More Power Station
I went and visited the power station for real today, it was amazing! went with a friend who was doing a photoshoot so there are some provocative images below, just shows what a great place it is! So breathtaking. My friend was saying it would be brilliant for studios, gallery spaces etc... and it's true, but it would be an absolutely massive job. We can only dream...

Oh, Staircase.

Got one of those emails which shows awesome staircases.
Some are really brilliant! Paul McDonald (building science lecturer) would be salivating. Sorry, cant reference the pics as it was just one of those spam emails!

Submission tomorrow. Wish me Luck!

This is my final submission for tomorrow. Don't think it turned out too bad I dont think? I screwed up my first try and then attempted again. After throwing out a whole bunch of material & printing, and almost burning the house down... I finished.
I really like the way the images work when you look through the holes and material. Creepy.

Much x

Jess

Submission Week Approaches...

Submission week. My jaw is really feeling it this week! Basically we figured out only last week what we actually had to do for this sculpture thing. Its meant to be more a representation of our design principle as a space... so basically it can be translated into an interior. Sounds easy.. but its so not!

So I decided my design principle is 'exposure' of the 'performance of WA identity'. I have left the idea about the dinner table, but its good research for my thesis anyway. So i'm looking at exposing this order and disorder. These are some pics of what im going to make, and here's an excerpt of whats going beside it. (Apparently should speak for itself so no presentation needed. ahem)

So if there is a façade or veneer then what lies beneath? I have explored this notion of ‘order and disorder’, a dichotomy as one cannot exist without the other. My design principle and method is ‘exposure’ of this performance and amplify this so people are aware that we are living through this performance in attempt to cover an honest and truthful inner. It is similar to Freud’s ideas of concealing the unconscious in need to reveal inner desires and truths of character or form.
In my piece I have created the relationship between order and disorder. I have created my own veneer from layers of fabric, which build up different levels of translucency. This veneer then becomes exposed, through its decay, slowly revealing the inner truth. Inside the cylinder are images of scarring on the body which are exposed through the parts of decay. These images represent complete exposure and truth of the human form- imperfect and disfigured.

So im making this cylander thing which represents what ive written above. I'm still struggling at the moment to get it to do what I want to, making the gross images of scars actually recognisable is hard. I think im going to make it more perfect in parts, and disintergrated in others.

Aaargh!

Much x Jess

Wedding Love

This weekend I was at a wedding down south in Margaret River/ Bussleton. It was awesome!! Country weddings are the best because everyone is so laid back. The reception was beautiful, they had it at an estate with a marquee set up so well. I hated to get back to work / reality today!

Congratulations Bec and Mike

South Fremantle Power Station

This is the most amazing site in Perth I have seen in a long time.
Its the derelict south freo power station, friends of mine lance and stef
were looking at the site for dissertation.
Thank you so much for letting my post these photos!
I <3 you Lance + Stef

From mansions in Applecross: presenting the performance of a domestic life

A SET TABLE

I have started looking at the idea of 'table manners' or a dinner party as apart of the
performance in domestic households. If you deconstruct a dinner table
it is evident as it shows certain qualities of the performance. I looked also
at the photographer Laura Letinsky and her series 'Morning and Melancholia'

" 'Morning and melancholia' pictures dirty dishes and messy counter tops, abandoned arrangement, stranded tidbits and crumbs: unexpectedly alluring tableaux of things and spaces we touch, alter, devour and discard. The pictures are still lifes, yet they don't aim for the traditional allure of bountiful meals that either away or attest to and unseen viewers consumption." -Laura Letinsky Taken from 'Eating Architecutre'- Horwitz and Singley (ed)

So where does this lead me in my project?

Basically I've now taken the microcosm of suburbia in Perth
andzoomed into this idea dinner table/dinner party, and in particular the structure of a meal.
I did my own little exploration (terrible camera- please someone get me one from my 21st)
at dinner last night.

Dinner table starts as a picture of perfection, exact. Cutlery
is placed in certain the correct place, there is no suggestion
of use/being used, rather we know how they are used for
how they are placed.
Prayer over the flood to bless it. Influence of
catholicism still apart of
suburban conformity.
The table is deconstructed. There is no longer order,
or precision. The table becomes an imprint of the
dinner that was consumed. So its going back to this idea
of order and disorder.

The table beings as order, then it falls apart into
disorder. So perhaps what Laura Letinsky is looking at
in her photos, she sees beauty in these used spaces.
Its like the disorder, or the exposed breaking through
this 'veneer' i'm trying to get my head around.

lets hope I dont grind my teeth into a pulp whilst I do so!

x Much

Jess.

Image from perth laneways 'Trespass' exhibition 08

My design- in Grand Lane.

Perth?

Our project at the moment at uni is basically looking at the identity of Perth (if that exists, we are yet to determine) which of course is multi-faceted. I from before this project have remained very doubtful if we even have an identity. But of course, everything has an identity- it basically defines existance. We can identity one thing from another. Anyway, cut the bullshit. So these are the things I have established about Perth and its 'identity' through the help of my classmates.

• Reliable on mining resources to stay afloat

• Isolation
• Natural bushland
• Beach Culture
• Performance

I'm looking at performance. It may seem like an odd 'identity' but it basically comes from book 'Presentation of self in everday life' by Erving Goffmann. The way Goffie sees it is that 'the world is a stage, individuals take on various roles detemined by different situations but mostly shaped by interaction with each other' I took elements of his book and applied it to Perth.. and the way I see it is Perth has a veneer covering it. Or what goffie likes to call it- a front. It's a setting through which the performance functions, is an indiator of status, income, class etc etc etc. I think this is a very true thing about perth, and is pariculary evident through our Residential architecture, or should I say project homes. The houses are insensitive to their context, ridiculously huge, and did I mention ugly? You can take a stroll through applecross anyday to get an idea. We have such a beautiful city, but the architecture can be so insensitive.

So if these veneers through which we have our performance are stripped, what happens? Chaos? Exposure? It's quite freudian, the idea that underneath in our unconscious mind we have the lingering 'true us' (what is that anyway..) But without the veneer then there is no supression or question of what lies beneath. So perhaps the veneer still needs to exist for us to continue in our performance.
So I guess in the next few weeks im going to be looking at exposure/transparency/containment as my design principles. I could be heading in the completely wrong direction, but i'm sure my loss of sanity will be posted in the week to come.
Submisson... week 5! (we are going into week 4. Correct me if im wrong, but 5 follows 4.. right?)

much x

Jess

Hi.

My name is Jess and i'm an IA student at Curtin University in Perth. Basically I'm starting this blog because I don't want to do any uni work on a Sunday night, and I feel like I could create something of an awesome (not making any promises) blog for architecture students and the like to use. I can't think of anything else really interesting to write here.... so I wont waste your time.

Much love.

Jess