Film Inspiration
After learning that the brief for this paper was based around cinema/movies I became excited about being able to design something the revolved around my favourite films. I have always loved psychological thrillers due to the build-up to create tension before the climax of the film where your whole perspective of what you have seen has changed. A feeling of mental gymnastics as you try and re-understand the film with the new knowledge you gain from the climax. This is what I want to look at during this project.
Some of my favourite films include
- The perfection
- Misery
- Primal Fear
- I’m thinking of ending it
Site
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Cinematic devices & Site Visit
At the beginning of this project, my first goal was to plan and create a device that would make me look at the site in a different way and from a new perspective. I researched pre-cinematic devices such as shadow plays and became interested in the ideas of opacity and transparency. I ended up bringing two types of plastic to the site which had different opacity levels. While on the site I found the transparent sheet was able to reflect parts of other buildings in front of me and so I played around layering while at the site. The other plastic (A crumpled up plastic bag) created a blurred layer to the site and makes you look at the outlines and can’t see the details unless it is taken close up.
Above are images of the site during the day using the different layers of plastic, and also images I took at night to see the site at a different time. This allows me to see how the space changes from day to night and what stands out or shrinks away depending on the time.
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Interests in the site
After visiting the site a handful of times I made some realizations about the parts of the site that I am most interested in. The thing that really stood out to me was the red neon strip that runs through the site. Working with my ideas of looking at opacity and transparency, light is a massive factor that links to those ideas and therefore I want to design something that is based on this neon light within the site.
Looking at the movies I have picked to focus my design around I have found that I am intrigued by the idea of mystery. Having something that is slowly revealed over time but isn’t fully understood until the end, or creating something that has two ways of perceiving it and a turning point in the middle so that your brain has to keep up to understand its new meaning as the space changes.
Quick Pitch
My design pitch for the Fort Lane site is based on the idea of layered perspectives, or the idea of something that can be seen in multiple different ways. I was intrigued by the idea of double narratives in some of my favourite psychological thriller movies where one perspective is seen by the audience but as the film continues there is a piece of information that is revealed and makes the audience see what they have already watched but from a new and different perspective.
The space which I plan to design will bring through the idea of a build-up and double perspectives within a single object that people can experience first hand. How exactly I am going to show these concepts and show my project will slowly be revealed in pieces, following the plan of the design itself…
5 Minute Models
From looking at the site I found a few main concepts that I was drawn to work with including:
- Layering
- 2 perspectives around the same object
- Build up – which was informed by the build-up of the movies that I enjoy.
Through these concepts, I created some basic models that showed them in a more physical sense.
Artist Models
Dan Flavin
James Turrell
Mary Weatherford
Angus Muir
Anthony McCall
I became interested in the lights of Fort Lane and what they can do in terms of hiding and showing pieces of the site within the context of my design. So, I found some artist models that worked with light and the idea of what it brings forwards or sends back. All of these artists use light in their own interesting and specific way. Yet, they are all able to convey feelings and emotions within the space through their pieces. I want to try and find a way to convey a sense of discovery and feeling “strange” while walking through the site that I am designing.
My script worked with the same idea of double perspectives. What we miss and what becomes more obvious when our level of sight changes.
Materials
I moved into looking at materials that would give me this feeling of a revelation at the end through creating a barrier between the two perspectives I wanted the audience to feel. One feeling would be that of being confined and following a path that is leading up to something unknown at the time. Pieces of the exterior world can be made out through colour and light but other than that you are in the dark about the exterior world that exists around you. The second perspective is from the outside looking at those who have no knowledge about what exists outside. Something you have experienced yourself but you have suddenly been enlightened as to what you were missing when inside and what they are missing now as you watch them. They have no idea what lies ahead, but you do, and soon they will be in your position, watching more who have no idea what’s ahead, and so the cycle continues.
First Design Visuals (Formative)
These images give a basic idea of what my design plans to look like but doesn’t give away everything that I have planned for the site. This way I can continue the build-up of my project linear to the way the movies I am interested in do.
Updated Design Idea
After having my formative assessment I found there were parts of my design that were more interesting than others. I got comments that my original tunnel type of idea didn’t seem interesting or new enough. So I took an idea that I was working with that related to the idea of hiding something in plain view and provoking curiosity within the city again.
