Post Crit

My final crit was yesterday and I think I'm quite happy with how it went. There were some criticisms but they were mainly things that I can work on this next week ready for the portfolio. Events is now finished so all of my energy can go into producing the best portfolio I can. I am slightly concern about the communication aspect of it though: my first portfolio had too much writing but my second had too little. I think I had a similar problem to this last year. Hopefully I will get it right this time around though. 

Tomorrow, I am working solidly on the drawings and making sure that they are completely finished. I didn't hand draw them as such but instead used them to create an exploded isometric drawing and a sectional perspective. I am really happy with the way these turned out but I think they still need something just to finish them off. It's been suggested that I look at the drawings of Aldo Rossi to help me with my own and, as I have used his work as a precedent, look at how David Chipperfield presents his drawings. 

I still have to finish looking at the materiality and showing it properly in my montages. I think my detailed section is good to go though so that's one less thing to worry about! Although I do have to get my physical model done and photographed. But that can wait until friday.

After that, it's just a case of organising it. And sorting it out in my Integrated Design Report. 

9 days left

All Coming Together

Today, I have been getting my work organised for the final crit on Tuesday. I spent two days building the theatre on Sketch up and I am really pleased with how it's turned out. 

This morning I was working on my photo montages and I chose three views that were key to my design, in particular, the view up the stairs to the theatre. I want to also do some from the inside and at night when the theatre is in use but I will have to see how much time I have left. It might be something I do tomorrow or Monday. 

I have also been working on my detailed sections for the new building. Later on, I am going to make a start on hand drawing my technical drawings. I marked on the print outs the mistakes I made so I will know which bits to add on the final thing. These will then get scanned in and I will put them into my presentation tomorrow evening or Monday.

The End is Nigh!

With event's month and various other things happening, I am so glad that I did as much work as I did in those three weeks around Easter! 
Yesterday, I finally made a start on my digital model and am currently working on the first floor. 
Yesterday was also tutorials and I feel that I am now ready to start really selling my idea. The design work it practically done and all that's left is to sort out the materiality and do some killer images. Looking at my sketch model from the outside reminded me of David Chipperfield's restoration of the Neues Museum in Berlin. And I think I can definitely take some inspiration from how he presented his idea. I am also planning to look at some of Peter Zumthor's work and how he uses stone to create some bold finishes on his buildings. This relates back to using classical buildings and theatre as precedents in my design. I think using stone on the extension will make a bold statement against the brickwork of the original theatre and having the grand staircase leading up to it will be similar to the ancient and classical theatres. 

Finished Design

Yesterday was one on one tutorials and as I had been working on the landscaping of the site, this was discussed. I have more or less finished my design now and it is a case of presenting my idea.
I am yet to start my final model but I have already finished my technical drawings on AutoCAD. These need to be printed and I was thinking about hand drawing them as well. Over Easter break I saw some drawings that dated back to 1911 and there was something really nice about seeing hand drawings so I might take my inspiration from them for my own drawings.

Still going

I feel like not much has actually been done this week in terms of working on this project - I've done plenty of other work in aid of getting all of it done a lot before the deadline!

Wednesday, I updated my sketch site model so that it shows the new intervention. I also extended the model so that it includes the whole of the site, including the community garden centre. Now that I have this, I can look at how I can link the two together. 
I am going to do this by creating a communal space beneath the stairs up to the theatre entrance. I still need to work on this space on my plans which is probably something I will do today. 

I also want to look at how I can use the space in front of the stairs, and give the stairs more function than just as a way to access the theatre. it was suggested that I make it into a outdoor performance space so to help me, I think I need to look at similar spaces and how they are defined from the rest of the site. At the moment, I feel that I could just leave it clear and explain that it is a performance space, with the stairs doubling up as seating for this space but it seems a bit like cheating so I am going to look into existing spaces. 

I have been working on my technical drawings but having a lot of difficulty with the line weights of my drawings. I wanted to use them to distinguish the existing building from my intervention but it's not going so well. I will, however, persevere!

A Design

After struggling to come up with my design, over Easter I was able to finalise it and draw up my plans of the theatre. 

