Modulor sodium glutamate

During my week over in Berlin recently we were taken to Modulor, Berlin's mouth watering material shop, it has everything, all disciplines catered for, graphics, 3D, textiles, architectural, it is quite amazing and relatively cheap I left a snail like trail of saliva behind me. They ship to England!

www.modulor.de

Behave!

An early summer tart of asparagus and pea, delightful! Chris, you missed out!

Internships

It has been quite sometime since I posted last, but many aspects have progressed. Part of my BA Design course requires a compulsory 6 week internship comprised of either one or many. I have currently secured two and a teaching stint at a school in North London. The first placement is quite a  interesting and unique opportunity as initially I was keen to work for a relatively large, renowned company to witness the cogs of success. Large planning and architectural firms were my initial channel but was unexpectedly put in contact with a sculptor named John Cierach, who currently owns a series of unique sites in Creekside, Deptford on which he wants to develop for creative purposes. Project management, research and model making are all aspect to be included.

Immediately striking me as exciting, a public centred project, creative, low key whilst remaining at root level in a slowly developing neck of London certainly ticked the boxes, so at present I am working on this, the development of which can be followed on my dedicated blog: 

Creeksidecontainers.blogspot.com

The second placement I am currently is with &made, a past duo from BA Design, Goldsmiths who graduated a few years back and now run their own small furniture studio down on Creekside, Deptford. Now well established they have work featured in Liberties, the MoMa in NYC and are quite the gents. They design with a sustainable and environmentally aware conscience and have some wonderful pieces, from tables, chairs, exhibitions and small products they certainly have a healthy repertoire, with many more in the pipeline. There is no specific blog to document my placement here so I shall be keeping tabs on it here. My main duties here are product development, model making, material, production research and other odds and sods, the work has been great so far.

Thanks from the woods

Late I know, but I just wanted to post thanks for all that came to fish bbq in the woods. It was indeed a delight, a plethora of fish, all fresh that day from Billingsgate fish market, mussels, salmon, mackerel, squid, sardines and sea bass all grilled with streams of lemon juice, herbs and french bread all enjoyed on Forest Hills Forest floor, beautiful.

One thing I have been pondering since this little event, inspired by the reactions of those who attended, is ways in which I could potentially bring this experience to the masses. Witnessing enjoyment on that level was particularly inspiring. What avenues are here for me to exploit though that is the question.

Stop me and buy one

At last, it has been purchased! I've had my eye on this baby for a while: a vintage 'Stop me and buy one' Pashley ice cream tricycle and what a beauty she is, a few rusty patches only add to it is charm. The idea to pick this up originally stemmed from the desire to sell ice-cream during our 3rd year Design Cafe (which is used to raise funds for our degree show) but, me and Chris have decided to take on the big boys and are presently investigating ways of potentially producing our own so we are sampling as much ice-cream as humanly possible, we have discovered some absolutely gems so far. We have put up a flavor wall in the kitchen to jot down flavors as and when they spring to mind. Our repertoire so far includes:

- Vanilla, of course

- Espresso and vanilla

- Passion fruit and meringue

Modeling units for studios

Here is a series of speculations about how the rest of the space could be used in the future, the space is grand and could easily accommodate a host of studio spaces. tbc

Subterranean possibilities

As pointed out by Nick, a subterranean structure would boast a whole series of benefits from insulation, to some soundproofing so here I have briefly explored this concept. Unfortunately in this case it is not suitable due to the level of ground removal that would be required.  

Initial space modeling

I have started modeling the first space, the potential exhibition, performance, concert space. These models are working rudimentary models used to explore the space in relation to the DLR bridge and the Birds Nest pub next door. The containers in the images consist of 40ft, 20ft and 10ft, the main area is composed of three containers sandwiched together.

Lets recycle windows

This are taken from superuse.org, they are an architectural collective that are seemingly recycling the world, any surplus or industrial remnant they find uses for and some quite amazing ones at that. In this vein, recycled UPVC windows will adorn the steel containers, they are of course double glazed and come in a variety of shapes and sizes.

Straight in there!

So there has been no messing around on this site, it has been quite essential to get the ball rolling and people in so we have revised the initial model to open up the space for a spaciousness the original model may have deprived. We have two containers recently situated in the space, £1,500 each, they are prefab inside and relatively spacious. The have been placed directly against the wall mainly to open up and fully allow as much of the space to shine as possible. The idea with these two initially is to clad and insulate the tops to form two more spaces, utilising the recycled windows as displayed with appropriate stairwells either side. These additional spaces will provide a second floor almost within the space to be used by either the container residents or additional ones. The third photo down portrays the alternative perspective the second floor affords. 

Another cheeky area!

Ok John ok, it seems... John has another space, equally as exciting as the first, he's held it back until now and what can I say about it? It's, well... fantastic, industrial, raw, with a robust character which emanates from its original use as a mechanics yard and the structure is just as left. It's a relatively simple space as the pictures illustrate. It sits exactly opposite the site of the first. Composed of huge faded red and yellow steel girders, a steel and plastic corrugated roof and two sets of steel doors dividing the space into thirds. At the very back of the space there's a huge red steel platform, almost a stage with a secure area underneath. The floor is concrete, slightly uneven in places and contributes positively to its flavor, light seeps in from the one meter gap between the space the building adjacent of whose huge bricked up and broken windows provide additional character, perfect cavities for a lighting installation of some kind, again this could be a project that I put forward to some people on the course or a group of children?  

This space as opposed to the other, is going to have to utilised relatively quickly due to its present stagnating. Immediate thoughts are to transform it minimally into a working studio area with a basic exhibition space with potential for market areas also, it could quite easily be divided into 3 generous spaces each boasting a plethora of floor space and of course accompanying complementary ceiling proportions.