AA Foundation Projects Review 19/20
Visit to the Havelock Estate, Southall, with architect Alison Crawshaw. December 2019
Who Do We Think We Are? What Do We Think We Are Doing?
We are: thinking through making Challenged in our assumptions Open to the unknown Identifying our territories Reaching back to precedents Projecting future prospects We found: traces of Bauhaus in London streets Heard gossip in the penthouse at Highpoint Wandered the rooms of ‘Still Undead’ In Caruso St John’s Nottingham Contemporary. We walked across Liverpool Tracking the histories of Colonial power through colossal structures from the water’s edge to the city margins. Assemble(d) for tea and cake at Granby Four Streets Winter-garden Understood the tender preservation of Croft Lodge; a ruin held together by ivy for decades, now wrapped in a corrugated coat. We measured voids and under-crofts of the Havelock Estate, Made paths from Sanford Housing Co-op around Millwall’s Den making fictional characters to play with. We played backstage at the Mowlem Theatre, Acting audience to the sea’s sway. We walked, wind whipped, from Swanage to Haysom Quarry and saw masses of Purbeck stone cut with industrial precision.
Cover: Laure Segur COVID-19 lock-down installation, Paris, June 2020
Visit to architect Kate Darby’s studio, November 2019
This year, we: downloaded our uploads Negotiated acquisitions Contorted plastics Impressed Pressure Catalogued by colour Found flows of veins Traced smoke Uncorked bottles Filled voids Shot at desire Masked performance Nurtured mosses Revealed the hidden Drew a datum Traced a curve and Cast a net We are finding out Who we want to be How we want to participate To act with integrity Take creative risks We revise and reflect Our perspectives are broadened Our focus is sharpened We are living through history We look to design To provide workable evolution To correct human pillage Prepare to negotiate The symbiotic relationship Between humans and environments To document and navigate Design and record Make moves and communities to Continue conversations Excavating questions from which to Deliberate all possible answers.
Collage workshop with artist Ilsa Colsell, February 2020
The last time there were tutorials in our Foundation studio was Tuesday 17 March. We had had our final jury on Thursday 12th and were clarifying our territories and strategising over final iterations and articulations. As the COVID-19 lock-down came into effect, we dispersed rapidly, advice and news feeds changing hourly. We negotiated differing forms of global governmental position, anxious about curfews and lock-downs, boarders, passports and controls – we watched while our norms were upended.
Elias Lont
*
Nottingham
Liverpool **
* London Euan Goodbrand
*
Hooke Park * Sapyr Dodi, Noah Ponte, Jeffery Y * Swanage
* Laure Segur * Tommaso Vago
* Edwina Marigliano
* Allegra
*
Kenza El Aoud
Yu, Marco Mantega
*
Maria-Clara Radu
a Sainsbury
* Elena Zannetou
*
Or Naeh
*
Dana Ayad
Elias
n Eua
*
Lont
d bran
d Goo
Marco
*
Berge
r Man
y
tega i od D r
Sap
* Jeffery Yu La
*
eg
eS
ur ur
*
no *
Ma
lia rig
*
Al
leg
ra
Sa
ins
bu
Ed
To
ry
a win
s
a mm
Ken za E
lA
oud
*
go
a oV
In developing a piece of work inspired by our nine-month journey, we have, in stitching them together, proposed what has become a curious fractured gallery fifteen cones of vision into fifteen domestic environments. Each fragment describes a space framed by a lens. Familiar spaces have been re-purposed and re-understood as locations for our work to be installed and performed. Instead of walls defining the extent of these spaces, our domestic spaces are here understood as provisional film sets: divided by the camera angle into that which can be seen, and that which remains private.
Cl
ar
aR
ad
u
This is a version of our world- a collection of architectural fragments, and combinations of fragments- colliding from thousands of miles apart within our screens, and made possible only through digital means.
*
* Na eh
*
Dana
Ayad
Or
Elena Zannetou
*
Elias L
ont
Eu
an
Marco
Go
od
br
Berge
an
d
*
r Man
tega
y fer
* i
Jef
*
Yu
yr
d Do
p Sa
ur*
e
g Se
r au
L
m
* a win
Ed
no *
Ma
a
gr
oud
*
Tom
lia rig
le Al
Kenza El A
ago
V aso
s
in Sa
y
r bu
*
We made domestic studios now, scattered across the globe – newly framed in ‘Zoom’ or ‘Teams’ and speaking with glitch and delays, grainy screens and frozen gestures.
Clara Radu
*
en
El
nn
a aZ
u*
eto
h ae
*
rN
O
yad
*
aA Dan
We made films to articulate our altered states and discuss our observations. With no AA Front Members’ room to show in, no collaborative nod with Experimental and Diploma units
as anticipated, we took our screens inward, projecting them into the heart of our domestic envelopes and started to deliberate how to make a summative installation.
This series of summative experiments conclude our year. The pieces rub, nudging up against each other, provoking and supporting, as we have done over these last weeks and months in person and on line; students, tutors, critics, collaborators, precedents all. Our Installations have formed our collaborative film that in turn forms the introduction to this book, the chance to reflect on our back catalogue and re-frame our conversations. Our introduction to our creative territories that we fine tune now so that in future years we can look back at how the conversations started‌
Dana Ayad Stairs, Basement, Riyadh, KSA
My installation involves a performance of a young boy moving through an obstructed staircase, commentating on making subdivisions of a transitional space to alter the body’s’ dynamic of movement though it.
I looked at the structure of the face and the function of the eye, specifically how the surface of the face can be mapped out hence generating a two dimensional scan of my face
After looking at Andrew Loomis’s standardized proportions to draw faces, I compiled photos of my peers and with the datum being through the eyes just to further iterate that proportions are unique to each individual.
