Time sure flies when you're Suuuuper Busy..... In all seriousness, where have 6 Years Gone

It’s been more than a few years since I’ve updated my website and oh lord has a fair amount happened in that time. I last updated my website back in 2018, having just come back from spending some much needed RnR travelling around New Zealand ready to begin job hunting. Since the unfortunate redundancy of 2018 (see previous blog post) I found a full time placement, stop sofa surfing and moved into a stable house, survived the Covid period of mass unhappiness, helped turn a sports stadium into a field hospital, qualified as a chartered architect, moved jobs and then drew the curtains on my permanent time in Bristol for a while. I relocated to Newquay February 2023 to find a better work / life balance than I was achieving in Bristol all the while working out of an newly refurbished Listed office in the heart of Truro.

Now that just about brings up to speed, so what am I up to right now.

I’m currently gearing up for a trip to Canada, more specifically Vancouver. I’ve been granted a Working Holiday Visa earlier this year and I’m travelling out shortly to activate my visa and research the city, the nightlife, the creative quarters and hopefully some of the surrounding natural beauty spots. The plan simply is have a good old look around and see if I could see myself moving there in the next half year or so, perhaps even obtain some work and social contacts prior to the big move in Spring 2025

I’ve recently updated and uploaded my latest Design Portfolio over in the Past Work section, so please peruse to your hearts content a compiled collection of all that makes me… me within the design realm…

TTFN

Adulthood Can Be A Fickle B@stard

It’s that time again, for a (really rather very) behind the times catch up.

I hadn’t quite realised how long it’s been since I last did one of these, nearly a year. Since that time, I’ve moved to New Zealand, spent around 6 months exploring all it had to offer. Of which a collection of photos can be found on my new Through A Lens page. As one of the things the trip allowed me to do was discover my enjoyment in photography again, albeit the outcomes are probably nowhere near as good as I think they or hope they are. It was just fun to be behind a lens again.

Since returning to fair old blighty I relocated to Bristol, and began working at Moon Architect Builder as a Part II Architectural Assistant. In a position which enabled me to learn so much more about working through the technical stages and having a direct responsibility and connection to what was going on on-site. A lass that was not meant to be, various factors (insert B.EXIT word here) leading to a huge downsizing of the company mere months after my initial employment. So as all people do in their lives at one point or another, I came face to face with the joys of redundancy.

On the positive side, I moved from the office to smashing ten hells out of a variety of buildings across Bristol. Which was brilliant, as during the frustrating times of trying to find employment I was gifted an outlet for my stress in the form of a sledge hammer and a free gym membership, which was also in the form of a sledge hammer. I enjoy demo work and hammers, especially when it involves massive pieces of Steel. For a brief write up on my site experience and a few lines about what I learnt, head over to my Getting Hands On Page.

That’s probably enough for now, as having written this part I’ve now given myself 3 other posts to write in a short period of time. Better get to it as the Six Nations is on soon, and I’d quite like to have a pint.

TTFN

THE END OF MY EDUCATION. SO WHATS NEXT.NZ

Since finishing at Newcastle University I've spent some time enjoying my freedom and getting ready for a foray over to New Zealand. This trip is the combination of me wanting to see some more of the world while also having a scout about in regards to moving over there. I've decided that although I'm not 100% committed to becoming an Architect I'm going to get accredited as a RIBA architect. I'm thinking that this will help me in the long run with my future work plans. I do at the end of it thoroughly enjoy architecture, after all I wouldn't have received the grade I did at University if I wasn't at least interested / good at it. I've come to realise the real trick is to find the right fitting practice for me, which I believe I have, based in Auckland called Herbst Architects. I've spent the last few weeks updating this website and my online presence with the ambition of contacting them, with the hope of meeting them while i'm travelling around New Zealand.

While i'm away i'm going to try and keep this more up to date than I have over the past few years, as I did forget about this for sometime. Another exciting moment is I have purchased a new film camera after my last one was stolen. So I will be looking to get back into my photography and shooting with the beauty of a camera that is the 35mm Canon EOS 650.