I looked at the Carre d'Art in Nimes. Designed by Norman Foster, it is built opposite a Roman temple and mirrors the design of it. I decided to look at the profile of these buildings and compare them to mine to help inform my design. After trying several designs, I decided one I was happy with which followed the same design as the buildings in Nimes and also allowed me to keep my idea of circulation through the building and  site. 

Over Easter, I also made a start on my Integrated Design Report and I found referring back to this blog really helpful - especially for the past projects. I am planning on writing the report alongside working on my project now that I have caught up with it.

To help me gain spacial awareness of my design's footprint on the site, I made a sketch SketchUp model. This also helped me to arrange and finalise the design for the front of the building. By creating a large staircase up to the theatre's main entrance, there is space underneath the steps, which will be used for the box office and cafe. I was also able to incorporate the disabled access into this although it moved to the other side of the stairs from how I originally built it. This was for a couple of reasons. The first was that with the car park around the back of the theatre, it made sense to have the disabled access on the road side of the stairs, meaning there is a smaller distance between the ramp and the car park. By swapping the ramp from the site side to the road side of the stairs, a large space has been created facing the site. This means that I can make the link between the site and the community gardens and the theatre, something that was important to my concept.

Today I have been working on the sections and although they still need a bit of work doing to them to finalise them before I put them into Photoshop, they are more or less done.

Next, I need to look at materiality and environmental aspects of my design. I will also need to make my final model which will probably take me a while (if my White Water model is anything to go by!)

Theatre Re-arranging

I am currently in the process of arranging my theatre so that it all fits into place. It's really difficult due to floors lacking in some area and seating in others. 

The most difficult bit at the moment is finding places for the toilets and the lift in the main auditorium. I am planning on also putting toilets on the second floor but I haven't got that far yet. I thought I worked out where to put the lift but then I started on the first floor and the lift ends up on the balcony, in the middle of the seats. Time to re-think. I think the problem I have is that the only foyer space I have is above what I want to be rehearsal/multi-functional space and you can't really put a lift or a flight of stairs right in the middle of a dance studio! In order to work it out, I will have to mark out on each floor where it can go and match up my plans.

Bits and Pieces

I find it quite ironic how one of my main themes is circulation and I completely forgot about disabled access to the upper floors. Darn. I am still working this out but I am thinking of making it part of the landscaping. I already have exterior stairs so I can try and work them into each other although I feel I have to be careful so that it doesn't become too similar to my previous project. As the ramp will have to reach a height of about 3 metres, I have to have a slope of at least 36 metres - going on the 1:12 gradient determined by the building regs. This, if I get it right, could be quite interesting and a key part of my intervention; the space below it can be used to create vital spaces that could be used for gathering or a cafe or spaces that could be used for pop up shops and similar.

I also had to return to the brief and make a list of all the facilities needed within my design. Some of them have already been considered and are covered by my multi studio/circulation space. One of the things I forgot about was the projection booth but I think that this can also be covered by the multifunctional space - a mini outdoors cinema could be created by closing the studio doors to create a flat surface to project onto with the steps under the stairs acting as seating - although this could only really be done during the summer months. Or I could just be boring and put a projection booth behind the circle and put a temporary/moveable screen over the stage so that the theatre doubles up as a cinema. 
There are also a couple of other facilities that I needed to consider, such as the blue screen facility and the seminar room. I feel that it would be cheating to try and incorporate these into the multi studio space but they would kind of fit. A seminar room could be created by having tables and chairs in storage and setting it up when the room is booked for a meeting. I could also transform the space into a green screen facility by, well, adding a green screen. From my knowledge, you simply need a green/blue area where filming takes place but I think I will have to look further into that. I guess I would also need to include a computer suite for editing the footage. This could relate back to engaging the community and local schools and youth clubs.
In order to show this, I think I'm going to need a number of different sketches showing each different function of the spaces. Photomontage time? Using this relatively small space to create a range of different spaces reminds me of those ridiculously small flats where everything folds up and hide away so that you can only have one room set up at a time but it's all there and when it's not needed, it gets hidden away . . . . 

