A couple of concepts

The General Gist

Moving on with the 'fill' kind of idea I've chosen two of the broken areas which could work quite well and experimented with the phrase 'Make Do Mend'

In terms of materials, I aim to have the type blend in with the natural surroundings as much as possible. If the target audience of this are the residents of the estate then I think they should know well enough what the area looks like to be able to spot something is different, if not then...that's okay too. 

The stone filler will be clay, I'll start by experimenting with that and try to find some more obscure materials to work with. Chicken wire and mud rock for example?

As for the bench slat replacement, I took some measurements of how thick the slats are as well as how wide the gap is; my aim is to have a snug fit so that the type is supported by the slats themselves. I'll experiment with balsa wood to begin with as a test and look at the possibility of using a darker and heavier wood, and then rough it up so it is not clean as a whistle. 

Of course the perspective on this isn't perfect as its drawn free hand but this gives a general idea as to how I'd use the typography to more or less completely fill in the broken stone and level it out.

Again, forgive the perspective, the real thing will be more accurate! I'm really liking the look of these and how they blend more into the background.

A penny for your thoughts

Possible phrases:

• Make Do Mend
• Fix this up

I should probably think of some more possibilities.

Not quite up to par

It really is the small details that can change a perspective.

Having ambled around the estate for a fair while i was trying to pinpoint a place for the typography to go and it clicked when I properly stopped to look at the benches. There were twelve of them in this courtyard alone; more around the back of the buildings too. The majority of these benches had some kind of defect, something broken. Having spotted that and other aspects of objects that weren't quite right it felt as though this ideal of a posh neighbourhood was breaking down.
It bothered me more than it should have really.
Thus, there's my idea, I'm going to fix what's broken.

Two front slats missing

Middle slat missing

Bottom corner rusted out, how on earth.

Nothing wrong here, just love how it looks.

Cracked and missing stone

Missing stones

Q&A time incoming

So, with my focus set on the residents of Wedgwood House I need a message to give them. It was invariably the case that the small details began to stand out more and more as I wandered around and this is where the idea stemmed from. I've been rambling about how pleasant the estate actually looks, how it was better than I expected it to be but also how I was unsure of whether it is just a front.
For this I was advised to return to my grid square and talk to the residents themselves to get an idea of what it might be like to live there.
As an example of the possible questions:

• How long have you lived in Wedgwood House?
• What is your opinion of living here?
• If there's something you could change about the area what would it be?

Incredibly generic but in terms of getting a general feel of the place I imagine these types of answers would be helpful.

Chris failed

After wandering around for a fair bit I decided that the China Walk Estate would be a better focus for this project than Lambeth Towers. Yes, my initial research had been more pointed towards the latter but having visited the sites in person now it was clear that I was more drawn to the estate.

If you turn around and look back down the path that you just came from you notice the shops on the other side of the street. Small independent businesses; a bike shop, pizza shop, a small grocers, none of these appeared to have anything too out of the ordinary about them. Glancing back into the estate 
 gives a very different feeling. This comes across as something higher class, perhaps it's the courtyard that does it, perhaps it's all just a front; I don't know. I would need to do more research on these houses.

It is for this reason that I have decided to target my piece of typography at the residents of China Walk Estate; specifically at those living in Wedgwood House as that building by itself makes up the majority of the estate.

The people seem interesting, this Lucozade bottle for example; a piece of litter thrown down in this pretty area but in addition to it being litter there is a label that reads 'Chris please bring bottle home'

Chris apparently failed in this task.

Onto bigger and better things

Wedgwood House

A minutes walk down from Lambeth Towers is China Walk Estate.

When I first saw this amount of flats on the map we were given I didn't know what to expect  but what I found certainly wasn't it.

One of the many entrances at China Walk Estate

A view of Wedgwood House

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the whole estate was much more appealing than originally thought. I enjoy the style of these buildings and to have them circling a courtyard  is an agreeable feature. However, as decent as these buildings looked it did not give me a conclusive answer on what kind of people live here.
Having looked up one of the addresses on Zoopla.com I found out that a 1 bed, 1 bath, 1 recept flat costs approximately ; £347,000; this is higher compared to the rest of the UK average of about £275, 000 now

A bit of background on an enchanting eyesore

Lambeth Towers

Designed by George Finch in 1964, it is considered to be a masterpiece of his. The towers were to provide affordable, high quality housing spanning 10 stories, medical facilities and arguably most importantly, a lunch club for the elderly.

Brochure to Lambeth Towers scheme promoting it as a social and ideal place to live.

Lambeth Towers generally seems to have remained the same over the past few decades however the one difference I must regret to inform is that the elderly persons' lunch club no longer exists. Instead, it has been replaced with a very orange Thai restaurant. I was looking forward to seeing that lunch club too...

Lack of elderly person's lunch time clubs aside, as it turns out Lambeth towers may well be a part of Brutalism, a movement in architecture that boomed in the 1960s and 70s. They are characterised by continuous repeated elements and concrete. Lots of concrete. Said to be used for its 'raw and unpretentious honesty.'

Trelick Tower, London, 1966-1972

http://fuckyeahbrutalism.tumblr.com/

Please see above for further examples of concrete right angles and buildings that look like they may have been exported from Minecraft.

ref: http://www.utopialondon.com/lambeth-towers

Getting my bearings

One of the key landmarks that I decided to base most of my research on was Lambeth Towers.

Lambeth Towers sits rather imposingly on the corner of Kennington and Lambeth Road. Having looked up the building online beforehand I immediately thought, nope, not a fan of that, it's pretty damn ugly.
However.
Having now seen it for myself I may have warmed up to it...somehow. There's a strong urge to wrinkle my nose upon seeing the odd formation of the flats but simultaneously I find it absolutely fascinating and I can't quite pinpoint why. It certainly stands out at least.

First impressions of J1 South

Sums it up quite well.

Brief time

Word Up!

Brief: Design a provocative piece of site-specific 3D typography.

 

 I was assigned square J1 which I then christened J1 South. Initial research of this was of course finding out what the heck was in the area. I'd never been to Lambeth so this was all new and I ended up enjoying the place more than I imagined, 10/10.

Word Up! - Initial Research

Word Up!

Initial Research Brief

Examples of 3D typography

 

 

When 3D typography was mentioned this was the first thing to come to mind, having visited the Netherlands twice and seen it in person I have a bit of a soft spot for it. Absolutely love the colours and the clever smushing of the words.

A question mark made of marble and granite commissioned by University Campus Suffolk for their campus on the waterfront. This is in my hometown. I remember it being controversial when the plans were announced. It cost £200,000. Yeah.

Admittedly I don't have any background on this other than that it is in New York City. Something about the look of the letters as well as being able to see the joints and unlit curves is really appealing to me.

These were also some other pieces of 3D typography I considered, although 3D in a virtual sense, I wouldn't complain with a life sized Minecraft logo though.

I keep these bookmarked

• http://www.pointerpointer.com/

• http://thisissand.com/

• http://www.staggeringbeauty.com/ 

I couldn't pick just one so here is a small selection for your interactive viewing pleasure!

Illegible scribbles

Patterns, not done by myself

I'm told this represents the chaos of life

Signature for authenticity

'You can play Just Dance, it's like karaoke for your body'

'A spear is a knife tied to a pole'

'Half and half lips' - idea for checkerboard lipstick

'When in doubt, pannenkoeken'

'Boxes are the poor man's bananas' [Mario Kart]

'Rotary phones voice chat, Skype and LoL'

'Expensive sounding sounds'

L'orange Montreal

clickclick

I've slowly become a fan of Martin Parr's photography, it feels like there's such an honesty in his work with geniune subjects and bright colours playing up this idea. Whilst reading through his 'Suited and Booted' series the description of one photo in particular caught me.

http://www.martinparr.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/LON57920.jpg 


From his website:

Salaryman, Tokyo (2000)
Japan’s salarymen are well known for being hard workers and enthusiastic drinkers and socialisers. Here, one takes a well-earned nap in the spring sunshine of the city. The Japanese are skilled at falling asleep anywhere and programming their waking to resume duties.

My gap year is coming to an end and though I have been keeping myself busy with one thing or another it has been much more chilled than being in education. The first sentence of that description, I feel will ring true when I start university, it may well be a shock to the system getting back into a routine with more rigorous work however I am determinded to do all I can. As well as enjoy myself of course. In addition I too am also blessed/cursed with being able to fall asleep anywhere; I'm still deciding whether it's a good thing or not.

The good and the bad

This is, or would have been, the independent bookshop for me to visit however when I turned up during the opening hours it looked absolutely dead both inside and out. Perhaps it may have closed down, books were left abandoned on the windowsill. I don't know and it's a great shame that I didn't get to see inside.


 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnv5iKB2hl4
On a better note, this link above takes you to a talk by Roman Mars on flag design. It's one of my favourite TED talks; no matter how many times I watch it I'm  always left with a creative itch, as well as a renewed appreciation for flags of course.

Adventures in Suffolk - Ipswich Museum

 

One of the first things to greet you in this museum is a great big woolly mammoth with an impressive set of tusks; I would say that this sets the general tone for the rest of your visit as the museum is comprised of local history and the natural world amongst other things. The amount of exhibits is quite staggering really; the building looks smaller on the outside so I was not expecting all too much however it definitely delivered. There were interactive bits and pieces as one would expect which were welcome breaks as I began to drag my feet every so often. I was impressed with the number of bird specimens on display as well as the detail to the environment they perched in; from vegetation to water it was very convincing and made me want to buy the materials to play around with. From the visit I’d say I’ve gained a new appreciation for my home town, turns out I didn’t know as much of its history as I thought and so it was an enlightening experience.

Adventures in Suffolk - Woodbridge Tide Mill

This is was a really pleasant visit and I’m glad I got the chance to see it. Ideally when the tides are high enough the waterwheel will turn the machinery and mill grain to produce flour; this is where the title ‘living museum’ comes into play. Unfortunately I didn’t consider this at all before visiting and so the only noise was from creaky floorboards. Still, it was very interesting to see and learn about this piece of history. I was particularly fond of the rustic feel of the building, exposed chipped beams and traditional machinery; on top of that there was a stunning view of the River Deben at low tide. I could find no fault with this place until it came to the challenge of finding the paper mice; with names like Neil, Mac and Stan, scattered around the building. Designed for kids I thought it would be easy to find all 12 of them. How wrong I was.

Adventures in Suffolk - Framlingham Castle

Thankfully it was a beautiful day when I visited so spirits were high from the get go. The ruins of the castle are an absolutely stunning sight as you first walk through the arch; it does a good job of making you feel small. I must say I was quite fond of seeing the buildings for the information centre and cafe within the castle walls, almost to replicate where original buildings would have stood. Having caught up on the history of Framlingham Castle, as well as learned about the role of Norfolk and Suffolk during its heyday, I headed up to the wall walk. Climbing the tiniest and most spiral of staircases was a little challenge but very worth it upon reaching the top. You were able to walk the entire perimeter of the castle and were greeted by the beautiful sights of rolling fields and clustered woodlands from up there; granted I may have thought slightly differently if it was raining.