Anyway that's all for now, so please keep an eye on this space and my Instagram. TTFN

A New City. A New Start. But Some Of The Same Stuff

It's been far too long since I've used this website, due to working in an office and relocating to Newcastle. My latest portfolio can be found here, which was created for my successful application to study my Masters in Architecture at Newcastle University. It features highlights from my undergraduate studies, it also features a series of projects I undertook in my year in industry and a small private job I worked on during my year out.

Newcastle So Far

It's been over a month since I started my new course at Newcastle. During this period I've already learnt a lot, met a lot of new people, seen a whole new city.

The first week saw the whole school al 5 years come together to produce a number of exhibitions, including a fashion show made out of recyclables, emotion spaces and a light tunnel which was the project I worked on. We had a week to design, resource, finance, build and then dismantle the piece of art work.

My group which consisted on 1 sixth year, 3 fifth years (including me) and a gaggle of first and second years looked to produce a light tunnel. We aimed to work with multiple senses e.g sight, sound and touch. Due to the complexity the main element we only managed to realise the sight feature, the outcome none the less was in my eyes rather spectacular. We created 1000's of paper tubes, which we hung from a 2.6m x 2.2m x 3.2m timber frame. Then illuminated them from the top and the side using LED strip lighting and refracted the light within the tunnel by use of a two small ponds which ran the length of the structure. The final project can be seen in the pictures below along with some behind the scenes and event photographs.

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Click on the Right of Image Below to Scroll and See More

Return of the Blogggger

It's been sometime since I've edited, posted or even visited this website. Since I last message about my studies on here I have been on another interview, got offered a job, took the job, finished my Degree, started working in an Architects firm and graduated. It has been a roller coaster of few months. I am now trying to refocus myself on this site and update my portfolios as I begin to look at masters Courses. I have already visited the department at Newcastle University and am very excited to begin applying to continue my architecture studies there in 2015 hopefully. 

Currently I am employed by Clague Architects in Canterbury.  It was such a shock going from being a student to becoming a working adult, especially when I started working only 2 weeks after I finished my Degree. Despite the crazily quick turn around, I believe I am settling into my new life rather well. 

But I am always looking for new opportunities to design. So watch this space as in the next weeks weeks I will be uploading some freelance work I have undertaken.

That's All For Now Folks.....

First Interview

Recently I travelled up to Newcastle to attend an interview for a Part 1 Architectural Assistant position at a Building Development company. Despite the position not being exactly what I'm looking for, for my year out placement, it was a great chance to develop my interviewing skills. I am aiming to attend the University of Newcastle's Masters in Architecture course after my year out,  getting the chance to live and work in the city prior to the course would be a great experience.

Overall I believe the interview went rather well. I was interviewed by 3 employees, of which one of them was the current holder of the position I was to take over. We talked through the collection of my work and went through the role I was to play within the company. I am yet to hear back as more interviews are being undertaken before they can make a final decision.

I decided to create a portfolio (below) with a greater collection of my work to go through during the interview. Unlike my previous portfolios which were meant to be purely a taster of my skills, while creating this one I aimed to show everything I could without boring the interviewers too much.

On another note I have just handed in my Management, Practice & Law module submission along with a Technical & Environmental Report for the Urban Design Module. So its been a busy few weeks, now for a little break before getting back on with Urban Design work for my final undergraduate Crit on 29th May.

I am currently also waiting for marks back for my Dissertation and a smaller essay based on the Modernism Movement, once I have the marks of both I will upload the essays.

That's it for now, I hope your interested in the work which I'm currently undergoing, If not then no harm no fowl.

Urban

It's been sometime since I've done any serious posting. That's down to the hectic nature of my final term. I won't bore you with the details of everything that's going on but it's a lot. Enough even for many tutors to question the timetabling of this year.

THE BIG ONE

View of Rochester Castle  from the main High Street access to the site.

I'm currently working on my final design project, for my undergraduate degree. This one module will be worth 30% of my entire degree. So it's safe to say that I'm pulling out all the stops and giving it my all. 

The project is based around creating a new campus or series of buildings in the Historical heart of Rochester. The purpose of this "campus" is for the Kent School of Music and Arts to be housed in the heart of the town and become a far more prominent aspect of the City.

