interim Portfolio 2018/19 by matthewrgsmith

Matthew Smith Interim Portfolio Greenwich University Unit 21 2018/19

Introduction

Abstract:

A school for training surgeons that addresses the problem of lost techniques and skill sets. The relationship between surgeons, anatomists and artists will be repaired and reappreciated. The students will explore anatomy by drawing, sculpting, sewing, dissecting and manipulating the human form; forced to showcase the hidden wonders of what sleeps beneath. The students will gain enhanced practical skills and a new creative language to communicate the human anatomy. The site is situated in St. Brides Ave, a narrow alley running along the perimeter of St. Brides Churchyard. The alley embodies a surgical incision - slicing and opening the skin between the church and adjacent buildings. My architecture reflects this, incorporating elements of ‘anatomical architecture;’ light, precise and organic.

What:

Experimental Surgeons School

Who:

Training surgeons

When:

Now

Where:

St. Brides Ave, London ///thigh.mice.snacks

Why:

Surgeons are losing many of the key skills required of their discipline such as manual dexterity and visualisation. Surgeons will be taught as artists. Experimenting with drawing, sculping, sewing and the manipulation of human anatomy in order to bring well-crafted techniques back to the surgeon’s tool

Supporting Quotes

“Artists are crucial to the history of anatomy” Ruth Richardson, Historian and Author “Some of the work they did, we actually can not reproduce with the skills of today” Harold Ellis, Clinical Anatomist, School of Biomedical Sciences, King’s College, London “I have ideas about how everybody should be left beneath their skin” “I want my knots to be beautiful” “You develop a kind of aesthetic” Atul Gawande, Surgeon, Writer, and Public Health Researcher, Professor of Surgery at Harvard

Supporting Articles

River Fleet Site Map

This map shows the span of the River Fleet from its’ birth in Hampstead Heath down to its’ death at Blackfriars. Key historical points and observations have been highlighted. Each location being pinned by a ‘what3word’ tag. The Fleet has a talent for attracting death and decay.

Network Diagrams

A NETWORK OF RELASHENSHIPS

WOODLAND

BURIED GRAVE

STYX

LIFE

WASTE

PAYMENT

SMITHFEILD HIGHGATE CEMETERY HAMPSTEAD HEATH

DEATH FLOW

RIVER

BATTLE BRIDGE

DEBT PRISON

BOUNDARY

VALLEY

BLOOD

VANITAS ST PANCRAS OLD CHURCH

SCALPEL

RIVER FLEET SNATCHING

INCISION SURGERY

RUINS

SUTURE

TOOLS

FORGOTTEN

ART

RETRACTORS

ANATOMY CARLISLE

GANDY 15 CLERKENWELL CLOSE LECTURES RA SKIN LINCOLN’S INN FIELDS SOANE

ARCHITECTURE EXHIBITIONS

PRISON

DEBT

RELATIONSHIP KEY ST PANCRAS OLD CHURCH VANITAS

RUINS

SNATCHING

RUINS

FORGOTTEN

ART

SURGERY

GANDY

GANDY RA

LECTURES

CARLISLE

ANATOMY

LINCOLN’S INN FIELDS

SOANE

LECTURES

LINCOLN’S INN FIELDS

ARCHITECTURE

EXHIBITIONS

SOANE

GANDY

LECTURES

LINCOLN’S INN FIELDS

ANATOMY CARLISLE

ART

LINCOLN’S INN FIELDS

SOANE ARCHITECTURE

CARLISLE

EXHIBITIONS

PROTAGONISTS BLOOD SCALPEL INCISION

BURIED

SURGERY

GRAVE

STYX

TOOLS

SUTURE

WASTE ANATOMY

SMITHFEILD

HIGHGATE CEMETERY

RETRACTORS

DEATH BATTLE BRIDGE SKIN

ARCHITECTURE

ANATOMY

BLOOD RIVER FLEET

DEATH

These diagrams show and explore the key points and observations of the Fleet and their relationship with each other.

Protagonists

Sir John Soane He is regarded as the greatest British architect of his day. We was educated at the Royal Academy of Art from 1771-1777, winning both the silver and gold medals. He later became an Associate member of the RA 1795, an Royal Academician in 1782 and later the RA Professor of Architecture in 1806. He received a travelling scholarship in December 1777 and embarked on his tour of Europe. Soane was a master of Neo-Classical Architecture The most famous example being the Bank of England. He lived and worked out of 3 con-joining houses in Lincolnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Inn Fields. Directly opposite the Royal College of Surgeons, after it moved there in 1794. He used the house as a place to experiment and test his architectural ideas. Most notably his use of light and domed ceilings. His also stored and housed a huge collection of art, books and antiques which are now on display in the house, which, as he wished is now a museum.

