InteriorSerendipity

We were on that last stretch towards the Unit X exhibition at London Scottish House. We had planned to erect two halves of a full scale arch which would be at the heigh of 2m (0.5m shorter than the smallest arch in the space). We wanted to make the coloured spherically shaped balls which were to be hung from the arch. 

After speaking to the different workshops in university we discovered that the machinery in the workshops would be very difficult to use to make perfect balls and instead they would just collapse when heated. Instead we bought transparent acrylic spherical balls with a diameter of 10cm and distorted them ourselves using a heat gun. Although these were still smaller than they would be in real life they successfully showed the effect we were aiming for. We continued to paint them using glass paint and a sponge. We painted them with either blue, yellow, or both - the colours we believed represented summer best. 

Exhibition set up had started on the Monday. We based our exhibition around a pillar as we thought it would be a great way to connect the two parts of the arch to create a symmetrical full arch. So first we screwed the arches down into the floor and the pillar through the metal plates attached to the ends of the arch. We then continued to tie the spheres to the already welded hoops on the underside of the arch using metal wire. If the spheres were made to the real size we probably would have joined them properly using a two sided clip instead. 

We luckily found some old green carpet which we thought could be very useful for our space. At the moment the space felt empty and too open. By sticking the carpet down in a circular body (quarter circle) it made it clearer to see where our space was exactly. It also helped give the area a garden look as the carpet looked similar to green grass. 

Lastly we screwed our model onto the wall as if it were a shelf. This just meant we didn’t need to have it on a stand or anything which would just confuse the space and make it look messy. And finally the banner of all our work and development was hung from the ceiling grid completing our exhibition space. The banner will be posted after this. 

Feedback from visitors was very positive with people commenting especially on the scale model saying that they loved the spatial layout and its simplicity. They also were fascinated with the design of the distorted coloured balls, really catching people’s attention. But most importantly, Bruntwood’s visit brought even more positive feedback with Bilal suggesting that maybe our group and another group could collaborate our ideas together. The other groups idea is based in the stairwell and featured melted candy or coloured glass being hung; which would be a great connection to ours. 

Overall I have loved this project, and loved working with a real client and answering to their creative feedback. Its taught me to be adaptable with ideas to fit to the clients’ needs and be willing to change things dependent on what they like. What this means is I, as a designer, should always be passionate and connected to my work, but be willing to disconnect after the design process has finished. Once a design is completed, the designer should no longer be the owner of the work; instead it’s the client’s to own. I realised this early on in the process, and because of this we designed a space that is adaptable at the clients control. 

I believe that as a team we worked extremely well together, bouncing ideas off each other, and being able to delegate roles and jobs to get more work done in a tight amount of time. Couldn’t have asked for better teammates 

Thank you Bruntwood and Unit X for a very thought provoking and interesting project.  

In the lead up to the final pitch to Bruntwood and the final exhibition next week a lot of progress has been made in our project. Responding to the feedback made by the panel at the first pitch we’ve made a few changes and improvements to our design. 

One of the main concerns with our model and idea was the potential tripping hazards caused by the structure crossing over in random places. We have now carefully planned out where each structure will be placed in order to avoid any problems and confusions. With the more thought out plan we have been able to create a clearer pathway for people to walk through around the garden. Now the structure runs all the way around the rooftop meaning people have more space to explore. Even though the arches do not cross over as much as they originally did, when you look through them from eye level they do have that same effect of being overlapping. We discussed in the final pitch that although the structure now does guide its occupants around the space in a particular way, this does not restrict the visitors from finding their own path. Like we said, we want them to feel total ownership of their space so this was very important to mention. Below is the plan of the space, as well as the new updated model with the structures in place where they would be in real life.

In making the final model, we decided to spray paint the original plan of the space onto 15mm thick wood. We felt that laser cutting the plan into the wood would be too rigid and permanent. Our space is designed to have a fluidity and adaptability to it, and we wanted to demonstrate this in every aspect of our design process. 

