The beauty in decay...

“The strength of architectural impact derives from its unavoidable presence as the perpetual unconscious pre-understanding of our existential condition. A distinct 'weakening' of the architectural image takes place through the processes of weathering and ruination. Erosion wipes away the layers of utility, rational logic and detail articulation, and pushes the structure into the realm of uselessness, nostalgia and melancholy. The language of matter takes over from the visual and formal effect, and the structure attains a heightened intimacy. The arrogance of perfection is replaced by a humanizing vulnerability”

The Power of Weakness; Hapticity and Time

Seeing beauty in imperfection and accepting life’s transience; 'nothing lasts, nothing is finished and nothing is perfect'

http://wabisabi.org.uk
Experiencing a place, through the reawakening of all my senses has lead me to rediscovering the effects of weathering on  materiality. Weathered

Thinking 'within' Architecture

Week 3 Presentation...

The Dynamism of Water
Rendered stills from video (image: Tina Zacharia 

Studio roll layouts (image: Tina Zacharia)

for details

see: THE DYNAMISM IN WATER

Acetate overlays: "dynamism in water"

(image: Tina Zacharia)

Ageing, a visual representation...

Ageing is everywhere, even in seemingly static objects; a material is in a constant state of ageing, whether it is obvious or not.

Ageing Beacon (image: Tina Zacharia)

Coinciding with the task of re-mapping the site, the process of analysis in regards to the site's ageing processes through perceptual exploration has drawn my focus towards details which would have been previously overlooked. Continuing my ‘multi- sensory experience’ of the harbour and surrounding areas, I have focused on capturing the dynamics between materiality and the processes by which materials react to the elements.

Journey through my material exploration:

THE HARBOUR

Eroding materials (image: Tina Zacharia)

SLEEPER WALL

THE SLEEPER WALL 

The effects of pollution (image: Tina Zacharia)

THE COASTAL LINE

Weathering via Water (image: Tina Zacharia)

Perceptual site analysis… Paradise lost?

Appraising the QUALITIES of the site // Fundamental EXPERIENCES to note:

1/ The scale/impact of the aggregate plant and its overall relationship to the site; can been seen as a beacon of industry at all points on site.

2/ The polluted meandering sleeper wall and the seemingly vacant / unused space by which it’s bounded by.

3/ Surrounding construction such as the corrugated sheet bowling club restricts any visual connection to its surroundings; there are no references to the sites’ location ‘by sea’- essence of a fading memory.

4/ The possible design opportunity in regards to the negotiation of the tension between the dynamism of water and architecture (seemly conceived as a fixed entity) 

  

5/ The interrelation between materiality and location; varied processes of ageing in harbour and sea front areas.

6/ Site of ‘multi-sensory invitation and discovery’: multi-faceted environment exposed to the elements giving rise to a possibility of the combination of visual, tactile and audible givens.

Lets go back to the drawing board...analogue mapping

‘Thinking within Architecture’ Appraising fundamental qualities of the site:

 With a combination of visual, haptic and tactile qualities, varied levels of importance can be realised.

Contextualising the site: (image: Tina Zacharia)

The denser the line most prominent feature onsite

(image: Tina Zacharia)

My experience of drawing the master plan was intuitive and somewhat reminiscent of my early experiences of drawing; I sensed a direct reciprocal relationship between the shifting movement of my hand and the pencil to paper. With every shift in direction a physical mark would show evidence of this movement; displaying depth depending on the (with the varied) pressure I applied.

As an intuitive and perceptual exercise, information became evident as to what on site, I found to be most prominent and influential within the bounding environment; re-establishing a physical and emotional response whilst giving rise to the reflective analysis of what I had produced. In effect I made realisations which could result in possible areas of interest and approach towards the design project itself.

...From Models to Drawings

From models to drawings: Critical studies in Architectural Humanities

In our ever increasing digital age, the use of computer aided design has, in many respects given traditional drawing and presentational techniques the back-seat.  With BIM and CAD claiming to present innovative development in design representation, market driven and technologically biased methodologies, by which architectural graphics are conceived, are edging further and further away from individuals sensory experience of a place. “…images that do not aim to emulate the human phenomenology of perception”. Hence the productions of digital representations only show realistic interpretations of a possible space or environment.

On the act of drawing: “a compelling reflexivity emerges … a continuous and meditative process completed by the hands. Their thoughts engage a separate temporality from the flux of the cosmos by which effects our indiscernibly before or after their causes.”

Whitstable Harbour // The dynamism in water

On first instance, the Harbours perimeter is flooded with sounds of movement; of water patting against the harbour barriers, the not too distant chatter of people and of course the wind. Knowing the sea is so close a sense of calm washes over me…

Dynamic Water Levels

Ever increasingly, I am experiencing a profound resonance with the element of water; In connection with the dynamics between the play of light (reflectivity) and of the conceived ‘fixed architectural entity’. It is this contradictory ‘calming tension’ between the two which intrigues my sense of place and imagination.  

By the process of omission, my perception of the elements which hold the most prominence prevails; thus gaining a sense of regained clarity and poetic reflectiveness amongst the chaos which surrounds. 

The video below focuses on the markings made by the water and how the linear movement of the tidal reach changes with time. Here the dynamic rhythm of the waters movement can be perceived as fluctuating; a series of troughs and boughs form this cyclical process, the water fading and reappearing, leaving its mark. 

