PRIVATE VIEW

TOMORROW!!!!!!

ha! nice find chloe. glad we're not doing that anymore. it's very nice though.

damn.

who made it? where's it from?

HIYA JORDAN

den drawing

BLOCKS

FAILED BLOCKS:
1. PAPER MACHE WITH WALL PAPER PASTE. (The better of the two but takes an age to dry.)




2. PAPER MACHE WITH PVA AND WATER:


As Miriam said, these blocks need to man up (bit like mr. frankenstein).
The blocks from today are much better at supporting themselves. score. go team.

BRICKS

i made the gelatin bricks earlier and left them to set outside of the fridge to see if that would work and within about 4 hours they have gone totally solid and brick shaped. i used three packets of gelatin and two packets of sainsburys basic jelly (for colour).

i have also saved loads of takeaway containers for moulds and will bring the bricks (in their moulds) in tomorow to see what you think.i think potentially we could make really big ones - maybe in a bin or something?? i lost my camera so i can't put any pics up at the moment........

see you tomorow at the meeting at half ten avec jelly, xx

"Our good mates corbusier and gaston" (Miriam Elgon, 2009)

LE CORBUSIER (TOWARDS A NEW ARCHITECTURE(1927))


"THE HOUSE IS A MACHINE FOR LIVING IN"

"THE BUSINESS OF ARCHITECTURE IS TO ESTABLISH EMOTIONAL RELATIONSHIPS BY MEANS OF RAW MATERIALS."

"PASSION CAN CREATE DRAMA OUT OF INERT STONE."

"THE PLAN PROCEEDS FROM WITHIN TO WITHOUT- THE EXTERIOR IS THE RESULT OF AN INTERIOR."

"THE PRIMORDIAL INSTINCT OF EVERY HUMAN BEING IS TO ASSURE HIMSELF OF A SHELTER."

"THE VARIOUS CLASSES OF WORKERS IN SOCIETY TO-DAY NO LONGER HAVE DWELLINGS ADAPTED TO THEIR NEEDS. NEITHER THE ARTIZAN OR THE INTELLECTUAL."

"BUT MEN LIVE IN OLD HOUSES AND THEY HAVE NOT YET THOUGHT OF BUILDING HOUSES ADAPTED TO THEMSELVES."

"BY IMPOSING THE ORDER OF HIS FOOT OR ARM, HE HAS CREATED A UNIT WHICH REGULATES THE WHOLEWORK; AND THIS WORK IS ON HIS OWN SCALE...TO HIS OWN PROPORTION...COMFORTABLE FOR HIM...TO HIS MEASURE...INHARMONY WITH HIM."


(All the poetics of space stuff is on here already.xx)

CANNOT GET THIS OUT OF MY HEAD

JELLO

hello,

i can't make it to the practise on Monday. like Chloe, i'm sorry i haven't been able to make it to as many things as most people but after Monday i and totally good to go every day etc.

i have though, been looking up ways of making bricks//blocks//etc for the block structure and one of the things i was looking at was the idea of making GELATIN blocks - similar to the resin idea, but more organic and abit more gross.

the great thing about it is that you can make it as weak or as strong as you like by adding more or less gelatin powder but basically you can make pretty sturdy blocks that you can see through to an extent. the other really cool thing about it is, that by adding other types of normal jelly you can make different colours - pink, red, yellow, orange. also like in the clip below you can set stuff in them and they only take a night to set...

i think it would be really interesting to see what would happen to them in an out doors situation and over an extended amount of time. they might just melt away to nothing but it could still be pretty exciting. i am going to try and get some gelatin today or definatley over the weekend and have a go and i will report back on tuesday.

the videos below show how to make two different kinds - the stapeler one is the most simple and i think the most sturdy. also you can see that it can be made on a large scale.
the other one is called 'ballistic gel' - which is what the FBI make to test out how lethal firearms are. it is supposed to react in the same way as a human, so they can measure how far a bullet would go into you and what effect it would have. this seems pretty sturdy too though.

the only thing is whether or not it could withstand the outside, but it is worth a try...

JELLY ONE:


BALLISTIC GEL:


this video shows the process of making real bricks - it looks alot simpler than i thought it would be but we don't have a kiln so we wouldhave to try and find clay that dried in the air or some other material..

HAND MADE BRICKS:

RIGHT OK.