The model is at 1:100. The tallest arch is 3.5m, and the shortest is 2.5m. We decided to make sure that all arches have the potential to be used for something, and therefore it was vital that they were all tall enough for someone to walk under. 

We began developing and working on our full scale model for the exhibition. This will be primarily used to section off our space but also give an example of how our arches would look in real life. We used the metal workshop to roll steel 3m long rods. We then welded hoops to underneath the rods which will be how the coloured transparent shapes are attached. The arches will also have metal plates attached to the base and top in order to screw it in to the pillars and floor in the exhibition space. 

Here are the final visuals for the space done by Becca and myself

1. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night time 

2. Unit X

3. Dominic Wilcox

4. Milan - Nendo

5. Architectural Trends and Social Media 

6. Soundscapes

7. Light and Shadow

8. Thresholds

9. Atmosphere

Architecture has always been led by the public emotions and response to the design. What people don’t understand is that architecture is not about math or zoning or even calculations, its about making emotional connections with the places that we occupy. We begin to associate certain emotions with types of familiar architecture. Take The White House in Washington DC for example. Although we know the building to be political and powerful, in actual fact, it’s the architectural cues that hint to us that this is a building of power. It had to be designed in that way for a reason. And that reason came all the way from Greece 2,500 years ago.

The majority of people are familiar with Greek architecture; their buildings were grand, they had strong solid pillars holding it up, and tend to have been built from a light coloured stone. People have seemed to have made architects job’s a lot easier. We now immediately associate these designs with power, strength, and importance; because that’s what they represented back then 2,500 years ago. So whenever an architect needs to create a building of power they just resort back to using these techniques because they’ve worked in the past. In reality, this laziness causes a problem. It means that all architecture from now on will be predictable.

Architects sometimes use this method incorrectly however. I can understand when they use the Greek style for buildings of power and politics. Yet what’s happening is it’s being used for other things such as libraries, and art museums etc. The design of a building should relate to the building’s purpose. The Greek powerful style in my opinion is irrelevant to these buildings. Instead the architect should want to design something to do with peoplehood, learning and the culture of the area. But because they’re being predictable we rarely get to see that.

Marc Kushner perfectly explains how we can sometimes find the two extreme designs for one type of building. He explains that architecture works on a pendulum. On one side is “Innovation” where bright unusual ideas and technologies can be found. Architects strive to amaze us and find something a little different, so they innovate our societies architecture. We’re a people that frequently feel uncomfortable and scared when too much is unfamiliar to us. People disengage from these buildings out of fear. An architects only choice now is to try to reengage with us and so use the symbols that we are more familiar with.

This can happen over and over again creating a mix of predictable buildings and unusual buildings. He gives the example of Brutalism, a type of architecture popular in the 70s. Instead of changing completely from brutalism, architects just updated it in the 80s with neon lights and colours and new materials. All because its what we’ve been used to. These symbols are easy and cheap, he says perfectly that “instead of making places, we’re making memories of places” and that’s exactly it. You go to Florida and you can find restaurants that have been built in the Mediterranean/French/Italian style. Because when we think of these styles we connect emotions to it, and architects want us to easily tap into these emotions when we visit the restaurant without having to leave America. It may work, but there are better ways to do it.

People need to lead the design of new buildings. How is it that we can make this happen now if it hasn’t been able to happen prior to now? Social Media is the answer. Prior to social media, architects were still required to gain public opinion on proposed buildings, however this would have been scale models and drawings on display in a designated area, therefore the gathering of opinions would have been on a smaller scale from the public due to the limits of being able to see the models and plans.  Using social media and technology to its fullest potential means a significantly larger amount of public opinion and feedback can be obtained ahead of a build and yes using social media will mean it can be shared widely, increasing users engagement with the building even prior to construction.

