Rmd by Louisa Preece

Louisa Preece Research Philosophy for Design

13092824 P30026

Research Methods Diary

Content // Diagram - Dialectogram // Writing Architecture - Site Writing // Walking - Oxford Mirrors // Participatory - Play-Park Board Game // Archives - Urban Archives // Film - movement // Fieldwork - Oxford Quads // City in the City - Parkour _______________________ // Walking - Boring Postcards // Archives & Site Writing - Poetic Posters // Collage - Interior // Film - pluralities of isolation _______________________ // Critical Reflection - Disciplinary & Interdisciplinary [Q.2] _______________________ // Bibliography // Lecture Notes

Workshop

// Diagram - Dialectogram The style was developed by Mitch Miller, an illustrator, looking to capture elements of his home town of Glasgow. Exploring the city and looking further through the use of drawing. The dialectogram is a response to the environment, almost a conversation where the act of recording brings you closer to the subject and reveals more. Although Mitch Miller uses them to record his city [of Glasgow] in aid to remember and bring spaces to light, it is also a great method on interrogation of a site. / Park

The first dialectogram is of a section of park in Oxford [Southfield Park] and the way people interact with such an open space. There are no paths that take you through the park, and no well-tread desire lines. However after around an hour of observation and recording, the way people interact with the space began to be revealed. Most interestingly was a set of tire tracks that had flattened the grass along which those venturing through the park and down the hill, tended to keep to before veering off. Dog walkers and runners stuck to the edge but others would walk down the center. The small copses of trees were frequented by couples who seemed to find privacy even though the space is very open. / Train

The second is set on a train going from Bristol to Didcot Parkway [on its way to London] being at 10-30am it was interesting to note the way people interacted. Most people were travelling alone, the train was quiet apart from the rustling of paper and only those sat in my view became of interest. An unspoken rule of public transport: Do Not Sit Next To Someone If There Is A Free Seat Elsewhere. When drawing the interior of the carriage what lay in front of me became important but not what lay behind. The layout of the chairs and the ever changing landscape create a solipsistic view and only what you see appears to exist. /

B u s Kidlington to Oxford. This seems to be one of the few ‘public spaces’ that the residents of Kidlington use - the buses to Oxford and the bus stops. It is here the gather in a friendly manner, politely queuing. Some of the ‘rules’ applicable to public transport also apply here, although proximity is much closer than trains. In order to understand the type of people who live in this suburb it seems you only have to get on a bus destined for Oxford..

The bus stop is a ‘plurality of isolations’ and becomes a larger reading of society, those waiting for the bus see others as competitors for a seat, but also that his ‘identity is interchangeable with that of other passengers’. A ‘competitive quest for a limited resource’ (Moran, 2005).

// Writing Architecture - Site Writing /Written Writing can sometime express more than reality, can help the mind escape and transport you away and relive memories. Peter Zumthor writes his memories of a place to re-construct the situation of being there, in order to ascertain what it is about the space that attracts him; ‘fragmentary approaches based on person experience’ (Zumthor, P. 1998; 37). These in turn help inform his work, connecting the memories to ideas. Jane Rendall explores writing in relation to space and place: ‘architecture as a spatial narrative’. Writing can empower by providing a shared outlet for thought, my space of focus was the Bus Stop from which I catch the bus everyday. I wanted to understand how people interacted with the space, and took possession of a public pathway: Here is time for contemplation, a temple to waiting. A place I have come to know in the past few weeks, before which I would have walked/cycled/driven past without a second thought. Now this spot has certain significance, the green metal frame holds sheets of toughened glass, some missing, some cracked, with spiders decorating the inside. This structure holds a moment in time where I count down the seconds. Sometimes the queue stretches past the curve of the shelter roof, along the pavement, parallel to the road. Sometimes I lean my head in the direction of the sun and actually want time to expand. Conversations begin here, more than elsewhere, pulled to this spot on the pavement, waiting – an exercise in patience. Run, jog, pause, walk, constantly swinging round to look behind to see if it approaches, slightly out of breath. A few people look in to the distance, others cross the road to join them, a queue is formed. W A I T. Three girls walk up and, ignoring the queue, stand by the road in a huddle. They must be foreign if they haven’t queued. Eastern European accents float past. The local public space; where people meet up, catch up, flirt, and ignore one another. For a moment the pavement becomes ours, we require being here. The structure simple gives us more ownership. It marks a key point along a busy road, drawing people in. Those in cars stare nosily as they drive past, or as they sit in front of the lights; early morning commuter traffic. Such a different form of waiting to those country side bus stops I am used to. Trudging up hills, through estates to a single track road where there is no destined time of arrival, just the glare of the sun. A metal pole with a bleached out sign was the only marker that a bus might stop here, at some point, if you happened to be lucky. Many days you could wait a couple hours, then you would be winding your way through cornfields, under duel-carriageway bridges, between 16th century cottages until the industrial estates, traffic lights and shops made an appearance.