A Design! . . . . Finally

After being completely and utterly stuck and void of inspiration and ideas for the past week or two, I was really looking forward to talking to my tutors to try and get a fresh look at the project. It helped when I was discussing it and what I had done. I surprised myself slightly as it felt like I had done nothing when I had a fair bit to talk about. 
Once I got home, that small spark had disappeared once again but I got out a couple of books to flick through to see if anything triggered. These were 101 Things I Learnt at Architecture School, XS and XS Green. Whenever I read the first of these, I always see something new and it gives me a new perspective. I used the other two books a lot over the summer for the first project and I thought I might find something in them that I could apply to my design.

It wasn't until last night when I really started to think about my design again that I came up with my concept. The main themes I wanted to look at were:

• Classical Theatre
• Engagement with the community ie the local primary school, the garden centre next to the site
• Circulation

My concept allows me to combine these three themes surprisingly easily, making me thing that this is the right way to go about my intervention. The origin of the idea came from talking with Clare in studio on Tuesday. She had made a suggestion a few weeks back about using steps as a grand entrance to the theatre. After modelling this, it didn't seem to work very well so I tried  dismissing that idea entirely. However, she talked about rather that stepping the landscape, having the main entrance on the first floor and this classical style staircase leading up to it. As I had already dismissed the idea of stairs, I admit that I didn't really like the idea but I did a section sketch of how it would look and having exterior stairs up to the first floor would create an interesting space below them and would allow me to explore the new possibilities of where to put the bar/box office etc. It would also create this more private space where the entrance currently is. I thought about how this could be an informal/daytime entrance with the stairs creating a shelter or gathering space.

After a whirl of brain activity and my brain going far to fast for my hands to keep up I was able to  decide what I wanted to do with the space where the current entrance is. I thought about creating private rehearsal/activity spaces for youth clubs and schools to use. This then developed to opening the building up to the space below the stairs and then creates small informal performance spaces. This then expanded to open up fully into the theatre to create a circulation space, allowing easy exits after performances.

To help me look at the possibilities of this space, I made a little model with large 'doors' between the two rehearsal spaces and to the front and back. I am really pleased with this idea and I'm looking forward to exploring it further and developing my design. 

Alternative Sources

Change of plan. The chance of me actually getting inside the building again is so slim that I have had to look elsewhere for the information I need. Luckily, one of my course mates was able to tell me that the walls are load bearing brick with steel columns inside. Which is what was initially thought anyway. I am now going to get to work on the sections I sketched out and mark out where the loadings are and the current plan of the walls etc. I also need to draw up a scaled section to start thinking about my design within a measured environment - or as measured as I can get anyway. Once I can see what walls I can afford to remove without the whole building collapsing, I really will be able to start getting some solid designs down on paper. Hopefully. Feeling a little better but will feel even better when I get drawing again!

Stuck

Nearly a month into the project and I still don't have a design. I thought I nearly had one but now I'm back at square one.

Last week were our interim reviews in the week leading up to them, as well as working on portfolio and technology, I had started to develop my concept of using columns and working with the landscape in front of the theatre. I had a go at looking at different layouts by using a sketch up model but nothing really seemed to look quite right and it seemed a bit of a pointless exercise.

It was suggested that I take another look at the site and how the structure works and then allow that to influence my design. I think this really will give me some ideas about my design and it should determine the form my intervention as the structure is the bare bones of it. It's now just finding the time to get to the site and get inside again. I am hoping to be able to go down on Friday and then I will be able to start to really work on my design over the weekend and into next week - not having a design at all this far into the project is starting to make me nervous but I'm hoping it will all turn out ok!

Developing

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been trying to develop my concept and come up with a design.

After the site analysis presentation, I started looking at the parts that interested me and we discussed our thoughts with our tutor. I started out by drawing a rough site plan and just getting my ideas down on paper. This helped me organise my thoughts and after scribbling all over the Playhouse plans, I decided that I wanted my intervention to mainly focus on the front of house as the foyer is really small and impractical for the building: it is too small for a large group of people to stand in/walk though it at anyone time. I would also look at the bar and how this could be changed - having it in auditorium and facing the stage seems odd to me and slightly impractical. 

After making a sketch model showing how I would use the columns around the front of the Playhouse to indicate the entrance to the theatre I made a series of quick sketches and brainstorming how I could use the columns to open the theatre up, making it both inviting and allowing easy circulation, especially after a show when everyone would be leaving at the same time. 