I was curious to see the relationship between the extent of which external surfaces distort internal surfaces hence scanning my face three dimensionally to and 3D printed it.
1:1 models of my face, by making a low poly and generating a net I was able to model my face
A collage of an interior landscape, to investigate how I could look into a space while still being outdoors I looked into domestic spaces and made interior through collage in order to see the relationship of scale and perspective as well as model moments within a domestic space
Self-reflection: I challenged myself to write my name backwards repeatedly, thus disconnecting from muscle memory and using it as a synecdoche for myself.
I looked deeply at different archetypal elements, more specifically the functions of transitional spaces and the way they provide potential paths for circulation and movement within constructed spaces.
I observes the obstruction of circulation and lack of accessibility, hence abstracting one the residential blocks of the havelock estate to isolate and observe movement through each level of the block
By thoroughly investigating movement, circulation and dynamic in relation to constructed spaces I modelled a variety of archetypal elements using plywood, each of which ambiguous in their boundaries and use. Ultimately allowing me to add potential movement within them.
As movement and navigation were of my interest, I tracked individuals’ movement within open spaces to observe dynamic.
I explored the notion and the restrictions of movement in domestic space by building a structure in my kitchen. I used and inhibited the structure to avoid solemnly using it for obstruction.
Overleaf: I drew an x rayed Section drawing of the kitchen showing the movement around my own intervention beginning to understand the epicentre of my movement in relation to the placement of my stuff
Visiting Assemble’s Granby Street Workshop, Liverpool, December 2019
Throughout the foundation course I investigated the perception and interaction between constructed spaces and the body. I was more so interested with the constraints and extent of which a body can move through a space. Therefore revealing paths of movement and opening a possibility to distort spaces for the benefit of body dynamic and fun.
Stairs
Levelled surfaces each fitted to the size of your foot Uneven and sturdy right next to the window, spiraling up and down Making mazes from boxed rooms They take you in multiple directions Some are blocked off At the beginning and the end they lead no where and only from there do you leave.
Sensual Observations
Clattering doors and windows make the place eerie. There is no one here – I can only hear the wind on the canal. Occasional footsteps are heard as people walk past the footpath. Rough and cold pebbled walls are crumbling. Paint is peeling and the green moss is climbing up the houses. It seems as though no one wants to be outside.
Sapyr Dodi Unfinished Studio, First Floor, Detatched House, London, UK
This year I embarked upon my curiosity around the shape and form of the Human body and the way in which objects around us relate to it. I was absorbed by the complexity of the body as an individual form and the endless possibilities of modifying, manipulating, and extending it. I focused on presenting the internal structure of our bodies, represented by the ribcage, in relation to the internal structure of a space. By being able to see the exposed building, and the internal construction which holds it all together, I was able to make a connection to the ribcage, also by connecting them together by wire indicating the system in which our bodies work on.
Playing with light and shadow when exhibiting my ribcage final piece. Detailed photos of the riveted tube spine and scanned images of the steel strips which compose the ribcage before assembling them together.
Studying the Rotary Cuff Muscles which hold the shoulder bone to the body, in relation to the form of the coat.
My initial ideas and sketches understanding the movement of the shoulder bone in regards to the ribcage.
My final steel ribcage model. Made by hammering strips of steel and riveting together in order to create my final form. Additionally, red rubber bands were added in order to represent the muscles holding the shoulder bone up.
Measured drawings examining the extension and movement of the shoulder bone.
Studying the form of a coat through a wire model following the seams only. I focused on how varying media altered the form of the models.
Studying the form of the coat through elevation drawings and a paper model.
Experimenting with de-constructing and reconstructing a coat through collage.
My plastic creature costume made out of reused and re-purposed plastic. Designed with the theme of mutation and growth around the form of the human body.
Experimenting with space and atmosphere between costume and site through collage.
Experimenting with space and atmosphere between costume and site through collage.
Photography course, Swanage, Dorset, January 2020
This year I embarked upon my curiosity around the shape and form of the human body and the way in which objects around us relate to it. I was absorbed by the complexity of the body as an individual form and the endless possibilities of modifying, manipulating, and extending it.
Kenza El Aoud Double-height dining room, Casablanca, Morocco
After spending four months of lock-down in the same place, I wanted to explore my roof from the first floor to understand how coloured water and the shadows it creates can have spatial effect on the environment we inhabit.
The motion of water flowing on glass at different pressure and exploring colours’ impact inside the house.
After spending few days in the Mowlem theatre in Swanage, Dorset. I wanted to give an experimental response to this site by using paint colour and see which combination of colour will bring more life to the space. I end up with more welcoming spaces for the audience as an new horizon and a beginning of a theatrical scene. The colour skin of each drawing are a call black to Swanage colour palette.
These sketches are an analysis of how the environment around the space has an impact inside it, throughout the day.
Visiting Southall allow me to do a color analysis of The Havelock Estate.
Recording pairs of words while we were walking in Swanage countryside and gave the most accurate colours possible of that moment.
These bar codes are an essence. A condensed version of the complexity of the colour I have found from my memory of the landscape. From being objective to subjective.
Overlapping the stroll with the coloured words brought the map into a concrete poetry.
Wrapping light all around my foot to see the motion of a foot when flat to fully pointed or fully contracted.
The resin cast of my left foot allow me to capture all the details and imperfection of it.
