FMP: Week One

As a starting point for my final major project I decided to carry out some research, as this would enable me to build knowledge and equip myself with the information needed to make informed decisions when creating my final outcome.
As part of my research I went to my chosen location to capture a series of photographs appropriate to my project -including the long neglected building that I am transforming and its surrounding environment. As I previously stated on my project proposal my location choice was the Rank Hovis Premier Mill, located in West Silver Town, which I plan to transform into art museum overlooking the water. Ideally this will resolve any conflict between old and new communities by bringing people together through art, whilst trying to educate children in the visual art field. Working with a real life location is a tool that architects and interior designers often use to guide their work, therefore working in a similar mannor has not only been significant but remarkably beneficial.


I then started to research into different art movements, which could potentially serve as inspiration or which could be developed for later use or even trigger my thoughts to another idea. For this I decided to create a mood board in my sketch book exploring the different art terms including 'impressionism, post-impressionism, cubism, fauvism, expressionism, dadaism and pop-art'. It was a way in which I could openly place all my ideas and experiments onto one page. It also enabled me to show others a proposed look without investing too much time in a failed direction. Overall, it helped me establish all of the baselines that eventually lead into a modernist style guide; colour pallet, shapes and layout.

Once I had traced back a time line trough different art movements and made a decision on which would be incorporated within my work, I began to carry out in depth research into modernism itself and particular modernist architects that made major contributions to its development such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier and Mies Van Der Rohe. Using the library and internet to assist me.
This was important, as it enabled me to collect database such as detailed journal articles (Modernism by Weston Richard), with high relevance and a great deal of information. From this I was able to explore modernist attributes, which I would later use to assist me, whilst trying to apply similar design principles.

To conclude my first week I decided to create a modern house model on a 3D modelling computer programme (Google SketchUp) as its a software I had recently practiced with and felt comfortable using. This also enabled me to push my ideas closer to reality and was relatively a quick process. I used the knowledge gained from my research for the design aspect. Overall, I was pleased with my outcome and found it to be a worthy practice. 







WWW:This has been a useful week, as it provided me with valuable insight into modernism which I found to be an vital start to my research. By establishing the basic foundations of modernism, it could potentially inspire and encourage creation in my own work. 

EBI: The first week could have been improved by using films (such as 'the worlds most extraordinary homes') as a research method in order to gain a greater understanding into architecture around the world, which could potentially serve as inspiration.

CRIT: Having presented my work to a group of students and a tutor I was able to receive some valuable feedback, which would enable me to push my work further and my overall customer experience. Some of the comments I received was to consider expanding the building itself rather than demolishing and rebuilding ,as this will preserve heritage and history. A student suggested that I visit actual museums sites in London to establish traditional architecture and engage with a diverse range of exteriors (for example the National Gallery and Tate Modern).