Can i just apologies for being shit the past few day's.

like literally, sorry i haven't been attending building/etc days, as wednesday & yesterday i was sorreling it up & doing research for my essay, & today i'm doing the same.

I come into the book room for like a second earlier,some of you where there, & the stuff looks so so amazing. Also NICE ONE EM, on your knitting skills, theyre so cool. once i get this essay out the way i'm all yours.

sorry again & please don't hate me.

p.s the flyers so nice. 

our external projects the best. THE END X

hi friends

i haven't posted in so long. my computer is rubbish. i hope to be blogging on the reg. as soon as.

How the Pros Do It

Jon showed me and Jade this video today. Installation at Pelota for the Milan Furniture fair. Installation designed by Established & Sons.

xxx 301 xxx

so sorry if i sounded stern in that last post!!!
I wasn't intending to kill your idea or anything.
I only feel that introducing new ideas at this stage blurs the focus a bit and focusing our efforts is the name of the game.

xxx

Post No. 300

Ok, i'm perfectly fine with the name we decided on. But i was under the impression we'd stick with that name for now but if anyone has any more thoughts/ideas then feel free to put them on the blog. Perhaps i was just hearing things.

I wasn't trying to make a big deal out of it and I'm not trying to extend the decision making process or make any one's life difficult. They were just some ideas/suggestions/thoughts I had when i was doing my essay and figured I may as well post them on the blog because i thought they might be interesting and - well, why not? I wasn't trying to impose them on the group or imply i wasn't happy with the name. They were merely just open suggestions. Take them or leave them. Either way I am not in the slightest bit bothered.

Just to make myself clear, 'Draw a Plan, Build a House' and any of its variants are absolutely cool with me, the afore mentioned being my preferred name of choice.



On a lighter note, this is our 300th post. Congratulations Jungle Club. What a day! Here, the great American football player, Don Shula, has personally signed a celebratory card, just for us.


And here, some of our fans celebrating our great achievement - thanks Gerald, Tom, and Brad.

about the name...

Hi Jordan- are you thinking you aren't happy with the name we decided on?

The way I feel about the project at this stage is sort of that once we make decision we need to just plough on. I think what has plagued us up to now is a tendency to discuss every detail to the nth degree. I do like your ideas but we need to crack on with the solid bits of the exhibition i think.

i dont know if we can come up with an alternative that the majority of us is happy with in such a short space of time aswell. If anyone is feeling iffy about the title feel free to disagree- but we just need to settle on one as soon as, so we can make flyers and get them out there. We really should have done it on friday.

Here are some variations on what we decided on Thursday, just for tweaking purposes:

Draw and Plan, Build a House

Draw a Plan and Build a House
Draw a House and Build the House


Draw a Plan, Build a Shelter

Draw a Plan, Build a Home (cheesy)
Draw a Plan, Build a Hut
Draw a Plan, Build a Den
Draw a Plan, Build a Nest
Draw a Plan, Build a Roof
Draw a Plan, Build It
Draw a Plan, Build a Space (well shit)
Draw a Plan, Build from Scratch (quite like this one)
Draw a Plan, Build Your House (and this one)
Draw a Plan, Build a Building (and this one)
Draw a Plan and Build It (and this one)
Draw a Plan and Build

thoughts?

xxx

The Name Game

I've been thinking of some more potential names for the show. I was reading something about an Inuit language having 100 different words for snow and ice and I wondered if there were many for 'house' as well. There is Igloo, which means snow house, but there are more too, each coming from a slightly different language and area. Here are some of them:

Ungluq
Nanglu (translates: Sod house - The prairie lacked standard building materials such as wood or stone; however, sod from thickly-rooted prairie grass was abundant)
Iglu
Iglupiaq
Illu
Illuk
Illuvigak
Ittiq
Illuigak (translates: Snow house, hunting hut, beaver’s den)
Ula

Of these I quite like Ula (although too similar to U.A.L maybe?), I also like Beaver's Den. Or Ungluqs and Iglus - but any combination of these words could maybe be a bit too weird.

Anyway, I tried to think of more combinations with words associated with what we're doing and remembered the term Safe as Houses - which could be a good name. Safe as Sticks also sounds nice. Or add any appropriate word after 'Safe as...' and it could make a good name. This led me onto the old nursery rhyme Three Little Pigs. It's loaded with brilliant imagery and words.

