Y3 Project 1 Boundaries

We began this year with an exercise on abstracting a word with spatial qualities from a short bit of research we did on Bromley-By-Bow at the very beginning.  TRANSITION was the word i chose, and so the process was to draw the quality of the word on a page using only 90 and 45 degree lines inc shading and the thoughts behind it were very simple. Going from density to sparsity across the page [1] following some rules i generated quickly before i set off. It was then translated into a 3D model [2] being only cut along drawn lines. This was then assembled with everyone else's in any way i chose, then drawn over to again represent the same word [3]. It was a very interesting exercise, and got me thinking about representation of an idea in various ways right from the start. In this case the representation was of a spatial quality in a non-spatial way.



In order to get to know and understand the site of Bromley-By-Bow, i undertook a cartography exercise [the first of the year, more to come] and this time it was a hard-systems mapping so i decided to walk 50 paces, draw a section, walk 50 more draw another and do that for a route through Bromley-By-Bow. After the site visit the data had to be cut in half to make the drawing readable, but ti just shows the verticality of the location. With a high population density the people have to go somewhere and it was up. The area is mostly residential buildings, a small amount of commercial and industrial buildings as well.



One of the key words for this unit was 'Boundaries' and so the final exercise for Project 1 dealt with boundaries. The brief was to create an architectural intervention which crossed a boundary or broke a boundary down. So i attempted to break down a specific boundary within Bromley-By-Bow which also deals with social difference and gentrification. The intervention takes the user on a journey from walking along an open pavement with a busy road to your side and new builds across from old social housing. You walk into this cramped dark space intended to cleanse the surroundings from your memories and to shield you from the sound of the outside, then you walk up a ladder to the bridge which emerges you into this situation again which a fresh view. The intervention stretches out halfway into the road so it doesn't cross deliberately because it is a place to view both sides of the road as equals, and to notice the divide that is being created between the older residents and the newer residents in the new builds. 


I am highlighting the boundary situation between these groups of people, by giving them a viewing platform across the physical boundary [the road, which only exacerbates the situation] so they can see it for themselves and then this gaining of perspective intends to break down the barriers between these two groups of people.