Andreea Vihristencu
PORTFOLIO selected works
PERSONAL STATEMENT As a child I was fascinated by the shape and scale of the Pyramids and the way humanity developed means to live a mark of their presence and express their cultural and technological advancements over time. Later on, I was surprised to see the same shape used in glass at the Louvre. That made me curious about meanings and symbols in our life, in our surroundings and environment. I think that was the moment when I became interested in architecture. I have been following the work of rEM koolhaas, I.M Pei and Gropius, whose approaches are focused on producing shapes that convey meaning. This grave a different perspective and insight into the fictionalised relationship between an architect and the world around him. I believe an architect is a mediator between science, art and physical world, shaping the environment we interract with and establishing the way that interaction occurs. The architectural profession is chnaging, employing bew techniques for conceptual development and creative processes.
CONTENT
_CONSTRUCTION AND DESTRUCTION _ARS MEMORIA _TOUCHY FEELY _BRIDGING BRUNSWICK _HIDDEN UTOPIA _CONCEPTUAL DRAWINGS
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CONSTRUCTION AND DESTRUCTION listen at_ https://soundcloud.com/deea-vihristencu/audioguide-flaxman-gallery
_The Flaxman Gallery opened to the public in 1857 under the name of R.W. Chambers, who put his heart and soul into it. He was the one who brought the statue Saint Michael’s Overcoming Satan and proclaimed it as the center of the gallery. The Provost’s Christmas card for 1937 shows Saint Michael in exile outside on the Main Quad, with only minimal protection from the elements. Ironically, this undignified treatment was to save the statue from the worst of the bomb damage sustained during air raids in 1941. During the period of WW2, Chambers was visiting some students in exile in Aberystwyth and Bangor; but on the way, he collapsed and died, it was said of a broken heart following the massive destruction of so much of the Library he had loved.
Site location _University College London _Flaxman Gallery
_Audio guide tour
_Shown above is the journey of the statue Saint Michael overcoming Satan, starting from its creation to its final stop, back in the Flaxman Gallery. The statue has gone through many transitions and transformations throughout its life. It was first carved and sculpted in John Flaxman’s workshop, and subsequently donated to UCL in 1847 by his sister-in-law. The statue stayed put in the Flaxman Gallery until 1937 when it was moved out onto the Portico. Luckily, its placement on the Portico saved the statue during the Second World War. Between 1973 and 1992, the statue had its home at the Victoria & Albert Museum. It was returned back into its home in 1992 during the refurbishment of the Flaxman Gallery and unfortunately vandalised by law students in 2001.
PETWORTH HOUSE
FLAXMAN GALLERY
_During its lifespan, the statue has been moved around the UCL campus and outside of it for a great amount of times. First, after the death of John Flaxman, the statue was brought to the Petworth House. Afterward, Chambers used it as a central piece in the Flaxman Gallery, until 1937 when it was moved to the Main Portico. The statue stayed in North Cloisters until 1973, when it was moved to Victoria and Albert Museum. There has been a lot of energy put into returning it to the Main Library and the efforts were finally materialized in 1992 with the help of Peter Cook and the head of the UCL.
MAIN PORTICO
V&A MUSEUM
FLAXMAN GALLERY
_One of the first audio guides, which is focusing mainly on memories and personal memories that are going to be part of the Black Box experience. The memories are going to be infused by surpassing the sight and enhancing the hearing and smell.
_This is a hidden box that is going to be placed in between the bookshelves, camouflaging with the environment. Inside, there is evidence and information about the Saint Michael statue that are sustaining the audio guide.
_Part of the final audio guide was designing objects that were meant to be spread around the Flaxman Gallery. We wanted to produce an interactive experience that is going to fully illustrate the two chosen episodes of the Flaxman’s statue.
_Another piece that is part of the composition is the display box on which the remake of the broken foot of the statue is sitting. Inside the incorporated drawer, there are two key elements that represent the construction of the sculpture: the clay and the chisel.
0.00/0.23
4.00/5.00
0.23/0.44
0.44/1.06
3.13/4.00
2.43/3.13
1.06/1.35
1.35/1.55
2.17/2.43
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ARS MEMORIA
_Freud Museum London is located on 20 Maresfield Gardens, an area that not only attracks due to the presence of the residence but also due to the beautiful architecture of houses. The house had only finished being built in 1920 in the Queen Anne Style. A small sun room in a modern style was added at the rear by Ernst Ludwig Freud that same year. Freud was over eighty at this time, and he died the following year, but the house remained in his family until his youngest daughter Anna Freud, who was a pioneer of child therapy, died in 1982.
