Just going to write as I think so sorry if its not in any order.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=uFKqVsWR4S4 Not all the crap about diesel engines but I like the what the words are saying.
I suggest we put a series of questions to ourselves before we can perhaps move on
What do we want to redefine?
Why do we want to redefine it?
How are we going to redefine?
I think if we can answer these questions we will have a unshakeable foundation for whatever we produce. Is it an idea for someone to do some hardcore 'redefinition' precedent research? Examples of where they have only changed one thing and it has had a dramatic effect ie Lyon introduced subsidized bike hire to remove traffic from the city centre. I think that whatever we do it has to strengthen Briggates Identity. I am quite happy to have a look at this today.
Blackpool seafront is a prime example of redefinition, and worth you perhaps having a mooch at.
I like the concept of the visuals Karl sent over, turning Briggate into a British rambles. I don't think food should be the whole thing though.
Does whatever goes out behind the facade want to start to bleed out onto Briggate.
Do we need these big shop frontages? If you regulate them like the VQ then the place becomes mundane?
Are we wanting to do something more with the facade of these buildings?
Is it one thing running down or a series of things?
I feel that whatever we do has to be high impact, it cant just be sticking some hanging baskets up, there is the whole thing of vertical and horizontal axis that we have played upon.
Do we do a alsop and turn Briggate into a beach?
More questions that answers im sorry but just trying to get all my thoughts down and it might spark something in one of you!
Ed
Ed
6 comments:
Ed
A really excellent starting point, cheers for that. I'm over in Lincoln today but when I get back tomorrow I'll reply in full.
I would just say that the words I used on that visual were purely for demonstration of the thought process, I didn't intend that we'd use food places but maybe there is something in that? Briggate Ramblas sounds good!
If you want to start on the redefinition precedent study then that will be great, I'll have a think about it and see if there any examples I can think of. Last year we used an example of an installation in Central Park, NY, where some artists had placed a series of flags, like Japanese Torii gates, through the park to redefine it. Might be something in that, here's a link - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gates
I'm going to print out the questions you've posed and ponder over them today and get back to you tomorrow.
Do we have any ideas of what we need to produce for Thursday?
I'll e-mail Steve now and see if he can Tuesday morning.
Karl
Hi guys,
There are a couple of good conceptual ideas there where i think we can go from.
i do like the idea from the honda advert, setting those questions to Briggate and kind of answering them through a redefinition and a proposal. That in a way can tie in quite alot with our definition.
We could link it to a number of elements that we feel Briggate needs or has to focus on to get better ie, the single shopping use, lack of green spaces.
Hate something? BRIGGATES SINGLE USE AND LACK OF GREEN SPACES
Change something? INJECTION OF GREEN SPACES AND CHANGING FACADES
Make something better. . . THE RESULT! HOW THE CHANGES HAVE DEVELOPED FROM OUR ORIGINAL DEFINITION
Just an idea and could be kind of seen as a core to work from? (do need to get that stupid jingle from the ad out of my head tho!!)
Yeh i like the concept images Karl with the words on the facades, just where to take it?
Whats the plan then to kind of develop the work on? Like the e-mailing but i think a good brain storming session on tuesday morning will be very useful to kind focus where we want to go!
hope that makes some sense.
Rick
Think that sounds great,
How about Briggate as an adventure playground/urban jungle
How did Briggate use to feel? Can we revitalise this public realm?
Can we somehow link the buildings, physically or visually to break up the linear form of the street and thus creating new pockets of activity (taking inspiration from the current nodes that form and building on it)
Ed
Yeh liking the idea to link it visually and physically higher. Were focusing on looking above the facades so creating a focus higher up would kind of fulfill that idea. Was thinking eg. of a series of higher bridge walks linking both sides of the street or something, making the high street not just on one level as it were.
Like the idea of bridges, does it turn into something about connections, that they link a series of spaces, do you think thought needs to be given to the ground as well?
Ed
Hope you both had good weekends, sorry fo rmy late input; apparently trains don't leave Lincoln on Sunday mornings. Useless backwards town.
Some really interesting ideas here, I'll come to that in a minute.
Firstly, I like the idea of setting up a blog specifically for this project, something along the lines of "Patterns of Briggate" perhaps? Definitely worth putting these exchanges up there.
Steve is away Thursday so there's no chance then, we'll see if he comes back about Tuesday morning. Is seeing him with less work on Tuesday better than not at all? Are we going with a 1pm meeting on Tuesday then? There's no formal tutorials so we could always have a chat with Bob if he's about and has time after seeing his group.
Right, I'll address what I've been pondering over the weekend along with the emails you've exchanged since my last one yesterday; this may not make sense, some is thinking as I go along. I'll give my thoughts and hopefully address some of the questions you have both posed. Some of this may be repetition of what you've already said:
The Honda advert is a great precedent I reckon, well worth mentioning or even using a clip of.
Returning to our narrative; ours is a visual definition and we need to tie this into a theme so our redefinition has to connect the visual definition to the activity at street level. Playing on the vertical and horizontal axis is a strong idea Ed and if we can incorporate that by, just thinking here, changing the levels of the street then that could be a way of changing perceptions. Or, we could challenge people's views of the horizontal and vertical axis, using obstacles to heighten awareness by controlling views.
Ed, you mentioned the idea of a 'beach'; I think that's a great starting point, much like Alsop's masterplans it becomes a metaphorical symbol for change. I think it could be a quite witty and clever starting point, playing on the 'sea of consumerism' idea. From that point, I like Rich's idea of inserting green/public space and consequently the "Urban Playground". Participation has to be high on our agenda, this could be a superb concept.
Could the redefintion of Briggate have a wider context? Does what we do here have wider implications for Leeds? A strong, underlining theme could not only redefine Briggate but the whole city. Some quick examples I noted down earlier are, Leeds:
* The Water City (see the Zaragoza 2008 World Expo. They created the whole thing around the consumption, preservation and sustainability of water)
* The Green City (as Rich's suggestion)
* The Sky City (take people beyond the streetscape)
* City of Farms (insert farming, gardens, allotments and markets into the city centre. Conflicts with the City Market perhaps?)
* Relaxation City (This could be all encompassing or somethign quite specific, it could cover pubs, bars, hotels or something very different, maybe themed on a certain type of relaxation - ie spas, meditation)
One idea that kept popping into my head for a few of these is the idea of "treehouses" (see http://www.thecoolhunter.co.uk/architecture/Baumraum-Treehouses/ for some cool ones). I'm not really sure why but I thought they may create isolated spaces, they could be connected and they change the level of participation.
Trying to tie this back to the original 'patterns' work, a suggestion is to say that we're creating a new pattern which is amalgamated into the existing. It could even be somewhat parasitic?
Until we know what our theme/redefintion is it's difficult to answer some of the questions (particularly in Ed's first e-mail) but they're good points on which to build our understanding, which I think is going to be really strong.
From here we need to produce the 'analysis information (our own and the 'open source' stealing) which supports our work. We then need to produce a redefinition which I think could be presented, initially, as the elevation with text that I sent out Friday, maybe expand this 3-dimensionally, as we did the patterns.
I hope this helps us, come back with any questions.
Karl
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