The past few weeks have been taken up with lots of field work, including projects on journeying, non place and modernist housing. Here's a quick glimpse from the field trips:
First off we go to Ikea - the non place. A non place is somewhere which is not connected to its surroundings or history, that could be anywhere. Airports, supermarkets and global department stores are the classic examples, I've been wondering if massive new housing estates could also fit into the category.... Also been wondering about how we're now culturally programmed to negotiate non place, and even find them comfortable - always knowing what to expect, how to behave, how to negotiate the way finding systems - if you notice them at all.
Still, interesting to go to Ikea and be guided by arrows and yellow and blue signs and be pleasantly compelled to dream of new furniture for rooms at home much smaller than any of the overly large, regularly shaped display areas and marvel in the stacks of products and efficiency of packaging as a design feature.
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| Stacked plants (they are real!) |
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| The lighting section |
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| rows and stacks and packaging and people... |
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The journeying projects took a couple of weeks, one by bus and one by foot. The bus journey was based around each group taking a different bus route transecting the city of Edinburgh. We had route 25 going from Heriott Watt uni in the west through Gorgie, the West End, Princes St, Leith Walk and to Craigentinny in the East. I'm not going to go on about city planning, street elevations, built fabric, passenger statistics etc except to say that the top of a double decker is an excellent vantage point by which to observe all these things. What was interesting was the particular framing of views and the quality of light and reflections through the bus window. Cities are reflective because of the substantial use of glass, and the images projected looking through glass at glass are fascinating. A few of my favorite pics:
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| Tourist shot framed by window |
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| Can't see out at all! A fairly frequent occurrence now its getting a wee bit chilly. |
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| Reflections |
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| More reflections |
When its dark and not too many people are fogging up the windows it becomes quite impossible to see out the window without seeing back in as well. This became particularly apparent when we were carrying out our field work and daylight saving got turned back, and it got dark by 5pm - making views like these the ones what most commuters will see for every trip between now and Feb/March. For a great, comprehensive look at bus experiences, check out http://www.studioincite.com/73urbanjourneys/
Second field trip was on foot, focused around the city centre. I have walked around Edinburgh a fair bit in the last few months, but there are two things which always surprise me. The first is the amazing views within the city, vistas punctuated with monuments or the crags. (Always makes me smile!)
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| View of Arthur's seat from North Bridge |
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| View of the castle from Princes St |
The second is the shear amount of street barricading that occurs. I don't think I have ever seen so many bollards, fences, edging and temporary barriers anywhere! There is the opinion that separating people from moving vehicles gives a degree or feeling of safety. I can't help feeling that the barriers are more of a hindrance to pedestrians, creating bottlenecks on intersections of people queuing to get to the safety of the footpath but being prevented by the barrier. The fear of being caught on the wrong side of a barrier. The nervous run on the outside of the barrier to get through when greeted by the pram and slow person side by side. The additional obstacle to avoid on a busy street when there's already a mass of street furniture and signage and people to avoid crashing into. Surely if we want pedestrian friendly cities we should be making the pedestrian route a pleasure to walk and use less divisive methods that perhaps put a bit of trust in the users - isn't a raised kerb or pavement differentiation or a parking strip enough?
We also attended the Samhain festival, marking the end of the light half of the year and the beginning of the dark half. A bit chilly and rainy, but some spectacular costumes.
Next few weeks will be taken up with reading and writing essays......