_Sketches showing the main parts of Freud’s house in London.
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_After a visit at the Freud Museum London, I was especially intrigued by Freud’s desk and his antiquity collection because, as I was interested in how objects can unconciously access the recalling memory process, Freud was using it in his discoveries. His desk is abounding in preserved memories and pieces of the past and I wanted to explore that more and focus my project on his relationship with his desk. Freud Museum London is actually the neuropsychiatrist’s private residence after he moved from Vienna, during the last year of his life. The Freuds moved all their furniture and household effects to London. There are Biedermeier chests, tables and cupboards, and a collection of 18th century and 19th century Austrian painted country furniture. The museum owns Freud’s collection of Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Oriental antiquities, and his personal library.
Osiris Head
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White Vishnu
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Freud’s Glasses
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Ivory Toothbrush
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Magnifying Glass
Baboon of Thoth
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_This particular object was one of Freud’s first acquisitions, bought right after his father’s death. For him, this object summed up the entire mourning period, Osiris being the God of life, death and transition. Freud found in Osiris’ myth a hidden symbolism for the happenings in his life, that also is suggesting the naratives of recovery and healing. Moreover, it connects ordinary life with psychoanalysis. Sigmund used to pack this God among others in his trips around the world, also giving it a special place on his desk.
Freud’s Writings
Freud’s Cigarettes
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Apart from collecting antiquities and being some sort of a tomb rider, Freud admitted that smoking was one of his favourite activities. Smoking it would helped him becoming less stressed, focusing on his readings and writings and access a certain state of meditation. The cigarette holder was one of the most frequently used object on Freud’s desk, changing its place constantly. In terms of design and aesthetics, it is not something extraordinary, bleding easily with the surroundings.
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The White Vishnu was a birthday present to Freud from the Indian Psychoanalytic Society in 1931 and was made especially for him after an eighteen century stone example in Travacore. From the start this figure was of value for Freud, being assessed an honorable place on his desk. Freud wrote in gratitude to the Indian Psychoanalytic Society: “The statue is charming, I gave it place of honour on my desk. As long as I can enjoy life it will recall to my mind the progress of psychoanalysis, the proud conquests it has made in foreign countries and the kind feelings it has aroused in some of my contemporaries at least.”.
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Freud’s Thoth shows the god in his manifestation as a dog-headed ape or baboon, his other manifestation being a man with the head of an Ibis and later the Greek god Hermes. Freud seemed to be quite fond of the Baboon, having the habit of stroking the figure in the same way he was caresing hsi dogs. This antiquity was of a lot of help in Freud’s studies, Thoth being often credited as the inventor of hieroglyphic script, a subject of great interest to the neurologist.
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A huge part of Freud’s desk is represented by his writings that were very much diverse, consisting of letters from patients, his wife, writing drafts and nonetheless, his observations and conclusions with regard to the previous sessions. He used to conduct his consulations “blind”, which means that he was just listening, leaving his patients to discuss. He was sitting next to them, so that he will not make any eye contact. The reason why he was proceeding like this was because he did not want his presence to influence patients’ thoughts and subjects they wanted to approach.
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Freud’s glasses are one of the most symbolic pieces on the desk, being a very close item to the neurologist, physically and also symbolically. There is little known about why he was using glasses or why the glasses had such an impact on the way Freud is pictured nowadays. The only thing that is certain is the fact that they gave him a stronger, much more imposing allure.
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It is not recorder what Freud used the toothbrush for, although it has been suggested the brush was used for cleaning antiquities. The fact the toothbrush is not seen in photographs of the desk during Freud’s lifetime indicates it was originally kept in a desk drawer. Freud may also have used it to clean his oral prosthesis known as “the Monster”. It can also be refered to as an ustensil to somehow get closer to his antiquity collection.
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One of Freud’s friends and fellow psychoanalyst Hans Sachs recalls that Freud usually had the habit of choosing one piece of his collection and examining it by sight, touch and using the magnifying glass while he was talking. He was very careful with his collection, always meditating upon them, keeping them clean and polished.
_The making process of the wooden box that is going to be attached to the already existing one.
_By focusing on Freud’s collection and life I have started creating a mini portable museum, inspired by Duchamp’s work. This will offer me much more control on what I would present and will definitely highlight the fact that I am interested in working with memory and ways of preserving it. These sketches show the thinking process behind manufacturing the mini museum.