We perceive environments that we’re not even looking at. We do not control that perception as it goes on around us even if we’re not directly looking at it. For example sounds and scents. Soundscapes are very useful in the world of design to consider as they can really improve the kind of experience we get in the space surrounding us.  Audible range is far broader than the visual range thus proving that there is more to be played with audibly compared to visually. Maybe as designers its our duty to consider the audible in design more than the visual, as the audible is actually a far greater intake from the environment.

“architecture does not produce sound and therefore can not be heard. however architecture does not necessarily produce light either but can be seen (Rasmussen, S. E.)  As a visually oriented culture, we’ve become accustomed to everyday sounds as not having semantic significance. They just become background noise that we are able to tune out (with the exception of extreme noise pollution e.g. plane) Sounds have to be semanticised to have meaning. The two main meaningful sounds are music and language as they help us live and communicate feelings and ideas.

Although people say architecture doesn’t produce sound, buildings actually reverberate through their materials to bring us sensory information. The sounds produced by the materials around us provide an ambience to the interior space, or even an atmosphere. Which is definitely a vital component to creating successful architecture.

As designers we need to think about sound, designing with our ears as well as our eyes. If we do not consider our ears we could create spaces with awful acoustics causing sensory chaos and unenjoyable spaces. Thus materiality is vital. What characteristics do materials have to benefit the space. Do they absorb the unwanted background noise? do they soundproof the space? Do they make voices clearer and easier to hear (amplified) 

e.g. The Royal Albert hall was a beautiful design but needed additions to help the acoustics. This is why ceiling plans are so important to consider. Just a simple change to the Royal Albert Hall’s ceiling design completely changed and drastically improved the venue’s noisy acoustics. 

However to a blind person their experiences are completely different. There are many fears and misconceptions with the idea of moving through the city without sight, seemingly oblivious to the environment and the people around you. Chris Downey explains the incredible experience of the juxtaposition of his sighted experience up against his unsighted experience of the same places and the same people within such a short period of time in his TED talk. You learn to rely on all your non visual senses, things that you would otherwise maybe ignore. Sounds can help you understand where you are, how you need to move, and where you need to go. The texture below you can also build a pattern of where you are and where you’re headed.

He was surprised to find that his unsighted experience was far more multi-sensory than his sighted experience. He began to be led by scents he could smell and the warmness/coolness of the area on his skin. We need to start to consider designing with these other senses in mind as they are far more vast than just sight is. When you stop looking at something, it might as well not be there. Whereas when you’re not directly looking at the origin of a sound, the sound is still as present as if you were looking directly at it. Designing with sounds in mind could easily make atmosphere and ambience even stronger making the experience more everlasting to the occupant.  

As a course we were fortunate to have the opportunity to go and visit the Milan Furniture fair in Italy. I knew that I personally was not overly interested in furniture design in particular. Although I was aware that being an interior designer part of the job would be to pick out the right kind of furniture for the room i’m designing. So I was hoping that this trip would spark an interest in the design of different furnitures and objects. I took a few things away from my trip. 

When I initially thought about furniture I restricted my knowledge to only considering generic furniture like your everyday lighting, seating, beds and tables etc. But this in itself is the core problem. Furniture is a term that doesn’t actually have any boundaries. Anything that is part of a space can be considered furniture. Furniture in my definition is the components that make up the overall space or room. They are the things that make the space suitable for living. With this in mind, it means that “furniture” encompasses a lot more than most people think.  Saying all of this, there were a lot of chairs, tables, and lights. But on top of that there were also a lot of undefinable things which definitely caught my attention more. 

A designers job however is to redefine WHAT a chair is for example, or HOW you sit on something. Our course itself makes us question this a lot already. It was even more fascinating to see this being put into practice in the real world. The perfect example of this would be Nendo intervention - 50 Manga Chairs. This was a exhibition done by Nendo a designer from Canada. Manga is a way of drawing with a degree of flatness and abstraction rooting in Japanese culture. He began by drawing out 50 chairs in a grid on a single piece of paper, with each chairs distortion telling a story. 