o Here is time for o contemplation, a temple to o o Waiting. o The local o public space; o where people o meet up, catch up, o flirt, and ignore one o another. o A few people look in to the distance, o others o cross the road to join them, o a queue is formed. o For a moment o the pavement o becomes ours, we o o here. require being 11

/Text

The text I selected from the above observation I felt would lend a personal perspective upon the space whilst leaving the possession of the space up to interpretation. Influenced by how Zumthor composes his brief descriptions that draw up a tangible sense of place I focused on the spatial and interactive qualities of the ‘users’. I also drew on Jane Rendell’s way of breaking up the text with more architectural narratives. In order to break the text up but also high-light the aspect of waiting, the text was arranged around the circular qualities of the typography, creating a continuous band of continuous time [the circle]. Here is time for contemplation; a temple to waiting. The local public space; where people meet up, catch up, flirt, and ignore one another. A few people look in to the distance, others cross the road to join them, a queue is formed. For a moment the pavement becomes ours, we require being here. /Reaction The writing was placed upon the bus shelter itself, Due to the high amount of traffic the writing was pasted up in the evening. When I arrived in the morning the paper had been removed, so there was not the chance to gauge any reactions from the bus stop users - all that was left was the remnants of where the paper had been pasted to the wall. I did find the quick reaction to removal of the text quite interesting. It is one of the most frequented places in the ‘village’ [more a suburb to Oxford], but it is actually illegal to bill posters. You would imagine this would be a great place to advertise for the community - however it transpires that only if you are a conglomerate corporation can you use these places for any form of advertising. Which is a shame. So I decided to have another attempt at placing the writing up -this time with a temporary adhesive - blue tack - the following morning the text was still there, and a few people were reading it. By the afternoon it had gone. As well as the exercise of spatial engagement through writing, which has proved an interesting way to research a space/site. It also revealed a political side to the space ownership. Within the text I discussed how ‘for a moment the pavement becomes ours’. The act of removal demonstrated that this is a very temporal event. The small structure of the bus-stop is saying - you are not welcome here, p[ease leave - without saying anything at all. I suppose that is another discourse between architecture and writing - a space can sometimes give a message without words.

Act I

Sat beneath the removed

Thrown away

View from bus

Being read

View from bus

Act II

Still there in the morning

// Walking - Oxford Mirrors After living in Oxford for a few years it is difficult to take a step back and look at it afresh. The autumn leaves in the puddles draw my attention, the deep oranges. Looking further I realised the subtle hues of the building reflected in these small pools complemented the autumnal leaves. These image catch a dreamlike world of the historic buildings on a short walk through the city. Not only do you see down but up, a reflection of Oxford: mirrors.

oxford 1930s

PATH

O X F O R D m i r r o r s

Front

Back

Scale 1:2500 0

100

120

O 140

160

180

200 m

L O

Oct 13, 2013 20:33

Louisa Preece Oxford Brookes

// Participatory - Play-Park Board Game

“Designers in the future will make the tools for non-designers to use to express themselves creatively” (Sanders& Stappers, 2008, pp.16) The Board Game opens up possibilities for participation on a involved level, where the architect designer is EMPOWERING the user. Users can become ‘part of the design team as ‘experts of their experiences’, to enable them to do this they need tools with which to express themselves. Recently research groups have been developing these co-designing tools and the process with which they can be applied. The designer/researcher as facilitator, encourages creativity by providing materials with which people can express themselves. Sanders and Stappers explain that researchers need to learn how to: · . lead people who are on the ‘doing’ level of creativity, · . guide those who are at the ‘adapting’ level, · . provide scaffolds that support and serve peoples’ need for creative expression at the ‘making’ level, and · . offer a clean slate for those at the ‘creating’ level. (Sanders& Stappers, 2008, pp. 14] _____________ The Playground The boardgame aims to open up ideas about a new playground space in Jericho, Mount Place. A small, undersued sight it is located near to the local youth club. The games hopes to get ideas from the local children by giving them the oppertunity to express their ideas. This takes place in a game where the children each start with a Player Game Piece on the Start space. The dice is then rolled and the player decides which direction and which activity they want to land on. Each time they land on ‘Pick Up A Card’ they will pick one of the colour coded cards and place a matching colour token where they think the activity suggested would be best located. The AIM of the game is to reach 4 of the 6 DRAW SOMETHING boxes outlined in Pink and complete the appropriate square on their DRAW SHEET. Once a player has 4 boxes filled they WIN the game. The board itself is laid out as Mount Place, with the edges of the site shown; canal, street, wall. By the end of the game the children will have located certain activities in relation to the space and also filled out some of their concepts of what they would like in the space in the DRAW SHEET.

