Construction Drawings from Ba/ Ma
Some examples of construction drawings using AutoCAD and Photoshop
Construction Drawings BA and MA
1
Images of seduction?
Opener
So the brochure we all have to put some text and images in a limited space.
Therefore trying to create an eye catching effect, plus some kind of narrative.
Header image
The err…shot as Robert would say. Had this image for a while, love Banksy.
Had to a bit of work to do as the girl and balloon were facing the wrong way. Lighten wall shadow, darken footpath shadow. Drawing blended on the wall with a couple of layers to get the colour effect. Grass (a bit naff, time etc). Light, light and light to get that grundge and dreamy contrast.
Overall pleased, more work on the grass and the image was cropped for the brochure as more of a letterbox view which works better.
Original
Update, letterbox view, grass
Secondary images
Three images each with a different message and mood.
Dock side
A mix of three images, two beautiful women (with freckles, is it warm in here), its the eyes….
A bold sunset and a hand drawn image, rendered/PShopped by yours truly.
The idea was to join people and not necassarlly men to the dock side as its also a public place. Viewing the river and looking at the working dockside from the upper deck
A normal British day.
I wanted to show that the river side walk is a part of the greenway system of NW, thus used in an ordinary way, caught in a shower, the rest of the narrative is for the viewer to decide, being chased or owner? Long flowering meadow grass, resin bonded on bitmac, so easy for curves etc. Practical more than decorative. Let the planting do the work.
A chilly visit to the Aquarium
Footbridge designed with desire lines in mind, so its function over form (a modernist at heart). So whats the story? You decide.
New Woolwich homes
Hand or Computer?
That is the Question
So a complete re-think on the design in general, got a bit lost in the detail….
No change there then.
So after the crit (some really good work from the rest of the group!!)
A comment was made may be i should do more hand drawn stuff.
So started a couple of sketches out of (my head), showed Robert, who reminded me that employers like computer stuff…so back to rendering in P/S etc
Looking down on the dock
Looking down from the upper public platform to the working dock. Industry is part of the landscape and part of the context of North Woolwich
Ink pen, coloured pencils, a bit of PS for shadow.
Photoshop
Containers, ship texture etc. Though other textures and materials were hard to find from this angle. Seems to work ok.
Ship in dock from the River
Sky and Shadow P/S, the rest as above.
Photoshop etc.
Pleased with the reflection, grudge style on the ship, etc. A lot of improvement possible, but must get on…..
NW view from a London Pigeon
It’s a start
Updated and built in Sketch up 8 model, a quick fly through to give an idea of the size and composition of the site.
Still loads to think about especially after todays lectures…..
North Woolwich 1st Masterplan Fly through from Grant Beerling on Vimeo.
A start
Zeroed In
Don’t do small
Well after some debate (and some chat with Paul) decided not to try and cram my MP on A1. Due to the fact that the next scale down from 1;2500 is 1;5000 it just was lost on A1. So A0 it is.
Lots of explaining to do to justify the drawing, which can only be done with sequential’s and flow digrams. No point writing an essay when the 1000 word rule works with a picture (plus spelling and grammar mistakes are not so obvious).
Added a high street for destination and node.
No slogan or log yet..
bed zzzzzzzzzzzzz
Masterplan
Almost There
Like all struggling with the beast, that is master planning. I keep thinking about the quote from James Corner that master planning can sometimes lead to an alienation of the site, as in reality the site will be used and seen from a human eye line perspective. So I have constantly tried to visualise each area, creating visual references along routes, nodes, Fused Grid theory etc. So it may look a bit jumbled (ie not that pretty) from a plan view (and to be honest only Gulls and Crows will have that pleasure), but hopefully the journeys through the greenways to destinations, whether as a visitor or resident, will act as an encouragement to leave the Car at home ( along with the fused Grid idea of the Car route is less convenient than walking).
Visuals
Once annotated, I get on with the many (eye level) visuals that will be needed to explain the flow, beauty and hope that I would like to bring to North Woolwich.
Not entirely finished, annotation and composition etc.
Construction Drawings
Spot Heights
Tree Planting Scheme (but not schedule)
Drainage on Elevated sections
Hard works and Index
Hockney and the BIGGER picture
Why is he so bloody good?