Some of the distortions were purely based on the manga style of drawing with speech bubbles coming out of the chair to represent speech (seen in many manga drawings). He says “With the abstraction of manga comics in mind, physical aspects such as colour and texture are intentionally avoided as much as possible. Instead, a complete mirror finish is opted for, which generates new spatial layers as the mirror surface reflects the real world, just like manga does.”

These chairs completely distort the norm of chair design. Although the design isn’t too serious, and is completely playful; he finds sophistication through other means. The way he decided to display the work was ingenious in my eyes. The chairs stood just as they appear on the piece of original paper. All 50 are perfectly lined in grid formation on top of a pure white gravelled surface. The white is reflected on the mirrored chairs. It also provides the perfect backdrop for clean, crisp prominent shadows. When looking at the entire environment, the exhibition looks striking. The white is juxtaposed by a complete blackness of material which is used in the space people walk around. Similar to the manga drawings, Nendo cleverly decided to keep the colours very plain, it definitely helped make the work stand out and pop.   The modern nature of the manga style is especially visible with the more traditional Italian architecture surrounding the space. 

I recently visited the science museum’s exhibition on Leonardo DaVinci and his work. DaVinci lived during the 14/1500s. It’s difficult to categorise DaVinci’s expertise and profession seeing as at times he was an inventor, painter, architect, scientist, engineer, mathematician, and much more. What he’s known for is being a revolutionist. When walking around the exhibition I was amazed to see the wide variety of inventions DaVinci was responsible for. The exhibition took us on the path of his research into mechanics, aerodynamics, military equipment, and even new types of architecture. I believe, having an interest in numerous different fields of work really helped him to become a better designer. 

Designers aren’t only strong at drawing, and coming up with ideas. A good designer is someone that tries to understand everyday life to improve on the things that need improving. In order to do this, you need to be able to research and learn about more than one type of work. Through delving into the world of engineering, science, maths etc you could open your eyes up to a much wider range of possibilities. Already in my time at university I’ve found myself wanting to make a certain thing that may involve electronics. I’ve found it very easy to say “I’m not going to do that idea because I do not know how to use electronics and I don’t even know anyone who could help me with it”. The mistake with that mentality is that if you always say that, you’ll never be able to produce anything different to other people. What I now know to do is push myself, and have a thirst for knowledge that extends passed my own field. 

Leonardo DaVinci was a revolutionist of the time. DaVinci began to invent and discover new ideas back in the late 1400s. And today, almost 6000 years on, we can still see how he has transformed our own life and impacted technology and inventions now. A few of my favourite that I saw at the exhibition included the webbed glove.  A study showed that a glove that imitates a webbed foot helped swimmers to move through the water at greater speeds. It was designed to be attached to the wrist, and to be used to escape shipwreck (which can be read in his manuscripts) 

He also had a great impact on military advances creating new weapons, and machinery. As part of this, he created a siege machine, however this tower pulled by an oxen, had a covered adjustable bridge. This enabled the attacking forces to cross high walls above the moats whilst also staying protected from the opposition. This invention really showed that DaVinci looked at what was previously being used, and tried to improve it to make it even more efficient. 

We were very fortunate to be able to hear Dominic Wilcox speak at university. Dominic is a British inventor. He believes that he should “reinvent the normal”. I love this thinking when it come to designing and creating. Like DaVinci, his inventions were different to the thoughts of the time, and definitely brought something new to the world. Designers these days have begun to fall into the lazy habit of just redesigning what already exists. Whereas with Dominic, every single invention is unique, shocking, and a part of his own personality. 

