Internet Observatry

In this design, the support grid frame represents the matrix of the Internet. The curved space which is contained by the grid, represents a place where the flow of Internet information is accessed by an individual. This person sits at the center of the curved space in a specially designed interactive work station, that rotates up out of the glass covered floor. The work station can also rotate around on the surface of the floor in order to allow the occupant to face in any direction.
All of the large curved panels which make up the curved space, can be automatically moved around the occupant. This is done in order to create different variations of the curved space and to accommodate different functions. Some of the curved space variations will allow the occupant to project images and sounds, from the Internet or directly from the main computer, onto any or all of the surrounding curved panels. Some of these panels would allow the images and sounds to be viewed by others, when they are projected on the exterior of the panels.

The center core of the curved space can be completely closed, or completely open, or many variations in between. This structure can be thought of as kind of a symbolic temple to the computer age, and more specifically to the Internet and it’s relationship to the people who interact with it.
The Internet Observatory would have it’s own web site, through which people could visit the structure in real time and interact with it in various ways; selecting images and sounds to be projected, moving panels, etc. There could be many of these structures around the world. They could be publicly or privately owned. The structures could communicate with each other in various ways, as they interact with their occupants.

Web Port

Web-Port is a conceptual design proposal for a special place in which to explore the wonders of the Internet. The white frame symbolically represents the architecture of the Internet. The orange spheres represent the flow of information through the Internet.
The white sphere in the center of the frame is a fully immersive virtual reality space through which the visitor can surf the net.

http://www.michaeljantzen.com/:/

Aeroform

This is something I happened to stumble upon. Reasonably related the ideas current in my head. Their motives being ones of financial viability of residing in urban areas with exponentially rising land costs have lead to this idea of inhabiting surrounding spaces of existing billboards and living/funding being generated by the sales of advertising space.





Text from the designer :
With Aeroform we wanted to examine ways to occupy residual space within the city? For example, take a common element which is pervasive in every majormetropolitan area – the billboard. Now most people perceive the billboard as a simple structure used for the display of two-dimensional graphics. In their minds it is merely a flat plane. What if we start to think about thebillboard in a more dimensional way? How can we occupy the space behind or around it? That why we designed Aeroform.

Another Facade Projection!

APPARATI EFFIMERI Tetragram for Enlargment from Apparati Effimeri on Vimeo.

Reflection

So the from the discussions on Tuesday progress has been made. The next step will be to develop the architecture in terms of something more responsive to the notion of brand & identity, emulating certain structures that form our cities routes such as graphics, signage & most significantly, Billboards.

The cheaper slightly tackier vernacular of billboard structures will emphasis Wastefield's prominence in context. Something slightly more irregular and slap dash will then lead to a facade treatment that highlights, frames and to some degree critiques the functions occurring in the Westfield Centre and how they have been translated into its alter ego the Wastefield Centre.

The important point is the to illustrate the mechanisms happening in Wastefield and how they expose the contrast of the real and the surreal worlds of this area of Shepherd's Bush. If this exposure succeeds it will not only ad value to the otherwise disused stretch of land but also start to build trust and relationships between , urban semiotic spaces, the Westfield Centre and the Wastefield Centre.

Sketch Design

In terms of materiality the extraction of the existing facade played on the idea of the Westfield Centre emerging from the existing facade in a way that is visually challenging from the vistas created along the main vehicle routes. It is almost similar to a form of camouflage in that from the outset it appears to blend in with something behind it but once the journey passed it begins the openings and overlaps are unveiled and the cracks exposed.

The cracks that appear should relate quite closely to the internal layout of functions. This exposure then takes the form of the active branding of the Wastefield Centre in a show case manner.

The showcasing is a mechanism that offers a critique of contensious issues within the Westfield Centre outfit and simultaneously broadcasts the nature and purpose of the Wastefield Centre.

Wastefield's Image

The very crude idea in the 1st image is one that bases itself on billboards situated along the site rather than inhabitable forms as in the second.
By suggesting this idea of billboardesque structures it presents a direction that could form a cheapish, simple base from which the Wastefield Centre could grow and evolve from.

The Wastefield Centre

'What are the new neighbour upto?'

The masterplan is taking shape! Formally locating the boundaries and parameters of the site has helped to quantify the schedule of accommodation.