Here is Disney's fantastic 'Silly Symphonies' version of the tale:



We may end up making 3 different structures instead of 4 or more, so it may be nice to reference this tale in that way (even if we make more than 3 it could still be interesting). Potential names from the tale:

Three Little Pigs

Three Little Piggies

Who's Afraid of The Big Bad Wolf?

The Big Bad Wolf

Not by the Hair on My Chinny Chin Chin

I'll Huff and I'll Puff

I'll Huff and I'll Puff and I'll Blow Your House Down

Open The Door and Let Me In

Blow Your House Down

I have a feeling some of you will probably hate this idea, but I quite like it.
The Big Bad Wolf, Three Little Pigs and I'll Huff and I'll Puff all work for me.

There's also a lot of brilliant material that we could draw into the flyers/posters/identity of the show if we so wished. And I don't mean as directly as drawing pigs and wolves everywhere, but look at the style of the following illustrations; heavy outlines, faded pastel colours and even the typography all create quite a distinctive language that would be nice to borrow/bring our own elements into.






It would also bring a playful element to the show, which to me has been lacking slightly from this project - unlike the work we've previously done together.

Also, here's a clip of Christopher Walken reading The Three Little Pigs on the Jonathan Ross Show. It's slightly annoying with the audience laughing every 5 seconds but he does a good job, I suppose with a voice like that it would be hard not to.



I'm aware we probably don't want to make too much of a connection with this tale but I think it could be interesting. Anyway just some ideas.

"I built my house with stones,
I built my house with bricks,
I have no chance to sing and dance
Cos work and play don't mix."

Remember that kids.

dates confirmed

love the triangles - i hadn't seen the process before but i think it looks really good. look forward to seeing it on a really large scale...

just to let everyone know, the dates for the show have been 100% confirmed with Craig now::

they are taking down the show before us on the afternoon of the 8th - so as soon as they are finished we can get in there and start building.
we then have the space until the 17th when we need to take it down.
so that gives us 9 days so even if we build for 2-3 days that still gives us a good amount of time for the show.
i still think the private view should be on the thursday - the weekend is not an option because they have a party there on the saturday but it's totally up to everyone what they want to do..
i am back at home in Herts this weekend (sorry i couldn't be there for the build practice friday, family bizz to attend), but on Monday i will try and get to the Bunhouse to track down Mick the landlord and ask how long we can build for in a day/night etc and try and find out the answers to the other questions we had.

so yes, the dates are---------->

*******8TH - 17TH MAY 2009*********

Autonomous Triangles

I know everyone's seen these already but I never got round to putting them on here, so here they are with a brief explanation of the process.

In response to Flo's nets of her own Geodesic Domes, I came up with another way of creating a dome whilst still retaining a human element in the process. At the time I thought the majority of our cardboard would come from shops and supermarkets and so we'd have a mix of different sized pieces. With this in mind I started making my own structures with unmeasured and randomly cut out triangles.
(Excuse the bad photographs - my camera is broken so they're all taken on a mobile phone)

So first up I cut out my triangles and, anal as I am, organised them by colour:


Using flaps I started piecing them together to create a wall:



Which slowly grew...


...Until I went round in a circle and came back where I started - creating a free standing structure. It is quite a fun process, like a jigsaw puzzle with no correct solution - the unpredictability of it is interesting as well because you get strange pockets on the walls that you would never logically want to create.




Birds eye view:


As you can see it doesn't have a roof. This is because I'm using random triangles with random angles and as such it is impossible to create an entire 3D surface without holes and gaps. I also gave myself strict rules to only use random triangles and not to create made-to-measure pieces to fill the gaps. This was just for experimental purposes, to see how it works, and actually I quite like the holes and gaps. If we did want to create a roof and/or fill the gaps though we could easily start creating triangles to fit those gaps exactly - or we could use other materials instead which might be good.

Anyway here's another attempt, slightly simpler:




And lastly, here are a couple of simple masking tape drawings of our cane structures, inspired by the amazing Anne Harild.




They look good with inverted colours as well:

my bit

EXTREMELY late to be saying this but I'm going in for 10 tomorrow just to get settled a bit before meeting time.

Chloe- First Mate's secret identity is Alice Georgina Lindsay, a 21 year old illustration student from Crystal Palace. Her hobbies include reading, listening to music, and going for long walks in the fall.

Little summary of our meeting the other day.

