Self initiated project 'Urban Sanctuary' My research kicked off by looking at Confined Spaces, I liked the idea of creatively researching environments which contained a controlled atmosphere, such as homes. A home is a place which has resonance to people, and it represents the strong connection between humans and the space they inhabit which deeply interests me. During the summer, I had a week’s work experience with a Retail Design company in London (Sheridan and Co.). It was fascinating to learn about the psychology behind retail design and branding to attract customers, it speared my investigation into the way we are controlled by our spaces in society, it showed me the significant power designers hold in the ability influence our psychological state and being.
My visual vocabulary was my way of playing with forms, light and colour such as: - Photographing the movement of light in my home - Pencil drawing a room as the sun went down and the light was constantly changing - Craft - using colour and form to represent rooms - Collage inspired by the idea of gaps between structures - Documenting inside spaces through photography
I went to Yayoi Kusama’s exhibition in Houston wish I found greatly inspiring. The life size portable rooms she created contained a visually infinite environment which greatly questioned the concept of space and time, and demonstrated the power of the built environment.
I started the term looking at architectural inspiration including practitioners such as Richard Serra, Donald Judd, James Turrell for sculptural and design references. Also, Federico Ortega Sanchez a cinematographer who photographs home through an artistic lens, and Vittoria Zupicich who photographs the relationship between people and architecture. I was finding more and more information on the relationship between people and the environment they live in, this relationship is becoming more significant due to the growth in the built environment, and the fact we spend more time indoors then outside. Joye Yannick’s study into biophilic architecture explained that humans benefit psychologically from architecture that is inspired by natural forms, and that which has an affiliation to nature. I wanted to create a sculpture which tested this theory. At the beginning of my time in the 3D workshop I created two steel changeable sculptures which represented the contrast between the impact of artificial forms and natural forms in architecture on human response. It was exciting to bring a 2D design to life, the positive response from piers was encouraging. I asked piers how both the sculptures made them feel, and the universal response was the angled sculpture resulted in an uncomfortable result, whereas the curved sculpture was more aesthetically and physically appealing.
I started to question the power the built environment has on our psychological wellbeing and our behavior.
As a student and soon to be graduate, I am interested in the way people adapt to new environments and how the change in your surrounding can impact your emotional state and behaviour. Research into the field of Environmental Psychology, specifically Interior design psychology began to work its way to the forefront of my practice. I wanted to find out to what extent inhabitants of heavily built up areas, such as London, were psychologically influenced by the spaces they occupied daily. For example, their commute, workspace, home, Cafes etc.
I conducted a Brief which I sent out to graduates and students living in cities, and it asked people to question what the term ‘Sanctuary’ means to them, and where can they find it. I wanted to discover if there were similarities in the feedback, to help guide my investigation.
The feedback was very minimal, the majority of people photographed outside spaces such as parks. It did highlight the significance of nature in seeking Sanctuary, however it didn’t give me enough material to further my investigation, it just made it clear that Sanctuary resonates with the individual.
As a result of the nebulous feedback, I started to interview graduates and students in their homes, studios, and favourite Cafes to get a more topological response which was personal to the individual. This was a really interesting exercise; people were extremely engaged whilst talking to me, which lead to a heightened awareness of their surroundings. The interviews started to become a typology of the spaces they were in and the spaces they reminisced about. Their individual perception of the built environment was being described thoroughly.
One interview in a Cafe called the Electric Elephant changed the direction of my study. This Cafe is my friends favourite space away from her home, it provides comfort and familiarity to her whilst she is living in a large city. I photographed the Cafe and then I started going to more Independent Cafes in London and Norwich and my research began to deviate into Cafe Culture and the vitality these spaces can contribute to Urban environments. They can provide comfort and state of Sanctuary, especially for inhabitants of large cities where meaningful social connection can be less available. I specified in Independent Cafes because they felt personal in their design and service.
I began constantly documenting the interior design of Independent Cafes and all the elements which could influence a positive psychological state, therefore contributing to a sense of Sanctuary. My research into interior design psychology supported and guided the way I photographed, through identifying the significant elements in design which can be stimulating to humans and influence their behaviour. I constantly updated my Instagram through this photographic exploration in my development, giving my practice a visual platform enabled me to reach other people and connect with others who inspired me.
I didn’t drive my 3D work into the same specific direction as my report at this stage because I enjoyed working from the ‘raw’ ideas represented in the findings of Interior Design Psychology. Having this separation actually worked really well as I was able to continue exploring the original ideas in this area of psychology through physical creation, whilst applying it to my interest of interior design in the current Cafe culture. During my readings into Interior Design Psychology I learnt about colour and it’s direct influence of human behaviour. This inspired me to design a light box which could potentially sell as a mood light to have in homes and places of commerce. The idea was that the light box looks aesthetically pleasing as an art form on its own, but it can also project coloured light, which the owner can change through the slot in the top of the box, depending on the ambience desired by the owner. I was pleased with my result and I intend to make more as I want to potentially stack these boxes, forming a light installation. I originally wanted to use concrete, as I thought it held more authenticity, but I also experimented with plaster which gave a completely different tone to the design, a clean and clinical aesthetic.
Publication I originally started designing a magazine inspired by the layout of Cereal Magazine, which visually connected the interiors in my photos of Cafes to photographs of textures and forms in the natural environment. Aiming to illustrate the connection between nature and interior environments. However, after looking at Tombland Drift I was inspired by the idea of a publication which wasn’t rigid in its form, one which could be more interactive. I felt this represented my practice more, as my photography was like an investigation into inside spaces, I wanted the publication to encourage this investigation into my photographs, so rather than ordering images in a methodical way, I was giving the reader the material to search for the information themselves.
A lot of my photography was close up to objects and forms, so I liked the idea of giving the reader a chance to crop using a viewfinder I provided, to look in detail at the forms, colours and textures in the Cafe, rather then looking at the image as a whole. The publication is formed of postcards, so it can be deconstructed, I did this as a marketing tool, as I think the postcards would sell better separately, I would use the publication as an insight into the process of my photography.
I created maps for my publication to give context to the Cafes I had visited and show the reader how to get to them. The simplistic graphic design of these maps has inspired me to keep on documenting the interiors of Cafes and creating a network of independent Cafes all over England and possibly worldwide. I would eventually create a digital platform displaying the same graphic map. Working as a travel guide of ‘must visit’ Cafes relying strongly on the restorative qualities the Café space can give in terms of design.
Team Construo (meaning to construct, fabricate, build, erect) – A Collaboration Preparing for the workshop was fun, we worked well as a team. I applied my skills in steel to help make the shelving which I learnt from making my sculpture. Each shelf was designed individually, using a shape to represent our practice.
The event went well, I loved the responses to our workshop, there was so much diversity. From the exhibition, it was clear I needed a surface near my publication so the reader could spread out the postcards and fully interact with my work. Once the workshop was finished we connected the prompt cards to the collages from the workshop, giving them a new context. It was a great exercise for discussion within the group, and also a way of connecting our individual practice in a poetic form. We intend to make a Zine with the collages produced that day, which we will distribute in Kings Cross St Pancras (the building used in the collages).
Our reader group was a strong support system, we met a lot throughout the term to discuss our ideas and progress. Our event space is never finished, it aims to be a space which is ever changing similar to the built environment, ever changing. It was used in on event day 1 to display our individual work to inspire the workshop, but then it morphed into a collection of responses to the workshop on day 2, and now it is constantly changing still.