Sketchbook Thoughts - Art & Design Centre

Sketchbook thoughts on a design project

In order to enhance the effect of sculpture on Briggate, one way to strongly link the sculpture with the sculptor and his thoughts is to use someone who is readily avaliable, maybe someone who has a studio in Leeds.

Why not infact put a studio space on Briggate and bring the artist/sculptor to Briggate and get them to show their work and share their experiences with the retail public?

The addition of art studios, design studios and/or a centre highlighting design principles, onto Briggate would hopefully result in a link to the understanding of work shown on Briggate.

Sketchbook Thoughts on sculpture

Following the line of thought that art/sculpture could be added to Briggate as a way of slowing pedestrians/shoppers who are using Briggate. i.e. giving them a reason to stop and assess the space which is Briggate.

Art/sculpture could be added to Briggate in many ways, including a random placing of sculpture into Briggate BUT surely the sculpture which could develop on Briggate should actually have some CONNECTION or TIE to Briggate?

So often in design the underlying reasons behind the choices during the design process go unnoticed in the final product.

Sculpture for example can be classed as a personal and emotional response expressed in a material form.

It can be appreciated and enjoyed by anyone, but usually it takes a certain level of understanding of the sculptor and why he made the choices he did to fully appreciate the work.

The Well (Variation on a Tsukubai), 1982, basalt. Installed at the Noguchi Museum, Long Island City, New York. Photo: © Sarah Wells, 1993.

Take the above sculpture by Isamu Noguchi. I can appreciate the smooth clean form and the highly tactile rough sections but I don't understand why they are there.

I feel that to fully appreciate the work involved in crafting this sculpture I need to know more about the creative process undertaken by the sculptor.

Simply looking at a sculpture is like looking directly into the sculptor's soul but without the translation book.

It wasn't until I researched into the sculptor that I fully appreciated the piece of work.

Isamu Noguchi travels all over the globe finding the appropriate type of rock for his sculpture, one with the right texture, grain, colour. Once found, he will carefully remove the rock from the earth and sculpt his piece following a private and personal inspiration. He will always leave a section of the rock unfinished and un-polished to represent the influence that mother nature has had on his sculpture.

In essence, in all his work, he is acknowledging another author and thanking them for their input.

This additional knowledge and understanding enhances my appreciation and enjoyment of the sculpture.

How can people easily appreciate the understanding behind the sculpture without a deep research into the sculptor?

i.e. How can a piece of sculpture come with a translation book and if it did, would this spoil the experience or enhance it?

Sketchbook Thoughts on a Redefinition

Is this a redefinition or just ANOTHER definition of Briggate.

Or could it be classed as a proposal since there is the suggestion of WHAT could be applied to Briggate to enhance/change it.

Revisiting the definition

Sketchbook Thoughts

Spaces for development on Briggate - above shop level....Not interfering with current grain or facade layout.




Waterside developments protruding into the space dominated by the River Aire, maximising the useable space linked with the building footprint.

Urban art display in Market St Arcade....
Linking public art/sculpture in Leeds city centre...searching for a pattern.

Sketchbook Thoughts

Moving towards a redefinition of Briggate

Redefinition - To give a new or different definition to a word.

Briggate has already been defined as the place where fashion and architecture collide with the absence of art.

During the redefinition an investigation into other cities is required to conclude similarities and give ideas for eventual proposals for Leeds and Briggate.

However by expanding on the issue that is the lack of art on Briggate, any further input will in essence change the definition.

eg since art is lacking, what would happen if sculpture was placed onto Briggate. Thus art is no longer lacking from the street and has therefore altered the definition and view of Briggate. Since the sculpture could be placed incorrectly and so not influence the majority of people connecting with Briggate the definition could thus alter in many ways.

However by stating WHAT could be encorporated into Briggate I am moving towards a proposal NOT a redefinition.....

What IS a redefinition?

Is a redefinition another way of stating the same thing by changing the vocabulary OR a similar way of stating the same thing but looking at it in a different context? OR is a redefinition just another definition of Briggate?

Architecture Meets Fashion = Briggate

Investigations

What is art?

What can be described as art?

What art forms could be brought onto Briggate?

How could art be brought onto Briggate?

Examples of sculptural architectural forms in the urban landscape....

DEFINITION

Briggate can be defined as a part of the whole shopping district of Leeds.

The retail zone of Briggate, with its well known fashion and shopping labels, dominates the city and helps speculate the thought that in Leeds, shopping IS Briggate.


In this area of Leeds where the architectural history is carved into the very facades defining the space that is Briggate; modern trends in the fashion industry meet historical trends in architecture.


In this amalgamation on Briggate of all things design orientated, where is pure art and sculpture represented?

Briggate defined? - Fashion meets architecture

Defining Briggate - Personal Investigation

What is Briggate?

How do you define Briggate?

It can be defined:

- As a series of blocks

- As a route or a destination

- As a link

- A street in a series of streets (part of a network)

- An open ended square

- By the frontage of the retail shops

- A series of open spaces

- Retail investments, perceived wealth.

Define Briggate

Define :




To determine; to express the essential nature of something; to state the meaning of a word group or assign a symbol; to describe, explain or make definate and clear.

Group Presentation - Definitions?

Group PowerPoint slides...

Identifying Briggate - Personal Investigation

What can be identified on Briggate?

Barriers - Road links, pedestrian links, train links, retail developments, people, money, weather, access, opening hours.

People - Students, parents, children, OAPs, business people, shoppers, purposeful people, wanderers, unsure people, workers.

Spaces - Forgotten, unused, open, green, public, private, historical

Buildings - Retail, commercial, leisure (restaurants, cafes), ecclesiastical, developing, abandoned, arcades.

Materials - Stone carvings, brick, glass, metal, Yorkshire stone, concrete

Street Performers - Buskers, charity workers, data collectors, university students, street sellers, seasonal vendors/ displays

Streetscape - Building elevations, street furniture (bins, seats, lighting)

Weather Patterns - wind direction and funneling, sun path (shade from buildings)

History - Ginnels, urban grain, people flow, traffic flow

Noise Pollution - shoppers, clubbers, deliveries, seasonal

Identify Briggate - Year 1 & 2 Group Presentations