Watching a Culture show special on David Hockney, really made me understand the concept of ‘looking and seeing’, personally always done it, thought about it etc, but he put it so so well in the Chinese quote ‘you paint with your hands, eyes and heart’ miss any one of those three and you will miss the soul of the picture.
A case of ‘What is Landscape’…interpretation of the individual viewer, a lonely place as Hockney quoted.
I fully understand this and yet with 6 billion of us on the planet there is bound to similarities of view, I get Hockney even though I am not even in the same country as him (metaphorically speaking, explanation later).
Its not just pretty pictures or clever impressions of place, its soul, love, absorption of place. Ok from his perspective and yet its so easy to pick that up, beyond atmosphere, creating place and memory even though we have probably never been to the spot he is painting.
Not just I want to be there, but I want to open my eyes to the point were i glimpse the picture that is vivid in his mind.
Also his idea of 8 (up to 16) cameras taking film but all slightly out of time. Moving through space and season, just so bloody brilliant. The fact that its all a bit out of time and view on 16 screens means that you scan the space as you would in reality, not looking at the centre of a big screen as the camera man see’s it.
Inspiration
I draw and sketch like most, but always wanting to get across something more than just realism, wanting to engage, draw in the viewer. As previously stated I think that to truly understand impressionism we have to go through the ‘realism stage’ to understand its soulless nature.
Assumption.
How we see ourselves and how others see us can be quite a revelation, sometimes good other times bad. Remembering that every one see’s the world through their own distorted lens. So most of the time its best to ‘Carry on reguardless’ otherwise one would go mad trying to please all, but occasionally a comment comes across with no agenda that will surprise you and make you reevaluate who you thought you were.
The strategy is to have no reputation, thus no reputation to lose. Just do the best you can under what ever circumstances come your way, succeed or fail. Obviously learn from battle scars as well as laurels.
So questioned (and stated ‘that you are obviously an artist’) as to were did I train was a pleasant surprise as obviously never saw myself in that light, and herein lies the problem (not a big one mind you) if others see you in a different light to how you see yourself then that provides a new challenge as to how to move forward. A real evaluation sometimes is needed. Though I personally don’t see myself as an artist, but maybe on the journey with the aspiration to get down on canvas/screen the mood atmosphere that so interests me.
A really good friend of mine said that when you radically change your profession/lifestyle you have to talk a different language, ie the new language of your your chosen path.
Its just how to see the world, a world of proportion, colour, shadow, light and atmosphere leading to ‘place, presence, beauty and hope’ or not depending on what drives you.
Zeitgeist????
Zeitgeist
First of all a quote,
Doctor Albert Einstein. A journalist showed him a picture of a tree growing inside an abandoned warehouse with the smallest bit of sun beaming down on it, and said doesn’t this beauty prove the existence of god, his reply, “the planet does not need us, it is us that needs the planet.”
Honesty is always the best policy, so really didn’t know what the word meant so looked it up;
zeitgeist |ˈtsītˌgīst; ˈzīt-|noun [in sing. ]the defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time : the story captured the zeitgeist of the late 1960s.ORIGIN mid 19th cent.: from German Zeitgeist, from Zeit ‘time’ + Geist ‘spirit.’
Ok so that cleared up.The Storey so far….My beloved LX3 Panasonic camera is going wrong, and being the suspicious person that I am, immediately thought’ ‘built in obsolescence.‘ So i googled it just for fun.Well found some great links on you tubehttp://youtu.be/N2KLyYKJGk0Planned ObsolescenceThis video really explains the theroy pefectly, especially the light bulb that is still working after over a 100 years!!!!!So what is going on???So on my previous blog I went into the idea of Desire over Need, thanks to Edward Bernays( http://felixfatfunk.blogspot.com/2010/11/psycology-of-crowd.html ). This really goes into the corporate company cartels that arose to create false markets, due to product failure after a period of time (just long enough to keep brand loyalty ), so that we purchase again and thus keep the ‘consumer’ model going. So yes we know that, but the depth of the roots of this idea are really frightening, and thus lead to MASS waste/Landfill/ moved to third world countries, who really pay the price. No thought of finite resources, only the support of the blaoted market economy that needs growth at all costs.I have argued strongly against zero growth in the past due to the spirit of human evolution. Parents wanting their off spring to have a better life than themselves. So not wanting a dictatorial regiem (grew up in the Cold War) growth is ‘Evolution’. But not the monterist view which relies of an ever increasing debt on money that was printed out of nothing in the first place.Its now called ‘Product Life cycle’ just imagine an aircraft failing after a year, or a communication satellite (that has a life of 25years ) breaking down before its ‘life cycle’. ATM machines are old and very rarely fail, yet computers fail after 3+ years. The best example is the old telephone system, when it was owned by the telephone company, the phones lasted forever, as coming out to service them would cost money, now, mobile handsets are changed between 12-24 months, still don’t believe it goes on? I have had two Sony camera’s fail after 2 years to the day virtually, the reason? A particular glue that dry’s out causing failure, forums are full of dissatisfied customers , Sony ignore it knowing its a numbers game. They are big enough to take bad press and and they know that in the end we will get tired and buy another camera. Though as for me I won’y buy another Sony product. This would not happen if we were truly serious about sustainability.Built to last? Cartels in the market and Governments won’t accept it as the trap of the Monetarist model needs to have growth to pay the ever increasing debt of the previous generation. It is legalised Pyramid selling.Note;You Tube’s embedding not working, so click on link.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5DCwN28y8o&feature=related
Note: The Chip for failure!!!!!! Fact not fiction. In all our printers and computers.