Something that I picked up from his talk was his office space. He explained to us that theres a tree in a local forest, where he has gone to sit on a branch high up, with a pen and paper, and that is it. Knowing this, its now a lot easier to understand how he comes up with such peculiar inventions. How are you supposed to create something out of the ordinary if your life, and workspace is extremely ordinary. I know that I find it difficult to be imaginative with initial design concepts, especially when in a closed off room with no inspiration to go by. Instead some of my best ideas have come at unexpected times, or times when i’m in an unconventional setting. I find it very fitting and beautiful that he has decided to work at the top of a tree, because it’s definitely something I’ve never seen before. Maybe that’s why he’s been so successful with his work.

I took notes of some of his work that I found either the most clever, original, or just crazy. The thing that links them all together is that they definitely add something to society and the world, as they have not been created before. 

-Ear switching headset: hear the things on the right through the left ear, and things on the left through the right ear. Creating a new type of experience. 

- Sensor fence: Instead of having a complete fence dividing a space and creating privacy, why not have one fence panel that moves when it senses the person moving. This way no matter where the person moves the panel will follow them to create the privacy needed.

- Slides for falling leaves: Instead of dead leave plummeting down to the ground aggressively when they fall off, how about have mini slides to catch the leaves and give them an enjoyable and graceful sendoff. 

- A phone that constantly rings until someone calls: Pretty self explanatory. We all have had a sound around the house that we’ve grown used to, so much so that we no longer hear it. So how about create a sound that you get used to, so the second it stops you immediately realise the silence. 

- Snoring Microphone: Microphone makes the snorer’s snore loud so that when they snore they are immediately woken up.... is this a cure for snoring?!

- Nose stylus: For when in the bath, and you want to use your phone, now you can scroll and touch merely by using the stylus extension to your nose 

- Three fingered ring: The central ring would be the wedding ring, and the other two rings would be arrows pointing to it. Perfect for the attention seeking bride-to-be. 

Another thing you’ll realise about these inventions, is that they’re all pretty useless and not needed. But what Dominic Wilcox is trying to demonstrate is that designers and inventors should have this playfulness. Its all about finding what’s not yet been done, and filling that gap. It may seem useless, but every single one of those inventions get you thinking. They could reinvent the way people live their lives. We’ve all become so used to how we live now, and how society runs, that people are afraid to go against that. Dominic has gone against the norm, and has shown us how FUN and playful life could be if we were all a bit more open to new things. 

Dominic Wilcox, is definitely different to DaVinci, but he is one of the best comparisons to him in terms of being an inventor who invents original ideas. 

This year, our project is to re-think and re-propose how the offices in Blackfriars House inhabit, socialise and work within their city workspace. Bruntwood are one of Manchester’s leading commercial property owners (with over one hundred offices in the North-West). We’ve been asked to re-propose and redesign various spaces within their Manchester City office building in order to make the space more vibrant, energetic, and engaging for the clients. Their main aim is to encourage socialising between the different companies in the building to form a network and healthy work environment. 

The spaces on offer were the bike shed, the communal area, the reception space, the area by the elevators between two different offices, the stairs, and the roof garden. Bruntwood are known to rarely knock down existing buildings to create new ones for their clients, as they believe there is hidden beauty in all existing buildings. When they remodel, they recycle, and refurbish existing interiors to revitalise them. Keeping to their work philosophy, we will be doing the same, uncovering the hidden gems within the building already and bringing out new ones along the way. 

My group have decided to redesign the roof garden. When we visited the roof garden our initial awe and amazement of the view started to run thin as we started to fully take in what we realised, were missed opportunities in the design of the garden. Let me walk you through it. Firstly, the only access to the garden is via metallic steep stairs, meaning it is totally unaccessible to less physically able visitors/clients. When you reach the top of the stairs you are facing a brick wall, in order to see the garden you have to turn and walk the other way. We felt this made the impact less striking, and anti-climatic. The garden was designed to have patches of grass, funky modern white furniture scattered around, and some platforms for events. We noticed the whole other side of the roof was not being used (a larger space than what is currently being used) 

