Liverpool trip

Afew snaps from Liverpool, I've only been to Liverpool once before and didn't really remember much of the city. It was the European capital of culture afew years ago and because of that alot of money got spent on the city centre. It's a really enjoyable place to be and look really great. However the weather wasn't really at its best when we were there which spoilt alot of my photos.

Something that I did pick up on was the stark contrast created by the two 'done up' area of Liverpool and the areas where money hadn't been spent. It was really rundown and was quite disappointing in comparison.

Anyway heres afew snaps.

Costa in the new One Centre.

I know this isn't the best photo but I just had to try and get across the scale on the Anglican Cathedral. It was unreal.

Inside the Anglican was pretty special, I'm not overly religious or anything but I found it hard not to believe in something when in a place that epic.

The Catholic Cathedral is interesting.... I'm still not sure if I like it, never the less it created a greate contrast with the Anglican one.

This is a quick sketch I did of the Anglican, I was pretty pleased with it.

This is my favorite photograph that I took in Manchester, I think it has it all, subject, depth, materiality. I was really pleased with it.

Manchester Trip

Just some photos from my recent trip to Manchester, I'm from there anyway and know the city like the back of my hand but it was really interesting looking at it from an architectural point and made me see things that I hadn't seen before which was a great insight into 'my town'.

Piccadilly Gardens fountain, I love the way the water mirrors the buildings.

By the Manchester Justice centre, I thought it was a beautiful moment.

I really like the materiality of this Bollard.

Calatrava Bridge.

Urbis centre, amazing glass facade.


Just a glimpse of what we saw, I really enjoyed trying to take good photos too, thinking about form and composition rather than just taking a quick snap.....

Vitruvian Man

Today I watched a documentary about Leonardo Da Vinci's Vitruvian man. It was very interesting in that it highlighted the fact that it was one of the most immediately recognizable diagrams in the world and immediate conveyed the point that he was trying to make.


Therefore I think its an amazing piece of work and something to draw inspiration from when trying to create simple yet elegant diagrams that describe a scheme.

Just something Interesting...

“Grip eloquence by the throat, squeeze it to death.”

-Paul Verlaine

The Tate Gallery: Liverpool

Went to Liverpool today to Visit some buildings..... there'll be a post about that later. But I thought I do a post especially for the Tate Museum which we also went too....


I found it a really interesting experience, some of the exhibitions I thought were quite average where as others I was very impressed by. One of the rooms for the DLA Piper series: This is sculpture involved wearing a headset and listening to a playlist of strange music while taking in groutesque statues, the experience was quite surreal and engaging experience. It completely focused your attention. Another of the exhibitions involving the works of the poet loriette Carol Anne Duffy involved interactive poetry which I thought was quite novel.

Overall It was a really enjoyable experience and was very valuable as a precedence study for my Heritage Museum.

Quote.

'Think outside the box, collapse the box, and take a fucking sharp knife to the box.'

Banksy.

This is Brilliant.

What I'm reading...

I just thought I'd update what I'm reading,

A Psychology of Building - Dr. Glenn Robert Lynn
This book looks at how we relate to space, how it effects us and how we attempt to shape it. I've got a passive interest in Psychology so I was interested in its application and link into architecture so I thought I'd give it a go.

Next on the list is...
The Ethical Architect - Tom Spector
When I was in college I took a self study course in philosophy and ethics and was quite interested in the moral and ethic side of the course. I thought it would be a good book to read to try and expand my knowledge of the subject.

I'll let you know what I think of them once I'm finished.

Photo Project Update

While doing some research I came across this quote from the painter John Constable......

‘There is nothing ugly; I never saw an ugly thing in my life: for let the form of an object be what it may, light, shade, and perspective will always make it beautiful.’

I liked this approach to creating a piece of art and it gave me some inspiration for my photo.

This is one of Constable's works. The man really did turn the mundane into something really beautiful....

Final Photo.

This is the final photo that I put on the wall, It was about the approach to the viaduct while thinking about that quote.

New Project

The first project we've been given is a photography project, I'm really happy about this because I've always been interested in taking photos. My sister has a degree in it so it almost runs in the family.

We've been asked to take a photo that expresses 'Urban Beauty' which I think is quite an interesting idea. Anything can be beautiful, its just finding that one moment or view, that one snapshot in time that represents the challenge in the brief.

Here's afew of my first attempts at the brief, I've taken some film photos as well so I'm waiting to get them developed.....

The Tower Block in Holbeck, Leeds

I thought there was something interesting about the way these
steps have degraded over time.

This is going to be a diary of my thoughts, work and general dealings with architecture over the coming months.