Once I worked on my foot, I wanted to find a way to metaphorically enfold it and protect it. That’s why I chose a traditional Moroccan slipper. Above middle: original shoe Above middle: paper model Below middle: recyclable model Below: wire model
January Progress Reviews, January 2020
Foundation year has been a massive learning curve in my process and ‘thinking through making’ was my motto. It allowed me to open my eyes and translate my ideas into concrete projects with no limit of medium and techniques... Colours were, for me, the first things that caught my attention while I was either walking, visiting or traveling... I was intrigued by the effect of the environment on a space. And to deepen my analysis, I wanted to research how different variations of colour can inhabit a space. It was a great experience!
Above, The Sky Was Blue, No Clouds, No Rain
At 6pm, in front of the sea, a colourful sunset. I was surrounded by rocks. On the left side, there were stairs and rocks… The wind came from this side. I was feeling cold and the air was salted and also refreshing.
On the right side, there were borders. It was inaccessible – no access –
The structure beneath me was not comfortable. It was made out of concrete and some small gravel.
Unapproachable Balance . . . The dark is laced with kaleidoscopic light. The sky is a pitch-black ocean above, the stars are sea life and the moon is floating in space out of reach. The water laps at my paddle-board, the slight popping noise of lifting my feet precedes the dull slap as I reposition them. My balance is broken at times by the muffled noise of people afar. The brine of the ocean. All around are the mountains in the distance. My board separates me from the deep abyss below only made apparent by bioluminescence, reminiscent of stars diving, the moon meeting my buoyant world. I’m floating in a void, too many steps and no steps from where I want to be.
Euan Goodbrand Fish tank, Living room, first floor, detached house, Staffordshire, UK
Following my investigation of ‘Limbo’, the space between two spaces. I created an installation and film with a fish tank which I saw as a space of ‘Limbo’. This was following another film I created with this line of enquiry on ‘Loops’ which included a fish tank within it.
Previous page: These are a series of screen shots of a film I made within my home investigating the concept of ‘Looping’ in relation to the Havelock estate. It was an attempt at recreating the feeling I had of the Havelock Estate within my home through film.
These are two collages of my journey to the AA I make each morning, I did this to understand spaces I am familiar with to try and understand why I feel how I do about unfamiliar spaces.
A series of plans of Havelock Estate in Southall, London. This is a site I was investigating with the premise of traversing and transitioning which is the theme of my overall work.
These of Havelock Estate and Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe’s, Brick Country House along with a plan of the Havelock estate inspired by the Brick Country House. I created these as I saw strong parallels between the feeling I got for the Havelock estate and the Brick Country House.
A CAD drawing of the area of the Havelock Estate that I was interested in. I created this drawing to further interrogate the site and understand it.
A denim boat created after an AI image recognition software identified a pair of my jeans as a sailing ship which I took as a prompt to create this model.
A set of sketches and a net of the hull of a sailing boat to further understand the technicalities of a sailing ship and understand hyperbolic paraboloid shapes like the hull of the ship.
These are 1:1 section drwings and model of a part of a classmates leg in order to understand its Cardiovascular system and what this might look like.
This model is of the musculature of the human leg at 1:1 scale to understand more deeply what is inside of the human leg and to understand how it works. I did this by passing elastic rubber through sections of muscles of the leg to replicate how it works.
A diagram to show the range of motion and movement of my model based on the musculature of a human leg at 1:1 scale.
Anatomy Workshop, November 2019
Throughout this year I aimed to understand and investigate the concept of traversing and transitioning through space. I first decided to explore myself through this lens before I looked into the space around me. I investigated the concept of traversing and transitioning through space. I explored these thresholds and became interested in the concept of ‘Limbo’ and looping spaces in between transition and constant transitions.
Elias Lont Storage Room, Staircase, Basement, House, Oslo, Norway
With my installation I attempted to explore how our perception of space and the threedimensionality of a room can be altered through the introduction of light. Installing semitranslucent paper between the slits of a staircase and lighting it from behind, it becomes unclear whether the slits are positioned at equal distance from the camera or at different distances, thereby removing the sense of depth.
Axo that examines the relationship between the various components of the staircase and the spatial depth of it
Using small paper models to experiment with how a cuboid could be filled with light
Casting variations of a hollow rectangular box in plaster with openings to allow light to enter.
Constructing an enclosure to house the two casts and be used in combination with a laptop, two speakers, and two phones, to create an audiovisual performance with synchronized music and light show
Compiling colour information of all the belongings I brought with me when I moved to London. Consolidating all information from documentation , analysis and representations into one comprehensive document, focusing on the suitcase I brought everything in.
Measured drawings in plan and elevations based on measurements and observation of the suitcase
Interwoven slices of paper provide a pliable , yet rigid structure on the upper part of the model , whereas the retractable handle adds structural integrity to the lower part.
Exploring the relationship between interior and exterior spaces within the Mowlem theatre, and representing these in a distorted three-dimensional collage.
Outlining a chosen walking path from Sanford Co-op Housing to Millwall’s The Den stadium with a map, combined with points of interest along the path
Communicating the interpreted situation by mapping publicly accessible areas and writing an excerpt of a fictional story
Site Survey, Havelock Estate, Southall, London December 2019
Throughout the year I have explored the divide between the public and the private; what spaces I, as an individual, and we, as a collective society, have access to and the spaces that are inaccessible to us. As a way to investigate this boundary, I have vigorously documented and analysed the physical properties of chosen sites, specific objects, and even larger areas of the city of London. Looking beyond the physicality of the city, spaces of inaccessibility are not only the sidewalks we walk on and the gardens we cannot enter but also the more abstract concept of personal information and privacy in the digital realm of our current world, made more relevant than ever by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The Dimly-Lit Room
In the dimly-lit room empty walls of sharp yellow two rows of tables.