Our initial thoughts were: It needs to be an inclusive space, one that people of all abilities can get to. It needs to have a more forceful impact when finally seeing the view, so the staircase has to open up to the main space instead of the wall. The furniture is too low to do any work/eat comfortably. There is no table space available to do work. There’s been a missed opportunity with such a great large space not being used, we want to expand to use the entire space. Lastly, Manchester is known for it unpredictable, wet and cold weather. We know that it’s probably rare clients could actually use the roof garden due to the cold weather. We want to create an indoor space in addition to the outside garden so that they can still enjoy the view and being up there, yet also enjoy staying warm and dry. 

(night scene with initial structure concept - providing lighting and excitement, based on the visuals seen at festivals - Photoshop by Jonny)

(Structure covered by plastic temporary cover - Photoshop by Jonny)

We had a number of ideas of what we wanted to do, but instead of just changing little things, we wanted to implement a larger addition to the roof garden to change how its used. We’ve recently been considering the idea of creating a structure made with transparent coloured material e.g. coloured glass and making a “green house” interior space where the colours of the glass always make the sky look like a blue sunny day. By making this with glass for example, it will ensure that heat is let in and kept in, ensuring the room stays warm just like a summer’s day. It will also tackle the problem of wind and rain by providing shelter and protection. This structure can be used for meetings, casual work, or just to relax in an inside area whilst being able to see the view. 

Our group began to look at the effect of coloured transparent materials, when light was shone through them, to see what light distortions and patterns came through, these experiments will be a reblog after this post, posted originally by my other group member. 

This is a conceptual image of the kind of thing we’d be looking at in terms of colours etc (Photoshop by Jonny)

As we continued with our investigations and discovery we started to look and a more temporary structure. What if Bruntwood were able to take off the sheltered cover and just leave the internal structure standing? This means, that even on the hot summer days/nights they’d be able to utilise the interior space and make it an outdoor area instead. It would be beneficial to the client if they had the ability to choose whether they want it covered or not. We began to look at lightweight, semi translucent, waterproof materials that would be fit for the cover. We found TPU which is a thermal plastic that is also waterproof. It has all the qualities that are needed for our temporary sheltered structure. 

With this idea in mind, we needed to consider other ways to produce the blue sky colours that we were aiming for. As a group it was decided that we probably shouldn’t try to cover all of the sky and view. Instead we came up with using coloured glass spherical balls (referencing the Bruntwood logo) that would be attached to the deconstructed circle wire structure (shown above). This way, the coloured balls would distort the grey gloomy sky, so that as you walk through the interior space you’re seeing different parts of the city in varied colours. This also means that when you can see they whole view, the reveal has a greater impact to the viewer. A technique used by many architects is to make the viewer work towards what you want to show them. Its always a good idea to block the view slightly before seeing the final things as it will leave a bigger impact. 

During our pitch with Bruntwood, the feedback we got for our ideas was very positive. They really liked the idea of walking through our structure and distorting the colour of the sky. What we have to work on as a group now is carefully planning where the structural points actually are in the ground. Too many points could lead to tripping hazards and confusion walking around it. In the next couple of weeks we will continue to work on planning the structure more accurately and to scale, we will also begin to find the right materials for our ideas, and lastly think about what things we want to on the ground e.g. tables/chairs/installations/stages etc. 

Its quite obvious why light is vital for creating spaces. On a basic level, light is what gives us visibility, without it, we wouldn’t even have the chance to see the space around us. On a deeper level, it reveals colours, textures, distances and the passing of time. Because of all the qualities light brings out, light can be said to be the main trigger of emotions as it brings back memories of similar places. Light is one of the main elements in creating atmosphere and thus this is why it also comes with such high emotional connections as our memories are solely made from the atmospheres that we remember. 

