Maps and other large drawings

Recent tutorials have touched on ways of mapping, in addition to the East drawings, here are some references that may be of interest:

BBC4 series Maps: Power, Plunder and Possession (three parts) and The Beauty of Maps (four parts) - both are in the library DVD collection under 791.4572 MAP and 791.4572 BEA

archive of Magnificent Maps exhibition at the British Library, book on order at the library

Mapping London: making sense of the city, by Simon Foxell [911.421 FOX]
London: a life in maps, by Peter Whitfield [911.421 WHI]
Liquid city, by Marc Atkins and Iain Sinclair [914.210485 ATK]

Historic Digimap, which you can access via your Athens account
MAPCO - online collection of historical maps of London, the Lea Valley starts to appear from 1800 onwards
Map Tube, an online map-sharing resource hosted by UCL

extract from Stanford’s Geological Library Map Of London And Its Suburbs 1878

This year's second prizewinner in the Jerwood Drawing Prize is Jessie Brennan for The Cut: a 5 metre long drawing of the Hackney Cut, the section of the Lee Navigation that runs alongside Hackney Wick, and that we walked along. The drawing is inspired by stories and oral histories of the place and plays with scale. The prize shortlist exhibition is on until the end of the month, go and see it. It's a major, open entry prize - meaning you can enter it next year. (One of the exhibitors is a recent UEL graduate.)

top: The Cut, by Jessie Brennan (Pencil on paper, 29.7 x 504 cm) and above: Detail from The Cut

A copy of two 12-metre long drawings of the north bank and south bank of the Thames by Matteo Pericoli are on display until the 26th October in the Gallery, top floor of Foyles bookshop. Incredibly they are drawn by hand on ordinary lightweight tracing paper rolls.

London Unfurled, preparatory work (photos and sketches) by Matteo Pericoli

Manual

A new section Manual has been added under Information, regarding portfolios and process.

Relevantly, an extract from the East book Expressing Interest is available here, which discusses ways of drawing among other things (there are copies of the full book in the library)

The ‘thing on the table’ is usually a map, and we are talking about a place. We are trying to be as precise as possible. Every little granite sett, every name, every window might be important, and might help … in our understanding of where we’re going to. This is not the time to make judgements or to generalise, or for wishing that the world was more tidy or operated according to your ideas or design principles. Wanting to do this drawing – the desire and the process – changes the way I look at a site.

The drawing is an instrument that reveals or charts the specific conditions of a place with all its complexity, conflicts, contradictions – the banal as well as the sublime. Once this drawing exists, a commitment is made. The room is full of potential.

They also quote Practical Exercises from one of my favourite texts: Species of Spaces by Georges Perec.

Sketches for East Barking framework plan, by East

Do the drawings and you win

12-13th October 2011: Mark Brearley, Eleanor Fawcett, Tom Holbrook, Alison Crawshaw
Links to more information on the guest speakers this week and the projects they presented:

East
Design for London
Olympic Park Legacy Company
5th Studio
muf

East London Green Grid at Design for London, with download links to complete documentation
Upper Lea Valley at Design for London, with download links to Upper Lea Landscape Strategy documents
Lea River Park at Design for London
www.leariverpark.org
BD article on Lea River Park plans by 5th Studio
Hackney Wick and Fish Island Public Realm at Design for London, with download links to Made In and Design Guidance documents
Hackney Wick and Fish Island at Design for London, with download link to Creative Industries mapping 2009 report by muf

Walthamstow Wetlands

Links to additional information about the Walthamstow Reservoirs and the proposals:
Waltham Forest council - Walthamstow Wetlands Project
Thames Water - Walthamstow Reservoirs
London Wildlife Trust - Walthamstow Reservoirs Project

Create an account and join the Unit G Vimeo group: http://vimeo.com/groups/unitg
There are a lot of resources on vimeo created by other film-makers that can help you.

There is now a list of reading material and films under unit Information.