This week I spent organizing my ideas and concept. I’ve still been feeling a little lost in a sea of ideas and I want to gain more direction for my project at this point. After reviewing my main ideas and interests I wanted to rewrite my positioning statement so it had more of a focus. Below are my notes and second iteration of my positioning statement.
DRAFT NOTES:
Hierarchy
resists
Work together/combine.
Support not restrict
Social concepts projected onto plants
Break down weathered/aged ideas of hierarchy in terms of the plants to reconnect
Tarnished
tainted
POSITIONING STATEMENT
This project will be focused on the reconnection of plant life in a social sense.
Brick walls and glass barriers not only create two separate worlds, but they also give us a sense that there is something to protect from another; something with a higher value being kept inside.
Historically, curated gardens, and glasshouses specifically, were a symbol of wealth and status. This was equally a result of the structures themselves as well as the exotic plant life that existed within them. Although glasshouses are not viewed the same way they once were, the social concept of hierarchy continues to be projected onto the plant life as a result of what the structures used to represent.
The glasshouses at the Auckland Wintergardens are the physical embodiment of social concepts encapsulating and disrupting organic order. Not only do the glasshouses separate plant life physically from the outside and in, but they also separate them on a social level and consequently the way we view and experience them. With this project I want to explore how I can remove the status associated with the plants within and around the Wintergardens to reconnect these hierarchal levels while examining how manmade interventions can support rather than restrict plant life.*
I aim to explore these concepts and ideas through a combination of exhibition and educational space. My aim is to create an experience for visitors that shifts their perspective, challenges their ideas, and makes them look at garden and glasshouse spaces in a different way. I aim to change the social narrative of the Wintergarden space, and as a result, create reflection of our default and preconceived ideas of what a garden space is and what it means to exist within one.
*When writing this I wasn’t sure if this idea flowed well with the rest of my statement. I didn’t want to overthink when I was writing because I knew it would shut down my flow and motivation so I just wrote what I thought. I wanted to make a note for myself to keep in mind when developing my work.
Rewriting my positioning statement made my concept a little more clear but I still felt a little lost in my multitude of ideas. I pinned up my explorative research and ideas as well as my positioning statement to allow me to visualize my ideas better. This helped me to see how strong the idea of plants escaping was and I did some conceptual sketches with some of the construction drawings from the Wintergardens (see below).
I had got some feedback on my positioning statement and what it was lacking/missing. By the end of the week I pinned up some visual research, drawing explorations, my positioning statement and some notes.
I found having my work on the board allowed me to keep track of where my mind was at and where my ideas had originated from especially when my mind has been very much erratic lately trying to pin point a concept and develop on it.
Spatial Design by Ciara 