On the other hand shadows and darkness do the opposite. Whereas light makes spaces clear and easy to judge, darkness makes the depth and distance ambiguous, allowing our imagination to fill in what we can’t see with what we expect to see. Pallasmaa, J. 2013 states that imagination and daydreaming are stimulated when the sharpness of vision is suppressed; our thoughts travel with an absent mind and unfocused gaze. I find this fascinating to think about, especially in the design world. Using this idea, maybe it’s easier to create spaces that encourage imagination and fantasy by dimming the light in the space, causing unrecognisable areas to be filled with the viewer’s own imagination. 

As mentioned before, light and shadow, among other things, create atmosphere in spaces. It’s simple to understand why we feel certain ways in different lighting. When in a dim, or dark space it evokes feelings of fear, confusion, and sometimes even sadness. Without light we become disoriented from the space we are in; we’re unable to figure out where we should go or how we should act. Being disoriented is confusing and makes us feel uneasy. We feel a lot more comfortable in environments we’re familiar with or where we can see a clear path/whats around us. Therefore in darkness the uneasiness of disorientation makes us feel scared of the unknown, triggering fear, sadness or anger and frustration (dependent on the individual). Architects will sometimes use darkness in their designs if they want the individual to feel particularly vulnerable or sad. For example in memorial museums e.g. Holocaust Memorials (Yad Vashem, Israel) the majority of the exhibition space will be dimly lit to match the tone of the subject. 

(Children Memorial - Yad Vashem, Israel)

Conversely in a very well lit space, one will feel extremely comfortable to be in the space as they feel confident they can see everything around them. Because of the extreme comfort some people may describe these spaces to feel refreshing or energetic. Designers may decide to use a lot of light in their space if they want the visitor to be enthusiastic/energetic or just comfortable. Corridors and hallways are regularly lit very well, as the designer would want individuals to be able to find their way around easily and feel comfortable doing so. 

This idea has been paralleled in artists work. Two of the most famous artists in history used light and shadow as their “signature” style, and they did it so successfully. Caravaggio and Rembrant are known to frequently use light to highlight the protagonist of the piece like they are a precious object on display. The rest of the painting that was of less importance was cast into darkness and absorbed by the background. Not only does this technique help focus us away from any distractions in the paintings but the strong light draws out the finer details that we should be looking at. 

Atmosphere could be seen as more of an abstract concept when it comes to discussing space and the environment. When I think of atmosphere its a spiritual notion that everyone experiences differently. Atmosphere, out of everything, is what takes us back in our memories to the event or space that we experienced. When you think about a vacation you went on in the past, you might think about what happened, but mainly you remember how you felt, how hot/cold it was, the mood everyone was in, the sounds you heard etc. All of these non-physical concepts make up the atmospheres of space. 

The dictionary definition of atmosphere is “the pervading tone or mood of a place, situation, or work of art”. One may argue, how could you possibly create a desired atmosphere in an environment, as the variables are so difficult to control. Anderson 2009, agreed and said that “they can neither be rationally explained nor clearly depicted as they blur borders between ‘people, things, and spaces”. Anderson goes on to say that in a spatial context, atmospheres mediate between the built environment and human perception. So although they’re hard to define, they are still a vital instrument in to personal human experiences of spaces. 

Artists and Architects have attempted to tackle creating atmospheres within their work. They mainly construct these atmospheres through controlling the light, the sound, and the weather. The Weather Project, Tate Modern 2003 (Olafur Eliasson) was a great example of making artificial familiar weather conditions. Simply by installing a large semi-circle light high up in the building (mirrored to create the full circle) he was able to imitate the warmth and brightness of the sun. Although it still wasn’t hot inside, people began to behave as if they were on holiday under the heat of the real summer sun. Their innate behaviour to lie down and relax, proves that Olafur Eliasson was able to recreate a familiar atmosphere transporting people from the Tate Modern to their summer vacation memories through the use of light cues. 