Joseph Gandy A master of architectural perspective, a romanticist, and in some cases, a Surrealist. He was more akin to the rebecist artist and poets of his time, however architecture was less forgiving and this would ultimately become his downfall. He was trained at the RA where he, like Soane, won both silver and gold medals for his work. He later also became an Associate RA, exhibiting there throughout his career. He worked extensively for Sir John Soane; turning his ideas and drawings into dramatic etheral depictions with his expert use of watercolours. Gandy wound up in debtors prison twice due to the failings of his own practice. He was an artist and theorist first and a businessman last allowing nothing to compromise his vision. One of the prisons Gandy spent time in was Fleet

Sir Anthony Carlisle Professor of Anatomy at the Royal Academy of Art from 1808-1826, where he lectured and studied when he first come to London. Soane and Gandy were also present at the RA at this time. In 1815, he was appointed to the Council of the College of Surgeons directly opposite Soane in Lincolnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Inn Fields. For many years he was a curator of the Hunterian Museum. He served as president to Royal College of Surgeons, in 1828 and 1839. He had royal appointments, firstly to the Duke of Gloucester and then to King George IV. He was fascinated by the musculature of the human body and conveyed this in his lively lectures. In order to illustrate his anatomy talks, he arranged for a number of guest visitors to perform naked, including eight Life Guardsmen going through their sword exercises and a troupe of Chinese jugglers. It was reported he handed around human remains on plates. His lectures were so popular that police had to stand at the door to control the crowds that gathered. It is also believed that Carlisle wrote gory, gothic novels under the pseudonym Mrs Carver. One of these books, The Horrors of Oakendale Abbey, is about body snatching.

Art - Anatomy - 01 Student and Teacher

Drawing from Life at the Royal Academy Thomas Rowlandson (1808) After an RA student had perfected the technique of drawing plaster casts and sculptures, they would be allowed to attend life class, or ‘The School of Living Models.’ At the time this print was made all the students were male, but, in a departure from academic tradition, the models were of both sexes. In order to attend when a female model was sitting, the students had to be over the age of 20 or married.

Boston City Hospital Operating Theatre A H Folsom (c. 1890) The Operating Theatre was born of the anatomical amphitheatres of the Renaissance, where public dissections were held a few times per year to expose the “secrets of Nature revealed by God.” For the price of admission, one could watch as doctors performed an autopsy on the body of a convict. By the early 19th Century it was commonplace for operating theatres to be tiered like an amphitheatre where students and spectators could watch.

The Dissecting Room Thomas Rowlandson (c. 1838) Thomas Rowlandson was himself a student at the Royal Academy of Art where he learnt to draw the human form. Many of his artworks include scientific and medical scenes including this print believed to depict William Hunter leading students in anatomical dissections at his house in Windmill Street.

These three images convey the similarities in the study of the human body from an artist, surgeon and anatomist’s perspective. The educational and artistic merits of first-hand observation of the human form, both living, and deceased are unparalleled.

Art - Anatomy - 02 Anatomical Illustrations

Myologie Complette en Couleur Jacques Gautier D’Agoty (1746) In his, arguably, most famous anatomical illustration, D’Agoty shows a woman turning demurely away from the viewer. Her back open from the neck down, the muscles pulled back like wings to reveal the delicate rise of her spine. Sometimes called the Anatomical Angel, it reveals a vision perhaps more artistic than scientific.

Study of Skeletons (Left) Studies of the Shoulder and Neck (Right) Leonardo DaVinci (c. 1509 – 1510) This sheet displays the full range of Leonardo’s illustrative techniques, showing the structure of the muscles of the shoulder. Pectoralis major is divided into parts to represent the lines of force along which it acts. This method reaches its logical conclusion in the drawing at top right, which is an example of Leonardo’s ‘thread model’. This technique - invented by Leonardo - reduced the muscles to single cords along their central lines of force, such that the spatial structure of an entire system can be perceived at once.

