Production Design Andrew Merrison 6th July 2017, Application Portfolio
Contents
The Old Kingdom - Film Design Memory Bank - Architecture and Landscape Cultivation - Architecture
The Abhorsen’s House Self-led Fictional Design Project, Apr-Jul 2017 Based on: The Abhorsen Chronicles, by Garth Nix My volunteering opportunities at the NFTS on a range of films, encouraged me to set myself a film design project, that was to focus on a key location within a series of books by Garth Nix. The series was set in a magical kingdom, separated from a non-magical land similar to England during the first and second world wars, by a large magicimbued Wall. The stories focused on a series of interrelated magical families who had to regain control of their kingdom before it was destroyed forever by dark beings and necromancers. I was captivated by the books as a young reader due to the strong female characters, well-developed relationships and amusing talking familiars they met along the way. Returning to it now, I recognised these elements and was endeared once again by the storyline and characters, though with half an eye on the environmental descriptions, I was concerned at how vague much of the architectural presence was. That being said, the Abhorsen’s House, one of the key locations within the series, and returned to generation after generation, was just as exciting to me as an adult as it had been as a child. Based on an island within a broad fast flowing river, the House stands near the precipice of a colossal waterfall. The books provided very scant information regarding the House. Indeed, the contextual elements such as the surrounding landscape, excepting the waterfall and river, and cliffs below, was almost entirely ignored within the text, leaving large amounts up to my own imagination. This felt challenging at first, and only by scouring the books for every mention of the location, did I feel that I had a grasp on the place in my head. The House plan, and cartography work, were, much to my disappointment, abysmally inaccurate, often missing out entire features, such as the internal courtyard, or the fact that the building is at once at the north end of the island, and the south. However, these issues made the process of designing the Island and the building far more engaging than if working to a regimented plan of someone else’s invention. Over the next few pages, I have included the model work, sketches, visual research, concept art and detailed drawings I produced whilst designing the Abhorsen’s House. There is also an attempt at a storyboard for Sabriel’s (our first protagonist) journey to the House and her activities within.
Images top left to bottom right; The 1:100 scale white card model of my design for the Abhorsen’s House; the front cover design for the combined edition of the first three Abhorsen books; the first map of the Old Kingdom, before its expansion in a more recent novel; the plan of the island and rough floor plan of the Abhorsen’s House elements of this have been utilised where they are referenced by the text, however I have taken precedence from the text over these diagrams where they deviate from each other; two sketches of scenes from the imagined film, these are accompanied by 16 additional sketches in the storyboard included later on.
Early design work was largely sketchbook based, as the books were referred to and notes taken on descriptions of the Abhorsen’s House location and design features. Once the parameters of the design brief were set, models, sketches and detailed drawings were produced to help develop and finalise the design.
Reference material for the materiality and form of the Abhorsen’s House was invaluable, as it provided me with a clear visual language with which to work. As the description throughout the Chronicles was quite vague regarding the architectural details and even the layout and contents of the house, I found it useful to root this fantasy environment back to a known historical architecture which exists in the real world. This would have to be diverged from in certain areas, such as heating, plumbing and interiors as the writer has specified that some technologies cannot exist in the magical world, limiting most of the environment to pre-industrial components only.
The House, described as a building built roughly a thousand years ago as the home, hall of learning and safe refuge for one of the pillars of the newly ordered magical world, had to have a form which would resonate with the audience. Romanesque architecture and the early catholic cathedrals of Eastern and Central Europe provided a sense of grandeur and history, but also helped the Old Kingdom to acquire an unexpected visual language, subverting the Scottish clichĂŠ that the Map would suggest.
Images from top left to bottom right: sketches depicting an early concept of the Island based on the books description; 1:1000 Scale model of the Island with landscape elements included; reference images, sourced online dating from circa 9th-12th Century
Concept artwork expressing the relationship between the Island and the surrounding environment - notably the waterfall, which represents one of the key narrative themes of the Abhorsen Chronicles. Below, the 1:1000 physical model also expresses this significant relationship.
