THE ART AND CULTURE MAGAZINE
www.aestheticamagazine.com
UK ’s SUSTAINABLE HOMES A look at 5 of the UK’s most sustainable homes including Blackheath’s Pavilion house.
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY This year’s #EachforEqual campaign as well as a flashback of Jemima Stehli’s iconic ‘strip’ series.
Issue 174 March/April 2020
INTERVIEW An interview with York’s youth creative, Niamh Cusack, who has a passion for fashion design.
Photo from Pixabay, 2020.
5 to see: UK’s Sustainable homes Incredible designs from large stormy timber frames to used toothbrushes.
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erhaps you are wanting to start your own project of building your own home or you are simply passionate about architecture. Take a look at these 5 sustainably built, unique homes for inspiration or for your own pleasure.
Brighton Waste house
London Slip house
Brighton Waste house was designed by Duncan Baker Brown who is an architect and lectures at the University of Brighton. He believed that “there’s no such thing as waste, just stuff in the wrong place.” The Brighton Waste House delivers a strategic approach towards contemporary and low energy construction. It is created from 85% waste materials drawn from households, this includes 20,000 toothbrushes, 4000 DVD cases, 2000 floppy discs and 2000 used carpet tiles. The Waste House shows off an approach to architecture which is more innovative, functional, and sustainable as well as, a project proven to be purposeful, inspiring and immersive.
The Slip House quite literally ‘slips’ in amongst a row of Victorian houses in South London. It was designed by architect Carl Turner for his wife and him. The design includes planks of translucent glass, providing the outside structure up the three-storey house, whilst each floor counterbalances on top of one another. Sustainable features consist of a wildflower roof above the ground floor, a rainwater harvesting system and a ground sourced heat pump that generates energy. The house not only is sustainable in a time of climate emergency, but it is also aesthetically pleasing, making it a desirable home.
Photo from ‘The Architecture Review’, 2013.
“There is no such thing as waste, just stuff in the wrong place.”
‘Waste House’ by James Pero, 2014.
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Photo from Homeli, 2020.
Camusdarach Sands house RAW architecture created Camusdarach Sands house for a young couple already living and working in this location of Orkney. The key purpose of this build was for the couple to be able to capture the striking sunrises over the mountains and sunsets behind the islands. The house is assembled using dramatic, stormy timber frames in charcoal black, an exposed, plain concrete base and large floor to ceiling glass at the front and rear to capture the sunrises and sunsets. As you enter the building, you are in the lower darker level but as you progress through the building you come to larger, more open spaces with natural daylight. Environmental measures taken were local labour and sustainable materials, and an inclusion of an air source heat pump and super insulation.
Photo from One Kindesign, 2013.
Bedfordshire Meadowview Meadowview house harmonises well with its surroundings of trees, fields, and greenery. It is in rural Bedfordshire and it was designed by Platform 5 architects to make it appear as though it is floating over the hedgerows. A rustic yet clean, elongated box lies upon a minimal white structure with large windows wrapping around the lower floor. The sustainable technologies of the house include photovoltaic array, a ventilation system with heat recovery and rainwater recycling. The floating house provides the perfect transition between domestic and agricultural environments.
Photo from ‘The Resident’, 2014.
Blackheath Pavilion house The Pavilion house was made with the intention of being the most energy efficient and contemporary house and was created by William Chambers. This zero-carbon home has passive, solar and ventilation design, an earth sheltered lower ground, green roofs, and an array of low to zero carbon technologies. Pavilion house is one of few houses to achieve level 5 on the Code for Sustainable Homes in the UK, an impressive achievement making this house stand out from the rest.
Mabel Briggs
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International Women’s Day T
his year’s International Women’s Day campaign was #EachforEqual, an equal world is an enabled world. The campaign focused on helping women gain full and equal participation in global development. Individually we are all responsible for our actions, but we can all actively choose to challenge stereotypes, fight bias, broaden perceptions, improve situations and celebrate all of women’s achievements. We can all collectively create a gender equal world which is what this campaign symbolises. To be a part of the campaign you simply upload an image of yourself striking the #EachforEqual pose. The reasons we should build a gender equal world is because it is vital for economic prosperity, places with gender equality are healthier, safer and more harmonious – so let’s make it happen, let’s be #EachforEqual. The 2020 campaign does not just run on the day itself but all year round. This helps to receive continuous collective action, which is amplified all year to help spread the message further. Of course, men can get involved too, the campaign holds a shared responsibility to fully create a gender equal world which is key. As we may know, International Women’s Day is a time to reflect on all of women’s great achievements, and we would like to look back on another symbolic piece which was done to celebrate this cause. The piece was a strip series photoshoot created by British feminist artist, Jemima Stehli in 2000. The reason we are reflecting on a piece created 20 years ago is due to how interesting her perspective was which was shown in the photoshoot and how iconic the images turned out. Stehli’s fascinating approach was to focus on the male’s point of view while she stripped down to the nude in front of them. “It’s the men’s self-consciousness that is uncomfortable when you really look at those pictures.”
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#EachforEqual2020
#EachforEqual pose
All four photos by Rochelle Brockington and Sarah Koester, 2020.
