Architecture Construction & Settlement

Fog Illusion & Space - Presentation work

15.07.11

So today I return home. The emotional goodbyes finally came to an end as I got on the train to the airport. I am on the airplane and my mind has been ticking… Vienna, the city itself and the people in it have been fantastic. The time I spent there was perfect in every way, a true life changing experience.

At the TU the tutors have time for individuals and communicate with their students with a mutual respect, interest and willingness to treat each student as an individual and work to their strengths. I feel in the UK architecture seems to be a tick list. The boxes must be ticked to do well, but if there is an additional piece of work for example a document towards a design project, the tutors will not read it but will check that it is there. How can they expect students to produce work that is not reviewed? Yet, in Austria word counts, file layouts, presentation techniques, are all decisions that have to be made by the student. The tutor looks for the positives in their students and encourages them to work towards their strengths, regardless of what media or format they finally present it in.
I felt with all of my subjects I learned a lot and even excelled in certain aspect – all without the pressure of what I have been used to.
In my opinion, students in the UK run around panicking and spend time on things that actually in context are not important – in Austria students are focused and relaxed and produce work in a controlled environment without the need for stress.

I am sorely going to miss my family in Vienna. The past week was full of farewells and I must admit that I really will miss them all. A few individuals (you know who you are) I felt that I have known for my lifetime, the Erasmus experience makes you realise that certain things in life are important but also how valuable life itself and the experiences you gain from such things are often far more productive, better and valuable than slaving away shut off from the world. The number of lessons I learnt, amount of confidence I gained, languages improved and people that I met was something I will never forget.

Thank you Erasmus.

30.06.11

The last day of the month meant the start of farewells to some of the most amazing individuals I have met in Vienna over the past few months. The experience of the Erasmus exchange has taught me a lot. It made me realise how engrossed I had started to become in the things that were not important in life and it made me realise that you can live in a different way to what you are used to.
When you find yourself in a strange country and you immerse yourself into a new culture it takes a period of time to settle down and it seems that the moment you begin to feel rooted in a community and place; times change and people must move on. The Erasmus exchange was a period of time I will never forget. The time that I shared with my family here shall never be forgotten but we must all move on in our individual directions and into the future. I hope to see my Erasmus family again but with people from as far as Australia, Canada and America I know this will be difficult; we shall see and only time will tell!
Thank you to everybody that made Vienna such a special and joyous experience, have a safe journey home!

27.06.11

This morning we had our ‘Fog Illusion and Space’ final review with Will Alsop.
The past week has been a whirlwind with final preparations. The seven of our group had divided up tasks from our central design strategy to complete our presentation.

In Austria, students have far more freedom in how and what they present at reviews. There is no ‘set criteria’ or ‘boxes to tick’ and this allows students to be more free and flexible with the work they present. Our group tried to balance the more regimented side that we are used to in the UK, with a more free Austrian approach.
We decided that we would present a development booklet of ideas, three A1 sheets, a film, a 3D computer generated game, development models (1:200) and a final model (1:100).
We felt confident in the amount of work produced and aside from a few minor clashes of opinion within the group we were all happy with the final body of work that we were to present.

The first group presented a film which was made up of a series of illusionary experiments within the courtyard. This was an interesting approach and the film had some fascinating moments, but overall I felt they had not achieved a solid group design and aim and due to only presenting a film it seemed that there was a real lack of presentation material.

Our group began by playing our film on the projected screen. It is a film that explains our conceptual development through to our final design but is linked by the central theme of the ‘illusion of depth in space’.
Overall we felt the film was a success and was the perfect springboard for our presentation. After the film, we talked through our presentation sheets and development document, leading into an explanation of our process recorded through a series of models. I believe Will Alsop was happy with the amount of work the group presented and was surprised when we told him there was still another stage of our presentation. We had taken the computer generated model and turned it into a game; starting in the courtyard - the objective was to move through the installation and up the changing levels to the top floor. We created this to engage our tutor with the whole of the installation and not simply aspects of it. He enjoyed the game and was complimentary to the amount of work we produced.

The final groups concept was aimed at making Will Alsop’s offices more accessible from the courtyard. The idea of having practical connections was one of our main concepts but theirs was very much focused towards Will Alsop whereas ours had been for all the tutors and students using the TU courtyard.
The group then moved onto their models, where they had produced a beautifully made 1:100 version of their installation; as well as a 1:1 model that showed their experimentation with light and atmosphere.
I believe the work they produced was successful due to its simplicity and channelled focus. The models and film were very well put together but my only criticism was that there was not enough of a focus on the illusion they were trying to create within the space.

I returned home happy and confident that we had done well. We have to wait for the marks; there may have to be some changes made for our portfolio presentations but overall I was pleased with our group work and final review.

Our studio viewing the final group's model

Will Alsop inspecting the final group's 1:1 atmospheric model

20.06.11

This afternoon I decided that I should venture to Schottentor to enjoy the beautiful weather and sketch an aspect of the Votivkirche. The 19^th Century church was built opposite the Molker –Bastei where a tailor had tried to assassinate the Emperor Franz Joseph in 1853. The church was designed by Heinrich von Ferstel and had many chapels dedicated to Austrian regiments and military heroes.
In my opinion its striking spires are the most attractive of the churches in Vienna and the intricate detailing manages to flow seeminglessly across the facades. It was a stunning afternoon and it is always a pleasure to sit and enjoy the architecture of Vienna, especially in my last few weeks here.

A5 Sketch; aspect of east wing of Voltivkirche, Schottentor, Wien.

17 - 19.06.11

This morning Ellen Leanne and I had our presentation for Spatial and Environmental Planning in CEE countries. We had taken a number of documents relating to the EU Danube Strategy and chose to focus on Transport and Tourism along the Danube.
We focused on the stretch between Vienna and Bratislava and proposed a central transport route to help create a more efficient, environmentally friendly and economic transport system. We proposed this system would interlink with sites along the stretch of river to help draw more tourists of wider interests and age groups and therefore help improve the local economy and infrastructure. This focused study was formulated in a way that it could be applied to different parts of the Danube in phases and has the potential to expand across a much larger stretch of the river.
Overall the presentation went well as we received positive feedback from our tutor and other students. We now simply have to make a few adjustments to our work and this will be presented in the form of a document. We were all able to return home feeling positive.

Later that day I left to meet a group of friends at the Urban Art Forms Festival in Wienneustadt.  This festival is Europe’s leading audiovisual festival and attracted many of Europe’s and some of the world’s best Dj’s, producers and bands.
The atmosphere of the festival was fantastic, the people were friendly and the setting was breathtaking. We set up our tents in the camp site and made our way over to the festival. The music venues were held in a complex of old Aircraft Hangers. The huge hangers filled with people and music created a special and unique atmosphere. We had a fantastic time together and were able to see all the acts we had planned to watch and apart from the rain on Saturday we were overjoyed with the experience.
Thank you Urban Art Forms!