‘The Man in the White Suit’
This Film is a hoot, but opens the can of worms that is the short term view of employer and employee due to the system that needs the flow of capital, A real classic film.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MRgn8Rim2o&feature=related
So the main event
So linked onto this movie, now I am sure most of you are aware of this movie (I wasn’t ), but if not, its free on You Tube its 2h 40 mins long (for good reason) and a must watch if you really want to understand the big picture of true sustainability. Rather than a fringe touchy feely thing. The core or big picture has to be tackled other wise the status quo will remain.
I have long held the belief that debt is what controls 95% of us, the basic theory being, a debt ridden population needs to service that debt, so employers can easily enslave people to a wage packet, and when times are really hard they don’t have to increase wages, as the saying goes ‘you pay just enough to stop people leaving.’
As Landscape Architects we have an opportunity to create environments that in their planning can to a degree, effect the populous that live there (but only to a degree, not entirely, don’t make the mistake of the Modernists).
Rather than going through the strengths and weaknesses of the film (some area’s that I feel area bit weak are at the beginning and the utopian view at the end especially the actual design, Le Corbusier would of loved it, Tom Turner would hate it). How can I put it into some kind of context for my final proposal? Bottom line still seems to be ‘Hope, social mobility, tackling the issue of finite resources with a structured approach of energy consumption, place-making, breaking the monopoly of landownership by corporations/landlords especially via the theft of Leasehold and a real alternative to the present norm of build ’em cheap/run with a profit, philosophy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z9WVZddH9w
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History
I am in the fortunate postion of owning just enough to get by and not being completely flattened by ‘the man’. So i don’t have the pressure of being a complete wage slave, thus choice ,freedom etc.
In my latter years my little pearl of wisdom, is that the consumer society needs us to judge each other constantly, do we measure up? am i fitting in? what will people think, the trick is to not judge others… just accept or even ignore. Then when others judge you badly etc, its not in your value system and thus you can be free of the oppression of being judged. So what is my value system? Using my talent for the betterment of others.
Six plus billion people on the planet and if, so and so thinks blah blah.. really does it matter? Just get on with doing what you were/are designed for. We are all less that perfect and have plenty of ‘fails’ in our cupboard, so the pointing of a finger always has three pointing back for good reason ( and those who have a ‘Faith’ the thumb pointing to Heavenly direction).
A Blue Meanie
Escape from reality
Art and context
Well its the 30th of December and I can’t stop thinking about the Art and Context module, work submitted etc so in theory I could just stop and carry on some kind of formulaic way or process. Unfortunately too many questions have arisen and lines of thought unresolved. So I can’t and won’t put it down until I am bit further down the road. Pandoras box has been opened.
Personal Conclusions or others?
I have to raise this point as the process can take two routes 1) read loads of other books to reach some kind of conclusion or 2) sit and think.
Both have pitfalls and advantages. A friend has recently finished her PhD and I questioned her approach to her project. An interesting quote, she said for her ( and i think anybody at this level) it was important to be well read so as not to bring up the obvious, and at least try and bring a new angle on a subject). I fully understand this, but as a Ma student I still feel (for me at least ) the latter is a better way at present, as reasoned thought (with all its dead ends and possibly simple conclusions) brings a depth of understanding that second hand knowledge can never equel. Yes it takes longer and is riskier (including complete failure) but its far more satisfying finding a scholar agreeing (or not) with a line of argument than to just ‘quote.’