The natural progression of the idea is evolving from place of production into a community of production. As the Westwood Centre is rather large, the scale of the community evolving is growing to match it. With the notion of establishing a community the nature of this proposal now aims at catering for a self sufficient design collective.

Interms of program this is how it is panning out. The production aspects of the masterplan are situated to the south of the row of blocks and a second phase includes accommodation situated towards the north.

From South to North:
Phase 01
Block 01. Waste Collection directly fed from Westfield's Service Yard B
Block 02. Composting
Block 03. Textiles Reclamation
Block 04. Textiles Mill
Block 05. Design House
Intermediate Spaces between blocks & Roof Space primarily used to cultivate Cotton and secondarily used for domestic scale arable farming.
Phase 02
Block 06. Accommodation
Block 07. Accommodation

The New Neighbours

Welcome to the CENTRE

Reusing Collected Waste

Made from decommissioned fire hoses, washbags made by Bournemouth designers Eako, who specialise in upcycling industrial waste.

Spanish designer Belén Hermosa finds a more comfortable destination than landfill, for 4,232 used data CDs.

These lamps are made from cassette tapes, by designer Vanessa Mareno, who connects old cassettes together with plastic ties.

A Buddhist Temple in Thailand has generated international interest, having been built almost entirely from 1.5 million beer bottles. With 20 buildings now in place, nothing goes to waste. Even a mosaic of Buddha has been created from the leftover bottle tops.

Rotating Kitchen

The Dutch artist Zeger Reyers' installation "Rotating Kitchen" is a kitchen that rotates slowly and will continue to do so through February, its objects let loose in the containing cube. It's part of the program "Eating the Universe. Food in Art." at Germany’s Kunsthalle Düsseldorf that features a whole series of exhibits, performances, and lectures centered around food art. Closes February 28th, 2010. See the videos that include a behind-the-scenes and a closeup view:

rotating kitchen from Zeger Reyers on Vimeo.

Forced Perspective

I had a quick experiment with the facade of the Westfield Centre and introduced for now, very arbitrary block masses to see how the idea works.

Facade Study from Richard Young on Vimeo.

So that's how it panned out... Next I will seek to emphasise the significance of the aligned elements and more importantly the areas that surround them.

What's it going to look like?

Speculative section controlled by the parameters of the narrow site and proposed internal processes e.g. waste sorting...


Typographical perspective diagram illustrating how the proposal on site will sit in the surrounding context.

Exterior Treatment

The dwell time involved whilst passing the site refine the points at which the forced perspectives of the facade can be implemented.

The idea is to present two forms of response:

1. The portrayal of internal function
2. The reiteration of familiarity with the Westfield Centre

Both responses should present an irony that is created from exposing the principles and outputs of the proposal.

Urban Riddim Analysis

Frequency of infrastructure usage that present the rationale for the massing and location of each node.

Reassessment of Site

In order to respond in a impacting way whether for or against the functions resulting from the Westfield Centre, the intervention must occur in the immediate proximity for maximum effect. The Westfield Centre is located adjacent to two arterial routes, the A3220 adjoining to the A40 and the London overground train line servicing Shepherd's Bush Rail Station.

The nature of these two facilities sent me down the route of analysis related to Urban Semiotics as mentioned previously. Further analysis highlighted the significance of the these transport modes as feeding grounds for guerrilla branding. The slither of land sandwiched between the east facade of the centre and the rail line is currently used as infrastructure for service access and vehicular set down and pick up. Each of these elements running parallel to the east facade highlighting their importance when addressing it's monolithic scale. More importantly in a branding and identity sense of built form, the captive audience is vast and therefore will heavily inform the facade design and offers much scope for manipulation and spectacle.

This patch land presents the opportunity to erect nodal interventions that will facilitate the various functions of space integrated into the overall program of the proposal. The overall masterplan will consist of several prominent nodes which provide the base to what will potentially become a growing commune of multiple spaces responding to patterns of waste disposal and consumption.

Printer vs Bin

Printer Vs Bin from RecycleNow on Vimeo.

David Stark Product Designer

This is how card put through the design section of the process can be re-appropriated through product design.

Making of our Cardboard Christmas Tree from RecycleNow on Vimeo.