Game making in progress

BOARD-GAME

START

DRAW SHEET

PUT A YELLOW P I E C E W H E R E YOU MIGHT PLAY CATCH

PUT A YELLOW P I E C E W H E R E YOU MIGHT KICK A BALL

PUT A B L U E P I E C E W H E R E YOU MIGHT SIT & EAT L U N C H

PUT A B L U E P I E C E W H E R E YOU MIGHT SIT & CHAT

PUT A B L U E P I E C E W H E R E YOU MIGHT SIT & EAT L U N C H

PUT A R E D P I E C E W H E R E YOU MIGHT C L I M B

PUT A B L A C K P I E C E W H E R E YOU MIGHT S W I N G

PUT A B L A C K P I E C E W H E R E YOU MIGHT S P I N

PUT A B L A C K P I E C E W H E R E YOU MIGHT S W I N G

DRAW IN FOUR BOXES TO WIN THE ROUND! DRAW SOMETHING WET

DRAW SOMETHING NOISY

DRAW SOMETHING GREEN

DRAW SOMETHING THAT SMELLS

DRAW SOMETHING YOU MOVE

DRAW SOMETHING YOU CLIMB

// Archives - Urban Archives Archives are a selection of artefacts that are chosen specifically. In this respect they are a sum of history; what was most important at that time. That is why it is interesting to look at the online archive Urban Archives, that documents the urban environment. Since 2004 students of University of Washington have been documenting their urban environs using photography that is then annotated and uploaded to the archive. They started by collecting urban texts, such as signage and graffiti. Since then they have expanded by adding further examples of text and to include data from all over the world. Examples include ‘Ghost signs and painted walls’ and ‘Yard Art’. Urban Archives - contributes to documenting , preserving, and telling the stories of places that get ignored, overlooked, or marginalised. We treat the city as a laboratory to research diverse and often unconventional form of urban expression in an attempt to understand the complex relationships of power that exist in our everyday surroundings. (Aiello, Dobrowolsky, Gendelman, 2010, p.187) In relation to my project I am interested to see if they have any items which they annotate with ‘identity’ or ‘belonging’ this search led me to find the image on the right. Urban Archives consider libraries to be the ‘most reliable places to store information for long periods of time’ (Aiello, Dobrowolsky, Gendelman, 2010, p.191) and therefore they house their archive within the University of Washington library. They also use a ‘faceted classification scheme’ which they state offers ‘free-tagging with the rigour and quality control of standardized vocabulary’. Each term is debated in order to allow future researchers to be able to access them. Visitors to the site are able to contact about corrections or to offer up more information. “The city writes itself on its walls and in its streets. But that writing is never completed.” (Lefebvre, 2003, p. 121) The grain silo just outside of Kidlington has recently been demolished as a new rail line is being built that will offer direct connections to London. The new rail station will be Oxford Parkway and this postcode OX5 will continue to grow. The graffiti marked out a place, gave those their identity: you are entering this area. A signifier of this sort will be needed when the sprawl, that inevitably follows development such as this, occurs and the city and village can no longer be told apart. Archiving in this sense holds on to memories, in a culture of photographs that get taken, uploaded to the internet and lost in a whirl of information, an archive such as Urban Archives is a way of bringing this together and being able to access it. Although images can remain in ‘cyber-space’ forever they may never be found and this method of recording preserves a history as it forms and makes it accessible. In this sense the histories become more important and with that importance can come a sense of pride - and with that perhaps a sense of belonging and identity?

Image available from: http://content.lib.washington.edu/cdm4/item_viewer. php?CISOROOT=/ua&CISOPTR=147&CISOBOX=1&REC=1 [Accessed: 18/11/2013]

Title Barrel of a Gun Date 22 May 2005 Time 1 2/30/1899 17:30:00 Description This image was in a space underneath a bridge “belonging” to the long-established crew “Pi”. The bridge notoriously is referred to as the “Pi rats’ bridge” and contained some of the most colorful, elaborate art I found. Address 15th & 107th Municipality United States -- Washington (State) -- Seattle Item Number 20050522sfr0044 Surfaces bridges Photographer Rosenfeld, Sarah Copyright holder Rosenfeld, Sarah Usage Information Please review Copyright and Usage information at http://urbanarchives.org/UA_web/Ua_ Usage.php . For further inquiries, please contact irinag@u. washington.edu , agent@u.washington.edu or giorgia@u. washington.edu Digital Collection Urban Archives Urban Archives Collection Graffiti, bridge 21

Title ox5 Grain Silo Date 24 October 2013 Time 1:10 pm Description This image was on top of a Grain Silo on the entrance to Kidlington. The graffitti gives the sense of â&#x20AC;&#x153;belongingâ&#x20AC;? that the building itself signified. The follow week the silo had been demolished to make way for a new rail link. Address Water Eaton Municipality United Kingdom -- Oxfordshire Item Number **** Surfaces tower Photographer Preece, Louisa Copyright holder Preece, Louisa Usage Information Digital Collection Urban Archives Urban Archives Collection Graffiti, tower

Documenting the written word in Kidlington, starting an archive similar to Urban Archives - documenting language.

Names & Places: bus stop grime

Names & Places: bus stop grime #2

Re-opening co-op

simpli-city red bus

The lights of Waiting

catch tag

Simple Enjoyment rubbish

NFA - hidden graffitti

ox5 Grain Silo

// Film - movement The workshop enabled a quick exploration of movement. The group and I recorded that passage of people across the coloured glass bridges in Abercrombie. Initially this was an aestheitic choice but as we recorded the patterns of movement that emphisies the feet becames interesting especially when laid against the same bridge from a different view at the different moment in time. At on point in the video the film reaches the same point and then moves away from this. The focus is primarily on the bridge from above and below, cutting out the periphery and only showing this from an side perspective which shows the layering of the bridges. How people navigate through space is interesting, W. H. Whyte illustrates this in his exploration of public space in New York. Where he discusses the publicâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ability to navigate around one another.

