1093082900: December 2012

I have applied to study Architecture at Manchester University because I want to convert the sort of imaginary ideas that I have shown in my art work into real world functional designs that people can experience. Furthermore, I feel that the Manchester course has the creative context and reputation to help develop my skills.

I recently visited the Pompidou Centre in Paris. The building appeals to me because of the mechanical structural details in the design such as the external walkway on the front of the building that links the different levels together as well as the exposed intricate pipe work. I not only found these structures aesthetically pleasing but they are functional in creating a more usable open space inside the building for the art exhibitions for which the building is designed. Furthermore these exposed structural features are clever because they allow the external framework to expand and contract when the structure is exposed to climatic changes particularly during Paris’s hot summers.

My favourite architect is Richard Rodgers. His design approach relates modern geometric design and materials with the more traditional styles of architecture in cities where his buildings are located. For example, his renovation of St. Pancras station combines the renaissance style of architecture of the old station building with a high tech design approach in the form of integrating geometric glass and steel shapes in the new roof over the station platforms. This meant that platforms could be constructed, allowing for longer trains with a bigger passenger carrying capacity. Furthermore, the platform extensions have meant that the original vaulted ceiling area where the platforms used to be located could be converted into luxury shopping areas. Combined with the openness provided by the old roof, Rodgers has created an area which is brighter and more pleasant to be in. In my A0 drawing entitled ‘Utopia’, I have drawn a train station similar to St Pancras on the bottom centre of the drawing, but I added an extra functionality by utilising the extra unused space above the ground level by drawing multiple levels of train platforms inside the imaginary station.

Intricate Line Drawings (imaginary city scapes)

Drawing One: "Utopia". Intricate line drawing, A0 size.

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Drawing Two: "The City". Intricate line drawing, A1 size.

Drawing Three: "The Mine". Intricate line drawing, A1 size.

An example of the type of architecture that I would like to experience is the Metropol Parosasol which is a redevelopment designed by architect Jürgen Mayer-Hermann for the Plaza de La Encamacion in Seville. The idea of incorporating the mathematical number pattern of the Fibonacci series to create organic spiral patterns found on pine cones and pineapples is a real example of the intricate and arresting designs that appeal to me. I have experimented this concept through some of the sculptures that |I have
contracted at school.