This section, drawn at 1:200 expresses the internal layout of the Abhorsen’s House and provides an idea of the internal treatment of the design. The writer loosely described key elements within the rooms, building and grounds which have been included in the design, such as the Observatory telescope, walls of bookshelves in the Upper Parlour, Study and Library, and the large Fig tree which is highly significant for the history of the Island. Occasionally, there were elements described within the books which were problematic for the building design, such as the Observatory, which “was totally walled in glass, or something like it. The bare beams of the red-tiled roof rested on transparent walls, so cleverly morticed together that the roof was like a work of art”. In an effort to retain the impressive nature of the room, the domed roof is set five metres above a clear span and walled with floor to ceiling windows. Considering the age of the building, this is still a significant amount of light and should result in a visually engaging environment after the warmth and confinement of the lower levels.
The Grounds of the Abhorsen’s Island were described briefly within the books as a set of spaces with few integrating features. I felt that it would be important for such a significant and long-standing institution as the Abhorsen’s, to have a dramatic visual and spatial route up to the house as well as the spaces defined in the books such as the Orchard, Kitchen Garden and East and West Courtyards. The central axes between the house, these two latter spaces and the waterfall-end of the Island, form a basic yet effective layout for the gardens, referencing the geometry present in the House, and the ordered Magic described in the books.
Opening scene: as Sabriel emerges from a door in the cliff wall, the camera pans around, the roar of the waterfall immediately apparent. A line of stone blocks can be seen leading out to a low Island, rooftops visible over a high white wall, enclosing a wooded spit of land.
Sabriel makes her way down the bank and begins to jump between the stone blocks. Low birds-eye fly-over (along line of movement) follows her progress. Nearer the Island, the camera watches her jump the last few stones from a distance, the Island walls creating an impenetrable barrier.
Making her way up the stone steps carved into the rocky banks of the Island, the turreted walls loom above her and the trees are cast dark against the sky. Here, the sun strikes fiercely upon the ornate arched gateway, barred by a heavy wooden set of iron clad doors.
Sabriel is confronted at the end of the clearing by a large semi circle of gravel arcing at the base of some shallow stone steps up to the plinth of the Abhorsen’s House. The white of the stone is blinding in the evening light and Sabriel holds her hand up over her eyes as she approaches.
At the entrance to the house, a white cat sits anticipating Sabriel’s arrival, looking up only when she is feet from him, leaning down in an exhausted half stoop and reaching out her hand towards the cat. He looks directly at her and speaks. Sabriel, confused and exhausted from her escape earlier, collapses.
The camera flies low over the House, focusing on the prostrate Sabriel lying on the steps and the doors opening slowly inwards. We are aware of the flapping of wings and the tension mounts as a rushing sound approaches. The view is suddenly interrupted by the erratic movements of a flock of crows, their bodies reanimated corpses, rotting and fetid.
Next morning, light streams through the windows of a large bedroom. Everything is still and, except for the muted singing of a songbird in the distance, quiet. Sabriel stirs in the bed, the crisp linen sheets rustling audibly. Sabriel is clearly disorientated and takes a while to get her bearings.
We meet Sabriel as she is slowly taking stock of her surroundings. Moving back the way we followed her the previous evening, we discover the entrance chamber in the morning light, its polished surfaces bright and almost ethereal, dappled sunlight reflected through large windows on each side.
The sunlight hits the back wall of the courtyard and picking out a strange stack of heavy stone blocks, which seem to be related to the floating monolith in the grounds. The planting here is thick with ferns, hostas and white foxgloves. Dragonflies animate the space as Sabriel watches, rubbing her aching muscles distractedly.
At the gateway, a Sending moulds itself out of the stonework, shrouded and silent. Sabriel steps back warily but is prevented from fleeing by stone blocks which erupt at her legs and back. The Sending reaches out a hand to hover in front of her Charter mark. Light flares at the mark.
Making her way through the gate, a linear avenue of tall yew hedges constricts her view across the grounds, and the camera focuses on a monolithic stone floating at the intersection of two long gravelled paths.