Site Analysis

The task for this week was to work on the site analysis. Rather than doing this in small groups and all presenting the same thing, we did it as a studio group so we were split into small groups and given a different part of the analysis to work on. We would then present this and be able to share and use whatever analysis interested us.

My group's task was to look at Typology. This meant we were looking at theatres and similar buildings to help us understand how the public space works. While other group members looked at the theatre layout and other theatre layouts and public buildings, I opted to look at the evolution of the theatre from the Ancient Greeks to the Romans to the Globe Theatre in London. Looking at history of buildings fascinates me so reading up about how the first theatre came about in Athens was really interesting and I was then able to compare them all and see exactly why the theatre has developed the way it has. I was able to find lots of books about the Greek and Roman theatre and from them I could draw up plans and could see how even the modern day theatre holds similarities to the originals. 

We were also tasked with each coming up with three urban artefacts from around the site and what we would do with them. The columns on the original facade of the Hippodrome caught my eye - as I mentioned in my previous entry. I would really like to do something with these as the are not only an interesting feature of the site but also link back into classical theatre - looking at theatres like the Opera House in Manchester etc. 

The Next Brief

Today was the site visit for the new project. Hulme Hippodrome and Playhouse is more or less derelict and we have free rein on the place, although the decorated interior is Grade II listed. The project is focused on the Playhouse, the slightly smaller of the two.

Wilberforce Close Façade

On arriving at the site, there wasn't really much to see: it looks nothing like a theatre and has no obvious entrance to it except a small area of non-brickwork in one corner. Its the kind of building that you could easily walk past and not even realise was there. In front of it, is the Hulme Community Garden Centre, set up and run by the local community. This is extending to the patch of empty land in front of the Playhouse but part of out brief is to landscape this area as well as create a proposal for the interior and exterior of the building. 

Hidden Column on the Hippodrome

Before exploring inside the theatre, we were encouraged to wander around and take a closer look at the exterior. My camera had completely run out of batteries so I had to resort to using my iPod but while the quality wasn't great, it enabled me to capture things that really interested me. It also encouraged me to us my sketchbook more (although the rain soon put a stop to that).
The North-west façade was originally the entrance to the Hippodrome. Something that really caught my eye was the columns that decorated either side of the door. These had been covered up with some sort of plaster board but with the building being derelict and subject to vandalism, the boards had either been smashed up or fallen into disrepair, leaving the original details exposed.

Back stage at the Playhouse

When it had started to rain too much to stay outside, we headed into the building, but not through the box office and main entrance as you once would have. To get into the building, we had to go through the stage door. Inside was freezing! Back stage had quite a clinical-anti-septic kind of feel to it: tiled flooring, white (ish) walls, etc. One of the first things I notice was the small step that ran down the room. This, I later realised, was the boundary of the stage. There was also a suspended/cantilevered walkway which lead to what I think are currently being used as some sort of offices/meeting rooms. The whole contrast of blue and white was quite unusual and striking. 

The stage in the Playhouse

I kind of knew what to expect when I went through into the front of house but I didn't expect it to be as garish(?) as it was. The stage was full of musical instruments so it was obvious that the place was used on a regular basis and make use of the stage, despite half of it being cut off by the fire curtain. 

The box office

The main entrance/box office/cloakroom was really small. Especially compared to the size of the theatre. It was very hard to move around when one of the groups came in to have a look. The entrance was completely blocked off from the outside but the glass paned doors reminded me a lot of the Art Deco style: straight geometric patterns. 

The original foyer entrance

After we were too cold to stay in the theatre any longer, we headed over to the Zion Arts Centre to get an idea of what could be done with the space. The Centre, as well as having its own theatre, also has dance studios and gallery space. The building is an old church that was completely regenerated into this community arts centre.

We also went into the city to the Royal Exchange Theatre near the Arndale. This, again was to give us ideas and made us think about what could be done to with the shell of an old building to give it a new lease of life. The theatre in the Corn Exchange barely touches the existing building and looks very odd and modern among the pilasters that line the room but at the same time, the use of a completely modern looking theatre, although, being circular, links back to the original Greek and Roman theatres, is really interesting and visiting the three gave me a lot to think about in terms of my proposal.