So i have been reading a lot about the concept of ‘space, void and mass’ and previous ideas and new springing off some other peoples thoughts. So a mixture as time constraints (and my eyes) allow.
The Woods
The personal experience of trying to create a piece of work, along a certain theory has led me to conclude so many angles of design and perspective (whether as an individual or trying to interpret the end user in whom we serve). A few weeks on and I am coming up with solutions that don’t sit that well as a designer. The big one being is ‘Framework’. That is what we design. The framework will always be loaded with expectation and disappointment, but thats why it needs to be a frame work. Anything to dogmatic and the community left behind with not be able to leave their finger print on the space as it evolves and therefore never adopt the space. With the result that it will be left to local council who will do the minimum as the Council tax payers who shout the loudest will get their way ( put it this way it won’t be someone trying to hold down a job on the minimum wage).
Conclusions thus far
1) Modernism never existed as everything has a motive, either from rebellion from something or conformity for acceptance. An opposite is an opposite of something therefore ‘nothing’ (year zero) cannot be achieved.Year zero only existed once, everything from that point will always have allegory, a time line, and a cause and effect on the aforementioned timeline (ultimately decay ,loss of energy, darkness, void). This is our constraint we can’t escape it.
2) So as an individual I accept this, my baggage/aspirations/distorted view will always come through. So ‘pespective’ is a distorted lens that we all see through, and yet to ourselves as individuals is as clear as a spring morning. I can only attempt to interpret how others see and aspire. So it has to be an effort from day one to include the community that I will effect. They also need to understand this fact, big picture, long term cause and effect.
3) Framework for others to evolve as they see fit. I cannot socially engineer. Modernism tried this and failed. Because humans are complex and predictions of future behaviour have nearly always been wrong (eventually, at first a theory may well work, but evolution will always take the shortest route, which we so often miss).
4) Escape. Which can also be termed as ‘fantasy’. Most movies portray an idealised world for us to escape to for a couple of hours. Especially the ‘feel-good’ film. And there is nothing wrong with that, its what we do to regulate (just like the brain uses dreams to stop us going mad, I think 5 days with out sleep starts to lead to madness) and keep our sanity in this unnaturally stressed world that we are still adapting to. So escape and changing escape/fantasy within a design in an urban context is crucial.
5) Play. For adults and children. Another way to release the valve of our restrictive lives.
6) Time line of perspective. I came up with six ( again this is not a fixed rule as baggage effects each of us) stages that describe what i go through over time concerning a space( that becomes a place due to revelation and memory).
first observation= wonder through discovery
second= familiarity which shrinks the space
third= invisibility, you just don’t notice it
forth= imprint in your mind/ permanent memory
fifth= allegory forms as a sequence of the aforementioned events in time
sixth= nostalgia refection of youth, as death approaches
7) Lanscape is a manmade concept,
Note, shadow on tree and the ghost behind. Once observed can never revert for the individual as well as the collective.
Enough. I would love to do my symposium again as i think i have cemented some idea’s and thrown out others. plus not being under pressure to ‘think’ has meant more free thought has come to the front of my mind.
I think I could do virtually the whole symposium around a Frank Capra film Eg ‘Its a Wonderful life’ or a Hollywood musical Eg ‘Calamity Jane’
(note embedding not working on you tube.GRRR, click on link etc)
It’s a Wonderful life
Colorised version, whole film. Note Frank Capra nearly had the film turned down for its Anti-Capatalist message. Idealised yes, but 80% of a goal is still worth more than doing nothing.
It’s a Wonderful Life: Colorized Version *HD* – Part 1 of 1 – YouTube
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Calamity Jane
Good old Calamity Jane, pure escapism, rufftim and tufftim, can’t help but feel good after anything with the Gal next door ‘Doris Day’. Bless her. Though off the set her life was anything but ideal. So even those seemingly who have it all financially, don’t …thank God!!
The Deadwood Stage from Calamity Jane (1953) – YouTube
Check out ‘I can do with out you’ and ‘Windy city’
It's about people, stupid... 
