Project 1 write up

It was a fun project, and to end it, we went to Sweden which was great. More on that when I am not so sleep deprived from creating a presentation for the clients. As this had to be in PDF form, it's not on the original paper (beautiful stuff), but it makes more sense. Enjoy!

Introduction

Milland Project,

Abigail Banfield

My aim in this project was to create a habitable building that not only fulfilled the brief of 'zero fossil fuel usage', but was in itself an attractive and unique building.

My main motives for design, aside from that lead by technical issues related to fuel, were born from narratives I created for the perspective inhabitants. I wanted the couples retreat to be just that; a retreat - not only from our technological, consuming modern world, but of the natural world too. The building would serve as a place to come back to after time spent exploring the land, to take off muddy items and retire to the fire side. I had an idea of creating increasing 'levels of enclosure', so the building has a large porch to shelter under to allow the inhabitants to sit outside to watch the summer rain roll through the woodland, and lowered windows in places to view the land whilst being inside. My intensions were to link the cottage to the land as much as humanly possible. These notions can be seen, in part, on page one.

Cob is used for the extension, and the shape of such was intended to show the difference between the old and the new, thus making it a 'readable' building. The overhead insulation is sheep's wool, available very locally indeed! The building is taken off of the ground with a course of gravel (from the nearby river bed), then a naturally made hempcrete, then a suspended (for ventilation) wooden floor.

I hope that you can see the thought processes of my project, and enjoy looking at the work I have enjoyed producing. To follow the concept and principles of the project, all of my presentation was hand drawn on recycled, handmade paper from the Plymouth area. This of course does not come across in the digital format.

Abigail Banfield

Year Two's First Project

Hello!

I have just started my second year back in Plymouth. I'm still loving the course, and of course my new housemates.

Our current project is to create a holiday cottage for two, in a wood on Bodmin Moor, entirely without the use of fossil fuels. There is a crumbling ruin on site, with which we must work. To begin with this sounds straightforward, but once you start thinking about embodied energy, then it starts to get tricky....

For example, thinking about which materials to use, one thinks of wood, seeing as it is a renewable material (if managed correctly). But then you have to think of where that wood is coming from (as you can't use transport due to the fossil fuels it uses as power), and how it has been processed (we can't use tools that have themselves been made with fossil fuels or use fuels to power them).

Admittedly, the timber issue was fairly straight forward; I am using local oak to make a green oak frame. This in itself has its problems as it will warp as it seasons (seasoning wood in modern times has been done with a process of 'baking' which uses fossil fuels as power). Also, we must consider whether we actually want to chop down the trees, as this will definitely expose the hidden site. The more interesting problems, however, come with things like the oven, piping and windows - I wanted an aga or something similar, but the cast iron needs too many processes; plumbing generally uses copper pipes, but there isn't a way to make them on site; windows must be made on site, which leaves the option of handblown glass.

See? It gets tricky.

And it's due on the 23rd. Minor panic.

Beautiful bit of Cornwall.
The site is in the patch of trees on the right!

The heavy canopy and the top of the ruin.

It was late, late in the evening,
The lovers they were gone;
The clocks had ceased their chiming,
And the deep river ran on. 


I am writing this whilst writing my 'narative' for my Calstock site. The brief is still vague, but at the moment my idea is that this area is a place for a walker to stop briefly and rest.
The verse above is from WH Auden's "As I Walked Out One Evening". It could just be my favourite poem of all time. It is beautiful, so I thought I would share. If you have the time to feel moved, have a look at the full version.


Much love
Abi

Recent Trip with coursemates to Wembury beach

Merry Christmas

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas yesterday, and that you are enjoying the festive season!

The last week of term, we had a project which bridged the gaps between the years; our teams contained members from every year of the course. 

We were given a section of the university campus and told to improve it in order to enhance the learning experience of uni. So followed ideas for interventions.

These interventions were translated to 1:50 scale models, which - when joined together - gave us a mini campus inside the main building. 

Lots of festive cheer

Abi

My contribution... a little silhouette army

Campus within a campus

The studio took a beating

Feeling like godzilla

Assembly

Deadline Time

Currently living in the most UNTIDY room ever. And that is by my standards. Not good.

How is it almost Friday again???? The weeks seem to fly by when you are having fun have a deadline coming up.
On Sunday, 'Project Two: Container' is due, the deadline being 1pm. This is my first grown up deadline (ie it is not at all flexible), and I am half freaking out, and half overwhelmed by the ideas in my head.

This is one of my explanations (please leave criticism !) ...

In the design process of my container, I have struck upon and stuck with a narrative which relates my treasured object to the container.

 Before this narrative became apparent, I explored the idea of juxtaposition of material. For example I looked at the possible use of a natural wool to oppose the plastic and metal of my object. In relation to this I investigated and experimented with different methods of working with this material. Knotting and knitting were my first ideas; taking inspiration from different sources. The creation of a knotted fabric was prompted by thinking of primitive and practical original uses for ropes and yarn, thus taking the container as far as possible away from a mass produced modern plastic and moulded metal toy. This led me to a fishing net style.

I also explored knitting with the wool as this is a home hobby for me. I found that by using different knitting stitches, I could create different ways to wrap the car. At this point, my design was all about alluding to the shape of the car but not giving away entirely what it was, whilst juxtaposing the materials.

After a few trials, I came to the idea of the narrative. This being that my car is a replica of my car at home in Sussex – an old car which would have easily gone to scrap without my purchasing. Therefore I see my car as a recycled product; I could have bought a newer car with a larger carbon footprint to offset, but instead I bought a vintage English-made car which has had many owners. Thinking along the idea of taking what some people would consider not worth keeping and using it, I have created containers from recycled materials. I focused on finding materials that reflected the materials found in the car. For example, I indicated the metal used on the car with reclaimed aluminium beer cans, the plastic with fused plastic bags and the vinyl seat covers with an old, discarded vinyl record.

In terms of shape, I went initially with a traditional box shape to conceal the treasure within it; thinking of a treasure chest and the suspense of opening it. I also tried to keep the edges less than perfect to reflect the age and tattered look of my (real) car. I then changed to a curved, almost tunnel-like container to reflect the origins of the container’s materials. 


If you aren't bored to tears by some of that reading... then on with some pretty pictures!








Oh wait, what's that? I haven't been taking photos of anything because I've been super studious and ill? Oh yeah.... No photos chaps! 
After this deadline, I plan to knit some things, catch up on other work, and SLEEP. 


Abi

This week in plymouth.....

This week has gone so fast! Tucked into my birthday cake eventually!

My mummy made me a tiffin cake 

SO much chocolate

Caaaaaake and Cath Kidston

 With the left over birthday photos over, on with the serious course-based stuff.....

The making of my container

 We have a deadline for monday, so I shan't write a lot here but all the best!
xx

Mount Edgecumbe

On Monday (10th Oct) we went as a class to Mount Edgecumbe by ferry. It was part of our container project, whereby we took our object inside its container and 'sited' it. The idea of place and site has been a reoccurring theme through the last couple weeks, and the lectures and points that have been made in lectures and workshops all clicked into place with this task.

Anyway, on with the pictures....

My placement - reflecting the recycled nature of my
container

Drake's Island

Ducks!!!