Polemic

It seems like a very long time since I've seen an architectural project with any degree of political content or a committed polemical position. Via BldgBlog comes information about a project by Viktor Ramos of Rice University consisting of a provocative architectural solution to the Palestinian-Israel impasse - a bypass.

His scheme proposes a series of spaces which weave under- and overground to form what he terms 'The Continuous Enclave'. The scheme reminds me of Lebbeus Woods' work from the 80's, but with a technocratic machine aesthetic in place of the steampunk feel of Woods. Great to see architecture used in this way again.

More hi-res images are available on Ramos' flickerset.

Rubbing

Rub-down Letraset people are now in the 'vintage' section of eBay, and I remember just how precious each person was on that thin sheet of plastic.

Taking a biro and laying the sheet over the drawing, we would rub over the image, then tentatively lift the sheet hoping that we did not amputate, de-hat or otherwise emasculate the individual concerned. By the time we were porting the last person into drafting immortality, we had a shrivelled and curled mess, from which it was frankly unlikely the character would transfer unscathed.

Happy days.

Cards II

The business card is to graphic design what the chair is to the product designer, or the house extension is to the architect: a testbed for new ideas. This site neatly condenses innovations as they arise and publishes them in a simple unfussy manner. Worth a detour if you are considering ways to catch someone's eye within the restriction of an 85x55mm rectangle.

Optimism

From an abandoned property in Wood Street, Liverpool, a strangely satisfying graph, complete with X- and Y-axis subdivisions.

The person who was given the job of boarding up the windows it seems couldn't be bothered to cut the timbers to the right length, especially as they were so close to being right. The job they are doing is simple - to make bill-posting too awkward to be worthwhile. Graffiti is erased in white to the extent of the highest batten.

Anyhow, the good news is that the graph appears to be based on an optimistic dataset, despite economic, empirical and visual evidence to the contrary. I guess that's Liverpool.

Fun

The usual misgivings about whether kitsch is an acceptable way for a seaside town to ply its trade on a trip to Southport today. In half-term week, it was bustling and lively, despite a February chill. The Ocean Terminal development seems to be a sad case of regeneration opportunism - a retail park flown in from somewhere, with wavy canopies applied to make the dull portal sheds appear 'contextual'.

However the fine Victorian iron canopies and the boulevard of Lord Street provide a memorable backbone for the town, and the recent public realm works show a commendable commitment to quality. With geography also in its favour when compared to Morecambe or Fleetwood, it is one of those seaside towns which with a fair wind (and on a clear day) we should see making a full recovery. I'll be back.

Conveyor

"A film is never really any good unless the camera is an eye in the head of a poet." (Orson Welles)

I liked the everyday simplicity of this video - a couple of bored diners send their camera round a sushi carousel with a wistful song laid over the top.

Craft

Apparently, the key to knitting is knotting. Alternatively, it is finding the holes and tying wool around them.

This is a transformational process of taking beautiful 2d textural planes, folding and stitching them around a 3d form (me, if I'm lucky), using only 1d dyed filament. Magical.

Storytelling

I liked these relics of bygone technology spotted at MMU yesterday. The tape reel reminds me of the kind my dad had for some reason (can't remember what), and the object it is sitting on is an overhead projector.

That last device of course is still in use, though usually injection-moulded and with a webcam attached, rather than hammerited steel with glass optics. Architect Ted Cullinan is a master of the medium, enchanting audiences with freehand pen sketches to illustrate anecdotes from 50 years of practice. I last saw him at a sustainability seminar at Bluecoat in Liverpool last year.

As a technique it seems to have a closer relation to speech than powerpoint which often seems like a publication of some kind, and therefore more fixed. As a result, it leads to a sense of storytelling rather than a show - which is sometimes just what an audience needs. I will to give it another try at the first opportunity.

Cup face

Who would have guessed that this would happen when you put glasses on a cup? Those of you who know me know that I like puns. Visual ones are not necessarily better, just different. And especially fun when they happen spontaneously after an evening meal, with two everyday objects.

536 examples of the same thing here.

Caro

The Chapel of Light in Bourbourg received little attention from the architectural press a few months back, and I've just been reminded of it after a talk for LICC in Manchester on the Theology of Architecture. Anthony Caro's work lies at the cusp of architecture and sculpture, and I remember a fine retrospective of his work in the fields of Yorkshire Sculpture Park a few years' ago.