The Stone floating above, Sabriel turns and walks towards the House which is framed in the distance at the end of the long avenue. She is exhausted by this point and the camera follows her staggering progress down the avenue, the yew hedges intersecting the flow of the film.
At the house, the cat is the first through the doorway, showing no interest in helping the sendings who had appeared to lift the unconscious Sabriel and carry her inside. We watch as they disappear into a large entrance hall of highly polished stone floors and white columns.
From above, we are shown the large open space above the entrance hall, with a mess of landings and flights of stairs overlapping between the floors. Sabriel and her Sending carriers are exiting this cavernous, cold space underneath a large circular window.
The camera follows the movement of this unusual group as they pass by a large open courtyard, the ornate and delicate stone pillars flashing by as the sendings continue with their task efficiently and without tiring of the heavy load between them.
A sending slips by in the distance, and Sabriel attempts to catch up with its hurried movements, but when she enters the Main Hall behind it, she discovers it has disappeared. In the room, sitting at the long table, is the cat, pawing at a whole silver fish on a plate. Sabriel sits at the head of the table, where a large selection of food lies steaming on various platters and bowls.
After breakfast, the cat jumps down from the table and tells Sabriel to follow. The camera faces the cat as it walks nonchalantly down the cloister alongside the courtyard. Sabriel follows behind, warily watching the cat and continuing to distractedly glance at the many magical and ancient artefacts lining the walls.
Sitting at the other side of a huge circular table, their backs to the window, the camera approaches Sabriel and the cat Mogget. Sabriel is slowly flicking the pages in a huge book, clearly ancient. The cat interrupts her voiced concerns of how to escape the threat of the attacking forces she had only just escaped the previous day.
The Aborsen’s house, as a highly significant and revisited location within the Chronicles, had to have the feel of a real and conceived building. By modelling the design, I had to consider the various spaces and conditions created at each point, in how the building would front the long structured approach to the House, but also how the secluded gardens at the back would be met. Many of these spaces would never be seen in detail, but their existence in various sketches and written notes helped to flesh out the project and supported the design, and of other key locations within the building. The concept painting opposite conveys how this model has helped me to visualise the building within its location, and the relationship each space and room has with its immediate surroundings. Whilst building the model (immediate right) I was able to view different façades and spaces before they were fully enclosed by other walls, floors or roofs. In this sense, a CAD model would make for a more useful tool, as the internal spaces would not have to remain enclosed once completed.
The internal layout and physical character of the house was a key focus from the outset of the design process, as it directly affected the proportions and arrangement of any external features. It was also important to consider how the building would work in plan, as many significant buildings built around the same time in the real world were deeply rooted in the geometrical understanding of the time. Designing the internal finishes of the many rooms within the Abhorsen’s House was a challenging task as very little detailed description is provided in the text, and each room may only be used once, for one activity before the action moves on to the next room. I decided to take this theme and visualised a highly ornate series of rooms and spaces which would dictate a semireligious sense of ritual and procedure associated with each activity. This would be familiar to Sabriel as her private education focused on decorum and social etiquette.
Top left to bottom right; concept painting of ground floor parlour room; sketches of design intentions and development; visual precedents sourced based on their age or sense of accumulation of artefacts over centuries; ground floor structural plan at 1:200 scale and immediate surroundings, with key spaces highlighted.