Three Elements to Our Project

1.Blueprints/Drawings/2D Plans
2.Practical Experimentation/3D Models
3.Theory/Concepts/Reasons

Building techniques:

1.Frame Building
2.Homemade Geodesic Domes
3.Using Ready Cut Shapes
4.Papier Mache
5.Sheets and Pegs
6.Block Building
7.Building with Debris/Found Objects
8.Fabric

Materials To Get

1.Cardboard
2.Fabric
3.Garden Canes
4.Rope
5.Wool
6.String/Twine
7.Newsprint
8.Wallpaper Paste
9.Nuts and Bolts and Washers
10.Stanley Knife
11.Hacksaw

Priorities at This Stage

1.Promotion
2.The Publication
3.Ordering of Materials that need to be Ordered
4.Cracking on with Practical Building Practice.
5.A Title

ALSO

When's the private view-or arent we having one? just so i can tell my ma & pop you see. 

love to you all xo

i hate myself.

totally logged myself out. deary me, here i go again, anyways flo told me to upload these an age ago-apologies for the delay but here they are. i realise it's a bit of a back track, but still.

THIS IS AWFUL

But who is first mate?

I have a headache, the weather's got rid of all my brain cells.

but my apologies for me disappearing off this blog for a week or so.

i'm up for using flo's title for our exhibition. i think it sounds really nice-as for dressing up as hermits i'm really up for that too.

i'm getting on my sketches of how i want the exhibition to look, i've never really nosed around the bun house,(only been there for samuel's show & it was rammed) so my sketches may be really adventurous & unattainable, however i'll try my best, & look at the photograph's you guys have pasted & so on n so forth.

We're talking to Pete on the moro right? well i personally feel we should meet up slightly earlier, just to do an overall talk through, just so i can get the jist of what everyones feeling at the moment & all that jazz. (because of my absense-which i'm aware is my own fault-i just want to be sure i've got things straight etc, just incase i talk in the meeting tomorrow & get things wrong.)

thank you & i shall see you all tomorrow.

xo

Questions for Mick//Craig

just to confirm:

1. double check the date we can start to build from
2. how much of the smoking area can we cover?
3. what is the deal with the dart board area?
4. double check the span of the show (inc build/take down) try for as long as poss
5. how much of the roof can we use - second bit included?
6. health and safety!
7. do they do any promo or is that all up to us?
8. DOORS.

if you think of any more, hit me a text. i should be seeing Craig and landlord Mick in the next couple of days....

xx

c o r r i d o r i d e a

OK, so from this terrible terrible drawing you can't actually tell what i am talking about but the idea was:

you walk from the pub, through the door into the corridor.
in the corridor, we build our own walls (which go across the corridor like a door) which then break up the corridor and stop it from looking like a corridor
we could make them out of cardboard or knitting or whatever.
these then make little 'zones' where we can then play around with what we do in them
the person walking through then is completely surrounded by whatever environment they have walked into. and once they are in they can't see what was behind them or what is coming next
we could lower the ceiling or make really really tiny 'zones' (because the corridor isn't that big) but they could all be totally different.
maybe one of the walls could be a small door or something that they have to climb through
if we sent people through one at a time it might feel quite eery being on your own in all these really confind spaces
they will then come to a split where there is either the door for the box room or the door to the ourtside
this is maybe a way that we could try and make a very small space seem bigger by creating the illusion of lots of different bits rather than just seeing it as a corridor
i have watched alot of changing rooms

TAKE TWO:



thinking about the size of the corridor this might have to be scaled down but could still work with just two/three 'zones'

hermit the frog

those canes are insaine! who ever would have thought there were so many types of cane?!! and seeing them and then seeing Emmas knitting = exciting

i really like the idea of the giant version of the handout for the dart board area..it could be like the size of a proper wendy house so that you can go in it like with the den we made for the pitch. we should have that projection thing of all the images etc in there (the one we used for the pitch) because that was too good to only use once and it was really clear - esp if it was also backed up with other stuff like our drawings or miniature models of dens - like Flo's teepee and some of Emma's knitting experiments made in to very small dens.

perhaps we could make an individual handout or something that people could look at as they walk around the show - to kind of give them a context of what they are looking at - and also all that stuff about making an audience feel like they are part of what they are viewing and not just feeling like the are intruders like the tutors said about our amazing den. i don't know what form that would take or anything or even how it would work or if there would be another, maybe more interesting way, to involve the audience but i deffos think it is something we should think about.

also there is a plug inside the box room which we can plug a multi plug adaptor into (plug) - incase anyone was worried about power supply for lights//projectors//fans//etc//. again we should think about sound, temperature, colour, light as a way of utilising the space as well as the physical dens.

