Photos from the last day of school

Well, I think it was the last day. It was close to the end of the year anyway. This is when every unit works to put together their own space for the end of year exhibition.

And one more of a student friend of mine. They used to smoke like chimeneas back then. Thankfully I got through without picking up that habit. I don’t smoke anything, except a pipe I have. Well, I don’t put any tobacco in it. I just sort of suck on it. It makes me feel smarter.

Mini Cinema

I am not sure what this object is called. I suppose the closest word I can think is a nickelodeon except this was your personal home version, like a VCR I guess. I had 4 drum rolls that came with it and I can remember 2 of them, which had a girl dancing and rotating and the other of a man laughing. That was it.

The big versions were used at the birth of cinema when the motion created was the main attraction. So, what you get is essentially a flip book with about hundred frames of various simple scenes. At that time people would drop a nickel (that’s why it’s called a nickel-odeon) and watch then leave when they got bored. Later somebody realised that adding a simple story would make people want to continue to use them and that’s partly how cinema started.

Anyway, I am rambling. When I was in architecture school we were asked to bring an object that we can investigate and draw. People brought different things that included a meat grinder and a plastic bird! I brought this object and I have to admit I was quite pleased with myself because it seemed like the most interesting thing there.

After drawing it in various ways we were told that the last step would be to cast it in plaster. I did that unsuccessfully as you can see by the end result and in the process I smashed the object and pretty much ruined it.

A few years later I found out that apparently only 15 were still in existance and it was a rare antique that was worth thousands of pounds!

Just a walk in the park

Well I say park but it really felt more like a forest. This is my first time there and I was really surprised by how much variety it had. There was something a bit different at almost every turn.

3 quick sketches from my notebook

Egg Building

I finally found the two “egg buildings” I designed based on the egg throwing project below. They are both A1 size so I need to figure out how to scan them in. In the mean time here are a few paintings of the site which a massive trench cutting across an artificial island just off of Tokyo. It’s a bit like the trench in the deathstar when I think about it now.

A list of what you do when you get to the island and the trench.

Painting – Portobello Road

This is the oil painting I did a few years ago, which my friend later tried to sell in Portobello Road market.

City of Dreams pavilion

This was an architectural competition based in NY which I entered at the end of 2010. The idea was to design a pavilion to be placed on Governer’s Island. The 2 images show the idea I was working with before my computer went kaput and died on me 2 weeks before submission. So I was not able to send anything in the end to my great frustration.

 

The idea involved a number of themes, including virtual travel, broken distorted memories and a place to exercise self introspection! The frame is fragmented so you can see bits of the island as you walk through it. The inside of the frame is clad in mirrors and you see a reflection of yourself juxtaposed with the island and looking further to the opposite side a glimpse of New York . It’s a bit like how dreams are fragmented. I read Freud while reseraching the project. Wow, that guy has a one track mind!

Later I might post some of the sketches and ideas I had to this blog, if I have time.

Taxi sketch

Another drawing made for the PASCO project. This a scene where the main character grabs a ride across the city and gets driven by a cigar smoking robot taxi driver. Below I inserted some panels that I made of the chase the followed!

Egg Throw

I once worked on a project in Japan that involved a number of different stages which included designing a gift to give to a Japanese architect, a trip later where we teamed up with students in Tokyo to do a joint exercise which then ended up as an exhibition open to the public and finally I had to design an installation on an island just outside Tokyo.

The photos above represent what I did for stage one: Sending a gift.

The idea was simple. I found this egg that you throw at a fridge or something and it squishes on the surface and gradually slides down. It was a bit funny to hold. I did like how it deformed and took several pictures of me sqaushing it. Actually I remember buying a number of them from my local toy shop. The look the cashier gave me was priceless…..It was a kind of “why don’t you grow up” look!

Anyway, back to the idea. I wanted to essentially throw it to Japan and to freeze it in it’s impact point. So, I made that wooden frame above and used 2 glass panels to sqeeze the egg to simulate the point of impact. I then mailed it to the architect. He apparently loved it and sent me a present in return.

The final pic is part of the initial design stage. Somehow this egg throwing business lead to a building! Don’t ask me how because I don’t really remember.

Sketch from my notebook

More photos here: http://yfrog.com/h861i9j

Portobello Road

These are 2 sketches made many years ago when I was still a student. I remember the project had something to do with shopping and the way people behaved. I went to Portobello Road with a friend of mine to do a couple of quick experiments. My father was also there around the area at the time. I was not sure why.

Anyway, my friend I remember was investigating communication and telephone boxes. In order to get some info on the people in that area she decided to hide a recorder inside a telephone box and she taped the conversation. She also filmed the event with a camera. Our teachers when they found out about this were horrified as it was highly illegal!

