_Concept Devlopment _Material Texturisation and Pixelation.

I have recently been sketching ideas and developing thoughts of how I could reflect the sites position and surroundings in the design/form of the proposal. One of my more literal ideas is shown above, I have used a photo of green leaves on the site and used photoshop to digitally amend the image via a proccess of texturisation and pixelation.

Could I further develop these images into the buldings cladding or colour palet?

Background Studies_Booklet Design

Last time I posted I apologised for the lack of updates, this time I really need to apologise as its really been quite a while!

During the last few weeks I've come up with a finalised design for my A3 booklet, Im designing the booklet in Photoshop in A3 format and I'm hopefully going to split the images into A4 pages and have it professionally printed before the Decemeber Hand in (or thinking about it, I may wait and have all my booklets printed together to form one huge book showing all my work from this final year at university?)

The booklet is going to have three sections:-

Section 01 -
Background information about Stress in the UK & its links to Relaxation and Spa's
Background information about Spa's and Spa design

Section 02
Site Location
Site History
Existing Buildings On The Site
Existing Materials in and about The Site#
History Timeline
Precidents - UK, Europe and Worldwide
Site Plan
Grave Locations,
Access issues, safety etc.

Section 03
Why the chosen site is suitable
Design Brief

The above left image shows one of my A3 sheets showing the existing buildings on site including the Non Conformist Chapel and the Registrars office. The above right image shows additional buildings on site including the Anglican Chapel and the entrance gates off Ecclesall Road. Please click on the images to see larger versions.

Background Studies_Booklet Design

Apologies for the recent lack of updates, the last few weeks have been rather busy for me, I've started to develop and build up my background studies for this project but I've also been very busy with my terriblely mundane day job and at the same time I seem to have recieved quite a few new photography jobs (this is my second job..come..evening..come..weekend job!!!)

The background studies is the first 'physical' piece of work which I have to hand in, in December 2009, the A3 booklet of information is meant to be around 5000words in size. Im currently trying to come up with a format and design which I like, a design which I can use throughout both this booklet and the later booklets which will follow.

_Two Weeks In Thailand Did The Trick _ Design Concept Finalised

Two weeks in secluded Thailand did the trick, I have concluded that I am going to base my final project around the idea of an Urban Spa.. an urban Oasis. Inspiration and conformation of this topic came from some of the beautiful hotels I've stayed in during my trip to Thailand.

Many of the top hotels in Thailand have a multitude of facilities including stunning spa's, restaurants and pools, yes this is not unusual in top hotels but the difference between top hotels in Thailand and top hotels in the UK, europe and much of the rest of the world is the difference in cost! I stayed in a selection of 4star and 5star hotels and Boutique hotels whilst away in Thailand with the average cost per room of around £55 per night! You would be lucky to find a 3star hotel for that price in the UK!

Many of hotels I stayed in Thailand were inspirational, beautiful modern architecture positioned next to lush green rainforest, stunning blue pools with beach views! I understand that the UK lacks rainforest and stunning beach views, indeed the UK also lacks the intense heat and incredible year round temperatures of Thailand.. but and this is a big BUT.. why are there so few luxury modern spa's in the UK? Why do the spa's which exist have to be hidden within grand country houses or within the urban jungle that is the UK's top cities?!


The above two photos show two of the hotels (with stunning spa's and pools) I stayed in during my trip to Thailand this summer.

_PG Dip Arch Year2 _Final Design Project - Design Concepts

Choosing a project to showcase the skills and architectural understanding I have developed during the last seven years of university is a somewhat daunting task, not only will the project last one entire academic year, the project will most probably contribute to the overall success of my career, after all this will be the project at the forefront of my portfolio during future interviews.

I have been playing with several projects ideas and concepts this summer, some wacky and completely unfeasible (one such idea - a portable river cleaning and filteration devise that also enables swimmers to swim up and down in a small but clean area of the river Don in Sheffield) and some less so.

I will going to asia on holiday in a weeks time, during this time I hope to come to a final decision with regards to my chosen project, my current mental list of design options include:-

-Cooking school
-Urban Health spa