It was so good to be back on campus this week and get back into the studio space. Carl came to talk to us about the site and we explored note taking through a visual sense. It was interesting to go into more depth about the history of glasshouses and understand the drivers behind them further. What I found particularly interesting was this idea of symmetry and curated nature being surrounded by a more organic nature, almost like two separate worlds divided by hierarchy and status.
Because the purpose built gardens and greenhouses were a sign of status and wealth for people, that hierarchy became projected onto the plants; those in the glasshouses worth your time, exotic, whereas those that naturally grow outside the walls are of smaller importance. It’s interesting to see how our views as people has changed over time.
We also did some work on contexts in terms of the site; what we can look into and what each of them means. We went over historical, cultural, social, environmental, technological, sensorial, aural and material in a group exercise where we talked about and listed parts of the site that were under each context. This was good to get ideas flowing and helped with looking at the site in a more in depth way.
Spatial Design by Ciara 