The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces - The Street Corner (1988) Directed by W. H. Whyte, available online at: http:// vimeo.com/6821934 [accessed 24/10/2013]

// Fieldwork - Oxford Quad Fieldwork requires a base upon which to explore from. In this respect, all fieldwork has an aspect of ‘armchair ethnography’ about it. In the workshop the question that the group I was part of chose to investigate was ‘What is the meaning and use of the Quad in contemporary Oxford colleges?’. The first step we took to look at this question was to pose questions: “What is a contemporary quad in Oxford?” “What is meant by meaning and use?” These initial questions then allowed us to probe further into how we would aproach field work in relation to this question. What type of information do you need? List of contemporary quads in Oxford Activities in quads Rules & Etiquette of quads The public and private space use in quads The historical development Who uses the quads? How are they used? How were they used? What is the point/meaning of the quads? Layout of quads/ Detail Access to quads Where is it available? Literature: novels, diary’s, film. Personal accounts Photographs Plans, Drawings, Paintings Personal experience How will you be able to get it? Libraries, College libraries, Online Interview those who work/visit/live there: porters, tourists, students, fellows Compare these personal views Online, libraries, take own images Archives, online, libraries Go to the quads, experience them first hand, make recordings & interview

/ Chosen Methodology Taking this forward the methodologies used would be: Observation: Going to chosen colleges and recording observations. This would involve choosing a selection of colleges that best expressed the ‘Contemporary Oxford Quad’ and gaining permission from the head of the college to take part in fieldwork. A camera would be required to take photographs of people using the space and to document that appearance of the space. Drawing tools would enable the spatial qualities to be recorder. Also noting down how people engage with the space differently. Observations will include: recording situations as they happen and recording the meanings of these events for those who are present. This may involve using the methodology of interview within this process also. What will be monitored will be: activities, events, settings and participation in setting, behaviours of groups and individuals, conversations and interactions. [Another methodology that may come in here is a DIALECTOGRAM as this is a useful diagram to record space and interaction with space. Interview: As the task of Observation would require visiting the site it would also be possible to gain permission from the college to use ethnographic interview. This method would gain an in-depth personal experience of the space. Representative individuals would be used, these will include Tourists, Fellows, Students, Porters. Each of these interviews could then be compared to find any common threads of what the use and meaning of the contemporary quad is. Open ended questions would be asked such as: What would you do in this space? How do you see this space being used? What do you imagine this space is for? If you were alone in this space what activity would you do? These will help open people up to suggesting and thinking about how they really percieve the space - rather than just ‘keep off the grass!’. ________ Reflection This method is great in that it interrogates the site and ensuring a clear direction, which requires a lot of preparation work. The empirical research means that an original insight will be gained. However the process involved is quite methodological and therefore could be quite restrictive in its outcome and findings. It would be a great approach to an architectural site as it would go very in depth into the local area and history and also find out personal opinions. It is a similar approach to the practice Muf Architecture/Art about whom the Literature Review was written.

Image available from: http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mob_Quad_from_Chapel_ Tower.jpg [Accessed on 03/12/13]

Image available from: https://maps.google.co.uk/ maps?q=google+maps,+oxford&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x48713380ad41ff :0c820ba8cb547402,Oxford&gl=uk&ei=h3ueUvrJI42B hAf3loDoBg&ved=0CC8Q8gEwAA [Accessed on 03/12/13]

// City in the City - Parkour â&#x20AC;&#x153;All walls are boundaries, but not all boundaries are wallsâ&#x20AC;? (Marcuse, 1997, p. 101)

PARKOUR

“être fort pour être utile”

‘Free run of the city’ Challenge yourself against the CITY. Open up more possibilities for interaction with the CITY. Protect yourself and those around you from the CITY Strong form such as wall, nature or boundaries begin to make clear ownership of space and divide the city. Boundaries and Nature provide platforms for interaction. Performances and rituals are inscribed by repeated engagement of the ground and thus appropriate the city. The Same Places are used to build Strength. Deadly events. To be Safe you need to be Strong. Rituals do not function to create social stability at all but provide enacted narratives that allow people to interpret their own experience. Rituals produce a story people tell each other about each other.

Image available at: https:// maps.google.com/maps/ ms?msid=2029925070389116 96850.0004e6d2672d23f5e24 08&msa=0&source=gplus-ogsb [Accessed on 02/11/2013]

A collection of spots, usefull for training within Oxford/ How to get in touch with Parkour in Oxford: www.oxfordparkour.co.uk, https://www.facebook.com/groups/OXFPK/ or just give any of the collaborators a shout!

