com/

Experiments: Typography

2006-11-18T19:29:00.000-08:00

Research: Eisenman Houses

2006-11-18T19:24:00.000-08:00

Mark David Major + Nicolas Sarris study on Eisenman Houses

Experiments: Alpha

2006-11-14T16:37:00.000-08:00

Research: Building Facades (UN Studio)

2006-11-14T03:57:00.000-08:00

Research: Architectural Typography

2006-11-13T02:38:00.000-08:00

Experiments: Exploding Helvetica

2006-11-12T12:30:00.000-08:00

Johann Steingruber's Alphabet

2006-11-11T08:09:00.000-08:00

In Steingruber’s alphabet, published in 1773, each letter of the alphabet is made into a plan of a palatial building. In some cases, as with A, there are two alternative plans. Accompanying texts explain the designs: in the case of A, there is a grand hall at the apex of the building, while its crossbar comprises a central passageway flanked by a pair of arcaded hallways, and, at the letter’s feet there are ‘cabinets’ and ‘garderobes.’ E is intended to house two sets of apartments, with main entrances top & bottom, and a chapel in the central prong of the building, which, Steingruber concedes, could equally well be made into a grand staircase, or a special reception room.

Influences: Simon Jones

2006-11-11T06:54:00.000-08:00

Experiments: Deconstructing Futura O

2006-11-09T17:37:00.000-08:00

Mapping Progress (update: 30.11.06)

2006-11-08T17:13:00.000-08:00

Experiment: Deconstructing Futura

2006-11-08T15:14:00.000-08:00

Research: Typography Basics

2006-11-07T11:11:00.000-08:00

Experiments: Type on Buildings 02

2006-10-29T11:02:00.000-08:00

Alvar Aalto, Villa Mairea Elevation

Experiments: Type on Buildings 01

2006-10-29T07:21:00.000-08:00

WoZoCo Type Experiment

Research: British

2006-10-28T18:44:00.000-07:00

Cartlidge Levene: http://www.cartlidgelevene.co.uk/

8VO

Vince Frost: http://www.frostdesign.co.uk/

SEA: http://www.seadesign.co.uk

Research: Swiss

2006-10-28T17:57:00.000-07:00

Wolfgang Weingart: http://www.weingartarchive.com/

Mueller+Hess: http://www.muellerhess.ch/

Happy Pets: http://www.happypets.ch/

Research: Dutch

2006-10-25T13:53:00.000-07:00

Mevis + Van Deursen

Wim Crowel

Studio Dumbar: http://www.studiodumbar.nl/

Experimental Jetset: http://www.experimentaljetset.nl

Brainstorming

2006-10-25T01:56:00.000-07:00

Research: Multi/Trans/Cross-disciplinarity

2006-10-25T01:48:00.000-07:00

Multidisciplinarity

Multidisciplinarity examines multiple subjects from different disciplines but only uses the methods of one discipline in its examination. This approach is related to the think tank model, where the objective is likely to be the solution of an immediate problem, rather than exploration of disciplinary perspectives.

Transdisciplinarity

A transdisciplinary approach dissolves boundaries between disciplines. Transdisciplinarity becomes necessary when the concept or method cannot be understood from within a single discipline and requires the input of many disciplines to be understood. An example is the field research method called ethnography, which was originally developed in anthropology but is now more fully understood with insights from psychology, philosophy, sociology, and other disciplines.

Crossdisciplinarity

This describes a method that crosses disciplinary boundaries but does so from a foreign angle and with no cooperation. Basically, crossdisciplinary approaches attempt to explain a subject in the terms of a foreign method. Some good examples of such interaction would be describing the physics of music or the politics of literature.

Research: 5 images

2006-10-25T01:33:00.000-07:00

Influences: Carlos Garaicoa / Lisa Openheim

2006-10-22T08:31:00.000-07:00

Carlos Garaicoa

Nowhere is the constant march of history more obviously stamped on our surroundings than in cities, with the seemingly endless processes of demolition, reconstruction and rebuilding going on all around us. The cityscape of Liverpool, in particular, is currently changing so rapidly that even lifelong residents are bewildered. This makes it a perfect site for Carlos Garaicoa, whose art has long focused on the complex structures and ongoing evolutions of cities – the ways in which, although cities are constantly changing, they always retain, half-hidden, the traces of what went before. For International 06, Garaicoa makes intriguing use of his own photographs, ‘invading’ their surfaces to create poignant images of Liverpool buildings haunted by their own past.

Lisa Openheim

We tend to think of archives as impersonal collections of documents, but behind any archive there is a person (or many people), a purpose and an agenda. Lisa Oppenheim is fascinated by the human stories hidden within archives – the notes handwritten in the margins of historical documents, the scribbled descriptions on the backs of old photographs. She’s also fascinated by the many ways in which archives allow us to slip between past and present. For International 06, Oppenheim will make use of the archive of Liverpool photographer Edward Chambré Hardman, but with a twist, setting words alongside images and past alongside present to create a uniquely fluid portrait of the changed – and changing – city.

18 October 2006

2006-10-22T08:24:00.000-07:00

visiting lecturer Andrea Zapp (media artist)
www.azapp.de

04 October 2006

2006-10-22T07:29:00.000-07:00

The H-Block of Leeds Metropolitan University is an iconic figure for an observer. Behind the hardness and stiffness of its walls, there is life. Activities and creative processes, ideas, workshops and conversations. Behind the harsh exterior a living organism is evolving and developing in order to discover and experiment with contemporary arts and graphic design. Come inside and play.

Statement of Intent

2006-10-22T07:26:00.000-07:00