Flayed Man Holding his Own Skin Attributed to Gaspar Becerra (1556) Man Holding His Own Skin Gunther von Hagen’s Body Worlds Exhibition (2002) Here we can plainly see the recreation of Becerra’s original print in the sculpture-like real corpse which has been plasticised and posed for an educational exhibition. Professor von Hagens argues that it will provide unique insights into the human body for a culture deprived of the public spectacle of anatomical theatres. He hopes the display will make us understand our bodies better and to ‘democratise anatomy.’.

The artist and surgeon were often one. The surgeon would have to become an artist to record and study the anatomy of the human body. An artist needs deep knowledge of the human anatomy in order to understand how the body moved and hung. These boundaries became blurred and many surgeons would give a unique perspective on the strange, showing off their talents and expertise, curating the body for an audience to observe and become familiar.

Art - Anatomy - 03 The Surgeon and The Artist

Dissection of theTrunk of the Body John Bell (1794)

Dissection of the Mucles of the Back John Bell (1794)

Second Dissection of the Belly John Bell (1794)

John Bell was a practising surgeon and anatomist who, due to his unconservative demeanour, attracted large audiences whenever he would lecture. Bell, following the interests of his mother, was also a talented artist, and was one of the few medical men to illustrate his own work. Bell believed in the exploration of the human anatomy through artistic studies.

Art - Anatomy - 04 D’Agoty - A Pioneer in Colour Illustrations 1:1 sections

Two Dissected Men, One Seated, the Other Standing Behind, with a Seperate Section of Viscera (Left) A Standing Man, Posterior View, with Separate Sections of the Brain (Right) Jacques Gautier D’Agoty (1764-1765) These are 2 panels from a set of 12. D’Agoty worked in association with anatomists such as Pierre Tarin and Joseph-Guichard Duverney, he published some of the first colour prints of anatomical subjects. The dissections shown here were performed by Tarin, who commisioned D’Agoty to create the series of 12 pieces to be published in an Anatomical Encyclopaedia.

Art - Anatomy - 05 Memento Mori: Remember That You Will Die

Aerial Cutaway View of the Bank of England from the South-East Joseph Gandy (1830) Better known as the Bank of England in Ruins, this painting was created as a homage to Gandy’s long-time friend and colleague, Sir John Soane. Gandy celebrates Soane’s genius and achievement as impressive and iconic as that of the great ruins of Ancient Rome or Pompeii. Soane exhibited this water colour at the Royal Academy of Art to illustrate the results of his near forty-five years of labour on the Bank of England, of which Soane was the architect. Alongside the painting was a quotation describing the work as a ‘meat pie with the crust removed.’

Still Life with a Skull and Writing Quill Pieter Claesz (1628) Vanitas and Memento Mori are both art terms which seek to remind the viewer of the shortness and fragility of life. This Vanitas still life by Claesz is symbolic of life’s brevity by the careful choice of unsettling objects; the gaptoothed skull, the empty toppled glass and the watch to represent the moving of time.

Wax Vanitas, Europe (1701-1800) This Vanitas seeks to remind the viewer not only of the certainty of death, but also that of the uselessness of vanity. The decaying flesh and insects that feast on it is in stark contrast to the other side of the model which does the face during life. There is a quote from the book of Ecclesiastes etched on the front which reads “vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”

Memento Mori - Latin translation: ‘Remember you will die’ Art has always expressed close links to death and the human anatomy. Architects rarely consider or design the death of their building. Gandy’s ‘Bnk of England in Ruins’ is the best architectural example of a Memento Mori or Vanitas; visualising the death and decay of architecture. This is something the architecture for my Surgeon’s School will embrace and harness.

Art - Anatomy - 06 Fritz Kahn, Exploring anatomy at an architectural scale

Travel experiences of a wandering cell; in the dust storm of the windpipe Fritz Kahn (1924)

Fairy-tale journey along the bloodstream â&#x20AC;&#x201C; entering a glandular cavity with an idealised cell-scape Fritz Kahn (1924)

Entering a gland cave Fritz Kahn (1924)

German Polymath Fritz Kahn devised an innovative visual design language for understanding science as the human body. A scientist by trade and artist by inclination, Kahn used an artistic medium to convey scientific information about the human body, Kahn was able to strip the scientific ideas of their complexity and engage a wider audience. These series of drawings explore the human anatomy at an architectural scale. The users have been scaled down and the body scaled up. This allows Kahn to show off the complexity and intricacy of the human anatomy. My architecture aims to embrace this, with each space designed at a high level of detail and complexity, and fusing multiple scales.