Far-away cliffs confronting the open sea. Knowledge and experience ride waves of easterly wind
clashing with the masonry of generations. In the dimly-lit room, games can be played
and conversations had.
Solitude Reminisce
The clean blue sky and the rising orange sun almost makes me forget the coldness and solitude of the place where I stand. Greenery takes over my eyesight as weeds and dandelions reclaim the hard soil
where they grow.
Far into the horizon, tall trees cry their heavy pine-green branches towards the field where the widows dry their tears. Pray the swallows keep humming their sonatas for the reminiscing silence here is deafening and could drive me crazy.
Melancholy, a hoard of feasting worms.
Marco Mantega Garden Table, Student Accommodation, Haringey (Borough), Greater London
The Cigarette Man - The nuances and peculiarities of the mind and how can it be translated into various different languages of art.
Vices and Habits - Analysis of daily habits and vices, taken to an extreme and made gruesome in order to instigate a conversation regarding the freedom and control of main character
Neck Anatomy - Plan, section and elevation of my own neck- scale 1:1- with a 3D model of a trachea and the silhouette of my chin and collarbone- scale 1:1
Anatomy of a Cigarette - 3:1 scale plan, section and elevations of a Brazilian Marlboro Red cigarette box.
Marlboro’s Silhouette - Minimalistic reconstruction of a cigarette and a cigarette box.
Skeleton of an Intervention - Investigation of the Mowlem & Havelock site, studying the accessible angles of the buildings and focused area, without colour for a more clinical approach.
Area Reconnaissance - Plan and sections of the Havelock Estate scaled to 1:50 with a 3D model in perspective comparing the reconstruction of the site with a satellite image.
Light and Sight Investigations of the Havelock Estate and the Mowlem Theatre - Reconstruction of the plans of both sites emphasising their relation to natural light (sun) and to inhabitant (eye sight).
Liverpool, walking tour of the city’s colonial heritage lead by historian Laurence Westgaph . December 2019
This year I’ve been inspired by what I couldn’t see with a naked eye, what was beyond my standards of true and false or right and wrong. I’ve finally managed to gather separate interests on light, sound, motion and text combining them to try to prove my sceptical perceptions of the world. I exploring different objects and sites’ histories and context, structures and colours and how could I transpose these into my own existence so that I could dilute them into a whole new atmosphere.
Edwina Marigliano Outdoor garden, private house, Mouans-Sartoux, France
What are the hidden qualities of objects? I investigated their internal workings, emphasising how an object’s exterior shell does not shed light into the complexities of its interior mechanisms. I manipulated the performance through hair dryers and string, to fit the playing of the cello. This represents that the different sound waves produced by the cello can influence the waves the sheet exhibits.
Through the use of video editing and film-making, I manipulated the factors behind the movement of a wave, to try and link all types of waves together. Playing around with the idea of the observer effect as well as the wavelengths of light and sound.
Through the use of video editing and film-making, I manipulated the factors behind the movement of a wave, to try and link all types of waves together. Playing around with the idea of the observer effect as well as the wavelengths of light and sound.
Through using paper, I created a 1:1 model of the Anna G. Corkscrew by Alessi, replicating it’s individual parts, which could be assembled and disassembled as well as manifesting the ballerina movement it takes. Previous page: After creating a synthetic wave machine and a thorough technical research of a wave, I created a large-scale drawing that maps out and dissects various forms of waves and the motion it takes. This includes all types of waves, such as electromagnetic, sound, wind, etc..
Through using wire, I created another 1:1 model of the corkscrew conveying instead its wireframe, focusing on the hidden geometries found in the shapes of the corkscrew.
Backstage during our site survey, the Mowlem Theatre, Swanage, January 2020
Throughout the year I was focused on the hidden qualities of things, their mechanisms and how their interior can somewhat be superior to their exterior. As well as this repetition of a set of movements each element takes. I explored this through taking photographs, modelling, painting/drawing to analyse their masked qualities/functions.
Unused Detail
A set of decorated pots and teacups each from a different month Unused and untouched Underneath drawers filled with arbitrary items To the left a sliding glass door constantly open To the right a plain white door constantly closed Two medieval chairs beside each door with no purpose but to sit symmetrically either side Strong showcase lights directly above A never-ending mirrored cabinet Storing plates and glasses only for special occasions A hidden TV A set of muddled DVDs A secret sliding buffet table An open shelving space full of untouched cookbooks A simple plain couch A brown blanket stolen from a ski holiday A detailed painting of the town my father grew up Boats laying on the side untouched by the calm water Birds chirping quietly Dogs aggravated by an accidental car alarm A strong smell of Bolognese sauce Awaiting dinner time A fresh garden scent My mother’s flower collection Cinnamon scented candles burning As you kneel, through small shreds of fabric lost pieces of food or bizarre objects can be touched immersed in the details of the intricate patterned carpet A fresh mint aroma handpicked from the garden mixed with a few bland breadsticks Memory of laughter and casualness afterschool breaks followed by long family dinners Conversations assuming truth Merely touching the seriousness of the situation.
I Wonder If I Will Ever Hear That Sound Again
The sound of rock-shaking machines penetrates the soul Do not forget the voice The Voice of Machines and the Voice of Man They will not forget the voice The sound of rushing ,passing branches ,the lilies and the thorns He will not forget the voice The sound of despair on the rock moves away He begins to forget the voice The sound of skipping between a wall and a car A severed tree looking for escape on the coastal plain He begins to forget the voice The sound of the horn of the ship Silence soul from the south ,Tow marks on the dock He will not hear the voice anymore
Or Naeh Working desktop, bedroom, ground floor, private house, Tel-Aviv, Israel
My room is bound by four walls, but what makes it my room is the furniture. I was trying to represent the relationship of their volumes, limits and purposes by recreating my room only presenting the external structure of their forms in a 1:1 insitu wire model.