TEXT

"by aligning the travel and work rhythms of the
city with the innovation and promotion rhythms of the commodity, advertising enacts
or performs a new connection between people moving around cities and the massed
populations of commodities"

Anne M Cronin - 'Advertising and the Metabolism of the City' 2004

Frenzy Promo

In 1972 Alfred Hitchcock experimented with guerrilla marketing to promote the release of his film 'Frenzy' in 1972

Urban Riddim

Very initial montage of ideas relating to urban semiotics in the search for meaning in the surrounding arterial routes of the Westfield Centre.

I am currently looking at developing a methodology of facade implementation that holds true to the notion of brand.

What location holds the most weight in terms of captive audience?
What variables are involved with human attention span?
What irony can be portrayed with the Westfield Centre as the Backdrop?
How do these factors translate back into the area besieging the Westfield Centre?

The Image of Trash Couture

How does branding represent a company?

Companies require consumer trust. This trust can only be gained through the provision of goods and services that meet the expectations and requirements of the consumer. This puts the consumer in power.

Branding, within companies in the global economy, counts for a large portion of value and increasingly as the main source of profit. Companies therefore have and do focus on marketing aspirations, image and lifestyle, opposed to previously concentrating on product production only.

The basis of the branding process begins with the fundamental point of retaining consumer trust. Companies that expose their brand values are therefore required to address and respond to moral and ethical issues manifested in consumer perceptions of corporations and brand owners.

In an age of accelerated consumption the idea that corporations can ignore such issues is wrong. As the two quotations in the previous post suggest there is and increasing need for brands to show willing in order to retain the business they need.

How do you show willing?

There are many third party effects resulting from the processes undertaken to meet the requirements of consumption. Economies change, Social Structures change and the Environment changes. Within these effects the notion of brand response can demonstrate changing attitudes towards these externalities.

For example the idea of turning ‘Poo into Gold’ can be seen either as a money making venture or an ethical venture. Companies that demonstrate these efforts are responding directly to consumer loyalty, if they don’t they lose business. If the incentives are to increase profit then so be it, but at the end of the day it is lead by the opinion of the consumer. Therefore, if consumptions exists, the incentive to adapt exists and simultaneously the end result will favour the brand owners as well as confront the by products of consumer culture.

How does one portray the values mentioned above?

The image can be derived from the nature of the products. If the products are promoting ethical values, the architecture should reflect this attitude and brand it. Therefore through a reassessment of brand values the architecture is integrated into the process of improving consumer awareness, which will inevitably act as an advertisement of the flagship that corporations should follow, respond to and compete with.

I suppose the conclusion is that:

1. Consumer trust is pivotal to branding.

2. Branding is the fundamental to corporations that want to make money.

These two added together equate to an economic environment that catalyzes moral decisions, economic decisions, and innovative decisions that all need a place to live…

My Building………

Traid-Remade Fashion Line

http://www.traid.org.uk/#images/tenth/intro.jpg

Nike Grind

Nike’s Shoe Recycling & Sustainability Program | Reuse-A-Shoe & Nike Grind

TEXT

"The more companies promote the value of their brands, the more they will need to seem ethically robust and environmentally pure"

The Economist - The Case for the Brands, 2001

"Is the brand immoral, can it get us to do things we don't want to? No. When we like a brand we manifest our loyalty in cash. If we don't like it, we walk away. Customers are in charge."

Wally Olins - Brand Consultant

Night Scenes

These servicing yard access points are where the designated areas where waste material is disposed of. Situated on the East of the site access is provided by the service road running parallel to the rail line that provides a division between the Westfield Centre and the neighbouring Queensdale Crescent Estate

The following 3 shots represent the no mans land area to the south of the Westfield Centre that borders on to the rear boundaries of the victorian terrace block housing situated adjacent to the Centre



No mans land that borders on to the rear boundaries of the victorian terrace block housing situated adjacent to the Westfield Centre

Glitches

The refinement of site is leading to the gray zones of the Westfield Centres Envelope. Portrayed with a array of consturction elements the rear facade presents areas of overlapped materiality and form that are in need of exploration. Exposing these glitches may uncover the potential reservoirs that will in turn fuel the re-appropriation facility.