upcoming events

Unit G will be taking part in the UEL Architecture Open Jury next Thursday and Friday. The two-day event is open to the public and encourages discussion between students, staff and guests, based around each unit's work in progress. An exhibition of work will be up in the individual unit studios. Tony Fretton will be giving a guest lecture on Thursday evening 6.30pm. All are welcome. (click on image to download flyer)

In addition, there are several upcoming lectures and events:
Jonathan Sergison (Sergison Bates) guest lecture at UEL, 5pm in the AVA, Thursday 2nd February. All welcome.
Emerging Architecture talks series at the RIBA, to accompany the current exhibition. These often sell out so book in advance.
Ecobuild at Excel, 20th - 22nd March. Register now for free tickets.


Some links of interest:

'Pavegen: generating energy from footsteps' - if anyone recognises the East London building in the link, let us know!

Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) - information on the CIRIA website. (The SUDS Manual is available as a free download if you register with the site.)

Living Roofs - information about green and brown roofs

some rules and hints

food for thought from John Cage:

Study trip

Ruhr:



Key sites:

Landschaftspark and Zollverein are within Emscherpark
http://sustainablecities.dk/en/city-projects/cases/emscher-park-from-dereliction-to-scenic-landscapes

Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord - http://en.landschaftspark.de/
Peter Latz website (change to English at bottom of page)
Gasometer Oberhausen - "Magic Places" exhibition

Zollverein - website
Ruhr Museum by OMA http://www.ruhrmuseum.de/
Zollverein School of Management and Design by SANAA - project architect's website

Essen
Aalto Theatre: website (in German)
Museum Folkwang by Chipperfield: museum website, AR article

Insel Hombroich - website (in German), Kulturkenner website (North Rhine-Westphalia events)
Siza and Finsterwalder pavilion: AR article


London places:

Site work

Enjoy your sites: observe and investigate, draw out and explore the qualities that interest you. Document these qualities through drawing and photography and allow the process of recording to further your investigations, as well as articulating your interests. Consider the whole site, beyond the boundaries of the site to neighbours and context, as well as selected details. Here are some images from site and drawings to inspire you:

student site studies from top: Campo San Polo by Charanpal Matharu, 3-point site study by Nenad Djordjevic, Venice site plan by Marios Aphram


Rail Networks, from Taking Measures Across the American Landscape by Corner and MacLean


Belavali House site plan by Studio Mumbai


San Giorgio photomontage by Enric Miralles



Merced River, Yosemite Valley photocollage and Still Life Blue Guitar composite polaroid, both by David Hockney


Polyptich: Off Waterloo Bridge, by Jon Spencer


The Avro 1 triplane being tested on Walthamstow Marshes, 1909


aerial photo of museum site showing previous waste incineration chimney, sewage filterbeds, railtracks and farmbuildings


derelict Warners building, Hawarden Road





details from top: wildflowers in rubble sacks, flood channel and reservoir bank, spider webs in oil drum litter bin at Douglas Eyre, detail of ground at Walthamstow Pumphouse Museum, moss and lichen on Ferry Lane wall to train tracks and reservoirs

I recently came across some beautiful drawings by Perry Kupler:

Fast Twitch Site Plan by Perry Kulper

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