My chest of drawers and disk cabinet that provide values of light and shadow and hollowness and fragility.
Redefining my hand through negative space created by its movement. Exploring my hand’s movement and the way it inhabits the space by laser cutting Perspex rings and tube to extrude the invisible parallel part of each part of the fingers.
Drawings that examine the relationships of the hybrid household objects and their joints.
What makes architectural elements the things they are? – windows, entrances, concrete walls – and what happens if we re-purpose them? Do they stay the same? How does it a affect our behaviour? Where does one end and the other start?
Endless loop of stairs – ‘The Mowlem paradox’ – created from different types of stairs from the site to recreate a mixture of the horizontal and vertical dynamics of movement in the Mowlem Theatre.
Investigating the method of inhabiting space through filling the negative space. Though the idea behind the project may seem incomplete, the physical structures complement these ideas, making them tangible and complete.
My translation of an unresolved dialogue that unites the materiality, scales, and the positive and negative volumes of my site into one space. Left: “When solid becomes hollow” – this model is a translation of how we conceive ourselves inside a space in different proportions/scales. Through Scaling up and changing the materials I try to ‘find’ different architectural elements – from 1:20 to 1:10.
Drawings that examine the relationships of the spaces at the Mowlem theatre and their materiality that creates different spaces .
By breaking the original layer of my drawings turning into a freestyle connection and re organizing them. I Threw myself into a very interesting territory of exploring the “mess� to create an unresolved dialogue. Investigating the method of inhabiting space through filling the negative space. Though the idea behind the project may seem incomplete, the physical structures complement these ideas, making them tangible and complete.
Presenting my left hand model ,AA School, London, January 2020
Throughout the year I was intrigued by the way society understands/sees and defines the world. I was wondering how things / spaces / buildings could be translated into something else? If so could we still inhabit them? Is it a matter of definition? Is it a matter of dismantling and assembling – or is it just a reorganization? I’ve explored that field by experimenting with space and materiality through various media; modelling, photographing, writing and drawing on human bodies (my sister and myself) objects, architectural spaces and elements.
Noah Ponte Bedroom, first floor, Victorian terraced house, North London
My installation follows the same thread in technique that lots of my other work looks into, that is the distortion that occurs across the liminal such as moving between the real and virtual world. This process which I call flattening is the documenting of a 3D object or space and placing it within the screen, moving from the three-dimensional to the two-dimensional. My installation recreates my room through using a cuboid template of my room and placing distorted images onto this cuboid. This representation of a real space in the virtual realm invites a schism, the virtual world does not have to follow the laws and rules of the real. This is similar to the tradition of collage in allowing things to not make sense, the surreal. I wanted to place myself back into this fictional space, to be able to inhabit the unthinkable, to dwell in a flattened world. I achieved this through placing a 3D scan of my head but to translate this into 2D I photographed it every 5 degrees in its rotation. This is once again is an example of translating information that is 3D to the 2D. I wanted the installation to have a lowfi feel to not be teched-out using 3D software which obey all the rules so I choose to animate it so it had mistakes a clunkiness that can only be achieved through human error, a true sign of ownership.
Screen shots from my installation animation.
Digitally projecting previously made work onto a 3D drawing of my bedroom.
Stills from short film using filming in real world as well as filming in the digital world (a video game) to enable filming outside during Covid lockdown.
Digital modelling of Ames box build.
Interior photograph of an Ames box, one point perspective shift.
Images of my belonging placed onto a 1:1 scale shooting target cut out of myself.
To scale measured drawing of a mamiya Rz67 Card modelling of Mamiya Rz67 informed by digital modelling.
Laser cut and plaster modelling of terraced foot drawings.
Clay and das models of interior skeletal structure and exterior skin of a foot.
Terraced drawing of a foot created through plotting points onto graph of outline measurements taken at 2cm vertical intervals. Digital modelling of measurements of my foot using a contour gauge.
Site survey, Mowlem Theatre, Swanage, Dorset. March 2020
My work tends to use the medium of photography as an anchorage point which I related everything to. An underlying theme seems to be how photography relates to all other media. This can be seen in how we document our sculptural and installation based work and what happens in this flattening, what happens when we transfer from the real and changing to the static. The process of flattening has been a particular interest to me creating sculptures and models from images and playing with the appearance of perspective when something actually has no perspective such as the Ames box. The manipulating of appearance relates massively to the presentation of work and how it engages the viewer, a mirage of sorts. It is this false perspective and confusion that photography can create and that I love. How a photograph can present something that is both false and true.
Maria-Clara Radu Corner, Hallway, First Floor, 2nd Floor, Apartment, Bucharest, Romania
The projection of my performance in the self binding suit, moving from natural environments to the domestic space.
Film as a portrait of Bucharest in quarantine, with a focus on windows and entrances.
I experimented with the masks in urban environments, looking at how they would interact differently.
My performance in a hand knitted bodysuit, which bound parts of the body together.
I took an interest in masks as part of performances, adapting this hand knitting technique.
Beginning to experiment with performance and props at Hooke Park.
Beginning to experiment with performance and props at Hooke Park.
Drawing my performance in a hand knitted bodysuit, which bound parts of the body together.
Replications of a necklace in wax, paper and wire, at different scales.
Drawings exploring the flexibility of a spine.
My system of stacked, faceted blocks replicated the flexibility of a spine.
My system of stacked, faceted blocks replicated the flexibility of a spine.