Apparatus - 01 Artist

The Taxonomy of the Artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tools Artists use a range of tools to create their work, they are considered to be an extension of the artists body, wielding them as one. The relationship and interaction with these tools is highly personal, requiring dexterity and time to master.

Apparatus - 02 Surgeons

The Taxonomy of Surgical instruments Due to the fast paced advancements of surgical procedures throughout history, surgeons would take it upon themselves to invent, or commission their own tools. Many of the surgical instruments which are used today were created by the innovative minds of the surgical pioneers of the past. Surgeons, like artists, use a range of tools to dissect, push, pull, examine and stitch the body. Like the artist these tools are an extension of the surgeonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s arm and often hand chosen depending on their preferences. Each tool would be specialised for a series of actions making up a procedure. They are precise and brutal, delicate

Apparatus - 03 Techniques

Surgical Techniques Much like with personalised surgical instruments, it is often noticed that surgeons and anatomists have their own techniques and styles when performing a procedure. There are guidelines and strict stipulations in the operating theatre or dissection room, but much like an artist, we can observe the differing marks that are made by the surgeon or anatomist on the human body.

A surgeon is expected to perform procedures which can last from thirty minutes to over twelve hours. This variety in time and intensity requires stamina and concentration that is built up over time. Artists can take days and years to create one piece of work and the human body has been known to live for over one hundred years. Architecture can last from just a few days to over a thousand years. This scale of time will be referenced and used within my architecture. Adapting spaces to complement the time and wear each space will endure; aging and adapting with the user as their relationship grows.

Apparatus - 04 Tools

Anatomical Cutlery A series of modified cutlery transformed into surgical tools for cutting and retracting human skin. Cutlery is another tool that acts as an extension of the human body. Their purpose is to pull, lift and slice, similar to that of surgical tools. These will be the first in a series of 1:1 models that I will craft to shape and interact with my architecture.

Apparatus - Site Dissection

Left - Right Passageways in the RA school where the student medal-winners board hangs. Both Soane and Gandys names are engaved into it. Photos at each end of St. Brides Passage, reminisent of a surgeons incision.

Site layering revealed by dissection with anatomical cutlery, slicing through the sitesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; epidermis layers.

Each layer being dissected and retracted by modified tools. Revealing the hidden layers and relationships.

Existing Site - 01

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Perspective 01 1:500

Existing Site - 02

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Site-plan 1:500

Existing Site - 03

Section-BB 1:200

Existing Site - 04

site sections

Section-AA 1:200

Existing Site - 05

Section-CC 1:200

Programming - 01 Overview

Programme Taxonamy Dissection room - one of the focal points of the architecture. The room will be one of the largest spaces in the school, flooded in natural light. Bodies will be brought up from the morgue for students and teachers to dissect. Morgue - the cadavers will be stored and embalmed in this space before dissection. Living circulation - the connective areas between the spaces inhabited by the living. Dead circulation - the connective areas for the transference of cadavers around the building. Living entrance - a main entrance into the building for staff, students and visitors. Dead entrance - the cadavers will have a separate entrance to the building and be taken directly to the morgue. There will be road access for delivery and transportation of bodies. Studio - another key space in the building. The students will inhabit this space when they are learning several artistic techniques. Coffin workshop - the students will craft the coffins for the dissection cadavers which will be laid to rest in the necropolis. Workshop - this space will allow students access to tools and machinery to further expand their craft, make larger sculptures and design and manufacture their tools. Operating theatre - one of the key larger spaces in the building which will be used equally for teaching on the anatomy in terms of dissection and art. Classroom - this space will be a traditional classroom space used for lectures of a more conventional sense. Consulting room - this room will allow future cadavers to come in, ask questions about the process their body will go through on donation. Changing room - acting as a threshold between the living and the dead, students, teachers and technicians will use this space to prepare for work either with a cadaver or with a canvas. Necropolis - the cadavers will eventually be laid to rest in a large underground necropolis in the existing graveyard of St. Brideâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Church. This space is in tribute to Gandyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s last project to exhibit at the RA before his passing; an underground necropolis consisting of metal coffins below London. An annual funeral will be held at the necropolis in honour of those who donated their bodies to art and science. The tutors, students and families will all be invited to attend.