My new idea is to take pieces of the Fort Lane site and make them look uninteresting at first glance. Only when looked at and explored closer do those populating the site find new and exciting pieces. I would like to stage it as a type of performance installation where some pieces of it stay the same throughout the whole timeframe, some change slowly over time, and some happen suddenly only a handful of times. This way there is always something new and different about the space and will continue to create curiosity in those walking through the site even if they have seen a version of it before it will not be exactly the same.
Updated Site Map
The red dots are where I am proposing to have pieces that fit into my unassuming ideas. I am also thinking about adding a new red LED light strip (relating back to the one currently above the lane). This is the line you can see on the map and will send dart across above the lane, lightly suggesting where the hidden elements can be found.
Rhino Model
These are pieces of my Rhino Model of Fort Lane that I created to position and test my hidden Facades. These include fake doors, hidden entrances to buildings, doors that take you nowhere, one-sided glass, and covered up windows to hide the space from the outside roads and pathways.
Starting Perspectives
Floor Plan
New Project Abstract
Elevations
Detailed Pages of Interior Pieces
The images shown below are line details of the pieces and interventions I added to the site. The aim of these pages is to give a clearer idea of what these do, what they hide, or what they could maybe be used for.
Feedback from the Co-Design Workshop
For the Co-Design Workshop, I had Caitlin Hogan as the critic for our group. All of us got great amounts of detailed feedback to help us improve our designs and craft our ideas to make them clearer before the final presentation. Some of the feedback I got included:
1.”Newspaper – what is on the newspaper? Could this have some hidden invitation about what is in the space? Could the newspaper have articles about what is behind the space etc..? Could this have instructions on all the hidden elements of the space?”
I would want to have subtle writing throughout the newspaper which continues the gesture of invitation. With titles such as “Come on in, the Lane is fine”, or “City regulars discover new space within previously empty lane”. It would add to the idea that only those who take the time to look closely will figure out all of these hidden easter eggs which relate to the site hidden just behind it.
2. “How can you show a suggestion of invitation? Is this through handles or things that you want to touch and feel which then triggers the opening or unveiling of spaces? What do people naturally want to touch and feel which then might open this up?”
I went through and began adding subtle handles and prints which continue to shows these gestures of invitation. I wanted them to be small so that they would be functional but not completely attention-grabbing. I still wanted people to find these interventions without them being given away by their handles or opening mechanisms.
3. “There is definitely an opportunity to explore displaying models through photography and even though it is a digital submission I don’t think that needs to be missed if it is important to your project.”
During my feedback session, I mentioned that during lockdown I missed the physical modelling aspect to designing spaces as I see that as a strong skill set of mine. We discussed how the opportunity is still there but with the current lockdown restrictions, it is very hard to access the materials that I need along with not having an area where I could do these models within the space I am in. Sadly it seems like I will have to miss out on the physical modelling aspect for this project but only due to the restrictions that lockdown has placed on me.
Perspectives
Feedback after the Final Presentation
The final presentation of my work was both relieving and terrifying. Knowing that this could be my last university project ever I wanted to show my work off as best as I could to show how far I’ve come since 1st year. I got some incredible feedback from the panel of critics which allowed me to then work on and make my project just that little bit better before handing it in. The main thing that they focused on was that I needed to look into rearranging my pages to make the presentation flow a little bit better. My pages at that time weren’t polished yet and so they needed some reworking to make them look stunning. I also got a comment on how they really liked my small gestures of invitation but thought that I could push this idea a little further next time which is defiantly understandable.
Self Reflection
Looking back at this project I am very proud of the final work I was able to produce under such a strange semester arrangement as covid forced us online halfway through. From changing my idea halfway through to the finished project and adding all the little details, I found this paper super exciting and a great way to round off the year.
If I was to do this project again I would like to change a few details. I would add in renders of how the spaces looked on the other side and what may have been behind the doors or windows. I ran out of time to do these renders as they each take hours to render and photoshop. I wanted all of my final renders to be well done and not half completed as I would not have felt comfortable handing in work that I wasn’t completely proud of. I also would have liked to look into how I could make small suggestions about this space throughout the city. Whether it was through small flyers or stickers placed around that hinted at the placement of this secret space to draw slightly more attention to it from those who look closely enough to find these extra invitations to the space.
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