Manchester Digital Potfolio

Studying architecture at MSA would be a great opportunity, the vibrant and outgoing University and City definitely suit my way of life. In recent years the surrounding area has undergone a transformation of modernisation making it an engaging city to study and live. I feel the concepts used could generate ideas for my own work. Being ranked highly in the National Universities table I feel confident that Manchester would mature me into an Architect and give me the best start to achieve my ambitions. A recent piece of Architecture I have visited is the Bullring in Birmingham, I have been on many occasions but it never fails to catch my eye. Its slick curves and boldness allow it to stand out from any angle.  What makes it so uniquely captivating is that it doesn’t look glaring or out of place, it offers a modern twist to what used to be a rundown area of Birmingham and has become quite a significant icon of the City. At night it can almost change its design with the use of lighting and this again portrays its brilliance, from darker tones at the top making the bulges look like they are flowing over you to eccentric colours that make it stand prowess over the rest of Birmingham. Frank Lloyd Wright is a great inspiration into the way I see Architecture. “Falling Water” really captivates the way I see Architecture developing in the future. As we go on sustainability will become even bigger than it is now and his creation offers a blend of the rural and modern life, but does this so elegantly that the whole building seems to flow within its setting. The way in which the waterfall comes from the building again is something I think makes it so beautiful and I would love to progress this into my designs in the future. A piece of Architecture I would like to visit in person is the “La Sagrada” in Barcelona. The way in which the Cathedral has been designed by Gaudi in such a monumental way but which also contains such elegant detail is not just phenomenal but also makes the viewer force themselves to look. Its backdrop within the City looks distant from its sheer height and towers which prevail from its magnificently delicate base. From images I have seen I also love the way it looks so different at night to that of the day, as it is so vastly tall the lights that shine upwards make it glow and with this makes it feel like it looks over the rest of the City, fitting that it is linked with that of God and Religion.

This is an a building that I designed using AutoCad during my time at Work Experience with PJ Barnetts.

During my second week of Work Experience at Pleydell Smithyman I was given the task of designing an interior layout for Swarkestone Nursey after being given a brief by them. This includes a prominent water feature, seating with tables and a kitchen. I then had to choose the seats and worktops I thought would work well with the flooring I had chosen.

Again at Pleydell Smithyman I was given a brief and was asked to design a restaurant for Palmers Garden Centre. As this was going to be a self service restaurant I had to think carefully about which vinyl and safety flooring I would use in which areas.  

One of my projects for A-Level is that of Rural and Urban. This is an initial observational drawing where I have incorporated the two ideas (a can and a rose) I then chose to complete this in a mixture of media's: Pencil, Watercolour and Oil Pastel.

Another stage of this project was when a professional artist spent a day with us and we had to do a drawing using chalks on something relevant with our theme. Again I incorporated the use of a rose. Firstly I stencilled on a brick wall and graffiti text and then used chalks to produce the rose over the top of it to make the rose look like it had been sprayed onto the wall. 

An artist I studied during the project was David Hockney and his photomontages, which you can see at the top on the other page of my sketch book. Below is my own interpretation linking both the rural and urban themes.

Banksy was also another artist that I used to gain ideas. I recreated one of his pieces using a technique that he uses in his actual work. Creating a new stencil for each colour of the 'Graffiti Boy'.

This a landscape which I created using oil pastel and I worked into it using pencil. This was to be used in a design idea (below).

This is one of my design ideas and I created this using clay and pressing different crushed cans into it and then pouring plaster in to produce this mould. To then incorporate the rural idea I painted a rural scene (like above) on top of it.

Another project I undertook was etching and I recreated this etching of a tree as a pencil study.

Above is a final piece for the etching project. I thought that etchings sometimes looked a little plain by themselves so I mixed actual photos that I took, etchings I had created and an actual etching plate I had used and put all these together to create the overall tree.

Once I had finished my etching project I decided to incorporate some of the ideas I had gathered and merge them into creating a 3D Clay pot. The curves of the pot came from the stumps of the trees and the texture from the rough bark.