THE UNSEEN BRIEFING DOCUMENT CHRIS WILSON
BRIEF
2 SITE LOCATION
4 SITE ANALYSIS
6 SEEN VS. UNSEEN
12 THE UNSEEN
14
CONCEPTUAL MAPPING
18
SURVEILLANCE ATLAS
26
ENTRY INTO THE UNSEEN
30
3-D VISUALISATION
38
PRECEDENT
44
SUMMARY
46
CONTENTS
In our cities, our public spaces are becoming dominant with the presence of authoritative surveillance. We are constantly being monitored and watched which has happened due to our curiosity and fear of crime within our urban spaces. Therefore we as humans have sacrificed our right to privacy within the public domain. In this project, I will be investigate and research urban authoritative surveillance which will lead onto a design outcome that creates the appearance of privacy back into our public spaces. Using Edinburgh City Centre as a primary focus and driver to create a resolved conceptual design solution.
THE BRIEF
Edinburgh city centre is the choice of location due to its combination of historic and new town developments. The centre itself is centred around what was once an old lake now occupied by Edinburgh Waverly Station. My site will stretch from Queen street on the North of Edinburgh right along to Chambers Street on the south side of town, thus creating a good area range that is classified as the city centre. It is also one of the most well trafficked area with a combination of locals and tourists moving throughout these spaces on a daily basis.
SITE LOCATION
In Edinburgh, there are around 250 CCTV cameras overall that are located around the city and suburbs. According to the Edinburgh City Council, it costs around ÂŁ25,000 per CCTV camera to be installed and maintained. Therefore, the total money spent on surveillance just in the city is around ÂŁ6.2million per year.
SITE ANALYSIS
CCTV Camera’s that exist but did not pass or see CCTV Camera’s that exist that I passed and didn’t know existed CCTV Camera’s that I passed and knew existed
SITE ANALYSIS
By investigating the central areas of Edinburgh, I should be able to identify spaces where CCTV is not present along public throughways. Through Urban mapping and understanding the physical space, It will then lead me on to create conceptual experiences within these unseen space. From the research of walking around the central area already, the cameras themselves are obvious when wanted to be seen, but generally, many of us walk past these surveillance systems without knowing of their placement or capabilities.
SITE ANALYSIS
The area visual capacity of the Edinburgh CCTV camera’s are 200m as stated by the Edinburgh City Council.
Seen Vs. Unseen
East
West
North
South
The Unseen
Further development into the research of these spaces, would be to create an atlas that would identify when you can be seen by the Council CCTV and when you cannot be seen.
From the mapping work so far, I have highlighted the quantity of unseen space that existed based on the placing of the authoritative CCTV cameras across the city centre. By having these spaces highlighted creates further exploration into these individual spaces themselves.
The Unseen
Conceptual Mapping
The visual connection of all the camera’s within the city centre creates a conceptual map that is the representation of the singular viewing platform set up within the Edinburgh City Chambers. This is a strand of what happens in reality when the CCTV surveyor is watching all of the cameras at once. This also showed that this digital portrayal is happening in the physical space but cannot be seen nor is considered by people using the public throughways and spaces.
Conceptual Mapping
Another effect of conceptual thinking is layering to create a whole new visual landscape. By taking all elements of the invisible space around Edinburgh and lining it up to one point, creates a whole new spectrum of space collatedtogetherintoonearea.Anurbansprawlofunseenspace.Aliteralghostcitywithentitylikethroughways.
Conceptual Mapping
East
West
North
South
Conceptual Mapping
Surveillance Atlis
Having common knowledge of these unseen space existing should be a necessity in our urban environments. Especially in public throughways. CCTV has stripped us of our own privacy to get from A-B. Therefore by identifying these clusters of invisible space is important for us as humans who love having our own space. These unseen spaces act as a sanctuary from the constant eye of the authoritative powers.
Surveillance Atlis
A key moment which happens within these unseen spaces within Edinburgh, is the entry and exit points to the spaces. There is a definitive intangible barrier which separates the Surveillance of the CCTV camera’s and the hidden entities that are the unseen space. To visualise this, by creating a physical diagram that represents the volume of space that separates the seen with the unseen.
Entry into the Unseen
Entry into the Unseen
Entry into the Unseen
Having acknowledged the existence of these boundaries that are there between the seen and unseen, it is also important to analyse the physical space in the three-dimensional form. Through extrusion of the city centre and by marking the key moment of where the person would pass from the seen to the unseen. It is important to consider how these spaces will relate to each other, through temporary activity that may happen or through physical form or intervention taking residence within the several unseen spaces.
Entry into the Unseen
3-D Visualisation
3-D Visualisation
3-D Visualisation
One main visual aid for my project is photographer Eric Fiscer. He has devised many visual maps and collated data that reflects peoples movement through urban city space. Across is a geo-tag map of tourists in Edinburgh and where they capture photos around the city space. The more urban the more condensed the colour is. His work is a great aid in order to progress my own visual research into unseen space from CCTV camera’s.
Precedent
Havingvisualisedtheexistenceofthesespacesthroughthree-dimensionalformincontext.Thenextstageswill look at development though a conceptual form. Considering the user group, the typology of these throughways and the properties that they hold as being spaces of retreat from the CCTV surveillance. These spaces overall are rare within the urban environment and have so much potential to be small utopia’s within the urban fabric.
Summary
CHRIS WILSON BDES (HONS) INTERIOR & SPATIAL DESIGN EDINBURGH NAPIER UNIVERSITY