Focus week 29 Nov - 3 Dec

We are back in business. Can't say that for the weather or for the public transport in London. With the second focus week commencing the weather above London went from bad to worse. Snow, ice, freezing temperatures, blocked transport, everything and everyone was affected. Anyway at the beginning of that week I still managed to find some time to improve my skills in Autocad and Photoshop of course. The photoshop I use often even for fun so I can say that I am quite advanced. Online tutorials are of constant help. As for Cad, well one of my classmates is more than advanced in Cad, he is a specialist. So I tend to ask him for help from time to time. I think that's enough with the software, there is always time for it because you don't have to go anywhere to learn it. You need a PC, internet and willingness to learn it. Of course if you imply your new skills in a current project it will be even better.

So! The last day of that week was 3-rd of december friday. After careful consideration and observation on the weather we decided to go to London to see the targets we have set to see. NLA and Sommerset House.

During the first focus week we were unable to find the NLA not realising that were so close to it. But now we did. And after more than an hour on the crowded tube and another 20 minutes walking in the cold weather we found ourselves in front of the New London Architecture. Filled with great expectations we entered and we saw right at the entrance the biggest model we've ever seen. Or at least if my memory doesn't lie to me that one was bigger than the model we saw in Barcelona. This model in NLA shows the extends of Central London all along the river Thames. It covers the area from Paddington in the west to the Royal docks in the east and from Battersea in the south to the King's Cross in the north. It also includes the Olympic site and series of new tall buildings. It's called The Pipers Central London Model and it's in scale 1:1500. Here are some pictures of it:

Waterloo Station + London Eye

Hyde Park

Canary Wharf

O2 Arena

That was really impressive. Also we saw some movies, articles, proposals of sites all around London and of course detailed information about the Olympic site. 

Furtermore inside the building we saw more models. Some made out only of wood. Others of plastic with different purposes.

One of the models was of a building and as far as I remember it was 1:200 scale. The level of detailing that building was astonishing. You could see  the stairs and people inside it. Bike racks and trees on the outside:

Focus week 1-7 November

The first Focus week has started .... and it has already finished. For that module we had to create an online diary of our work during that week. Or the so called blog. So here it is. 

As a start I first need to explain the aims of that module. Focus weeks are ideal chance for us, students, to explore our needs, to identify our individual interests and to possibly use inspiration from different projects in order to apply them into our work. There are much more places and projects to see beyond the borders of Kingston University. 

Firstly I decided to separate my work in 2 parts because we had to complete approximately 40 hours of work, either by visiting places or by exploring something else, such as software program or any other personal research directly relating to our studies. So during the week my friends Tommy and Alex and I have dedicated 2 full days of visits all around London. On the first day, Thursday we made a plan and a list of the places we want to see. We started with the furthest place which was Hyde park. When we reached the Serpentine Gallery I actually remembered that last year we were there and we saw a curvy metal structure which was quite impressive. But now instead of it there was another installation in progress. Anyway inside the gallery we were very disappointed to see series of extremely weird videos which had no relation to anything else existing on the planet. Of course that's my own opinion but a lady smashing a bike with a metal stick in hands is not very interesting or impressive. Or the same lady throwing random objects such as stones and wooden pallets in rivers in USA or Germany doesn't work well either. 

After these unpleasant scenes we went out of the gallery to find ourselves in the middle of series of installations across Kensington Gardens. They were done by the born in Bombay artist - Anish Kapoor.

Firstly we saw the C-Curve, which is actually a mirror, that turns the image upside-down. That's also the name of the whole exhibition - "Turning the world upside-down". 

Panoramic view from the back of the mirror