Evaluation

Over all I believe my FMP to be successful this is due to meeting my main aim. This was to find and transform and abandoned part of underground London. Initially I wanted to use a disused tube station however I was not able to get access or find any original floor plan. This led me to look further a field to other abandoned underground spaces in London. I finally decided to use the old tramway in Holborn. I focused on this site as I could gain some form of access to it as well as being in central London, however I did not realise until visiting the site how long it was ( over 2 miles) therefore I decided to only use part of it. However the unit I have chosen could be repeated along the whole tunnel. Initially I wanted to simply turn a disused space in to a social or habitable space however after looking at the high levels of homelessness and the increase of it in London, I began to think about the aims of the space and possibly creating a rehabilitation unit for homeless people to be supported then trained to work on the onsite restaurant .This adds a dimension to the space as a project could provide life skills to go and work in society again. I have come to realise that the social justice aspect of the project is exciting and challenging for me beyond the creation of a ‘space’.

What was challenging about using underground space it that the exterior is already formed for you. I found this very exciting about choosing to use underground space. Another challenge about using underground space is thinking about how it was going to be lit, especially after doing my questionnaire .75% said they would live underground if there was natural light and 95% said they would not live underground if there was no natural light. After visiting  various exhibition such as ‘sensing spaces’ at the V&A as well as ‘Monument’ at the Barbican I started to think about light and movement in a different way. I also looked into bouncing light, light tunnelling and skylights. As my site is under a room and road it was very restrictive in terms of providing sky lights. Therefore I finally decided to have a very slim sky light which was completely mirrored so that it could bounce light in the different room. I found this very interesting at depending on where the sun was the rooms were lit in different ways. I also created a beacon of light around the entrances to the tunnel to bounce as much light into the tunnel. I like the idea of a beacon as it creates awareness, to the homeless this is a place of help, the high levels of homelessness to the public. As well as reflecting light it also reflects the homeless people’s reflection to themselves and furthermore it is a symbol of hope and that these people are in their own home.

The methods I used to come to my final outcome were various different creating different small outcomes. Also looking a various different elements separately e.g. light, form, line etc. Also mixing with other disciplines such as the fashion pathway where we created new and different ideas.  At first this can seem a distraction from the original project but I realised that time out exploring ideas. Through out the project I kept a sketchbook and a blog. The sketchbook was helpful to get ideas down quickly and also experiment by over laying pictures and drawing into them. The blog was also an effective tool in m FMP. The blog helped me reflect on what I had achieved that week and think about how to move on productively using what I have learnt.

Out of all the different forms of feedback I found the most effective and helpful to be the one to one sections with my various different tutors. These were helpful to further develop my ideas as well as the tutors leading me to look and different artists, designers and sites, as well as getting me to think about wider concepts and ideas. I also found the group cits with my pries helpful as this would forces me to review what I had done so far as well as having to explain my idea and new research simply and clearly.

If was doing this again I think I would visit a wider range of sites as well as try harder to get into some of the abandon parts of underground London, this would give me a better understanding of size and scale. Parasitically to my project is I had more time I would look at how the space would be heated and different lighting systems in relation to the season. I would also want to further develop my idea and its function, how I would fund it, where I would get support from and how long the system would take to get people through it and back into full time employment. From this I have learnt to manage my time every well also how important is to continuously go to exhibition visits and pop up architectural events. When continuing on my further studies into architecture I would hope to continue my investigation in to light as well as trying to solve urbran social problems.