Fig 1-4 available at: http://www.oxfordparkour. co.uk/#!untitled/zoom/mainPage/image9vh [Accessed on 02/12/2013]

AIMS OF PARKOUR Discipline of Movement Learn to Move within the CITY more Freely Overcome obstacles in the CITY Increase Mental & Physical Capabilities Condition the Body Work to your Strengths Non-competitive

MOVING THROUGH THE CITY Check the surface for Strength WARM UP Conditioning 5 Stations in the CITY - encourage different forms of movement COOL DOWN

Extended

// Walking - Boring Postcards

Quote available: [http:// typology.ca/the-passionsof-martin-parr/] Accessed on 13/11/13

“Postcards especially are illustrations of social history. When I was young and the M.I. Motorway was new, it was considered a treat to be taken onto it. Now, of course, it is not.” - Martin Parr Influenced by Martin Parrs ‘Boring Postcards’ I decided to explore my site (Kildington) in regards of the ‘sites to see’. A walk around, taking in the routines of people, the day to day tasks and recording that in much the same way as Martin Parr. Using the methodology of Urban Rambling, the visual was critiqued: what is it that we see at picturesque? Joe Moran explains that ‘Boring Postcards’ arose from an interest in historical change with a focus on British ‘non-places’ and that these postcards “reveal them not simply as sites of nascent globalisation but as repositories if cultural memory” (Moran, 2005, p.125). Parr took the images from photographs taken in the 1960-70s, and these places at the time were seen as great steps forward in public space. In the same way that Parr was taking the celebrations of the past and presenting them to people who see these spaces as a routine of the everyday, so too do the images on the postcards of Kidlington celebrate an overlooked part of the day to day. The postcards ‘destroy this illusion of the timelessness, revealing old routines and unrealised potential’ (Moran, 2005, p.128). Although Martin Parr himself did not walk the route, I though that these ideas could be applied to walking as a postcard is a souvenir of a journey. ________ Reflection Creating these postcards creating an interesting dialogue between the commentary from the Kidlington Council website [the central text] the local colloquialisms and names [labels on photographs such as ‘s**t alley’] and the photographs themselves. Perhaps one day this will be a history, these banal, consumerist, repeated places.

Martin Parr - ‘Boring Postcards’ ‘The M1 Motorway” Image; Boring Postcards Available from Moran, J (2005) Reading the Everyday, Oxon, NY: Routledge. pp. 124

dETAChEd hOSuE

SAinSbuRiES

S**T ALLEY

TESCO

bAnbuRY ROAd

SOFA SuiTE

WASTE

buS ShELTER

A trip to the supermarkets require a journey via car or foot, from the residential to the town centre or the peiphery. The Tesco to the bottom right was once the village cinema, the alley is rather popular with dogs and has gained an unfortunate name, the Sainsburies is the gateway to the village.

Commentary from the walk through Kidlington:

Its busy today, at least 30 people in the high street, rushing around. The video rental is still closed, nothing has replaced it. The supermarkets are busy. A brave few people are sat outside Costa in the morning chill, the cafe adjacent remains eerily quiet. Walking past the Library poster in the window announces the TABLE TOP SALE ON THE 7TH OF DECEMBER: REFRESHMENTS PROVIDED. Outside the dentists a piece of A4 flaps in the wind and asks passers by to HELP THEMSELVES to a box of absent cooking apples.

// Collage - Interior The collage workshop allowed the opportunity to consider the occupancy of the home. I had taken some photomontages of the interior of my Grandmother’s house, a panorama that splayed out the walls onto one continues plane. Also to hand were textures, landscapes and text. I did not work from a plan of the house but from my memory of the spaces. Looking at the material I decided to explore the home by creating the plan from images that best described the spatial qualities of the room. Collaging the dwelling offers an insight into the changing relationship with the individual and the public and private realm. Collaging the internal and laying memories atop one another can make visual the history. The collage to the right was part of the workshop and led onto the exploration collage that follows. Influenced by the ‘Developed Surface’ collage by Robin Evans and also the spatial writings by Georges Perec ‘The Apartment’, the collage was a study of the everyday use of space and the layering of history upon this. ________ Reflection Taking the Bungalow in Kidlington and beginning with the site as an apple orchard, the collage took both photographs and cini-film stills to build an understanding of the occupancy of space. By analysing the photographs in this way the change in activity in front of the dwelling over time was revealed. From riding a pony down the road, building snow men, playing by the car. This activity stops out the front around the mid- 1980s and continues inside and in the back garden. The front garden becomes a territory that marks public and private; where the bins are left, the car is parked. The front garden ceases to be a part of the dwelling and becomes a threshold; a transient space. An internal spatial element that was also revealed through the process of collage was the occupancy of rooms. The dwelling was extended twice to make more space for leisure activities such as television watching [two rooms have a television now] and entertaining friends. Now due to the change in people within the dwelling, three of the rooms are rarely frequented; one of which is the largest room, the sitting room. As culture and lifestyle changes, so too does our occupation of space. The spaces still exist, but become forgotten and marginalised. The car changed the way the street was occupied, as with the front garden, the street ceased to be an extension of the public realm and was marginalised, given over to speed.