Presenting studio work, November 2019
My interest this year has been playing with the limits of the body in different environments, and how these can manifest and be manipulated. I looked at physical limits and took an interest in performance and costumes that could express these, or even make use of them. I was also intrigued by the effects of setting, moving from natural to urban and domestic environments to interact with.
Status of Setting
Folded over and combined to pass through these edges, along old rocks which see their impermanence unlike structures but with the same silence there as on the plane which isn’t liked because there are too many variables.
Playing Waves
I could see the ocean, children playing and running, there was a dog, a passage along the coast
with some shops. The water hitting the rocks. I could see the sky, seagulls flying, it was raining and the sky was grey. I could touch the cold metal
railing. I tasted the sea salt blown from the fresh freezing air. I could listen to the sound of sea, the
waves against rocks, the seagulls. I sensed the wet cold floor beneath me, it also felt rough and dirty. I could feel some sand blown onto the pavement from the wind.
Allegra Sainsbury Conference Room, Terrace, 7th Floor, Rome, Italy
After looking into nature and the way it colonises a space, I wanted to apply this idea into an inside space.
After exploring Rome when in lock-down, I decided to concentrate in the way things naturally grow between cracks.
My tile model replicates the way things naturally grow between cracks.
The purpose of the rammed earth was to capture local spores hoping something would grow out of it.
After looking into how moss grows and under what conditions I made my “Moss machine�, I added all requirements to optimise the growth of the moss such as: light, shadow, air, water and soil. I made a plan drawing that was helpful to study my machine into detail.
Later on, I studied the movement of my machine.
In this project, I concentrated on the way arms manifest both emotions and actions. This model is “extension�, it is made by polyurethane foam and wood/metal scraps. I tried to replicate a specific movement of the arm drawing how its thickness changes throughout each stage.
This model, is made by laser cutting and metal scraps, it is entitled “Rotation”. Through a digital drawing, I wanted to show it’s function.
This model is entitled “Rotation”. Through a digital drawing, I wanted to show it’s function.
I decided to document my record player by making three different models: in paper, wire, and polypropylene.
Body survey workshop, November 2019
I am interested in the relationship between nature and buildings, specifically how nature inhabits space over time. How do you regulated conditions to affect the way nature trespasses, invades, interrupts and ultimately take-over?
Purple Cold
In front of me Castel
Sant’Angelo, a small part of a wall. A brown building, white frames, shutters are half closed.
A painting of Venice and a fountain with painted
a
sun
on the top of the wall. A higher wall with rusty metal.
The purple sky about to go dark. Seagulls are flying from the right hand corner to the left hand corner. The floor is humid from the mould, it’s black with some white, grey
and green. The wall is rough, made of rocks and dirt. Through the sound of traffic and cars, I hear the wind, the chirping from my left side, the seagulls. Smell the cold air.
Slippery Cold
Threads of smoke escape from dusty old buildings. Surrounded by a depleted slippery stone path, eleven cars remain. In front of this blemished landscape, the suffering sea waves one last time.
Laure SĂŠgur Abandoned Toilet, Apartment, Paris, France
Bringing an exterior space in a closed and abandoned interior space, through light, illusions and reflections.
Through my several movies, I wanted to bring the performative aspect of the Mowlem to the Havelock Estate. I also attempted to make the “invisible’’ visible, and exploring dreaminess and making it palpable.
I was interested in capturing the Mowlem’s different illusions and reflections, which allowed me to consider its hidden intricate details.
Through a dialogue that I wrote between Light and Shadow, I explored how they affect structures and beings.
Through these drawings, I understood the complexity of the glasses at 2:1. It revealed where the different parts come from: the acetate is fabricated in Italy, the metal skeleton is made in China, and the lenses are from France.
The models of the glasses reveal different aspects of the glasses: the cardboard is the shell, the wire represents the skeleton, the cotton shows the original material of my glasses, and the balloon demonstrates the way I see without my glasses.
I decided to try my glasses on to explore the aesthetic aspect and the scale of my models.
The 1:1 drawings of skull allowed to explore it in different perspectives, such as plan, section and elevations.
The paraffin wax models, based on my skull, explored luminosity, I was interested in the quality this material has when lighted up.
Inspired by the Vanitas, my skull candle represents the notion of the ephemeral. negative space, and the notion of the ephemeral.
Exploring negative space and continuing with the notion of the ephemeral, the model represents skulls that are augmenting as time passes while light finds its way inside them.
Some of my life drawings, focusing on outline and brevity
I was interested in how lines can unite two very different space such as the Mowlem Theatre and a space from a magazine.
Through writing and collage I noticed I could write and document the city.
The Invisible Havelock Estate
When a long range traveller arrives at Havelock Estate, his eyes are obscured by the cold concrete buildings. He only feels the dust polluting his lungs. He only tastes the aromas of mouldy fruits and dark meat. He probably asked himself more than twice: where am I? He takes a few steps and as he scans the 845 houses like written pages, he begins to see the stones safely hugging the building. Step by step, he visualises the sun rising and kissing the canal, the shapes and the lines emerging from the darkness, the smooth white concrete reflecting the tangerine of dawn. The twinkling lights slowly vanish as the trees sing their first lullaby accompanied by the lap-lapping water of the canal. The traveller starts to realise he is slowly becoming part of this rising concert. Behind him, an old lady with her flock of children emerges from the fading shadows, climbing up the stairs, their warm hands heating the handrail. They laugh and smile, waking the neighbourhood. Sudden tastes of curry and chutney invade the palate. The traveller feels spices dancing on his tongue like a flame on a log as he goes down into the garden. Beside the garden, a carpark. Even though the machines overwhelm the space the cars are parked in a neat symmetrical way. The traveller imagines the old scarlet MK2 Ford Cortenas, and the glowing Volkswagen Beetle 1600 CC that used to inhabit this place in the fifties, the engines turning the place into an oil-dripping oven. Walking away from Havelock Estate, the traveller feels that the place he came out of is not the same one he came into. He saw the i n v i s i b l e .
