Better Late Than Never....

Hi Everyone,

I've finally managed to sign in to the blog and work out how to do a posting, so whilst it's a bit late in the day, I thought that I'd post some background about my project and some images for your info. I'm having trouble formatting the posting, so here's the background and I will post the images separately.

The project was called "Brutalism Reformed - Escaping the Grey Box and the inspiration was Brutalist and modern architecture around Moorgate, London. I am fascinated by architecture but I also have a personal connection to the buildings that inspired my designs. Before starting this course I spent several years working in offices around Moorgate, working long hours and having little time to appreciate my surroundings. Since I escaped the office my personal perspective and appreciation of these buildings has changed completely and I see a link between the profound change and regeneration that I have experienced with the way this area of London has transformed and regenerated during the post war period and continues to do so in the 21^st century, which is why I chose it as the subject for the project.

The V&A collection and study resources were crucial to my research, in particular the Architecture Gallery, the RIBA Architecture Study Rooms, the 20^th Century Gallery and the online image database and videos made by the V&A on the V&A website, RIBA Pix and Vimeo respectively.

As well as the primary photographic research that I did in and around Moorgate, I initially visited the Architecture Gallery. Following that visit I was completely fascinated by the wooden models by Le Corbusier and Erno Goldfinger and the huge impact that the warm tactile wood had on my perception of the buildings/models. The models seemed to create something completely different to the end product concrete buildings and were both interesting and beautiful in their own right. It was at this point that I decided that the outcome of my project should utilise this concept of reinterpreting architectural forms using different colours and tactile materials.

Many people see the modern buildings around Moorgate as brutal, masculine, oppressive or perhaps bland and conformist. I hope that the strong colours and soft materials that I used for my designs offer an alternative view highlighting the beauty and intriguing aspects of the architecture and transform the perception of these city buildings from hard and grey to vibrant and tactile.

As part of my on going research I visited the RIBA Architecture Study Rooms. The folios provided me with access to detailed plans, but also provided personal insights in the architects through various doodles and sketches that were kept with the plans. It was fascinating to see the changing representation of architectural designs from the beautiful hand drawn designs and watercolour elevation drawings of the 1920’s through to the computer generated designs and fast marker pen sketches of the modern era. Each form gave me different ideas for shapes, patterns and use of colour.

When I look at the final outcome of my project I think that my V&A research influenced my outcomes in two ways, one conscious and one subconscious. I hope that the cushions and the felt wallpaper samples in particular express the idea of reinterpreting architectural forms using tactile materials and alternative colours and secondly, I can see the subconscious influence of the early 20^th century printmakers and designers whose work I have soaked up during my many visits to the 20^th Century Gallery.

Enjoy the exhibition!

Meg