A Cinematic Construct of New Commons

PORTFOLIO - A CINEMATIC CONSTRUCT OF NEW COMMONS

Leeds School of Architecture
MArch Design Studio, Year 1
Studio Leader: Doreen Bernath
Special Advisor: Sarah Mills

Start date: October 2020

OVERVIEW:

SKELETONS, SKINS AND PARALLAXES: LABORATORIES OF POLITICS AND KINETIC INHABITATIONS

In reflection to the COVID-19 lockdowns, the era of ‘armchair activism’ was magnified by the dependence of remote political movements. Thus, the project probes a series of protest architecture for activists and a hub of ‘politics-as-lived’ to research, campaign and form communities.

DESIGN EPISODE: RELATIONS
WORKSHOP 1 - COMPANIONSHIP ON SHIFTING GROUND
[INWARDS]

TEXT ON INWARDS FILM:

‘Inwards’ film looks into the changes in personal behavioural patterns which emerged during the lockdown. Physical changes of personal spaces to adapt to the shift of working from home and conversion of wasted areas into usable spaces to maximise the potential of the home; it shows how the home became an extension to myself.

The juxtaposition of the chaos of the pandemic, political turmoil, and social unrest to the monotonous tranquillity of the new daily normality is prominently highlighted in this short film.

Photography within the film concentrates on frames within frames; focusing on how my flat is broken down through thresholds and transitional spaces, highlighting how they connect but also separate.

[SPACEBOARD]: THE FLAT

[OUTWARDS]

TEXT FOR OUTWARDS FILM:
How can we make a safe place during this current pandemic for people to still express their political views? I look into the relationship between my kitchen window and the building it faces. The old foundry images become a stage for a new political space.

[LONELINESS]
An investigation into how 'loneliness' is conveyed in film.
Summertime (1955)

[SHIFTING GROUNDS ENTRY]

My inwards video published to the architecture league of NY Instagram page

TEXT FOR THE SUBMISSION: Amy Ferguson, a graduate architecture student in Leeds, UK, submitted a video capturing the juxtaposition between the lonely monotony of home life during the pandemic and the political turmoil rocking the nation, including glimpses of September’s Extinction Rebellion protests in London. Video created as part of a @leeds_school_of_architecture Cinematic Commons design studio.

SUMMERTIME - scenes

[2.5D WORKSHOP]

2.5D is the combination of the loneliness film and our own inwards and outwards videos

Working in collaboration with Connor Buckler, we created a set consisting of stills from our videos and movie 'Summertime'. We wanted to highlight the layers of the film which we explored in our space board and the connections between 'Summertime' and stills from our inward and outward films

IMAGES OF THE SET AND USED WITHIN THE SET

'SKIN'

A PHYSICAL RECORDING OF THE SPACE

VIDEO: Heidi Bucher - Rooms are surroundings are skins.

Produced by George Reinhart, Winterthur, Switzerland.

VIDEO: MAKING OF THE 'SKIN'

VIDEO: REMOVAL OF THE 'SKIN'

VIDEO: COATING OF THE 'SKIN'

You have to coat the latex skin in talc powder to stop it from sticking together

IMAGES OF THE 'SKIN' WINDOW

[MULTI-SCALAR DRAWINGS]

Spatial drawings at differentiated scales

Reflection of the window, the room and the wider context of the room in relation to the old foundry

THE WINDOW

THE KITCHEN

THE ROOM & THE OLD FOUNDRY

THE OLD FOUNDRY

THE OLD FOUNDRY - EXPLODED

RODLEY, LEEDS

THE SITE

REIMAGING THE SPACE:

REFLECTION ON THE EXTINCTION REBELLION PROTESTS DURING LOCKDOWN

[STAGE WORKSHOP]

A short exercise to create a set model reflecting on the places and ideas we have investigated so far.

Reimagining the 'Old Foundry' warehouse space with pictures from the Extinction Rebellion protests.

THE 'SKIN' WINDOW FILM

VIDEO: THE 'SKIN' FILM

A hybrid video of the series of films I have made for this project overlayed with climate change activists clips. This created a film highlighting the contrast of the monotonous lockdown against the political clashes and protests which were highlighting climate change issues.

