week 7 summary

This last week I have been in Christchurch, visiting my sites, talking to people connected to those sites and to other people in related professions (architects, Historic Places Trust, planners, researchers). It has been a very productive week, and a big learning curve.

Some of the observations I've made:

-everywhere you go and look in the centre of town, buildings are broken, or sites are emptied. Reference points keep disappearing. Everything feels disjointed and very disorientating. Particularly losing the tall buildings. This makes reconnection to landscape very important. People walking around admit they don't know where they are, what buildings used to be on the blank lots they are looking at. 

-open and closed spaces... can see through to neighbouring streets you never used to be able to, see the hills like you never used to. I need to mark where the buildings are gone in my plans, it is very important.

-realization of nature (like the streams wouldn't conform with the grid)

-streets that are blocked off or near the red zone have been almost reclaimed by pedestrians and cyclists

-CERA: paid to demolish, make safe and fill in. No consideration of site history.

-all of my sites have had the surrounding buildings demolished too. Does this give the opportunity for testing the boundary line? It makes my thesis more difficult, but more important too.

-need Maori history knowledge in relation to sites

-people keep mentioning memory of doors, windows, stairs, chimneys. That is what people have kept from each site. They make up the 'face' of the building, the features -> they are what people remember.
-beautiful moment in Sherborne St house interview, the trace of where the stairs used to run in the house. The steep stairs in the Caxton Press that were removed. The grand steep steps in the Durham St church.

What I've done:

-handed in my thesis draft 

-interviews with professionals

-interviews with people from each of my three sites

-recorded and typed up all these interviews (x7. whew! see previous posts)

-site visits

-photos of sites, context

-reading and notes (Norberg-Schulz, Christian. Genius Loci: Towards a Phenomenology of Architecture)

Which brings us to week 8. This week. When I have to really start pumping out design for crit in three weeks' time. So keep watching this space. 

 

Easter break (week 2)

-wrote report on 'Encounters'
-re-wrote literature review, now the first draft of my thesis (hand-in tomorrow)
-finished formatting thesis (images etc)
-drew, figured out next step for models
-built computer model of house, started doing iterations of compositions
-windows and doors as revealing layers (putting Rossi and Scarpa's very different approaches together)

Easter break (week1)

this week I:


-continued my model-making series, though this doesn't seem to be progressing my ideas much further, I feel a bit stuck (see photos below)
-finished reading 'Encounters' and writing notes
-started processing ideas for summary of 'Encounters'
-drew my models and compressed spaces as surfaces
-planned out meetings in Christchurch


I've taken it pretty easy this week, and since editing my thesis draft haven't re-looked at it. I'm hoping that this coming week I'll have a fresh perspective when reading it, to re-write, define and make needed changes. 

posture, a 'fragile' architecture

-to evoke (memory), rather than impress or comfort
-create dialogue, not assert an answer
-provide a suportive background for human activities and perceptions
-not towards dementing and aggression, but tangential and weak
-the idea of fragility suggests empathetic listening and dialogue

week6

1/4 of the way through... this is craziness


so I... 
-put my first thesis draft attempt together in indesign
-have been closely reading Encounters by Juhani Pallasmaa
-restructuring writing, re-writing and editing
-identifying 'devices'
-archetypal/Rossi vs surface/Scarpa (recognising two opposing design approaches I'm working to reconcile)
-next set of models:

Questions to ask specialists (a running revision of)

Christine Whybrew, Heritage Advisor Crown Land Disposal and Research, New Zealand Historic Places Trust

-CEISMIC Quake Studies consortium +
-redevelopment of a historic brewery complex  projects

-What layers of earth are underneath Canterbury?

-Is it unique in any way?

-how do you geo-locate information? where? what limitations?

-how would you like to see Maori culture/ history recognized? Different how?

-how do you then deal with representing information you discover? particular methods?

-how does this impact design?

Jenny May, Historic Places Trust

-What building, for you, was the biggest loss?

-how is losing a house different to losing a public building?

-What value do you see in restoring buildings?

-What building styles are in danger of being lost since the earthquakes?

-How would you design on these sites now?

-Do you have a vision for what it might be like to walk down a street in the city in the future?

-Do you think links to the lost buildings will be important to reorientate people to their city?

Ashley Hide, Athfield Architects

-As an architect, what is the difference between designing before the earthquakes and after?

-Do you see a shift in the way people use their streets?

-What kind of methods or devices do you think might be useful in re-orientating Christchurch residents to the streets they used to know? (memory-wise)

-Have you tried any of these devices in your designs?

-I've been investigating movement, materials and archetypal elements like doors, windows and chimneys as being able to reconnect people to site. Do you think they might be helpful?

-Do you think architecture has the potential to trigger memory? to what extent/limitations?

-Do you think the quality of housing will improve? Change in what way?

Questions to ask people connected to site (a running revision of)

Questions to ask Durham Street Methodist Church community representative (Digby Prosser)

-when did you start going to this church?
-what sort of activities occurred there?
-what was (if anything) salvaged from the original church? 
-what are the plans for the site now (new church? ownership? neighbouring buildings)
-what are some important memories for the church community that are attached to the building? (collective memory)
-what personal memories do you have that occurred here? (individual memory)
-what will you miss the most about this building?
-describe approaching and entering the church. What do you hear, touch, feel, smell?
-activities (what happened where, order of service as related to plan, etc)
-describe a view from one of the windows 
-can you walk me through your usual routine when you visited?



 Questions to ask Amanda, owner of the Sherborne House


-Who did you buy it from? when?
-Who lived there? 
-Have you saved anything from the old house?
-What made you decide to rebuild like this? Have you/will you make any changes?
-What will it mean to you to have your house rebuilt?
-How would you feel about this (show diagram)
-Is it important to you it is rebuilt in brick?/materiality discussion
-What important memories did you have attached to the building?
-What will you miss the most about this building?
-Describe approaching and walking into your house. What do you hear, touch, feel, smell?
-describe a view from one of the windows
-Can you walk me through your usual routine? 




 Questions to ask Caxton Press representative


-How long did you work in the building for?
-How many people worked there?
-Where did you work inside it? 
-Your routine when you worked there... where did you sit, talk, make coffee, write?
-What important events/ memories occurred there? (collective memory)
-What personal memories do you have of it? (individual memory)
-What will you miss most about the building?
-Describe approaching and entering the building. What do you hear, touch, feel, smell?
-Describe a view from one of the windows
-What are the plans for the site now?

week 5

This week the literature review was due... so I did a lot of reading, writing and editing

I also:
-did further plaster models + photos exploring texture, thin/thickness, layers and dissolving the frame 
+ photos that brought about 'bringing things to the surface'/ collapsing space
-started next series of models, trying out different tools/ methodologies with original form on the Sherborne St house 


-I meant to do a serious look at precedent studies with images in an indesign doc, which I didn't quite get around to... guess I'll be doing that this week!