The Main Hall features broad side-aisles for the serving of large meals at the central table which runs the length of the room, flanked by four large fireplaces. The large window at the end of the room, sketched on the previous double page spread, is highly decorated stained glass depicting the history of the Old Kingdom. The central courtyard is a secluded and peaceful space, surrounded by three twelve metre high walls, and the tower looming behind it. These walls are perforated with round arches, however, giving the impression of more space. The entrance Hall is similarly proportioned to the courtyard, but with a hard polished finish on most surfaces, contrasting with the more worn and rustic finish of the internal cloister. The Kitchen wing mirrors the Main Hall, but instead of a large end window, a huge fireplace stands at the end of the room. The space itself has been carved up to provide side chambers for a Dairy, Pantry and two Workshops, all with a mezzanine level above. Parlour
Workshop
Main Hall
Buttery
Kitchen Courtyard
Workshop
Entrance Hall
Pantry
The Memory Bank Final Year Integrated Architecture and Landscape Architecture Design Project, Jan-May 2015 Location: Sheaf River Valley, Sheffield, circa 2075 The theme for my final University project was that of digitisation; ‘Data to things, Things to data’. At first, I took this to mean digital fabrication, perhaps of bespoke tools, or replacement body parts, as are currently being considered by some of the leading engineers and scientists in the world. However, an early episode of Black Mirror; ‘The Entire History of You’, made me consider that the technological augmentation of the human body might not be the focus of my building, but rather the catalyst by which we enable another process of digitisation; that of Digital Self. I began to write a narrative of the development of this technological advance in parallel with the socio-environmental changes occurring in the Sheaf Valley within Sheffield. In many ways the developments were utopian in principle, ethically driven and self-aware, yet still conscious of the increase in population as well as the decreased reliance on self-owned vehicles and commuter lifestyle. This narrative formed the basis for my development of the site and its brief. The new urban expansion required a central focus and congregating point and the new technology required its own infrastructure. I envisaged that in around 75 years time, the technology required to allow you to film and store your visual, auditory and chemical experiences of the world around you would be advanced enough that people would see it as an accepted and understood element of normal life, just as the acceptance of phones, the internet, and social media has transformed the way we interact as a species today. Where Black Mirror provided a dark and cautionary tale of paranoia and the inhumanity of advanced bio-technology, I felt that there was the potential within this hyper-personal documentation of individual experience, to create a platform for integration, empathy and social change. The brief was broad and at points vague, but at its heart was the theme of shared space, shared thoughts and shared humanity. Over the next few pages, I have included a range of drawings and illustrations which attempt to convey different aspects of the project and scheme. At the centre of the proposal is a piece of architecture reminiscent of Cedric Price’s Fun Palace. Indeed, I was greatly inspired by his pragmatic approach towards designing for the unknown, as a flexible and editable structure and internal system would ultimately benefit a project which argues for a constant self-questioning and selfimproving society and urban entity.
Shown here is an exploded axonometric CAD model of the Memory Bank central building, which details the internal layout, uses and design in a hand-drawn overlay. Throughout the building are varying types of social and private spaces for the community to utilise, some of which are separate from the digital technology, and are merely gathering and social hubs, whereas others, such as the debating chamber, are solely concerned with the ramifications of people’s experiential data as a social change catalyst. Throughout the building, screens and projections will illuminate the spaces, creating a vibrant and constantly changing environment, as people’s experiences and interactions are pasted across large stretches of the building, displaying live events from anywhere in the world.
The illustration opposite is a watercolour masterplan of the wider Sheaf Valley area, with the completed Memory Bank scheme in place at the centre. The lake is a floodable wetland designed as an alleviation zone for rainwater during periods of high rainfall and also as a biodiverse public park. The theme of memory is conceptually linked to this physical feature of the site, the lake representing the stores of shared experience documented by the Memory Bank, and the River Sheaf, a reminder of the constant nature of change and the flow of knowledge and dialogue passing through society’s collective psyche. Above, two sections, one cutting directly down the centre of the Memory Bank, looking due north-west, the lower of the two cutting across the wetland and providing an elevation of
the scheme as a whole. The building to the left of the Memory Bank is the Arts and Film Institute where people come to develop their work, often utilising the vast stores of visual data preserved in the grounds of the scheme. Further to the left of the Institute building, a tall white metal sculptural form stands proud and in contrast with the soft woodland planting. This is one of many Data towers which store private and encrypted memory, as well as publicly accessible data for use within the building. By entering it into the landscape and locality, I was making the conscious decision to claim back visual ownership of our data, as currently large social media organisations are the sole collectors and distributors of this plentiful source of knowledge.