The area we are working within, is very restricted. On one side we've got the Castle, and then on the other side is Rochester Cathedral will all its outlyng buildings and grounds. Its safe to say that the site is a restricted one. 60's planning has destroyed any sense of the traditional Cathedral close you'd expect to find in a historic area such as Rochester. The worse aspect of this is the main road which currently runs within meters of main west facade of the cathedral. Luckily a unanimous decision by design tutors and students has allowed us to include a strategy for replanning the road system around the site.

I could bore you with an extensive look at all the site analysis I've undertaken, however you don't want to read about It, i don't want to talk about it, so lets move on.

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The design for this project has been influenced by 3 main factors:

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Concept Model: Part way through designing the latest Master plan Proposal I became fixated on a point of design. The making of this model allowed me to sum up the "language" of my scheme, and was a way to regenerate the way I thought about the scheme. The point of this model is that central circular block represent your desired destination. Its not until you arrive there that you fully experience it, despite getting glimpse during the approach. Then at the same time oblique entrances or other elements will try to lead you away again..

• The accommodation schedule. When looking at the variety of different types of spaces laid out in the brief, I began to order groups spaces/rooms around ones that needed to be near each other and others that needed to be kept away. This led me to see a need to spit up various spaces into groupings of related activities. This has produced 4 buildings each with its own individual environmental and design features that needed to be placed onto the site.
• The Site Topography. The site is a long and narrow stretch of land that runs diagonally from South West to North East. With the highest point being at the SW end and then slopping down to various points of access directly off the high street at the NE end. This alongside the magnitude of the planning task required to fit all of the schedule of accommodation onto the site led me to sink various components into the slope, and then building on top of them to create raised landscaped plazas.
• Creating a Modern Close. During the initial stages of the module we were introduced into variety a traditional planning strategies from cathedral Close's to the Cambridge quads. What all these spaces had in common, was a variety of open to small spaces. Trying to create a "modern" close within the site grounds I decided to approach the planning with the aim of creating a series of discoverable spaces throughout the site. The aim was to make progress through the "campus" a journey of Discovery.

Without any further explanation I feel its time to introduce my current scheme properly. Below you'll find my Inter-Crit presentation. It should give you a pretty good overview of the work I've undertaken so far. It begins with the concepts and small amounts of site analysis which directly affected my design. Then moves into Townscape studies for the master plan and finally some individual building development. 

Inter-Crit Presentation - Click on the content for an enlarged viewing frame

I hoped you've enjoyed this update of my work so far. The 'New Content" I talked about in a previous post is still under way, but is taking a little longer than I expected. I want to share with you what it entails though. Currently this website is solely a means of putting myself out there as an Architecture Student. I do however have many other "artistic and creative" passions that drive me through laborious University moments from Photography to Art Work to the current re-restoration of my 1973 VW Beetle. This 'New Content" will be an amalgamation of the Non-Architectural components which make me tick, although some points of cross over will naturally occur due to my interest in the built environment. 

Anyway I should probably stop this exceedingly long post around now. I hope anyone who's read all the way to bottom has enjoyed themselves. Feel free to send me any queries or questions.

That's All For Now…...

New Content Coming Soon

I think its time for a change

I have decided to include an area on my website in which I can upload and share various pieces of work I've created, which may or may not have anything to do with my Architectural Studies. It will be more focused on everything I find interesting, From Photography to Painting, anything I have or will create purely for enjoyment.

Gallery

So Enjoy

Portfolio

It has now come the time that I need to start looking for a Part I placement for my year out in Industry. So the logical step was to update my portfolio. I have compiled the best bits of work from my second year and my first design module this year. I looked to experiment with making a portfolio that had its own identity and wasn't just a combination of various different projects, but instead had the resemblance of a single planed out document.

A collection of all of my Submissions from the last two years can be found here.

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 I have embedded my Portfolio from another website I use, which allows me to create a document with double page spreads. Click above to view the page portfolio, if you click again it will zoom in. 

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Modular Final Presentation

Its taken me a while to upload this as I took some time off working over Christmas as you should do. With the new year comes the ever increasing urgency to get that Part I Placement organised, so its time to get updating again. 