I on the other had tried to sell a painting in the market. I thought people go there to buy antiques usually, what will happen if they see a painting. So I asked my friend to try and sell it while I filmed her from across the street. People gathered around me and my camera to see what I was up to. They jumped in front of the lens and acted like kids basically while totally ignoring my friend.

We waited for a few hours but nobody approached the painting. Then finally as we were about to give up two girls walked over and asked about it then went away. I am not sure what that proved but we were so happy!

I later found out that my father who was hanging around felt sorry for us and asked the girls to walk over to check out the painting! The experiment was totally compromised and I ended up feeling utterly defeated.

3 Maps

These are drawings I made when I studying three different cities for an old project. Drawn with ink in one go.

I’m not entirely sure they show anything. The only reason I put them up is because I liked the line work, plus it took me ages to complete!!

Samurai

Sketch I made a while back. I think I drew it while in a lecture I think. One of those doodles you do when your mind is somewhere else…in my case it was feudal Japan!

Just found another one. Sumo this time.

Walk in the park

Walking by the Serpentine.

My father

Something a bit different today.
These are sketches I made while my father was in hospital back in 2004 after an operation. I drew him as he slept.

As you can tell I was pretty stressed when I did the first sketch!

Building in Ireland

Around 2001 I was working on a design with an architect for a new build house in Ireland. The basic idea was to make the house spiral around itself. The images below show the initial very early designs.

It actually always bothered me that we never finished it.

A few days ago I had a dream where I saw that house again but it looked very different. As soon as I woke up I grabbed my notepad next to my bed and drew the image that I had in my head. I tried to get as much of it as possible before I forgot what I saw. It is very sketchy of course but I do hope at some point to try and develop it only for myself to see if I can make a proper building out of it. It could be interesting if I can work out how the rooms work. I will post the design later if I end up with something decent.

And another quick sketch I did today.

Pasco project

Sketches made a few years ago for the Pasco project. This is an early concept for a character called “the Guide”.

Maastricht

I keep finding photographs stashed away in odd places around my house! Today I found a small bag full of photos labled “NETH”! When I rummaged through I started to remember some of the photos were actually taken in Maastricht and suddenly I realized “NETH” stood for “Netherlands”.

It’s funny that I have almost zero recollection of this trip! It does not help when you have your head up in the clouds like I do.

Out of the many I took there only the two above really interest me today. They were taken in a derelict site which used to be some kind of factory I think.

I also vaguely remember visiting this building below by Wiel Arets. It’s the Academy of Art and Architecture which was built as an extenstion to the school. It was an amazing building to walk through. Everything from the scale of the rooms to the lighting was fantastic. I would have loved to have studied there.

2 Photos and some drawings

I found these two photographs today taken on my trip to Moscow. Unfortunately I can’t remember what these buildings were used for but I thought they looked really out of the ordinary so I snapped them.

Also scanned 2 pages from my sketch book that I used during my time studying architecture. Looking back at them now just makes me wonder what on earth was going through my head at that time!

I eventually built the chair which can be seen here:
http://spektreman.blogspot.com/2010/06/two-images-from-my-old-architecture.html

I just remembered, when I did my demonstration by rocking on the chair to show how the thing moves I ended up hitting one of my examinars on the head with that weight stuck to that long rod!! I still passed thankfully!

Adventures abroad

Two photos taken on a trip to Russia back in 2001. (Not sure where the 3rd is from. I think Spain)

This was a trip that I was looking forward to for many years having grown up hearing and reading about Russia, it’s history, it’s contribution to art, film and of course music! Rimsky Korsakov and Tchaikovsky were my particular favourites. I also remember watching Russian cartoons when I was a child and they were really completely different to anything you see in the West.

So this was brilliant, how can it go wrong? Well, I don’t know, it just was not what I was expecting I guess. Funnily enough take any Bond film and that will give you an idea of what Moscow was like. I found it cold and a little bit unwelcoming. It’s a pity because apparently I have something in my background from that region (Cossack hertiage maybe), or so I’m told. On the plus side I did go to St. Petersburg to see the Kirov Ballet perform Swan Lake which was ace.

Trip to Paris back in 95 or 6! I loved it for so many reasons. It’s just a beautiful city. I spent some time in a workshop run by an American architect who was trying to document the old areas in Menilmontant and that’s were the photo is from.

That statue below was taken in Père Lachaise cemetery.

The rest were taken in the Netherlands in Groningen again, and I think one in Rotterdam. The top left one is by Rem Koolhaas, I believe!

Snow in Hyde Park

 

It’s snowing in London as you can see. As predicted we’ve come to a standstill which happens every year. It’s the wrong sort of snow apparently. I went to the park to have a look and basically got jumped on by animals. Pigeons and squirrels got closer and closer to me because they thought I had food. Then one of them literally ran up my leg! the photo of that moment is right at the bottom. I got up and walked away slowly and they ran after me. The last photo below if you look carefully you can see the bench I was sitting on in the distance, that’s how far they followed me!