Drawing workshop, Foundation Studios, October 2019
I negotiated the visible and invisible, what was revealed and what was disguised. I was intrigued by the hidden details of objects and sites. I wanted to learn about their histories, how they created atmosphere, how they are connected, and how they transport you into new worlds. How can objects metamorphose, mutate and be modified into a new hybrid? I explored the transformation of shapes, spaces and forms through their structures, appearance and function.
Tommaso Vago Dining Table, Living Room, 7th Floor, Lombardy, Italy
With my installation I attempt to convey a sense of parallelism between all of the objects in the frame by laying them at the same angle. The geometry of the painting in the background dictated the tilt and direction of the objects.
These pictures were taken in the Mowlem theatre during our trip to Swanage in January. In these picture I attempt to balance the colours and shape, capturing a regular geometry within the space. They were source of inspiration in initializing my projects datum line, because of their geometry and continuous coincidental horizon line when laid next to each other.
The black tape was laid In our studio at my eye level to create a physical datum line, and to initiate an investigation of seeing just at eye level, by blocking the top and lower vision.
Salty Hallway
Indistinctly layered
beside the extensive golden layer Flourished
under a warm breeze Reflecting
on the old lighthouse Humidifying
the smell of a salty hallway Covering
a silent chatter The sea soaks the dog’s paws on wild runs.
Vegetation Laughter
Under dripping pines, a humid air feeds the well-cared-for vegetation. The bird’s chirping breaks the quiet forest in the gloomy night. The smell of cigarettes
accompanies the laughter of mates around a copper pan bonfire. Intense thoughts fly over our heads. The wet bathing suit continues dripping on the cold stone and seeps into the wooden chair. The increasing voices cover the lyrics coming from the speakers placed on the marble table always used for warm lunches. Different shades of green dress the night. Stories accompany the darkness. Laughter is the soundtrack
and the cold vegetation seems a bit warmer.
In the picture on the left I capture the verticality of the trees in the landscape, which led me to create a straight branch and to photograph it around organic shaped branches.
The realization of this branch has the purpose in creating a vertical datum line. When taking a picture my branch would be in the middle of organic shaped objects around it, highlighting its straight symmetry and creating a vertical datum line in the frame.
The realization of this straightened branch has the purpose in creating a vertical datum line. When taking a picture my branch would be in the middle of organic shaped objects around it, highlighting it’s straight symmetry and creating a vertical datum line in the frame.
The creation of a casquet blocked the top and lower vision, just leaving a small horizontal view. This was the beginning of the investigation of just seeing at eye-level.
This intricate pattern of columns was placed in the plan drawing of the ground floor of the Mowlem theatre in Swanage, in order to see the relation between this artificial composition of columns in an actual space.
This space was created in relation to the pictures taken in the forest in Hooke Park where the position and the scale of the columns in the foreground of the space are in relation to the scale and the size of the trees within the picture.
Similarly to my other work in creating new spaces, I translated the size and the position of tree in the background with little Aztec sculpture in the foreground of this replica of Mies Van Der Rohe collages.
The final presentation of the whole datum line project was really satisfying and interesting, because of the different media exposed and the conversations which were generated after the pin-up.
Photographic Workshop, Swanage, January 2020
How does introducing or altering the datum change an object, a room or a space? Throughout the foundation course the process learning through making was essential to carry captivating projects, pushing you to explore different media. In my whole body of work I notice a recurrent theme of space, in many different aspects such as: the invisible digital space, the space inside my body and the different space which surrounds me. My insight on these different aspects pushed me to find factors which made interesting my perceptions such as: different media, lighting and altering definition of words like: datum line. Creating new spaces, and datums was fundamental in my conclusive project, since I was fascinated by characterizing inside spaces with elements which were translated from an outside space. Introducing a datum in every space I investigated, allowed me to alter the geometries, lighting and shape of objects, making my work very abstract and personal. An example is altering such organic shaped branch, into a really straight and man-made object, which, if left in its environment surrounded by other curved branches, creates a vertical datum within its space, highlighting visually the difference of shapes. This work allowed me to explore many interesting references such as: Le Corbusier, Mies Van Der Rohe and more contemporary architects such as Ishigami. These architects all bound to my project because of their different perception of space, which is reported with different media, which turned out inspiring for my investigation. In conclusion, my insight on inside and outside space is a satisfactory body of work which altered my approach in new briefs and developed my abilities in being more efficient in learning through making.
Jeffery Yu Bathroom, shared apartment, Canada Water, London
“Eureka!� - Intrigued by the idea of my bathtub being a vessel to house my quarantined shower thoughts, I engaged with displacing negative spaces through my ongoing investigation with the elasticity and tension of latex.
“Eureka!� - Playing with latex to mimic an elastic body of water, inspired by Archimedes Principle of displacement, submergence, and surface tension.
Condomius Annelida - A Fictional Species Stop Motion Documentary of the “Condomius Annelida’s” life cycle.
Condomius Terrarium - The depiction of the Condomius Annelida in it’s inhabited space.
The Collective Condomius Annelida
The Living Bug - To truly understand an inhabited space, I decided to pursue a more immersive medium, one that allows you to experience an inhabited space as its inhabitant. Created in Dreams PS4, The Living Bug is a game where the Condomius Annelida is in fact a playable character, allowing you to experience first-hand true interaction between the inhabitant and its space.