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This is the Final presentation I gave for my critique for this years first design module MODULAR. We Initially had to work within a Master-plan group to create a scheme for an area of used land in Canterbury, which would house a new student area. The link to the presentation we gave and my Intercrit Presentation can be found below. The brief was based around the topic of Modular. I chose to develop the Education Building which possessed a key element of "Flexibility", in order to allow multiple users to easily adapt the internal spaces. I decided to go down the route of a more component based interpretation of the idea of Modular construction. This was due to  thinking that a Volumetric (room by room) approach would not work with the building and plot I was given. I also since visiting the Richard Rogers Inside Out exhibition over the summer finally clocked that I've got a great interest in understanding how structures stand up. Due to this I was interested in designing an external structural envelope which would allow the interior spaces to be as free as possible from load bearing elements. 

That's all for now I hope you Enjoy.

Links for related Developement below

Intercrit Presentation

Master-Plan Presentation

Master-Plan Model Experimentation

George Nelson

This is just a quick post about an article on George Nelson, which I read while browsing the internet.

http://www.archdaily.com/tag/george-nelson

I found this really interesting, especially as I have just done a project on modularity. It was interesting to see a different approach to some interior spaces and how he predict edit he way the "home" was going to change due to the consumer market that was emerging. Anyway have a look if you fancy it. 

That's all for now.

P.S. My MODULAR Presentation will be up soon, taken a break from this past few weeks. 

Modular Project Part II - Intercrit

Last Friday we had an Intercrit for Part II of the Modular module. This was a bit of a shock as we at that point had had only one design tutorial on our individual schemes. So it is safe to say everyone was a bit rushed at getting a completed design out in only two weeks. Below is the presentation I gave.

The main feedback I received was about the design of facade being inconsistent with the internal layout. This was a very fair point as I had no idea what the exterior was going to accurately look like until I finished my basic 3DSMAX model of it. Needless to say I didn't like it. So I was happy to take on any ideas that were presented to me by the critiquing tutors and students. The look the building has from the outside really is surprisingly different from what you'd expect when looking at the plans.

Its now a week on (nearly) from the Intercrit and I've been working on reducing the negatives of the facade. The primary faults of it lie in the over dramatic external structure. There are many reason for using the external structure as it has allowed me to design the interior with none of the walls being load bearing. This has made it possible for the interior layout to be flexible, as that was one of the criteria laid out in the brief. So the aim was to still keep it but to reduce its impact on the buildings image. As the external walls behind it actually represent various interesting shapes due to the internal space configuration.

Anyway that's all for now, need to be getting on with some more work for my tutorial tomorrow. 

Masterplan Crit Prsentation

On the 1/11/2013 I gave a presentation, which was the concluding aspect of part I of our group work for Modular (this terms design module). He have been working on this scheme for some time, it has been hard going as group work often is. It started out with a day long Charette (as I mention on a previous post). Then we had a few weeks to finalise the design, taking into account the feedback from the Charette viewers (which weren't great). After the Charette we had to quite drastically rethink our scheme, as although there were aspects that they did like, there were a few which they really didn't. The initial idea of a 1st floor boardwalk spread over the site thinking all the buildings together with a pedestrianized  area was seen as an excessive design feature. So with our tutor we rethought the scheme. Below is the final scheme we arrived on. 

Flood Risk Analysis

Pedestrian Routes Analysis

Context Anaylsis

Sections

Sections of Separate Housing

Artistic View representation

Design Development

Design Development

Design Development

Design Development

Design Development

Final Model

Site Model Experimentation

The beginning of my third year of studying required the creation of yet another site model for our design module. The project (which is still underway) is to design a master plan within a group of 5, then to individually design one of the separate buildings in greater detail, taking into account the master plan. We were required to create a model at a scale of 1:500, which would be used for the charette and for our own work. When we started planning the group model we decided we wanted to do something different from the normal. Lets get rid of the foam board, cardboard and the lazer floor plans of the buildings stacked on top of each other.

Above is what we created. We decided within our group that we wanted to go down the route of an industrial pallet of materials. We started out with lazer cutting the base board. This is pretty standard, but it allows you to accurately layout the surrounding buildings, so it was necessary. For the water, which is one of the key elements of the site, we decided upon using metal. This was something new to all of us. We went for a tarnished plate of 2 mm steel, and used a large clamp to cut out a piece to sit below the lazer cut layer. Next for the trees, the idea of using just nails was our first idea. However on talking to the workshop technicians he suggested that we use screws and vary the types of nails. This created an effect that echoed the spread of various types of trees. The buildings were created from a bunch of scraps of a high density modeling material (not entirely sure what is was called), this allowed us to create the required intricate shapes which would indicate the surrounding buildings.

