Play areas

Look.... Jen Ghel

And a great blog about playgrounds, playscapes is written by Arcady. Her site is much more useful than trawling through all the manufacturers sites: Arcady's blog gives several good examples of innovative playgrounds where you can see the designs are creative and considered.

Their is one link on the website referring to some designs for street furniture here. The work is interesting but quite unsuccessful I think, because the execution of ideas has been poorly done, but the premise is interesting and potentially worth considering. And another idea which I have to say I was put off by because I think this is more of an "happening/encounter" than an actual functioning object (although this might just be my own take) is the laughing swing, designed by Michel Rinot.

Arcady has also looked at skate parks, a great example of one is Cantelowe Skate Park in London, which was created by Wheelscape in October 2009.


There are some video links that show the way the skatepark has been received and it seems to be a huge success, just from the rendered image above this looks as though it is a great shape and move forward from some of the more cluncky examples you can see dotted over the UK.

Another attempt at explanating the 'idea' of semiotics

Semiotics as I understand it represents the relationship between things. These relationships are complicated and varied and often overt particularly in the case of road signs, then comparatively very subtle for example a sight or smell which triggers a emotional response. Anything that presents to us as a significator allows us to make connections.

Below I will list a series of signifcators that express this idea of relationals. They will also illustrate to some extent the vastness of the subject and how important this ‘semiotic’ ‘foundation’ (of which there are many) is to our existence.

Slippery Snake – Onomatopoeias

Family – Love, security

£ - Sterling, money

Apple – The Apple Macintosh

Yellow - Yellow is the colour of sunshine

Immediately the mesh becomes inexorably complicated, these relationships underpin the way we learn the way we react, and basically shape society with concrete yet infinitely elastic junctures. Everything in life can be examined through the ‘semiotic’ magnifying glass. What springs to mind is literally a mind map or the roots of a tree, sometimes winding their way into swelling river then evaporating, to be found later tracing their crystal clear vision toward the damp sill. Oh dear, I’ve lost my thread. But anyway this does relate to design – somehow. Tbc…. With some references!!

Students as Agents for Change

Today I attended the first meeting for ‘Students as Agents of Change’, the premise is that the students become involved in the decision make process connected to the expansion plans for the university. So before the architects are contacted the student body is allowed to make suggestions about what kind of new facilities will be present in the improved campus.

It was a really interesting meeting, students from many of the courses were present, from both Exeter University and Falmouth University.

One group of students were adamant about the fact that the work going on at the campus should be considerate of animal habitats and also not destroy the allotments that had been provided for their course. People wanted to improve the green areas, making it possible to enjoy the outside more in the summer. Another group wanted to make the campus more inviting, by creating a Sculpture Trail for visitors and locals to enjoy.

Another valuable idea was to set up a series of focus groups to take place within Penryn and Falmouth giving the opportunity for locals to also make suggestions about how the campus expansion could be of benefit locally through new businesses, entertainment facilities like theatre and films and so forth.

Something that I felt stood out for the students was the idea of creating a feeling of ownership within the campus for the students. This would be established by basically turning the university into a gallery space, showcasing art, photography and design and also giving the students the opportunity to use the campus site as a site for experimentation for example through garden design and ecology.

For me this will be a really helpful experience. In my current work I am aiming to discover the specific needs of a community relating to a project. So my personal methodology (discovering needs and creating an outcome) will cause me to either do a good or bad job. I found a great website the other day with a series of crib sheets and toolkits on it, they show how to approach and implement the finds of a consultative process. So hopefully being a part of this committee at college plus + the crib sheets + first hand trial of focus groups = good outcome.

Feelings of Usefullessness

Coming into the second year of this MA, I now have to reconsider my route and the path that I will need to take to achieve this.

Last year I completed two work placements, both of which were very rewarding and helpful in enabling me to see if the choices that I made were viable, the placements have given me insight into the kind of career which I would like to pursue in the future.