-i will ask mick about the health and safety aspects, but write it down incase i forget. to be fair - that pub doesn't really srtike me as the kind of place that worries too much about things like that (you can climb on to a sideless roof with your pint in the dark if the mood strikes you) but obviously we don't want anyone to die!!

the door to the corridor also as another point - opens inwards (i think) so if we are going to build in the corridor we need to remember to leave space. trivial but maybe important....

Everyone Brainstorm Titles-Everyone do Sketches of How the Exhibition Could Look

I am AMAZED by Emma's knitting efforts- really really exciting stuff!

EMMA: The Big knitting looks beautiful-really sort of chunky and sculptural- I was definitely thinking you could make an animation in a little team- sorry if it sounded like i meant you should make it on your own!! I would offer my services but there are definitely people who are better at that film making, animation lark than me- i'm thinking Jordan, Katie, Alice, and others.

In terms of needing alot of string/wool/rope/fabric to make large french knitting "tube" things- why not? By the time everyone has put their £80 in we should have £900 or so, and we have to make an investment at some point!

MY FAVORITE ONE EVER IS THE LEG KNITTING- we have to have to have to have to use this!!!!! looks bloody good aswell- kind of like a net- a big fishing net or a ladder/climbing frame thing.

Good point about the fire escape/safety hazard implications. One of the questions Eliza needs to sort out with Mick is, what are the health and safety requirements? ie. anywhere we can't build, things we can't obstruct, materials we can use (im thinking fire hazard time?)

THOUGHTS ABOUT ELIZAS POST
I dont know what everyone else is thinking but I'd defo rather start building on the afternoon of the 7th! earlier the better in my book.

What Craig said about having something in the dart board area to introduce whats going on in the back rooms- this could be the upscaled version of the handout (obviously we would alter the content so it was relevant.)

Those pictures of knitted chains look amazing-having loads of those in the space would make me die in a good way.

Reactions to Eliza's points about putting up/taking down the exhibition etc.
My initial feeling is that I would rather have the exhibition open for as long as possible so as many people as possible will see it. Therefore I would rather do crazy ants building from the afternoon of the 7th and open on the Monday until the Sunday.
I think we need to have it open for at least one day of the weekend- when do we have to have it down by?


PS.
The Cane sample pack arrived!!!!! It took 11 days to arrive- we should bear this sort of timescale in mind for when to order materials- we should really leave two weeks delivery time. I will bring it all to the meeting. Is it Monday or Tuesday? I think it should be asap-Monday.


I'm coming round to the idea of total transformation but I still feel really anxious about it- can someone do a drawing of how this could work/the logistics of the whole thing? Techniques, how to tackle ceilings etc.? I think I don't understand fully.

More Titles:

A Pursuit of Ordinariness
(this is basically the hermit's quest- to retire to some other place to escape socially contingent rewards like power, success and wealth. To escape the pressure of unsettled times and to create an ordinariness for himself)
Different quotes from recluse poetry that are quite nice:

"at my door autumn grasses grow"

"day by day a fresher air moves"

I like these as titles because they aren't trying to be cool or trendy. They might seem a bit arty for some but they are earnest, and were written by people who wanted to make a space of their own for much the same reasons as I think we do.
I could write more up about these poems if anyone is confused or wants to see more of them.

floxx

can we dress up as hermits for the flyer?

thoughts..

I think in terms of what the exhibition is going to be I am still thinking along the same lines as Emma- I am more excited by the idea of transforming the whole space- but I do know that we need to be realistic. I do think that it would be good to hide all the walls (particularly as the walls are not really that nice) and create our own space- as I liked the idea of moving away from a traditional gallery exhibition, and creating a place that was completely how we wanted it and taht suited our needs. 

I think because of the size of the space, transforming it all may not be that daunting- although it would need alot of planning. I agree with Pete that writing the press release and sorting out the publicity and stuff will  make us think about what would work best for the project and what we can manage. etc.

I am a fan of 'Recluse Poets vs. Desert fathers'

xxx

Bunhouse pictures.

These are the pictures I took when we went to the bunhouse, sorry they're not that good but it  gives an idea of the space.  I've tried to put them up in the order you walk through the space.