Placed on the model was the scheme we created during a day long charette, which forced us to design a scheme for the entire master from scratch and then present it at the end of the day. A great exercise even if it did take its toll within the group as it got the project started, something which can often be hard in group work.

That's all for now,... 

My First Ever Realised Design.

While I was in Shanghai I was given the chance to design the layout for a small two storey office within a larger office complex in YIWU. It mainly involved me laying out a furniture floor plan in a scale so that locations for electric sockets to be placed. I however saw this a chance to design something and actually see it come to life, so tried as best as I could to interject some other ideas too. The budget for the office was relatively low, so I really had to use basic techniques to create interesting aspects.

Sketch plans of the proposed layout

The office is a double floor space, with access on the ground floor and an internal staircase for movement. The client asked that the ground floor be a space for meeting with clients, holding meetings and generally a nice place to work (As that was where she would be working). As the a lot of the grunt work would be done upstairs and would often messy, so keeping that part out of the way was best. In terms of meeting with clients on the ground floor, I suggested that by making the coffee/storage are jut out of the wall an intimate space could be created. If this is filled with a sofa, arm chair and a low table, it could be turned into a waiting/reception area. The client loved this and almost immediately called up some colleagues, telling them to source an interesting sofa. A lot of the rest of the layout of the ground floor was based around the sizes of tables and location of storage, so I couldn't really inject any ideas into that aspect. 

The 1st floor, being larger than the ground allowed me a bit more space to get creative with the layout of the internal elements. The office manager was to be situated upstairs. In order to keep an eye on the rest of the staff a conventional separated office wasn't wanted. Instead I suggest that another intimate space could be created similar to the waiting room, which would create a sense of hierarchy within the office without completely separating the manager. The final aspect I had an influence in was the location of a glass wall. A large amount of stock and products have to kept on site as the offices main role is the quality control testing and sourcing of stock to be sold back in the UK. The client stated that this is often badly stored and looks a mess. I suggested locating it behind a glass wall, as although it will still be messy it will be isolated and can be hidden away slightly.

That's pretty much all I had to do really, it wasn't much of a project but it was something that I designed and actually got to see come to life, which was a first for me. So pretty happy about it. Below are some pictures of the office just as all the furniture was placed in. ENJOY.. 

Reception/Waiting Area

Meeting Space Located On Ground Floor

Office Managers Open Plan Yet Isolated Office On the 1st Floor.

Office Managers Desk. The Glass Wall Will Be Placed On Other Side Of The Column.

A Collection Of Photos

During my time in shanghai I took a large number of photos, most of them you could say were of pretty random things. Well to you yes, but to me they were pictures of anything I found interesting. Here are some of the photos that I didn't have enough time or energy to write about in the previous blog.  

So have a flick through and enjoy. 

Let It Begin...

I haven't decided how this blog will develop, but for now on this page you will find a record of my thoughts, opinions, experiments and findings during my time of study. I will also be posting experimental work, which I will be under taking alongside my University work. Anyway I hope you enjoy and don't forget to comment on and share anything that takes your interest.

I thought the best way to start of this blog is with an account of my Experiences over the summer. So here we go.

A Month In Shanghai.

I was very lucky to get the chance to go and experience Shanghai over the summer. It truly is an amazing place, however i'm not going to beat about the bush. The moment I arrived in the airport i Hated It! I remember thinking "what have i done, here for a whole month on my own". This was due to the fact that all I could see was awful high-rise accommodation blocks through the very very dense smog. On arrival to where i would be staying, things got a little better.

 

I stayed in a very nice gated community near the Shanghai Zoo (miles from the center of anything fun) . As it was free accommodation in a city known for being very expensive, one can't really complain. 

 

The First Outing

We dumped the bags and headed straight out to see the sights, mainly as we had to power through the time difference and staying at home (my new home) would have 100% resulted in me catching too many zzz's for my own good.  

