essay tutorial

I had my essay tutorial on my first draft, and Richard was pleased with what I had done and thought it was an interesting concept, he said I am currently working at a high 2:1 which I'm really happy about. But to push it up to a first maybe I could take one example to have a real in depth analysis of at the end of the essay, as at the moment there are lots of examples that I'm kind of listing without that much analysis. I should be drawing all the research and points I mention throughout the essay into one analysis of one location just to round it off. I need to show that the research I have done is actually making me understand the relationship between architecture and behaviour. 

He also gave me some good pointers for my practical, he thought I should definitely include people in my illustrations and observe people in these locations. Possibly look at the odd things people do in these environments because of the architectural design. For example, at bus stops, people always start queueing even though no one has ever told people to queue, it is just a design that draws people to start doing that and consequently become agitated when other people don't join in the queuing. I thought this was an interesting direction to maybe take my practical work, it is slightly off what I talked about in my essay but it definitely still relates so I will do some research into it as what I am doing now seems like a bit of a dead end. 

initial ideas

We were asked to start thinking about final images/ideas, and come up with 8 ideas to develop. I have been quite stuck with CoP even after doing the location visits. But I thought to start I should just try and depict the feelings I felt while visiting these places. Here were some ideas I started developing:

For trinity shopping centre I felt it was quite like a birdcage - really light and you feel like its a nice structure but once it gets busy you feel quite trapped and it becomes difficult to find your way around and even get out with the multiple floors and escalators. I really like the first image I did with the mass of people, it looks a bit like the drawing by Escher with the infinite stairs. I thought about maybe developing the images of the shopping centre to look like a bird cage. 

Then for Quarry hill I want to exaggerate the oppressive feel it gives off, maybe depict it as standing above a whole city of small houses.
And for the church I like the idea of exaggerating the calm and peaceful feel of it, maybe using colour to do that. Tat made me think maybe I could use colour for all the locations, and use the colour which relates to the feeling I felt to depict them - so red for feeling trapped, green/yellow for calm and black for oppressive. Some quick ideas I had for the 8 images:

location photos

I thought the best way to get into this project would be to start gathering photos and drawings on location as it is hard to get inspiration from just using imagery from the internet. 

First I went to 'Quarry Hill' which is an office building I think, but the actual structure of the building is quite intimidating. It has been compared to the 'ministry of truth' from Orwell's 1984 because of the way it towers over people in quite an oppressive way. It is stood alone, on a slight hill above the rest of the buildings, with a long walk of steps up to it. I thought it is a great structure to depict as it definitely creates a sense of being quite oppressive. 

I then visited a church - Leeds Minster, as I feel that churches have something about them which cause people to become very quiet and respectful. I always feel quite peaceful but also a bit uncomfortable when in churches - something about the big arching ceilings and long stained glass windows with figures looking down on you is quite intimidating.

I also managed to do some drawings in the church, but it was really cold so I didn't manage to get that many done:

I wanted to focus on the tall ceilings, the way they arch up as if into the sky. I added some small figures in as well to try and exaggerate the size of the structure. I was also trying to use quite warm colours, which depict the church as quite peaceful. 

anne howeson

I looked at some of Anne Howeson's work, she has done some architectural drawings but has used colour and size to create meaning and atmosphere. 

They are very atmospheric drawings, the looming dark skyscrapers in the background create quite an ominous feeling. The use of light colours on some buildings draws attention to them, making them seem bigger and more important or even more positive when it is a warmer colour. She has used her artistic licence to exaggerate these places, she has drawn the building and put in more that weren't actually there to put a point across. It is clear that she feels there is a relationship these buildings have with the physical and psychological geography. 
I read an article of hers where she talks about this reportage work, she said her 'first scribbles often contain the first thing i want to say but i like refining, it brings out the personality' I think I want to try a similar method, where I do some initial drawings at a location so that I get a feel of what I want the finals to show  but then go back and refine, and add to exaggerate my point. 

crit

I've been feeling a bit lost with where I'm going with this work because even thought I like the drawings I've been doing, they seem a bit pointless and can't see them leading to any sort of final piece.  We had a crit and we decided I need to find some sort of story behind the drawings so then I'm actually depicting something, and it should be of the same place so that I can really explore it, but I definitely need some more focus. 

I was thinking about drawing features in a church, and maybe exaggerating bits which make it seem bigger, more imposing or more peaceful. I didn't actually talk about church architecture in my essay but it does link in well with my subject as there is a definite change in atmosphere when entering a church, the tall, arched ceilings are rather imposing, it makes everyone instantly go quiet, even when not religious. 

practical development

My first draft of the essay ended up focusing more on the psychological reactions created by interiors and which features of an environment have different effects, the last part of it looked a lot at the psychology of colour and its importance within architecture. 

I now have to start thinking about the practical work and how it will link with the essay, which I'm a bit stuck with because I don't want to just be drawing different interiors, I want to have some more meaning behind what I'm drawing. 

In the essay I talked a bit about comfortable environments, like pubs, which use warm lighting, cosy furniture and layouts to make customers feel at home and comfortable. So I did some drawings of pubs that try to create a similar feel.

I didn't really know where I was going so I thought of ways artists use their tools to create different atmospheres in their paintings - and the change in light can make a big difference. 

I looked at David Hockney's drawing:

I love the colours in this, and the obvious rays of light do help to make the drawing feel a lot brighter and pleasant. So I tried a similar thing with some chairs

I don't think it worked as well but I like the idea of using colour to create different moods