A series of study trips to Newcastle, Dundee & Edinburgh. With DS25's exploration of bodies and space we looked to visit not only architecture what monuments and landscapes that exemplified the idea of superimposed bodies. In addition to this we also explored interesting architectural examples such as the V&A in Dundee by Kengo Kuma and the Scottish Parliament designed by Enric Miralles.
A Winter Day in Edinburgh.
Newcastle
Bodies of the North.
The Lady of the North and the Angel of the North.
Lady of the North 01: "On the Nose"
Lady of the North 02: "Climbing Landscape Bodies"
Angel of the North 01
Angel of the North 02
The first stop on our trip was Newcastle to visit two types of Bodies set within the Landscape; the Lady of the North by Charles Jencks and the Angel of the North by Anthony Gormley. Whilst both presented a dominating presence within them, I did prefer the Lady of the North as it was not simply placed within the landscape but became the landscape, the body informing the shape, they were one and the same.
Dundee.
V&A.
V&A Dundee - Underpass.
The next stop on our trip was to Dundee to visit the V&A, designed by Kengo Kuma. The architecture itself once again dominating the landscape, like a monument but unlike the angel of the north did also have areas that framed the area around it, through the use of voids like the underpass that was formed by the shapes of the built form. The use of the reflection pools also added to the buildings aesthetic impact.
Edinburgh.
Scottish Parliament.
Tectonics 01.
Tectonics 02.
Space & Void.
Light & Shadow 01.
Frame.
Light & Shadow 02.
Scottish Parliament.
Architecturally, our final stop was the Scottish Parliament, a project with incredible detail in it's tectonics and unlike the british counterpart seemed to reorder the idea of the typical parliament political structure through the more radial layout of it's spatial planning within the main chambers. I also enjoyed the use of space and void to manipulate light and shadow through the spaces framing other aspects of the scheme, allowing one to re-experience previously visited spaces through new eyes.
Landscapes of Scotland.
Vistas, Views & the Various.
Arthur's Seat.
Dividing Paths.
Seat of Ruin
Casting Gold
Earth & Sky
Into the Unknown
Given the landscape based focus of my design thesis this year, I also sought to look at natural landscapes and vistas throughout the trip, of which Scotland had many I was able to see along the way to our various sites alongside hiking Arthur's Seat whilst in Edinburgh.
Windows Vista 01.
Windows Vista 02.
Windows Vista 03.
Bridges.
Daylight Moon.
Rivers.
Early Morning.
Sweeping Vistas.
I thought of these various vistas also through the eyes of bodies in the landscape, buildings and trees becoming appendages, rivers and lakes forming crevasses in the bodies skin. By doing so, I came to understand that each landscape, each town formed various bodily compositions but also provided the landscape with various bodily functions. The to envision an architecturally sound bodily landscape, I could not think of it through the individualistic mindset but rather through some sort of hive mind.