Programming - 03 Level - 02

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Activities - People Activities - Space Tools - People Tools - Activities Space - People Space - Tools

Key of Links Activities - People Activities - Space Tools - People Tools - Activities Space - People

Users

Space - Tools

Spaces

Entrance

Classroom

Changing Room

Student

Necropolis

Cadavers

Theatre

Teachers

Morgue

Tecnicians

Dissection Room

Studio

Cadaver Family

Coffin Workshop

Visitors

Tool Workshop

Patients

Consulting Rooms

Living Circulation

Dead Circulation

Dead Entrance

Staff

The graphics depict and communicate the journeys set users embark on and the spaces each user comes into contact with before reaching their final destination. Exploring the relationship and interactions between users, spaces, tools, and activities. One can understand the overlaps and needs of each space and where best to programme it.

Changing Room Necropolis

Dissection Room Studio Coffin Workshop Tool Workshop

Dead Entrance

Programming - 03 Level - 02

Space Hierarchy and Conections

Building

Dead Entrance

Living Entrance

Dead Circulation

Living Circulation

Necropolis

Studio

Coffin Workshop

Morgue

Changing Room

Consulting Rooms

Tool Workshop

Dissection Room

Classroom

Theatre

Death

Life

Programming - 04 Level - 01

Space Hierarchy and Conections

Building

Dead Entrance

Living Entrance

Dead Circulation

Living Circulation

Necropolis

Studio

Coffin Workshop

Morgue

Changing Room

Consulting Rooms

Tool Workshop

Dissection Room

Classroom

Theatre

Death

Life

Programming - 05 Level - 00

Space Hierarchy and Conections

Building

Dead Entrance

Living Entrance

Dead Circulation

Living Circulation

Necropolis

Studio

Coffin Workshop

Morgue

Changing Room

Consulting Rooms

Tool Workshop

Dissection Room

Classroom

Theatre

Death

Life

Programming - 06 Level - B1

Space Hierarchy and Conections

Building

Dead Entrance

Living Entrance

Dead Circulation

Living Circulation

Necropolis

Studio

Coffin Workshop

Morgue

Changing Room

Consulting Rooms

Tool Workshop

Dissection Room

Classroom

Theatre

Death

Life

Design - 01 Facade Incision

The incision a surgeon makes into the human skin is alike the apertures and opening of architecture. Dissecting the buildingsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; skin and retracted it to reveal its inner workings. It communicates a sense of vulnerability and relief allowing the passing through of the impenetrable.

Design - 02 The incision and the Eye

The eye acts as a natural incision into the human body. Its symbolism is powerful; acting as a gate into not just the body but also the mind. The longing gaze captivates audiences, synonymous in art and pop culture.

Design - 03 Conceptual Facade 1:50

Anatomical faรงade model 1:50 The model anatomises the architecture. The faรงade is represented in a skin-line material; soft, opaque and impressionable. Surgical incisions are made into the skin and retracted to widen the opening. These incisions represent the architectural orifices, allowing the passing of vectors in and out of the building. In the bottom image I am exploring the scale of the facade by moving the light source around the model manipulating the scale of projected shadow onto the wall behind.

Film - 01 Frames

The source of the river in beautiful Hampstead, autumn leaves and branches begin to fall.

Battle Bridge, an ancient river crossing in now Kings Cross. A major battle in AD 60 between the Romans and the Iceni, the first blood is spilt into the river.

We enter the City of London, the river becomes a means to transport detritus out of the city, including human and animal waste and the unpalatable spoils from Smithfield’s Market.

Eventually the river is irreparable, and the city begins to bury the filthy, disease ridden water.

The fleet is buried and Laid to rest, or so they thought.

Stills from a short film depicting the slow death of London’s lost river Fleet. Over time the river was neglected and polluted. From the fallen leaves and branches at its source to the staining of blood from Battle Bridge. Slowly becoming a cesspit of an open sewer. Desperately trying to negotiate not just the human waste of Londoner’s, but the waste and innards of livestock from Smithfield’s. Pronounced dead, The Fleet was buried and laid to rest… only for its grave bell to chime..

Film - 02 Layering of the Frames

A series of frames dissected from the body the film. Ordered in reference to itsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; time stamp, each frame has been examined, removing and highlighting the contours of colour shades, layered back onto eachother to form a palimpsest of the Fleet.

Film - 03 Frames into 3d Forms

The palimpsest of the Fleet has been explored in 3D form. These calcifications of the film act as an undulating surface to be used in the architecture of the building. They will carry and drain liquid from the wet areas of the programme. They also reference the build-up of paint and materials on the floor of artist studios, growing over time and becoming a unique answer to the interaction with itsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; environment.