Prefab estate in Catford

Hi Rachel,

We went to see the Prefab Excalibur estate in Catford which was built by German and Italian prisoners of war. It has been in the news recently as it is under threat of being demolished by Lewisham council.

As with the estate at Thamesmead it was really interesting to see how the residents have adapted each place to make it into a individual and often quirky home. I also liked the tin roof prefab church designed as part of the estate.

There are 187 homes here. This is a photo from the 60's.

Sx

p.s. more images on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/barbaresiandround/sets/72157625747470679/

Form Alice and Joe Woodhouse

Hi Rachel,

Just seen Corrina Spencer's blog post about Form at Transition http://www.corinnaspencer.com They are sister and brother who have worked very directly together on drawings.

Transition website: "Their work begins as a grid of blank paper onto which both of them in turn draw without conferring. After numerous edits and rearrangements the final result is achieved when both artists feel the work to be complete"

I'm interested in different possible models for collaboration and like the idea of a silent visual exchange.

S

A short tour during Oxford Open House weekend

Hi Suzy,
Oxford had a weekend of various buildings around the city being opened to the public (called open doors - a bit like open house in London) and so we spent a day visiting a few interesting places.

We started at Bartlemas Church - a short distance from our house, just off the Cowley Road. After going through a gate marked private (it is on land owned by Oriel College), we passed an old stone farmhouse, and came to the church which has a 16th century building next to it, the old leper hospital which has been re-built - the original was built in the 12th century, and the chapel was added in the 14th Century.

The gardens around the chapel are quite overgrown and it is hard to connect this peaceful spot, which feels rural as a cotswold hamlet, with the hubbub of the Cowley Road nearby. This spot would have felt quite remote from the rest of the city prior to the Victorian development of East Oxford - the way an area like Blackbird Leys, located outside the ring road, feels now.

I had to photograph the ceiling of the chapel - the bold colour works so well in the otherwise simple and undecorated space.







We visited New College, purely because Z had watched a TV programme about it a few days previously so we thought it would be nice for her to see it. I've included a pic of the cloisters as Jacobsen took this traditional form in collegiate architecture and brought it into the 20th century at St Catherine's college.



We had a guided tour of St Catherine's college. The lady who took us around was very knowledgeable about the building and told us all sorts of interesting anecdotes. It seems that the college are very serious about caring for the building and respecting the original design so it is one of the best preserved examples of Jacobsen's work. The interiors are still totally original, and they replace furniture like with like. The library was particularly impressive, with delicate spiral staircases, mezzanines overlooking the main space, and a reading area which feels cosy and intimate despite being in such a vast space because the light shades hover just over the circular tables.

The enormous concrete beams in the dining room were brought into Oxford pre-cast. The surface of the concrete is beautiful. It looks slightly mottled and is very smooth as it was cast in mahogany moulds. The way the beams extend slightly beyond the outside walls, surrounded by glass gives a sense of delicacy and lightness that contradicts the weight and solidity of the concrete. The pillars that support the beams go very deep into the ground (they are only half visible). I think this was because they were building on drained marshland/flood plain and are supporting so much weight.














Rachel

a disused motorway under Friedrich Gerlach Brüche in Friedenau Berlin

Tempelhof

Some images of the derilict Tempelhof airport that B and I went to last week. It has only been out of action since 2008, and is now a public space. Built in 1923. Although it has only been a couple of years it is already being over grown and interesting to imagine how it would be in 10 or 20 years. While we were there B played with some Kindergarten children. The teacher told me how her father had remembered it as fields he played in before the airport was built and now returning to that status. It is right in the city so polution and noise was a problem.

Hitler was a big fan of Tempelhof, and under Speer's direction the terminal was rebuilt in 1934. It was also the lifeline for Berlin, when the Soviets cut off all transport by water or land in 1948.

More images www.flickr.com/photos/barbaresiandround

work in progress

Hi Rachel,

This is to give you a sense of how things are developing with the piece for the Art and Architecture show.

The images I had been working with, the photos i took of the buildings and grounds were naturally quite geometrical and felt a bit restrictive with the projection. My starting point for where i have got to now was the plastic cover for B's alphabet stamps (that came free with a newspaper). When projected it reminded me of an ariel view of a group of buildings. So I started working with a google earth image of Brunel University, and cutting into and painting onto the plastic.

I painted onto some paper on the wall to try and give a sense of how the projection might work with a wall painting. I'm not sure its totally successful, but I could imagine it working if the painting was a bit more pared down and selective. I really like working with this push and pull between the projected image and the painting.

A couple of images also of using different materials with projecting.

Surfacing briefly

I feel i should post on the blog, just to say i'm here! My time and energy has been directed elsewhere in the last 8 months as you know. It has taken a long time to reach a stage where i get some 'me' time, but Poppy has started napping on her own, so i get an hour or two every day when i'm not holding a baby now. I think it will be a while before i'm really involved in my/our work again! But i have the occasional thought/idea. Its great to see what you're doing and your ideas develop for the work for Brunel's art and architecture exhibition.