The Memory Bank itself is connected to the wetland as a large folly within a wider landscape. The public have the opportunity to forego the dynamic environment within the building, and can instead access their stored data from within one of the many pods located on the wooded islands surrounding the scheme. The building on the far right is a new railway station and office space for the local community. A stop once existed here but was removed with the advent of automobile technology. I am envisaging the social cohesion and sense of public unity to improve as the bio-technology helps people to overcome their sense of difference, and instead embrace their similarities.
01. Mapping platforms, permitting the user/s to analyse and interact with raw memory data from different times, places and people
Opposite page (top left to bottom right); CAD model interior view, looking back through the building, with the glass Archivist Office directly centre; Process diagram illustrating the technological narrative and development of a platform for social discussion and interaction; CAD model exterior view of the Memory Bank on its concrete plinth; CAD model semi-deconstructed displaying internal structure and layout. This page (top left to bottom right); CAD model interior view looking from the entrance space down the length of the building, with exaggerated perspective; sketched plans illustrating the gridded format within the building, and the progression of public to private space, and raw to processed data, with the floors and depth of the building; sketch section cutting through the front third of the Memory Bank, displaying the debating chamber and other key spaces; a series of three different tech interfaces which are available within the grounds of the scheme.
Memory Bank Ground Floor Plan Here is an inhabited view of the ground floor, illustrated with screens, mapping platforms, people and furniture. I envisaged the space to be highly dynamic and integrated. Although there were some concerns with sound pollution, these were quickly resolved through the use of polycarbonate and larch cladding, and a sound cancelling material which doubled as projection screens. The voice, sight and audio recognition technology is such that the screens needn’t have audio projection at all times, for the audio content can be streamed directly to the viewer when they fix their attention on that screen. At the front of the building we have the most raw data, after the data storage towers and pods of course, where video data can be mapped geographically, demographically, and emotionally, depending on the input factors available. Towards the back of the building, across the three bridge elements which appear to float across the wetland entering the building, we find the archivists office and ground floor library. Here, there are films and documentaries on show throughout the day, and a plethora of developed and refined responses to the raw data assessed by the archivists and other researchers, both professional and amateur.
02. Inside a ‘Memory Pod’ an individual accesses their own, or other publicly accessible memory files
03. A debate council is reviewing the evidence of a social issue through holographic display
Contents (opposite to bottom right); Conceptual perspective illustration of the Memory Bank, Film Institute and Data towers at night; sketch perspective of the front of the Memory Bank and its presence on the public plaza space; section cutting through public plaza and leading down to the wetland edge, through large concrete planters and landscape furniture; detailed construction section of seating, complete with lighting design and finish; sketch of localised masterplan showing design intent and key features; conceptual illustrations depicting the thematic link between nature, growth, and human experience; an early sketch of scheme layout and elements.
Following double page spread contents; Landscape Construction submission page 1, detailing floor treatment, topography, precedent study and lighting design; Landscape Planting Design submission, detailing plant species, arrangement, flowering periods and design intent, and precedent studies.
The Culivation Centre Final Year Architecture Project, Sep-Nov 2014 Location: Paradise Rd, Scarborough - present day Tasked with developing a brief based on the themes of High and Low Culture, I fashioned an abstracted response by claiming that all forms of culture are intrinsically linked to society, so my brief would also be concerned with society. As the people within that society should rightly be the ones to decide if an activity is either high culture or low culture, I intended to avoid that divisive element of the brief. Instead I chose to evaluate the theme as an exercise in opposing ends of a scale, which, although variant in result or outlook, must always be connected by a common thread. Looking for activities which shared these common threads, but which were also required by the local society was intriguing, and I eventually set my cultural opposites as Boxing and Ecology. The thread connecting these two established pursuits, their significance locally notwithstanding, lay in the theme of cultivation. One may cultivate a sense of self-improvement within oneself through directed and applied exercise and physical contact. Ecology by the very nature of evolution, is the study of a cultivated ecosystem, which has adapted to be highly focused within it’s locality over millennia. As boxing and other activities for young locals in Scarborough were limited, it seemed sensible to provide this key part of society with a constructive outlet. Similarly, Scarborough’s prominent position on the north west coast, near the Yorkshire Dales National Park, made it the perfect location for an Ecological Centre, including museum and labs. The site I chose was up at the top of the headland, almost bridging the ridge between the North Bay and the South Bay. The parcel of land in question had never been built upon and acted as a potential future cemetery for the historic church to the north west of the site. It was a steep site, with an incredible view across the South Bay and the North Sea.