Initial Collage

Development of the collage

Focusing on the rooms that are occupied

Occupied space

// Archives & Site Writing - Poetic Posters A contemporary artist who deals with both the poetics of the city and the Spectacle, is Robert Montgomery. A self-proclaimed ‘melancholic, post-situationist’ his work is both influenced by the city and a reaction against it. “Modernity in art preserves all the temporality of place, the ones that are located in space and in words” (Auge, 2008, p.62) Robert Montgomery’s work is concerned with the relationship the individual has with the city and aims to enlighten people as to their conditioning, to offer up new possibilities and to help them see places/ideas in a new light. His mediums include billboards, bus-stop adverts, fire poems and water colours; all text based. He states his main influences as the situationists, mainly Guy Debord, the poet Phillip Larkin and the artist Jenny Holzer. Montgomery sees the city as a ‘magical’ place and that art has a role in communicating this. He uses language to interpret these ideas, which most critics have dubbed poetry. Within the encompass of Writing Architecture, Montgomerys works are relevant to explore as they are drawing on a history imbibed with architecture, from Baudelaire to Guy Debord. His work is site specific, be it the city as archetype or an abandoned airport with a chequered past, and the work he produces can be inferred in much the same way as Jane Rendells. Montague’s work reaches a wide audience and can initiate conversation. His aim is to draw the passer by out of their world for a minute, to take a step back and reflect. It is in the same vein that the text I have written aims to allow the residents of Kidlington to reflect on their past and the direction of the future. And perhaps share in that with those around them. The following images high-light the current transformation of the suburb Kidlington. The grain silo greeted everyone as they entered the village from the city; whether they liked it or not the demolition of the silo is looked on by many with some sadness.

Images on the right available at: http://www.robertmontgomery.org /robertmontg o m e r y. o r g / R O B E R T _ MONTGOMERY.html [Accessed: 03/11/2013]

Image ‘Although the Water Eaton Silo’ : Oxford Mail (2013) Your Say: Letters. by CARL SMITH Acting Temporary Clerk to Gosford & Water Eaton Parish Council. Thursday 7th November 2013

My design studio project is researching is a study of the transient nature of the suburb and how it is changing. The silo: a grain dryer and store, was documented as being very well used throughout most of its life. Modern technology made it redundant and it’s being replaced by a train station. This will offer better connections to London; it will become a ‘theatre of flight’ offering direct escape. Instead of an static icon guarding the village they will soon have a facilitator of travel, inviting people to come on in. The posters aim to capture this ephemeral moment, almost an event that is bringing the minds of the residents of Kidlington together for the brief moment that pass the gap on their way in/ out of the City. They will be placed at places of pausing along the roads of Kidlington to perhaps initiate further discourse between the residents. The posters are both a take on the site writing and the archival research methods. The writing takes influences from the poetic work of Robert Montgomery, a London based (but Scottish) artist and the archival ideas of Urban Archives. ________ Reflection The first part of writing [Today whilst I wait for the bus...] used site writing to begin to explore the qualities of the moment and start breaking up the text in order to make further readings; in the style of Jane Rendell. This was then drawn upon when writing a more poetic/lyrical text in the style of Montgomery [AS YOU PASS BY...]. This style of writing started to engage more with the advertising and media; big bold letters. The yellow on black was influenced by the screens in the bus stop that flash up how long is left to wait. This reflected the interest in time and the rush to be somewhere. The main view of the silo was via vehicle as you drive past, therefore the text aimed to bring to attention this speed and transience; that only now will the silo remain in the memory of people, who are constantly looking forward. To further this exploration, projecting the text on to the bus stops along the main route at night could create a space of reflection. In a similar way to Montgomery, but using the methods of light projection as used by Jenny Holzer, as text pasted to a wall, in the style of Rendell, is less spatial. A light installation is in- tangible and encompasses the ideas of the transience of space and memory more. This could then record, through photography, the interaction of people within the space: would this installation affect them in any way? Perhaps the local paper would pick up on it and the text would move back into the world of physical recorded reality. Similar to Rendells exploration of language translated again, back and forth, until the original text has been mis-interpreted/re-interpreted, the reproduction of text from one medium to another could reveal further qualities of that text.

Today, whilst I wait for the bus

It was in fact a grain dryer and store, documented as

that takes me from Kidlington into being very well used throughout most of its life. Mod

The City, I watch a local landmark ern technology made it redundant and it’s being re

pulled, shredded, torn apart. Dec

placed by a train station. This will offer better connec

orated with tags, proclaiming its tions to London; it will become a ‘theatre of flight’

local identity and how it’s embed

offering direct escape. Instead of an static icon guard

ded into the minds of those who ing the village they will soon have a facilitator of

live here, it is slowly falling be travel, inviting people to come on in.

fore my eyes. 54

As you pAss by in your world of Things-To-do plAces-To-go And The feArful remAin glued To The fuTure, only you will remember The pAsT As iT fAlls before your eyes, now A TheATre of flighT your dreAms reAlised 55