The Living Bug -Digitalized simulation of an infested, deteriorating space. The depiction of the Condomius Annelida’s virtual inhabited space.
Life Drawings - Documenting the functionality and the Curvatures of the positive body in relation to its negative space.
Tracking Movement - The generated torque through a fencing lunge.
Fender Guitar - Translating the natural curvature of the Fender Guitar through the use of geometrical hatching.
Armotomy - Studying the movement and the anatomical nuances that generate the twisting and bending motions of the arm.
Documenting anatomical models in the Foundation studio, December 2019
The Foundation Year provided a new environment for me to experience new relationships and interactions with both people and their surrounding spaces - provoking my ongoing interests in the study of inhabitation. Through this exploration, I was able to play and integrate several concepts (such as negative and deteriorating spaces) into my work studying the interrelationship between various bodies and media, including my own.
Beach Loiters
The lonely sea, peering over the horizon as the sun spreads colour across the sky. My friend, formless on the sharp boulders. The pain of the rocks, just enough to remind me they are still there. Subtle movements of waves across my feet. Xiu Mai and Indo Mein coated on my tongue, drawing drifting salt from the air.
In silence, a pebble loiters between the web of my toes. Occasional Cantonese sighs chop over the white noise of the sea.
Sky Blue Frappe
A double bed with wooden side tables at each side
White shelves with pictures, some decorative lights. Blue sky outside and a path, a road and two houses in the distance.
My fingers touch cold grass then a room-temperature wooden surface, metal is felt at some point. I can feel the texture of something sewed
to a fluffy, soft cotton surface. The stitches on the surface are felt frequently. I can feel some shape, a thin kind of paper at a lower point and some different kinds of fabric.
I taste the flavour of toothpaste in my mouth, freshly dissolved and replaced by the cold fresh taste of a frappe. Cold, barefooted – touching a wooden floor.
Elena Zannetou Laundry room, basement, house, Nicosia
My installation is about having a look inside the body. Feeling as if you have entered in the human body and are exposed to organs, arteries, but most of all being able to feel the warmness and the fleshiness of the human body. I’ve cocooned some of the organs in the steel net, which had to do with combining a project during the year I made exploring temporary structures and cocoons. At the same time I played with ropes, their weaving technique and how they could be stretched and pulled so tension is created both literally but also to the eye.
Dripping Inside
Looking into how a space can change completely by abstracting and transforming it, while experimenting with tension, looseness and gravity. The shades of the rope and the warm lighting transform the whole space into something completely different.
Experimenting with luminosity and warm colours in order to achieve a warm atmosphere, having the sense that you are looking inside the body.
The creation of a hybrid object – joining two distinctly different material objects together and watching how they would correspond to each-other and what the ending result would be – how they could relate to each other.
Some of my life drawings combined with a version of the Hybrid which takes a more organic form and is totally loose, looking quite like an intestine taken out of the human body.
Some first ideas on exploring and researching the organs i was focusing on and then playing with them by wearing them.
A total manifestation of the organs. I decided to change the scale of my organs taking over the whole environment achieving a total manifestation.
What is normally inside is now outside. By abstracting the organs through an external manifestation, they now take over the body.
My first iteration of a temporary structure during our visit in Hooke Park, Dorset. I mainly focused on identifying where I could hang my structure from in order for it to take shape with the interference of gravity but, then also how it could change shape by adding someone sit on it.
Making a second iteration of a temporary structure using my own weaving technique, but also wanting to achieve the ability of the structure to be able to contract and expand. I also looked into some aspects of the site the structure was placed in order for it to function in relation to its environment.
My first sketches of the structure inspired by scout engineering.
My first sketches of the structure inspired by scout engineering.
Having explored pioneering and scout engineering I wanted to make a structure that would stand on its own independently. I was inspired by the green spaces of the Havelock Estate in Southall and felt the urge to focus on the courtyard in the middle of the surrounding apartments – I wanted to give that site some life and purpose by adding a structure that people (but mainly children) could interact with while still remaining safely within the confines of the courtyard and thus their domestic environment.
Presenting during a pin-up, Foundation Studios, November 2019
How can objects metamorphose, mutate and be modified into a new hybrid? I explored the transformation of shapes, spaces and forms through their structures, appearance and function.
Site visit, Purbeck, Dorset, January 2020
Students Dana Ayad Sapyr Dodi Kenza El Aoud Euan Goodbrand Elias Lont Marco Mantega Edwina Marigliano Or Naeh Noah Ponte Maria-Clara Radu Allegra Sainsbury Laure SĂŠgur Tommaso Vago Ga Ho Jeffery Yu Elena Zannetou
Photographic Workshop run by Luca Nostri and John Spinks, Swanage, January 2020
Director of Foundation Saskia Lewis Studio Masters Juliet Haysom George Massoud Tutors Chiyan Ho Michael Ho Thanks to our Consultants and Collaborators Nena Aru Khaled Al-Bashir Sue Barr Yoni Bentovim Ed Bottoms Mark Campbell Fenella Collingridge Ilsa Colsell David Connor Charlie Corry Wright Georgie Corry Wright Alison Crawshaw Thomas Curtis Kate Darby Clancy Dawson Ryan Dillon Fran Edgerley Magnus Englund CĂŠdric Fauq Thea Giovanazz
Trevor Flynn Pauline Forster Mark Haysom Matthew Haysom Treleven Haysom Haysom Purbeck Stone Eleanor Lee Antoni Malinowski Mark Morris Luca Nostri John Palmesino Chris Pierce Claire Potter Ann-Sofi RĂśnnskog John Spinks Sylvie Taher Adrian Taylor Trys Smith Laurence Westgaph Nicola Wheeler