Own Work - Site Visit: Sydenham Woods Oct 2013

Sunday walk through Sydenham Woods in South East London, to explore an old folly and disused railway line. Objective was to monitor the decay of man made structures and also to take a look at the concept of the folly.

A Folly is constructed primarily for decoration and is purposely made to look like something that is not its intended purpose. An example would be building a castle ruin within a large garden to suggest there once one being there, but it's purpose is now as an attraction or perhaps an area for afternoon tea.

The above example is a folly of a church ruin, its history and presence within the woods suggests that the land may have once formed part of a large estate or garden. Due to lack of upkeep the folly is beginning to crumble at it's edges, showing modern red bricks hidden beneath the concrete made to look like stone.

The above is further evidence of this lost estate or perhaps of previous landscaping within the woods for the public that has been forgotten about, slowly being reclaimed by nature.

Above is the remenants of the old railway line running through the woods. The track is now gone, but the bridges and tunnels remain. Slowly the growth has taken over and clouded the old track paths. Moss growing out of the brick work and timber beams creating a juxtaposition between industrial heritage and natural decay through new life.

Own Work - Photography: Emulsion Lifts Gone Wrong

 For a previous project I worked on Polaroid emulsion lifts to convey a chaotic natural element (water) to something man made. I decided due to the success of this to manipulate the process by layering 2 images, one over another to show the juxtaposition between controlled environment and uncontrolled. I choose to do this in the setting of Barbican in London (A popular modernist development). Unfortunately the effect didn't make the message clear and so in large respects was a failure, however I did get some interesting distorted negatives from the back of the Polaroid film, which have proven much more interesting (below emulsion lifts).

Own Work - Site Visit: Barbican Oct 2013

 The Barbican is a vast estate built during the 1960s and the 1970s designed by Chamberlin, Powell, and Bon; in the centre of London. Before this the area was devastated by world war 2 bombings making it a target site of regeneration. It consists of an art centre, library, school, museum, public gardens and many housing blocks. It also once contained a medical facility, fire station, and a YMCA.

Site of the Barbican as construction begins in the 1960's

Example of a floor plan in part of the housing blocks

Another prototype of an apartment in the estate

Publicity poster cross-section of the Barbican Arts Centre

The Barbican is a prime example of brutalist architecture in the UK and is now grade II listed. Originally some elements were proposed to be white and clad in marble (which is why some of the walls are textured, see photos below), the Barbican vision was gradually scaled back due to costs.

Due to the utopian ideas involved in the vision of this estate,  I went to investigate to see how nature had begun to effect this estate with age and to see if any juxtapositions had begun to form.

Interestingly I found there was a battle for control, between the organised planting plinths (some of which were empty fostering no life, and the cracks in the brick work where there was an abundance. It's funny how we seek to control nature and choose where it should develop and how, yet it is uncontrollable, making a never ending battle.