In the neglected shell of a bombed French neo-gothic church he has inserted beautifully-crafted expressions of biblical themes. The three interventions use three materials - metal bas-reliefs in the niches of the apse, oak 'towers' like pulpits in the nave, and a stunning spiral of stone as a baptismal font in the chancel.

Micro-knitting

I've been following news of the new movie of Coraline, not least via twitter and Neil Gaiman's account of the relentless press junket itinerary for him and Director Henry Selick. It looks amazing.

On something of a tangent, but a fascinating one, is the work of Athea Crome for the film. Her extraordinary skill is micro-knitting, and a short film of her talking about it is featured here.

Cheesegrater

Good to see Allies and Morrison's new Charles Street car park in Sheffield city centre. Despite being a dull day, the simple idea of rotating a single standard trapezoidal anodised panel still looked lively and intriguing. I've admired their urbane work for a long time, and they've brought their usual distinctive but unassuming approach to a prosaic building form. Oh, and the people have already given it a nickname - did you guess?

95 years on

Years ago I had a book containing milestones from the history of photography. Included in it was Henri Lartigue's 1913 image of a racing car, speeding past the camera. The shutter action moved vertically from top to bottom, and as it did so transferred the light
onto the plate. With the pace of the car, the time which the shutter slit took to scan the lens became significant, such that circular
wheels were captured as ovals. So, I believe, the inspiration for Roadrunner's leg action was born.

Now idly snapping from the train to Sheffield, I find that by turning my iPhone to landscape format I can reproduce the same effect. We've clearly come a long way in 95 years.

The International

'The movie also looks at the role of architecture in our lives and how much it influences emotions. Expensive modern architecture has changed the landscape of so many big cities. It's fascinating architecture: it seems driven by a desire to exude clarity with its lines, yet at the same time it is hard to read.' (from Sight & Sound)

A visual artist's observation on international modernism, as Tom Tykwer describes the key role of architecture in his new film 'The
International'. Looking forward to it - and seeing the always watchable Clive Owen in action.

Biscuits

On Friday, some of my students arrived with parts of a model they are making of Platt Hall in Manchester. They were cut by laser from a sheet of MDF, and as you can see were surprisingly detailed. Platt Hall was built in 1746 in the Palladian style to designs by John Carr of York.

I thought they looked a bit like biscuits.

Mykonos

The great Fleet Foxes were an enchanting diversion last year while the economy careened down a slippery slope. I remember listening to Mykonos first while walking across Birmingham's city centre on a sunny April day, and the song has retained its charm through 50 or more plays (according to my iTunes).

A video of the song has been released by Grandchildren, and having just watched it I can't help feeling a little disappointed. The character of the two halves of the song doesn't seem to have been accurately captured. To me, the first half has a soaring, aerial quality, bathed in a Greek sun - blue, white and olive green. The second half is earth-bound, acappella changing to an assertive, insistent 4/4 rhythm, before a loping reggae conclusion. As it concludes in this half, the words and music seem to begin on a hilltop, before running and skipping downhill across a pastoral landscape.

Apart from the crafted Oliver Postgate quality there seemed to be little to connect the images to the music or the band, despite the worthy efforts of tackling a stop motion process.

Stalker

As one of the most impressive pieces of cinema I've ever seen, it was great to see reflections on Stalker by critic Geoff Dyer. The Guardian article touches on what provides its enduring quality, concluding that enigma and ambiguity reward re-viewing. For me, the Tarkovsky's themes of yearning and redemption are palpable, played out as a journey into a forbidden zone, prompting parallels with the Christian worldview.

Time for another viewing, I think.

Tickets

UK train tickets seem logical from the viewpoint of an engineer or the ticket machine. A consistent watermarked, orange-bordered strip is printed in black ink of three font sizes.

As a traveller however, you have to identify the correct ticket as you walk towards the inspector, or they walk towards you. This is impossible to do quickly and efficiently since they are nearly indistinguishable.

Applying a simple hatch to, say, every 'outward portion' or using a supersize font and generally better hierarchy of information would solve this very easily. Of course the engineer might protest that it will use more ink...

Perhaps I'll give it a go.

Strange maps

The strangeness of this site, coupled with its articulate writers has made it essential RSS reading.

One day a map of voting patterns in Poland (see earlier post), another a map of North & South America in strawberry jam (left).