We headed straight for the area where i'd be working Xintiandi (But is spoken with a Z)  Now things are getting interesting. The area is lovely, no wonder its bright purple in my guide book, which indicated a zone of restaurants, cafes blah blah blah. As the entire blocks is just that. More importantly it holds the offices i'll be working in..... Studio Shanghai.

 

The Bund - I visited it on the first day, its a stretch of land on the Huaangu river. The main attraction to this area is the amazing panoramic view. From this point you can see the Jin Mao Tower rising skywards on the opposite river bank. Unfortunately the view is often hidden due to the severe amount of smog in shanghai. It was at this point that I really started to think i would enjoy myself here. I would just have to get over the heat, smell, people and of course the language barrier. 

 

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The Pearl Tower in all its smoggy goodness.

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Panoramic view across the River.

 Xintiandi - Its really an amazing place. When i described where I was living to some who lived there, he really wasn't lying when he said "That's right in the middle of the rich  part of the French Concessions". Which is the rich and European part of Shanghai. So I was working in the rich of the rich, this is going to be good fun. I found out after starting at Studio Shanghai all the surrounding area "Xintiandi" was actually designed and re-planned by Ben Wood "Head partner and founder of Studio Shanghai". It was one of the first restoration projects in shanghai. Which previously the standards were demolish everything old and replace it with brand new air conditioned monstrosities. 

Working at the Studio- First day at Studio Shanghai. My first thoughts as I walked into the building "ahh...it's soo cold, I love it". Air conditioning is an absolute necessity in Shanghai, hence why every residential building has them hanging off it. The office which is on the third floor of the main office block in the Xintiandi off "Madang Lu". Pretty clever trick by Ben Wood, design a really nice urban block with a great office in it and then move into it and watch all the surrounding areas develop and the prices soar. Back to the studio, its a long sort of dark corridor. It was my favorite studio I've visited (all 3 of them, well 4 by the end of my trip). 

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The first person i met was "Jenni Wei", who was who i had been corresponding with for over half a year and was the one who actually got me the internship. I also met Matt, an american who I was to bond with quite well a few days later over drinks.

I didn't really do much over the first day just lots of getting to know the people and understanding there sort of work they do. 

Next few days: Well what can i say it got interesting (and rather scary) fast. "Here you go Alex, here's a list of places we want you to photograph and a crudely drawn map".  Oh what fun, it was only day two and I spoke no Chinese, brilliant. 

It was actually a great assignment (to start off), as it got me out in Shanghai looking at places i'd never have been too before. The only negative was that this went on for three days and a lot of the addresses were wrong.

My little book of notes and maps.

Lets Go To Some Tall Buildings As A Typhoon Is About To Hit

Jin Mao Tower- That is really an expensive if you can go to cloud 9 but if not just stand at the base and look up. These three buildings are some of the tallest in the world. The Jin Mao Tower, The Bottle Opener (Dont know it's real name) and the being built Corkscrew. It was really weird standing at the base, mainly as the buildings seem to lean out over you. I went at night, which was amazing. Also as Shanghai was on the verge of a typhoon, so as we looked up the clouds were flying past. It really was surreal. I think it made it more impressive as there was a contrast (natural) against the ultimate of man made structures.

Cloud 9 Bar- The sureality of having a bar on the 87th floor of a sky scraper, especially when the grand hyatt starts halfway up. The view from the top of the tower is amazing. Looking down on the buildings which are 40 odd stories tall, is a very strange feeling. Anyway if you have the time go and have a look up there, but dress nice.

Jin Mao Tower

View from Flair Bar

Flair Bar - It's not quite as strange as Cloud 9 bar. But it is was up there (get it). It's located at the top of the Ritz-Carlton (58th floor). It is amazing, especially as its an open top terrace. Something which would never happen in the UK. Health and Safety would have a field day. the best part of the view is out towards the Pearl Tower. At night the view towards the Bund is great. I'd defiantly recommend it to anyone who visits.

That's pretty much all of it from that trip to Shanghai. To anyone who is thinking of going, just do. its an amazing place with amazing people. It's so friendly and welcoming, you can always take refuge in any of the american/ expat based bars when it all gets a bit too much. There's the odd little thing left but I wanted to give them there own post. So look out for them. 

That's all for now.