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TOUCHY FEELY
_Touchy Feely is a drawing tool that engages with individual’s imagination and the touching senses. It is designed to produce two drawings, using unordinary drawing devices and tools. What is very interesting about this project is that it can be used for many different purposes, not necessarily drawing, but also for recording how materials feel or how certain textures can be recreated as a graphic representation.
_First prototypes of the drawing tool, focusing on its kinetic aspect.
_Interaction with the different surfaces an how Touchy Feely might perform
_The glove is attached on the left hand and it is utilised in recording the movements of the hand while experiencing the mix landscape. Therefore, a secondary drawing is produced.
_The handle is acting itself as an individual drawing devices, having attached different mini-tools that have mix textures. It was deisgned in relationship with the landscape, reinterpreting the textures and indentations found in the landscape.
_The landscape is inspired by the work of Isamu Noguchi. It is populated with all sorts of objects made out of clay that recreate the textures of childhood toys.
_Drawings produced by the handle on wet paper. The embossings on the paper are a product of the interaction with the hidden landscape. The “drawings� are produced based on what the individual is feeling whil exploring the landscape.
_Interacting with Touchy Feely _How Touchy Feely works
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BRIDGING BRUNSWICK
_The current configuration of the elements is incoherent and fragmented with many forgotten underused spaces. This creates an urban form of isolated islands with many edges which is largely perceived as inaccessible.
_Pedestrian zones are frequent in the Brunswick Centre, around the retail area and designated formal paths in Brunswick Square Garden. The surrounding area is less walkable and there is limited accessibility through a lack of safety, legibility and activity for pedestrians. _Activity nodes are mainly around the tube station and the Brunswick Centre and are retail focused. There are many unused, deadzones throughout the area, especially on street corners, and in small green spaces. Bernard Street has little activity which shows a clear disconnection between the tube station and the Brunswick.
_Useful green spaces are open to the public during day-time and is locked at night. However, trees are not only unevely distributed around the Brunswick but they are also creating an uncomfortable and uninviting space. There is also a lack of green space inside the Brunswick Centre and incoherent green infrastructure in the residential areas. _Responsive lighting. Contrasting to day life, the area is not very vivid and attractive at night due to the lack of lighting along narrow dark alleways and in the Brunswick Square Gardens. As all the shops close early and there is no outdoor activity available in the surrounding area, Brunswick is not attractive enough to draw people out at night..
_Interactive frontages are represented by shops and restaurants on Marchmont Street, around the Russell Square Tube Station and inside the Brunswick Centre. The outside seating, signs and flowers create an inviting space with the aim of enhancing the public and commercial activity. There are, however, several areas that are unwelcoming frontages. Some especially problematic areas are the Brunswick Centre’s entrances from the garden, and the covered shopping corridor inside the Brunswick. _Identifiable street furniture is concentrated around the Marchmont Street and Bernard Street entrances to the Brunswick Centre. There is little recognizable street furniture guiding visitors and residents between spaces. _Diagram with the existing elements.
_Modification of Brunswick Square Gardens and area Russell Square Tube Station
_To improve the accessibility and connectivity between Russell Square Tube Station and the Brunswick Centre, Bernard Street will be converted into a shared space for cars and pedestrians on weekdays and fully pedestrianised during the weekends.
_5 years sub-elements implementation table.
_5 year element links
_Large developments, community consultation and involvment
_To further develop and connect Brunswick Square Gardens and the surrounding area, Brunswick Square Street will be expanded to create a priority pedestrain area. The street and sidewalks will be lined with market stalls, food trucks, and outdoor and sheltered seating areas, fostering a vibrant and social streetscape. During the weekends, Brunswick Square Street will act as an extension to the Bernard Street market, so people can naturally move between these two streets.
_10 years sub-elements implementation table
_10 year element links
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HIDDEN UTOPIA
_The area is abundant in street art which is the best representation of self-expression, freedom and to a certain extent, revolution towards the system. The indistrial past of Hackeny Wick is covered now in colorful satiric art.Basically, anything here can become a canvas for visionary thoughts. My wish is to reinterpret the recent revival atmosphere, which is currently present in Hackney Wick, and also somehow give a voice to the local artists that are fighting for their right to preserve the area and not to lt it be transformed into another developing investment that went wrong.
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CONCEPTUAL DRAWINGS
_Conceptual Facade
_Surrealist Environment
_Moon Base