My first work placement was to design a bench. using Autocad. I also worked within a landscaping department at the council and this was very enjoyable and insightful.


The bench would have been made from rolled sheet steel, unfortunately thier were drawbacks;

• too expensive to produce
• uncomfortable in the sun

The bench was made from component seats

• did not fulfil the ‘bench’ brief
• the shape of the seat made it hard to create dynamic arrangements

My second work placement, was much different. Making signs for a camp-site. This was oriented towards creating a final product. In this similarly to the other placement, I used computer programmes to achieve the outcome – illustrator, which was challenging, but eventually came to a successful outcome. The camp-site wanted a series of signs for the site, directional and toilet signs – with an arty edge.

They were handmade and original, as well as this they were made from recycled materials, according to the brief. The signs are in use now, and I made a total of 11 signs.

The process of design is different to art and dependant on approach. Design is always user motivated, which means that nothing is sacred in the way that could be considered with art and as well as that items, objects must have a reason or excuse for existing, otherwise they can be deemed useless.

Nonsense Rhymes

For no other reason than I like Edward Lear, I thought I would add this extract from his 'A Book of Nonsense' because it made me laugh so much.

NONSENSE COOKERY

Extract from the Nonsense Gazette, for August, 1870.

Our readers will be interested in the following communications from our valued and learned contributor, Professor Bosh, whose labours in the fields of Culinary and Botanical science, are so well known to all the world. The first three Articles richly merit to be added to the Domestic cookery of every family; those which follow, claim the attention of all Botanists, and we are happy to be able through Dr. Bosh's kindness to present our readers with illustrations of his discoveries. All the new flowers are found in the valley of Verrikwier, near the lake of Oddgrow, and on the summit of the hill Orfeltugg.'

THREE RECEIPTS FOR DOMESTIC COOKERY

TO MAKE AN AMBLONGUS PIE

Take 4 pounds (say 4 1/2 pounds) of fresh Amblongusses, and put them in a small pipkin.

Cover them with water and boil them for 8 hours incessantly, after which add 2 pints of new milk, and proceed to boil for 4 hours more.

When you have ascertained that the Amblongusses are quite soft, take them out and place them in a wide pan, taking care to shake them well previously.

Grate some nutmeg over the surface, and cover them carefully with powdered gingerbread, curry-powder, and a sufficient quantity of Cayenne pepper.

Remove the pan into the next room, and place it on the floor. Bring it back again, and let it simmer for three-quarters of an hour. Shake the pan violently till all the Amblongusses have become a pale purple colour.

Then, having prepared a paste, insert the whole carefully, adding at the same time a small pigeon, 2 slices of beef, 4 cauliflowers, and any number of oysters.

Watch patiently till the crust begins to rise, and add a pinch of salt from time to time.

Serve up in a clean dish, and throw the whole out of the window as fast as possible.

TO MAKE CRUMBOBBLIOUS CUTLETS

Procure some strips of beef, and having cut them into the smallest possible slices, proceed to cut them still smaller, eight or perhaps nine times.

When the whole is thus minced, brush it up hastily with a new clothes-brush, and stir round rapidly and capriciously with a salt-spoon or a soup ladel.

Place the whole in a saucepan, and remove it to a sunny place, -- say the roof of the house if free from sparrows or other birds, -- and leave it there for about a week.

At the end of that time add a little lavender, some oil of almonds, and a few herring-bones; and cover the whole with 4 gallons of clarified crumbobblious sauce, when it will be ready for use.

Cut it into the shape of ordinary cutlets, and serve it up in a clean tablecloth or dinner-napkin.

TO MAKE GOSKY PATTIES

Take a pig, three or four years of age, and tie him by the off-hind leg to a post. Place 5 pounds of currants, 5 of sugar, 2 pecks of peas, 18 roast chestnuts, a candle, and six bushels of turnips, within his reach; if he eats these, constantly provide him with more.