// Film - pluralities of isolation The lecture explored the concept of movement and boredom and how to disrupt this when in transit - focusing on landscaping and train travel. In a similar vein I have found the act of waiting for a bus an education in boredom, even upon alighting the bus, once the interest in fellow passengers has worn off, boredom pervades. Capturing this moment of waiting is something Moran explores in Reading the Everyday (2005). He explains that the ‘act of waiting for a bus[...]encapsulates some of the theoretical and methodological problems of reading the everyday[...]Waiting is frustrating because it is both an unavoidable and marginalised experience...’ (Moran, 2005, p. 7). The footage is all taken whilst waiting at the bus stop and on the bus, the presence of the bus is never shown, only alluded to. The footage is slow paced, monotonous as you slip in and out of reality; in and out of time, before speeding up at the end. The footage is edited but is of one journey, focusing on the beginning of the journey and the relationship with time and space. The video is an exploration into the other aspects of public transport, the mindless gazing on the landscape, staring at the other queuers feet as they pace around: impatient, the roll of cars heading out to their destination: whilst you stare at the drivers and wait, the flash of the landscape rushing past before lifting the curtain and revealing the fields behind. This rush of the landscape and the attention paid to it is something explored by Donald Appleyard, Kevin Lynch and John, R. Myer in their book The View from the Road. “The commuter[...] is more likely to ignore larger landscape features in favour of activities, new objects or the moving traffic of the road” (Appleyard et al, 1963, p.4) From the movement of those waiting around you, to the traffic moving past, to the motion of the bus, to the motion of the world around you. The analysis captures the different types of movement experienced at the beginning of the journey, using the Rhythm and Locus of Attention key as used by Appleyard et al but adapted to a Focus of Attention review. ________ Reflection The video helped explore the movement and attention focus at the beginning of the journey. The movement goes from slow pacing against the rush of adjacent traffic to dead motion whilst immobile at stops. The movement then picks up to a dragging speed that constantly appears to accelerate against the weight of the bus. These patterns of movement are symbolic of the space. Whilst waiting the pacing occurs within the boundaries of the stop. The immobility of waiting at a bus stop goes in hand with the lack of focus, due to the lack of activity that occurs around you. This lack of focus stays with you even in motion, unless there is activity directly outside the window, such as walls, houses, foliage rushing past. The distance of landscape lulls the viewer in to day-dreams, with no immediate activity the mind looses focus once more.

Daydreaming Focused Movement

Watching the traffic

Pacing

Landscape Foreground

Landscape Background

Waiting on the Bus

Reflection

// Reflection - Question Two. Disciplinary & Interdisciplinary The Research Methods Diary has been an opportunity to understand and better appreciate the ways in which a designer (ergo researcher) can perform praxis upon a given area and brief. Both disciplinary and interdisciplinary ways open up opportunities to realise potentials through empirical and theoretical research. The link between architecture and other disciplines is strong, they open up new ways of looking and understanding a subject, that one discipline alone sometimes canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t unlock. Methodologies are underlaid with narrative research, ethnography and observation, case-study research or action research, which helps drive and inform the direction of the research. Site Writing enables a more interactive process, where site informs text then text informs site and a deeper reading can be made. It reveals ideas such as the perception of place from a personal perspective and how this could relate and inspire others. Influenced by Jane Rendellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s way of using text, and Robert Montgomery use of the poetic language, the writing aspect looked closely at the historic element and how to relate this to the everyday. It used a critical lens to produce a poetic response that engages with passers-by, and attempts to incite further interaction. Placing up text, that is both personal and reflective of the site and evaluating the engagement people have with it is difficult to evaluate. Raising the question: is the response to the text as important as the process of considering the text? A textual reflection can have a level of permanence that the image does not, but is open to interpretation, can be misread and misinterpreted; whereas the image is a constant a static. Collage was another personal production, using historical sources to explore change in occupancy of space over time. This was an interpretative lens, that engaged with the space in a critical way but to interpret information rather than put this back into the public sphere; a private investigation. The methods of collage used were layering and erasure; it acted as a form of archive, recording events over time. This applying and erasure method allowed the research focus of occupancy to be fully explored and thus revealed. The layering of the past enabled a study of occupancy that would not have been revealed in another way; the visual stimulus of collage worked well. Recording the layering of the collage [taking photographs during its creation] helps anchor the points of change, and the collage becomes a moving image, one object that captures the passing of time. In this sense the method realised the research aim, however it is a process that requires the application of certain images that have been personally selected, in this way the collage might be more predetermined and give an assumed outcome. The images used were selected from a family archive and were therefore a conscious choice. This could be seen as a detriment to the methodology as the research is directed with not a lot of outside influence. The method of filming, through the editing process, forces the consideration of the spatial qualities. Movement, as explained in the lecture by Dr Krystallia Kamvasinou, addresses the issue of: How does body movement influence the way we design space. Recording the transient landscape that arrives through movement on video enabled an exploration of how the landscape is perceived as it rushes past. The video of the beginning of the journey on a bus, looks at the element of waiting that is involved in travel. Although you are driving to a destination, you are