Fluctuating tide
 (image and video: Tina Zacharia)

Identifying ‘Cycles of Change’ in Whitstable Harbour…

Whitstable Harbour overhead (image: BBC)

Set in the south eastern coastal backdrop, Whitstable Harbour plays the part of our site for both Design thesis and Technical dissertation here at UCA Canterbury.

Week 3 Task: Building upon exploration the techniques utilised in last weeks ‘Intuitive resonance’ exercise, in regards to being attuned with the environment, this week we have been asked to identify phenomena and entities that ‘change with time’ (both cyclical & linear changes and embodying them through envisioned drawing, video and photographical methods)

... video and photos to come!

More from ‘The Spell of the Sensuous’

 “… all of the creativity and free ranging mobility that we have come to associate with the human intellect is in truth an elaboration of a profound creativity already under way at the most immediate level of sensory perception”. On the event of Perception

Perception can be regarded as the dynamic mix of creativity and receptivity where every animate organism orients itself within the world. Our experiences are continually shifting, where functions are never solely resolute. If the body was a closed mechanism, all experiences and its responses would be predetermined. This temporal aspect alters ones perspective where an entity or object can be continually discovered. Shifts in light for example can influence a deeper attunement and encourage further exploration. 

'The Spell of the Sensuous' // David Abram

In the midst of achieving a greater understanding with regards to the ideologies behind Phenomenology and the subjective experience, I came across ‘The Spell of the Sensuous’ by David Abram.

Interpreted from the chapter: The Mindful Life of the Body:

Merleau-Ponty set to radicalize Husserl’s Phenomenology by disclosing its carnal resonance, aiming to draw us closer to the sensuous depth of life and by acknowledging the body to be an ‘insertion’ within the field of conscious experience; without it, there would be no possibility of experience. In effect the body can be seen as a true subject of experience. This integrated body, which functions with the possibility of reflection, thought and knowledge, gives rise for contact, with oneself as well as others. As well as our body giving rise to these possibilities, ultimately we cannot control our spontaneous reactions; these can be regarded as our raw and carnal responses to the everyday experiences by which we feel in direct attunement with our environment.

Andrew Cross // finding beauty in simple places

The artist and photographer Andrew Cross was invited to give an open lecture to Graduate Diploma students about his latest projects. Focusing on capturing ordinary occurrences and re-contextualising them, he looks at how people actually experience a place or environment. How can we translate a journey through form? where does a journey begin and end? Our individual experiential perception will always influence the transient realm.

I found the project "Passage" to be most provocative:

"Passage" (image ©Andrew Cross)
www.andrewcross.co.uk/website/mov_passage.html

Experiencing intuitive resonance // Canterbury

“…instantaneous presence of a distinct emotion; the atmosphere of sound that envelopes and touches me…” The Magic of the Real

At first hearing: ‘I want you to capture a moment…’ I couldn't help but wonder how to embody my personal response; through what medium and by which means? With such ambiguity set at the back of my mind, I began ‘viewing the environment ‘with an open awareness, and allowed myself to become attuned to the conditions which I would find myself in. What happened astonished me: I encountered immediate experience which resonated so profoundly. At my most rested state I found clarity in the most simple of phenomena, the water, the light, the sounds and the interplay of all three.

Experiential transitions...

 Mediating light (image © Tina Zacharia)

  

Focal Transition: mediating between media  (images © Tina Zacharia)

Pulsating light...

Stills from video (images © Tina Zacharia)

                                   

                                          

        'Pulsating light'  (video © Tina Zacharia) 

­Ephemeral experience:

In retrospect, the process of documenting my journey experientially, developed from spontaneous moments; not scripted or preconceived.  One’s experience is transient and individual; it can’t be directly recreated.

Sketch presentation in studio (image © Tina Zacharia)

Peter Zumthor: Thinking Architecture...

A Way of looking at things, 1988

“The strength of a good design lies in ourselves and our ability to perceive the world with both emotion and reason. Good architecture is sensuous, it’s intelligent”

Designing with a sense of conceptual and spatial sensitivity, Peter Zumthor’s ‘Thinking architecture’ reaches out beyond form and construction toward the experiential realm; focusing on the importance of incorporating ‘the senses’ within the design. Following Zumthor’s early childhood memories, accounting his personal experience and development of spatial awareness; I begin questioning my own perceptions on the environment, specifically how we unconsciously react and are influenced by the forms that shape the spaces in which we move and inhabit:

Is it that we each have our own individual realms within the built environment? Are buildings merely a backdrop for life’s processes?

A time has come to look beyond the ‘defined’ and start intuitively ‘sensing’ our surroundings without conscious thought.

New academic year, New Design Thesis Project…

So Stage 2 Graduate Diploma has begun (!) and once again I find myself immersed in visual and intellectual exploration.  Eager to widen my architectural thinking once again in an educational environment, I look forward to developing and presenting possible new hypotheses through experimentation and making. After careful deliberation, I have chosen to focus my Design Thesis Project within Bradley Starkey’s unit entitled ‘Ageing’:

“…Drawing upon the psychology of ageing, we will examine what ageing might mean: personally, culturally and architecturally. Recognising the importance of embodied thinking, the unit will emphasise a hands on approach to designing and making. This will lead to proposals for the design of innovative, sensitive and beautiful environments for our ageing population…”