CLIMATE CHANGE

PROTESTS

LOCKDOWN

LONELINESS

STAGES

INTIMATE SPACES

THE

PUBLIC REALM

REBELLION

THE

WINDOW

POLITICS

THE 'SKIN' IMPRINT

The latex skin, inspired by the work of Hedi Bucher, is not only a façade that can oscillate between a passive surface and an active transmission of politics, but it has been produced by means of a special technique that imprints and memorises the physical contours of the existing environment, then reappropriated to envelope current spaces of occupations, which then is overlaid with projected messages of the future.

THE OLD FOUNDRY, RODLEY, LEEDS

THE FACADE 'SKIN'

Materials used: latex and gauze.

I made a relief model with cardboard and then placed cotton gauze and layers of latex on top. Once dried the relief form was removed to reveal the facade skin.

THE FACADE 'SKIN' VIDEO & STILLS

Materials used: latex and gauze.

PROTEST ARCHITECTURE EXAMPLES

MASS GATHERING
PEACEFUL PROTEST
BLOCKADE

MASS GATHERING
BLOCKADE STRUCTURES

MASS GATHERING
PERFORMANCE ART
BLOCKADE
ALTERNATIVE INFRASTRUCTURE
TEMPORARY DWELLINGS

MASS GATHERING
BLOCKADE
MASS OBSTACLES
ALTERNATIVE INFRASTRUCTURE

CLIMATE CHANGE PROTEST ARCHITECTURE

UNDER THE 'SKIN'

DESIGN PROPOSITION:

A CLIMATE EMERGENCY COLLABORATION SPACE

[THE PROTAGONISTS]

Assessing who are the occupiers and users of the proposed site - the curation of a collaborative community of like-minded climate change activists.

[SET, SCENE AND STAGE]

[PROPOSED PROGRAMME]

[THE PUBLIC REALM]
THE SKIN AS A KINETIC MATERIAL

PROPOSAL

[A] KINETIC FACADE 'SKIN' CINEMA SCREEN

KINETIC FACADE PROTOTYPE

CIRCUIT DRAWING

'SKIN' SCREEN CONCEPT IMAGE

[THE WAREHOUSE REALM]

THE OLD FOUNDRY

[MICRO SPACE WITHIN THE WORKSHOP REALM]

Combining the domestic space and warehouse facade ratio into a micro realm; to be implemented into the workshop realm.

The utilisation of the 'skin' to create a facade wall panel for the micro room.

[THE EXAMPLE LAB]

A space for 'The Academic' to research and collaborate with other academics interested in climate change.

ELABORATING THE DOMESTIC REALM

RATIO OF THE OLD FOUNDRY FACADE

COMBINATION OF THE ELEMENTS

DEVELOPMENT OF THE MICRO SPACE

CREATION OF SPACE FOR THE ACADEMIC

COLLECTION AND DISPLAYING OF THE SKINS

SKELETON AND THE SKIN A 1:20 MODEL

PLACING THE SKIN OVER THE SKELETON

[PLUGGING THE LABS INTO
THE WAREHOUSE]

The warehouse realm hosts the research, costume, workshop, office and filming laboratories. The labs within the warehouse can be moved to kinetically curate the space to cater for the protagonist using the space. The political production appropriates the sound stage to create political performance art in response to climate change issues, yet remains a venue to hire; funding the growth of the site. The political theatre produced on-site can then be fed into the physical protest terrain via projections onto the skin.

SEMESTER 2:
INHABITATIONS OF THE LABORATORIES

The creation of a new typology of protestor occupation through ‘laboratories of politics’ that are equipped with architecturally kinetic mechanism of ‘skeletons, skins and parallaxes’, drawing inspirations from the adaptability of film and theatre production sets, and multi-locational virtual relaying technologies, for future inhabitants actively entangled between ordinary lives and extraordinary causes.

EXAMPLES OF FILMIC SETS AND STAGES

KINETIC

GREEN SCREEN

RAISED STAGING

RAISED STAGING

HANGING RIGGING

3042014-slide-s-24-wesandersoncollection

KINETIC

WOOD FRAMES

STUDIO TASK: 20 Minute Collage

Collage highlighting the external filmic interventions versus internal political interventions.

[WORKSHOP]

RADICAL HELP BY HILARY COTTAM

In this workshop exercise, we have been asked to investigate one of the experiments within the book 'Radical Help'.

Experiment #2:Growing Up

Meet some of the people who impacted or were involved in the experiment 'Loops'.

New characters for the project

Experiment #2: Loops

I want to utilise this system in my project as a reflection from the book 'Radical Help'.

Using some of the characters within the book I aim to find ways for them to be involved within the project. Allowing these young individuals to learn new skills from my protagonists.