inevitably waiting to arrive. The research explored the focus of attention, what may be taken from this is where along a journey places of interest could be placed to relieve the passenger from the act of waiting. Looking at this through an interpretative lens, the research creates an opportunity to further explore a very transient moment. Video allows you to review again and again, to gain a deeper understanding and analyse this, it becomes a permanent archive. However the total footage is always a great amount, going through it takes time and editing it down means that places of interest need to be personally decided. It also records a different environment to that of the human eye, giving a limited view of what is actually perceived. The walk is a process that is critical in that as a designer you are reviewing and considering the landscape from a certain position. It allows an opportunity to focus attention on a certain element of the landscape you traverse. The walking methodology used was Urban Rambling and in the case of this methodology it enabled a satirical look on the suburb Kidlington. Condensing the fieldwork arrived at through walking is both an advantage and disadvantage of the method. Using the technique of Martin Parr helped create a visual analysis; it also drew upon the book The Rings of Saturn by Walter Seabald that used images at intervals that require a visual stimulus. “The movement of the ramble represents spaces as being linked through temporal relations, and framed by a specific series of social events and activities or urban rituals.” (Rendell, 1998) Rendell discusses the urban environment experience through walking as perceived as a flow through space, rather than fixed architectural features and records it through writing, whereas Seabald uses both text and image. As walking is a mental stimulus as well as a visual, Seabald’s method of using text and image can helped explain the space to the reader, but ideally text creates a constant flow whereas images can be more broken. In this sense walking seems to be better represented by text, this however shares similar flaws with that of Site Writing as discussed previously. “Gidden’s premise is that ‘the narrative of self-identity has to be shaped, altered & reflexively sustained in relation to rapidly changing circumstances of social life, on a local and global scale.’” (Crouch & Pearce, 2012, p. 47) Christopher Crouch and Jane Pearce explain that you need to understand how your position in the world, will affect your perception of the world and as a researcher you must be mindful of ‘own subjective position and their aspiration for objectivity’ (Crouch & Pearce, 2012, p.34). They describe that a designer is autonomous and works within a field of ‘best practice’ set out by an institution, which in turn informs them as they work with, or react against it. An architectural student is also a designer, how the student positions themself within the field of architecture is a personal motivation affected by life experience. My interests are the social implications of space, place-making and user experience. The sociological aspect of this approach I am beginning to fully realise, through the Research Led Design module. Perspectives and choices in life can reveal underlying motivations, all which affect the position of oneself as a designer. Crouch and Pearce explain praxis as ‘thinking, doing and their consequence’, it is not solely the design but the consequence of this, how the user interacts and the response; any effects that the design could have. The research methods explored all look at the ‘thinking’ aspect of the process, each one

takes a different approach and elicits a certain perspective on the subject/object/field/habitas. Narrative; â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;describe any kind of non-academic prose that recounts an incident or personal experienceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; (Crouch & Pearce, 2012, p. 104) All the methodologies employed use narrative; walking, collage, film and site writing. Each of these develops an underlying story that is interrogated through the methodology. The collage explores the past and creates a personal narrative through the passing of time. Film is also a narrative, although it includes observation it is less about people and more about the landscape. The journey becomes a narrative as the passage of time and space becomes something tangible and physical, the analysis is also a personal reflection. If more journeys are taken and analysed then this might move from a single story line and become more ethnographic, as the research material can be triangulated. The walk is also a narrative as it takes a personal journey through a landscape that is reflected upon, almost as if a journal. Postcards are a story, a small snippet of what has passed and what one thinks is worth recording. The site writing is also a narrative, beginning with a personal history and experience and overlaying this with the spatial qualities of the object/subject. This lived experience is then translated into different forms of representation. The final projection itself becomes personal, initiating further stories; further narratives. When comparing the style of research taken, to the position taken as a designer, the interest and focus on narrative as a research method is understandable. It is a personal, socially motivated research technique; it opens up to other people about their narratives and offers up information about lived experience. Narrative is not a fixed brief, but creates possibilities of what architecture could be. Each methodology was exploring a different aim, in some cases the aim was the exploration of the methodology itself. The Site Writing method was particularly effective in exploring conditions of the site and being able to put this information back into the site. It would be a good tool for installation, to gage the response of the audience. In the case of billboards [as per Montgomeryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s action] the local individual is also motivated to interact with advertising. Last year, I lived on the Gloucester Road in Bristol; a multi-cultural street. For reasons unknown the UKIP party decided to put up a large prominent advert that promoted anti-immigration. After a few days this was defaced to reverse the meaning, using rather clumsy yellow paint. The advert then said something else entirely. Not only was it a reaction against the UKIP slogan it promoted a sense of solidarity and promoted the sense of community. How to gather exact data from this method is tricky, but a response such as removal, defacing or altering the meaning can give an insight into how the space is both perceived and used. It is interesting to discover the underlying theme of narrative within the expanded methodologies. The use of personal stories, and of lived experience that draws from other opinions and views. Now it is clearly understood as a core theory it can become more integral to, and help drive further research work in design.

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