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This year I want to be more adventurous with my designs and ensure that all the spaces I produce enable individuals to feel something completely different. This term our main focus was to produce a piece of sustainable furniture which would encompass a particular space within the Cardiff metropolitan buildings. I chose the heart space for my design, although this space functions very well I saw a large amount of opportunity with it particularly due to the incredibly high ceilings.  My focal point for my design is geometric bright bold shapes, not only in the furniture but with the space as a whole. Using the height of the space I want to create large geometric instillations which help to increase privacy between the furniture but also provide a contemporary, exciting and adventurous atmosphere within the art building.

According to the internet the definition of the term ART is = the expression of application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in visual form.

As a design student I love being creative and therefore I want to inspire people within the building to be as bold and out there with their designs. This space will therefore be a reminder to all students that anything is possible and to be as creative with their designs as possible. Alongside this is was also inspired by Olafur Elliason.

Olafur Elliason is a Danish-Icelandic artist who is known for his sculptures and large scale instillations . One of his main designs which inspired me was his Kaleidoscope artwork. These are instillations which create a variety of reflecting colours which encompass the space. This is something I would like to experiment with in the heart space, I believe that it is the perfect place due to its large sunlight roof which floods the interior with a vast amount of light. I could use the large geometric instillations to reflect the sunlight and produce a variety of different coloured shadows within the space. This is something which I am currently working on and developing as I move my way through the project.

 

In my first session of the politics of beauty constellation lectures I learned about ‘Policing the rules of beauty’. Beauty pageants can be seen as having a positive and negative effect on society, in some ways they can help provide body confidence the participants as they receive acknowledgement for their beauty therefore providing them with a sense of euphoria. On the other hand they can be susceptible to causing low self-esteem within society as it creates and advocates the ideal femininity and beauty within women; thereby suggesting that anything different to these stereotypes is classed as unworthy and inferior. I also learned that centauries ago if people were considered to be fatter they were seen as more affluent as they were able to afford food to survive from. Whereas in the 21st century in order to be considered part of the western beauty ideal you need to be slim and toned and therefore come from an affluent family. This is because they are able to afford plastic surgery in order to make themselves more beautiful. The western beauty ideal is something which has taken its toll on society and is constantly having negative impacts on people’s lives. It has become increasingly bad due to the fact that social media has enabled this toxicity into our periphery and allowing ourselves to think we are less beautiful.

 

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WEEK 1:

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Our next project involved designing and creating a place to exist. This is a place where I can live, work, play, sleep and eat, therefore function as both a private house and a public space which allows my business to grow. Alongside a workspace I will need to design a display space which will showcase all the objects I have produced for the public to admire and purchase. This brief allowed us to choose our own location for our building however it must abide by 2 rules; has to be situated on a beach with a cliff/mountainous setting behind it. I chose to place my building in Dorset, specifically in Durdle Door. This is a location which I am very familiar with as I live within that area, this made it easier for me to analyse the location, sun path, entry and circulation as I know the location well. For this project my workshop and display space will be used to produce sea glass jewellery, I found this fitting for this brief as the location I have chosen is known for having large amounts of sea glass and therefore if perfect for the products I want to produce.

 

Once I had chosen a location I completed a host building analysis which allowed me to identify the opportunities and restrictions of the building as well as enabling me to identify the main features of the building. I found that completing the host building analysis was easier and more efficient for this project as I understood the requirements needed to complete one successfully. Alongside this we had to produce an accommodation schedule, this is something that I wasn’t familiar with at the start however once I understood the concept of it I was able to produce one relatively quickly. This helped me to identify what I would need within each space in order to work and live within the building efficiently. (E.g. work bench for the workshop) I believe that I have worked to the best of my ability within this first section of this project and therefore has provided me with a good understanding of what the host building has to offer.

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BUBBLE DIAGRAMS:

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I was particularly inspired by a new technique I learned within this project, this was producing bubble diagrams to allocate different spaces within the building and provides a more detailed analysis of the entry and circulation between different rooms. I found this incredibly useful as it enabled me to visualise where I should put each room and also allowed me to experiment with different layouts. These can then be placed into zoned diagrams, these are when the bubble diagrams are placed within the scaled plan of the building therefore giving me a better idea of what the space with eventually look like.

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Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton