#samwarnarchitecture

Dissertation Day

Project 3a: Mini Refuge| Refuge Agenda

Today we were given the brief for our first design proposal. An exciting small scale proposition that offers refuge for our own personal interpretation's of the 'homeless' agenda we have been investigating. The small urban intervention should offer a bright future to our client and this will also be the first time in which we use our site at west hoe. I look to integrate theory thouroughly (something coming from contingent city I am not use to), produce a simple yet effective portable project and create an agenda that my final design at the end of YR3 can run off. This project should let me use new techniques I have been exploring lately and I already look forward to the outcome. 

http://vimeo.com/6821934 -William H. Whyte: The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces - The Street Corner

This film we watched today investigates how the factors of

seating

sun

water

trees

street 

Project 2: Life on the Fringe | Triptych

[ 3x3 a3’s ]- 2 day Project

Život na okraj: Tam Homogenní okraJ 

The Homogenous Choice:

homogenous

of the same kind; alike.

 choice

an act of choosing between two or more possibilities.

 I started by analyzing the brief with the intent of visiting Prague open minded, this way I would be able to experience it the same way as an average city occupant unaware of the space that had been designed in a way to attack them. I was soon to notice that Prague is a network of beautiful spots. However it did not take me long to realize that between these spots the connections had been enforced with one goal: Marketing. After our guide with Honza H- A local rough sleeper. He enlightened me,

 “Being rich is not about money, money is an Obsession. Happiness, family and experience are what make people rich- rich with life.”

 This was a catalyst for my project, as I then realised that faceless Marketing giants put shopping centres and shops in the city occupants way with one intention: to blur them into buying into their product. For me seeing these large brands attempting to homogenize city occupants ruined my experience of Prague, to go from such beautiful tourist attractions like the Prague Castle only to find a ‘Starbucks’ right outside like any other shopping maul in the world is just a disappointment.

Diorama:

I went on to create the diorama showing my chosen fringe – Metro subway outside of the Palladium. This subway was strategically placed so when exiting you see the large “200 shops”and bright lights attempting to lure you in to the heterotopic maze.  However if you turned right there was a run down church.

 “A trip to the temple of consumption is quite another matter. To go for such a trip is like being transported to another world, rather than witnessing the wondrous transubstantiation of the familiar one.”- Bauman, Zygmunt, Liquid Modernity (p98).