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Stehli was joined in the studio with four men whom she knew. The men had full control of the camera and when they took the photographs. The collection of photographs portrayed elements of the male gaze, the female body and power. An interesting part of the assessment was the timing of when the men took their photos. For instance, one man seen on the second row looked uncomfortable, as though he was laughing and took a photograph of when Stehli was in an awkward position on one leg. On the other hand, the man beneath is seen with open body language whilst leaning back with his legs spread. Most of his photos were of Stehli in the nude. This can be an example of the male gaze. Laura Mulvey, a British feminist film artist who is known for her essay on visual pleasure and narrative cinema, describes the male gaze as “a theory where women in the media are viewed from the eyes of a heterosexual man, and that these women are represented as passive objects of male desire.” The fact that this man’s photos were mainly of Stehli in the nude may mean he is viewing her as a sexual object of desire. The images the man decided to take of Stehli in the nude can also be perceived as a sign of dominance, from him having relaxed body language and taking images of her with no clothes on. Dominance is something women have experienced by some men through history, in terms of men ‘bringing home the bacon’ and women having to be housewives – cook and clean and not enabled to have any kind of role in the work industry. Looking back at those times is a reason why we celebrate International Women’s Day. On the other hand, some males chose to take their pictures whilst Stehli still had clothing on, perhaps respecting her and her body which goes against any stereotypes of misogynism, the theory of the male gaze and dominance.
“It’s the men’s self-consciousness that is uncomfortable when you really look at those pictures.” Finally, the photos present how Stehli is comfortable in her own skin, she is showing the right to her own body from how she is comfortable standing in front of the camera nude, in front of four different males. This is another example of something women have fought for over the years and another reason why it is so important to celebrate International Women’s Day. This was overall a memorable photoshoot, one I’m sure we’ll all remember when celebrating this important day as well as the #EachforEqual campaign. So put your arms together and strike the #EachforEqual pose to motivate others and to make this day your day.
Mabel Briggs
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‘Strip Series’ by Jemima Stehli, 2000.
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Interview with York’s youth creative: Niamh Cusack W
An aspiring luxury and sustainable fashion designer.
e find sources of inspiration from everywhere around us; it is just about knowing where to look. For one particular designer it was Rennie Mackintosh’s stained-glass work which was the inspiration for her fashion creations.
Niamh Cusack from York made her biggest achievement yet when getting selected to create outfits inspired by Rennie Mackintosh for the dancers from Liverpool’s Institute of Performing Arts to perform in at Walker art gallery’s ‘light night’. Mackintosh was an architect, artist and designer and Niamh took her source of inspiration from his choice of colour palettes and patterns made from his artwork using stained glass. “I had to create something breathable and easy to move around in, so I created a boxy silhouette with large open sleeves and made a dress,” says Niamh. “It was inspired by Mackintosh’s colour palette of when he created artwork out of stained glass.” A ‘light night’ at Walker art gallery is where it would stay open till late to hold shows for the public. In this case, it was a Mackintosh night and the dancers performed a piece inspired by his work whilst also wearing Niamh’s finished garments. It was “a proud moment,” says Niamh. Niamh sets sustainability challenges where on every project she thinks of new ways she can be a more sustainable designer. She began a project for herself outside of university where she studies Fashion Design. It was to create/re-work something new every week, which was more environmentally friendly. “I first re-worked a vintage Nike jacket and made it into a cropped style, the next week I got an old dress that I haven’t worn in years and made it into a top and skirt co-ord set.” Niamh describes that you tend to get judged if you wear the same outfit twice, so why buy a new outfit when you can re-work an old one? Other pieces Niamh has created consists of an altered old blouse which she added a tie-up fastening at the front, a long white leather maxi skirt changed into a mini skirt and a more tailored Nike puffer jacket made to fit.
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Instagram, photo by Niamh Cusack, 2020.
“Why buy a new outfit when you can re-work an old one?”
Another creation Niamh talked about proudly was her first-year project, Instagram, ‘Distortion x Tailoring’ photo by it was inspired by the skinhead subculture. “There’s not really a name Niamh Cusack, 2020. I can think of to call it, it was like a pair of trousers, a top and jacket all in one.” Her piece was made from used, hand-bleached denim. The trousers zipped into the shirt, you can unzip the sleeves to take them off the shirt, there is a hidden pocket which you can stick to other parts of the outfit and it’s unisex with a drawstring on the trousers to make them fit to the desirable size. “It was interesting studying the skinhead subculture, I think they were sometimes wrongly judged, and I wanted to make an outfit to resemble that there was more to them, there was good hidden parts to them beneath their initial image, which I tried showing with this garment.” Niamh is currently working on distortion and tailoring as two concepts brought into one. She is using body image particularly seen on social media as her inspiration. People distort their bodies from editing them in all sorts of ways, perhaps because they feel vulnerable when showing who they truly are and what they truly look like. Niamh has partnered this concept with traditional tailoring. “I am going to create a red dress with the look of a trench coat with tulle falling out of the zipped pockets to represent the vulnerable parts of people and their bodies.” This is an invention Niamh is excited to see the outcome of. Finally, Niamh discussed her ultimate goals for the future. She would ideally like her own luxury fashion company where every product is made sustainably. “I would want to focus on things being more digital, I would draw pattern pieces digitally by hand to save paper.” Another interesting part she mentioned was presenting virtual catwalks so that everybody could be involved in her creations and get to see them. One thing which stood out about Niamh is how forward-thinking she is, she had very unusual concepts in mind which made her stand out and she always looks towards future trends and what is going to be happening then. She has so far done very well for herself and in the future people will be looking out for Niamh’s virtual catwalks.
Instagram, photo by Niamh Cusack, 2020.
Words by Niamh Cusack, written by Mabel Briggs
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