Page contents (top left to bottom right); Photo looking across existing cemetery/ car park towards the site (hidden behind the wall) and the South Bay behind it, with the Yorkshire coastline drifting southwards in the distance; Historic steps leading up the west side of the site towards the church; St Mary’s Church, a historic location where one of the Bronte sisters is buried; the north west corner of the site looking due south-east; watercolour painting of the Scarborough headland and south bay, with the architectural scheme situated to the right of the church, a hunkering, elongated building.
The design is a complex mix of subtle contextualised modernism, and strident, unabashed futurism. The section shown here is the first option, with a series of pitched roofs, clad in larch timbers, and supporting green roof technology on top, featuring a variety of local heathers and mosses. The form of the building hugs every corner of the site, with the view across the bay being unimpeded at its heart, where the previous access point has been preserved and the view maintained. In order to open the grounds up to more of society, specifically the elderly who inhabit many of the retirement homes in the area, the landscape, which doubles as a space for both ecology and boxing, has been
designed with a continuous ramp filling the central part of the scheme. The sloping sections in between the ramps are filled alternatively with sections of local flora and concrete steps and seating, which enables both able bodied people, visitors to the ecological centre, and supporters of the hosted boxing tournaments to utilise the space in a multitude of different ways. This multi-purpose scheme is highly significant as it references the many ways in which Scarborough has adapted over the years, at once a tourist attraction, home to a thriving local population, a key fishing town, and a Victorian spa retreat.
The plan opposite is inhabited to show its scale and the various spaces within its walls. The ecology centre has a range of floors, comprising exhibition and educational spaces, as well as science labs, research facilities and a shop. The boxing centre similarly has a gym, living accommodation for the manager, training facilities, an indoor and outdoor boxing ring, shop, and small cafe open to spectators during events. In the centre of the scheme lies a cafe and restaurant and upstairs events space which both serve the local community and engage the boxing and ecology wings in a socially cohesive manner.
Page contents (left and right); Ecology Centre section, watercolour, with the Castle headland in the distance; Ground floor plan, showing lower levels where open to the ground floor, and the Landscape surrounding the scheme, watercolour and ink.
Page contents (top left to bottom right); sketch of the roof plan, graphite; sectional axonometric representing the two wings and the key façades visible from within the site; watercolour section cutting through the Boxing centre, the polycarbonate and glu-lam beam construction visible; a series of sketch perspectives illustrating the journey down to the Cultivation Centre from the Castle [another key attraction in the area]; a watercolour and pencil sketch illustrating the Boxing centre lower entrance, surrounding landscape, and outdoor boxing ring.
Although the form of the building doesn’t immediately appear logical, much has been done to ensure that it is an open and inviting centre for learning, socialising and developing key practical skills to improve the lives of local residents, whilst providing them with a facility and entertainment space they can feel is theirs more than the tourists who currently have the most funding spent on them. The Boxing Centre is notably different in both visual terms and scale. After researching the sport and the typical training centres around the country, I found that most boxing schools and clubs are in non-specific ‘found’ or hired buildings, often ill-suited to heavy and aerobic exercise, much less the space required for a spectator venue as well.
I wanted the Centre here to provide an environment within which the children and adults would feel a sense of pride, and significance within the town and society. By utilising glue-lam beams, I managed to have a vast open space, three storeys high, benefiting the contestants through air circulation, but also the spectators and parents who could watch from upstairs or within the boxing environment itself. The polycarbonate finish gives a sense of modernity, but also allows people to see the lights and movement from inside the space at night or during winter afternoons. This also benefits the local residents as that area, and specifically the steps leading up to the church can be highly hazardous, and offputting if travelling alone or at night.