Then, procure some cream, some slices of Cheshire cheese, four quinces of foolscap paper, and a packet of black pins. Work the whole into a paste, and spread it out to dry on a sheet of clean brown waterproof linen.

When the paste is perfectly dry, but not before, proceed to beat the Pig violently, with the handle of a large broom. If he squeals, beat him again.

Visit the paste and beat the pig alternately for some days, and ascertain that if at the end of that period the whole is about to turn into Gosky Patties.

If it does not then, it never will; and in that case the Pig may be let loose, and the whole process may be considered as finished.

pg 131. EDWARD LEAR 'A Book of Nonsense'

Edward Lear wrote lots of 'nonsense' rhymes, and many of then start with the phrase... "there was an person of" in this one as in many others he names the place where the person was from. 'Brill' is a place in Cornwall, in Flushing a village just next to Penryn.

Operation Goodnight

This is an article I found in the 'Telegraph Magazine' July 2008. It describes the curfew that was placed on the teenagers of the town of Redruth at the beginning of the summer holidays. Apparently Redruth had one of the largest teen crime rates of the UK, and 'Operation Goodnight' was set up in order to combat this. Children of 10 and under were to be home at 8pm and children of 16 and under were to be home by 9pm. If the curfew was a success - which according to the article it was, then the initiative was to be rolled out in other places such as Manchester and the larger inner cities.

Redruth town is located within the old mining district of cornwall, and falls within an area which has been subject to much regeneration. It is about 3/4 miles from Cambourne another area earmarked for regeneration that is part of the "Heartlands" Scheme a project that was awarded big lottery funding of £22m.

" Voluntary" is the difficult word. There was no residents assembly, no vote on the matter. Instead there was a unanimous agreement by the dozen or so people who attended one meeting that the curfew would be a good idea. The scheme was conceived and being monitored by "the partners". Griffin (police officer) is untroubled by these niceties. "I thought lets just try it," he says. "It's not been imposed. We wanted a chance for the community to be part of something this summer: a low-key locally delivered initiative."

Bearing in mind the statistics would have taken into account things like population and also location, it cannot be fair to suggest that Redruth has the highest crime rate in the UK, only highest in crime rate when taking into account certain geographical considerations, that said the crime rate was sufficient that the town was used as a 'controlled test' to work out whether or not the curfew would work.

There are similar articles on the Telegraph website which talk about the curfew.

Semiotics

Semiotics is a subject which I am interested in and looked at during my degree, but I know that I never fully understood it so I am now taking another look in the hope that it makes a bit more sense.

I'm looking at a book called Structuralism and Semiotics.


The book examines the use of language, and how language fundamentally affects the way we think and behave. An example of this might be, when two people from different regions or countries say the same thing and what they say is varied by an accent, language or by the intonations in speech. The 'changes' may be subtle, but distinct enough to carry colloquialisms (or systems of information) which effectively set apart the language from a neighbouring district so-on. This difference is what gives us identity (within language eg. gaelic, or welsh) and therefore individuality. We also find that these meanings can be 'lost in translation', the result of this clearly changes the meaning of the sentence, not unlike that of Chinese whispers.

"..There is therefore, concluded Sapir in a classical statement no such thing as an objective, unchanging 'real world':

Human beings do not live in the objective world alone, nor alone in the world of social activity as ordinarily understood, but are very much at the mercy of the particular language which has become the medium of expression for their society. It is quite an illusion to imagine that language is merely an incidental means of solving specific problems of communication or reflection. The fact of the matter is that the real world is to a large extent built upon the language habits of the group. No two languages are sufficiently similar to be considered as representing the same social reality. The worlds in which different societies live are distinct worlds, not merely the same world with different label attached....We see and hear and otherwise experience very largely as we do because the language habits of our community predispose certain choices of interpretation. (Selected Writings in Language, Culture and Personality, p162) "

Liinguistics and Anthropology pg 31.Terence Hawkes, 'Structuralism and Semiotics'