As mentioned at the start, atmosphere can be seen as a spiritual part of spatial interaction. Thus, it is not surprising that the use of atmospheric light has been used to create interesting spaces in spiritual settings like Churches etc. Brasilia Cathedral in Brasil was designed by Oscar Niemeyer. He decided to design the church with large triangular stain glass windows. The windows give the room a sense of weightlessness as if the ceiling was floating off, providing the cathedral with a lot of natural light. The way the ceiling is constructed it looks like Oscar Niemeyer was trying to strip the room of physical restrictions and bring the occupants to a higher spiritual level of freeness; as if they were floating up in Heaven. Just by looking at photos and imagining what its like to worship in that setting, I immediately understand how lighting has created an extremely spiritual atmosphere in this case. 

Another example of this, is the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Israel. The museum, famous for it’s genius and sensitive architecture utilises light and creates a very unique personal experience as it takes you on a journey. Through out the museum you walk on a zigzag path backwards and forwards throughout the triangular prism concrete building. The path is, dark, and dull, which suits the mood that everyone feels as they walk through as they are learning about the events of the Holocaust. Towards the end of the journey, you reach documents explaining the aftermath of the Holocaust and the beginning of the Zionist Movement (idea that the Jewish people should have a homeland). You are then guided outside to conclude your journey, where you are greeted with the breathtaking view overlooking forests and Israel. You literally go from darkness to light. Not only is it that the environment goes from dark to light, but also your emotions. It was sensitively designed so that after your experience at the museum the light of the outside makes you feel uplifted and motivated. Yad Vashem cleverly used the phrase “light at the end of the tunnel” to create a beautiful sensory atmospheric experience. After visiting the museum myself, I can say that the design was extremely affective in controlling the emotions of the occupant.

Peter Zumthor once exclaimed “How do people design things with such a beautiful, natural presence, things that move me every single time? One word for it is atmosphere” (Architectural Environments, Surrounding Objects 2006)

We are currently living in the digital age where hand work is being quickly replaced by new technology and machinery; it is now fair to declare the death of drawing as a means to explain and develop ideas, as now computers take a more prominent role and are transforming the way we design. 

Ideas take time to become successful. Some may say that it takes numerous changes and failures before an idea can reach it’s final stages and become a successful thought through design. There are a lot of pros and cons to computer-aided idea development. It may be argued that the pros towards computers drawings are better suited to improving the final stages of development. Hand drawings show the thinking that is going on behind an idea. They carry character, personality, and elegance - all of which you would not find in computer images. Designers each have their unique styles, and although styles can be created on computer softwares, whats even more impressive is the uniqueness of character and style in their initial hand drawings; it shows a little bit of the designer’s own personality. 

Computer images demonstrate a more finite representation of an idea. Once an image is made digitally, it becomes so precious that the designer would not want to make changes to it. This is a dangerous attitude to have at the beginning of any design project. It is what makes designers stay with a weaker idea and carry that all the way through to the final product (even if the final product has weaknesses and flaws) 

James Wines said “The fluidity of connection between mind and hand determines the quality of the architect you become”. I think the idea of making a connection between mind and hand is a beautiful idea, demonstrating that hand drawn sketches are merely snapshots of a persons personal and intimate thoughts. They should be able to stay changeable, quick, and careless. The smudges and doodles that are found around drawings may be accidents, but have the potential to be a springboard for new ideas and should not be undermined. 

Drawing is vital to the design process as it is the only way of really getting an idea down onto paper. The freedom of hand drawing will never be replaced. Computers only interrupt the process by adding in restrictions and technicalities that you have to abide to. Computer drawing is definitely useful later on in projects in the Definitive Drawing stage, as they provide the chance to connect different mediums, creating a more textured, coloured, researched image. Adobe softwares e.g. photoshop have really improved this stage of the process and have created new possibilities that hand drawing alone doesn’t allow. It still stays true that these programmes should only be used towards the end of the design process.