The Bloomberg Pavillion

I've been having the kind of week that you normally only see on movies. A chance to change something from their past which would completely alter my life. I've stuck with the decision I made so many years ago but it hasn't stopped my thoughts and emotions being turned upside down and inside out. Everything in my life that seemed fixed suddenly has other options and it's almost impossible not to think of all the possibilities that could have unfolded. My poor wee brain feels thoroughly fragmented as it churns over all the possible ways things could have gone.

What better day to send out one of my draft posts from last year of the Bloomberg Pavillion with it's multi-faceted structure. That's what my brain is like this week, a solid base with all manner of wildness spilling out the top and looking different depending on where you approach it and the time of day.





'bloomberg pavilion' by akihisa hirata architecture office, tokyo, japan. photo © takumi ota
images courtesy of akihisa hirata architecture office + museum of contemporary art tokyo
found via Designboom

Terada Mokei - Architectural Model Series

Terada Mokei- 1/100 Architectural Model Series No.11 Cherry Blossom

When I was a kid I couldn't afford furniture for my dolls house so I made my own from paper, especially graph paper from old school jotters. For a few years I was obsessed with designing paper flat pack house contents and folding and slotting them together into bits of furniture. I'd colour them with felt tips, and add details cut from magazines to give them some style, like furniture facades, lamps, kitchenwear etc. from my Mum's old Habitat catalogues (RIP) and cut out clothes from magazines for the wardrobe, though that then eveolved into making little clothes from fabric scraps. It was fun, and I loved having a chance to create fantasy homes, landscapes and wardrobes where anything goes, slides, swings, secret compartments, mountains, spaceships,undersea themes. Clearly that it was the beginning of a lifelong passion for creating them in real, full scale life for living with or for themed parties.

The Architectural model series by Designer, Architect and Modeller Naoki Terada would have totally enthralled me. The scale is far smaller than a dolls house, but all the more captivating because of it. He was tired of late nights making the tiny paper models that were needed to bring alive his Architectural models and decided to mass produce them so that he could get a bit more sleep, and also share the pleasure of working (playing) with the paper models themselves. As a kid I'd have spent hours making them outfits, though for people with less creative urges (or time) there are Dress-Up Stickers to add to your tiny models.

Here are a few of the many models you can buy as kits to self assemble from Terada Mokei.
Photography by Kenji Masunaga.


Terada Mokei- 1/100 Architectural Model Series No.12 Construction Site


No.6 New York and No.8 Christmas


Paper Tweezers from the 1/100 Architectural Model Accessories Series.

Chelsea Flower Show 2011

Yes it's that time of year again and as I batten down the hatches and staking my tall irises and alliums for the gale due tomorrow (on the back of 2 solid weeks of gusting winds) I don't mind being kept inside when Chelsea is on the TV (BBC Chelsea coverage times here red button coverage details here).



From the preview program I'm liking the look of The Times Eureka Garden in conjunction with Kew Gardens. Plant cells and capillaries (which always fascinate me) play a major part in the design by Marcus Barnett and this is especially reflected in The Times Eureka Pavillion. The initial sketches didn't show much colour but on the BBC coverage it seemed to have some lovely a lot of low purple spires (Salvias?) poking through what initially looks like quite a loose almost cottage style of planting, the plants intermingling to create the kind of patchwork that usually reveals more and more on closer inspection.

The Laurent Perrier Garden also looks to have some beautiful, softly bulging planting but I'm not at all keen on the wooden structure which looks like a copy of the moving panels in one of the smaller gardens last year (I liked the original version). I'll need to watch tomorrow and see what it looks like properly.

It was grounded by the wind but I'll be interested to see what this structure will look like in the air for Diarmuid Gavin’s Irish Sky Garden. Lots more to see and hopefully more ideas that are based on sustainability, bees and being green.

My work + olympic pool

2008 Olympic Swimming Pool designed by the China State Construction Engineering Corporation jointly with Australia's PTW Architects and Ove Arup Pty Ltd (more images)


3 layered papercuts 1991 based on The 4 Day Sketchbook, 1991

The roof and walls of the new Olympic pool reminds me of much of my work, and made me realise I haven't posted any of my old work since the 1st of May. So let's remedy that right now...


Drawing from The 4 Day Sketchbook, 1991


A print (recent) of a drawing from The 4 Day Sketchbook, 1991


Papercut (1992) based on a drawing from The 4 Day Sketchbook, 1991



Several papercuts, 1991-'92, layered together

If you are new to my blog you can see more of my work in this style such as this felt brooch, this & this papercut, this book, this crochet. Or see more work in general by clicking the My Work tag at the end of this post.

Grey thoughts clouding my mind

Old Dairy (as seen last week)

Have you noticed all the grey on my blog recently? Partly it's all the rain we're having (but interspersed with sun so the gardens are very happy). Partly it's my glum feelings after the family visit. 5 days of trying to fake being well. I don't know why I bother, in all the time I've been ill (15 months for this recent bout of M.E.) my family has never once asked how I am. I think that's pretty weird and I'm finding it more upsetting than usual this month. I'm not sure why. More on this in the comments for this post.


Lucy by a farm door

Trend de la Crême

The Christopher Kane Fall 08 collection reminded Jill Sherman (Trend de la Crême blog) of jellyfish. See them all here on Coutorture where you can link to the full sized images, so much better than the tiny snippets I'm showing you. If you liked those, you should visit her blog since many of her posts are like the jellyfish one above & below that she did for Coutorture.



I always link things visually and it's been a great pleasure and to see someone else who not only looks at things the same way, but has the time and skill to find wonderful images which match the connections her brain is making. Plus she often has personal stories or memories of what made her think of the links, like a childhood visit to Roseville Telephone Museum for her post on Telephones...

Derek Lam's fall/winter collection (2008 I assume)

Seriously, her blog is full of these and I've gone a bit mad with links to them here, but it's because I think they are great. Here are a few favourites highlighting recent collections and the things that they remind her of - Sea slugs, Sea squirts, Siamese fighting fish, Octopusses, Beetles, more Beetles, Butterflies, Birds, more Birds, Humming birds...

Kristian Aadnevik designs for The Protégé Collection 2008

Lighting, Medieval armour, T'ang Dynasty, Cathedral ceilings, Electric Canvas Architecture, Spires & Pagodas...

Marchesa's fall/winter 2008 collection

Fancy Cakes, more Cakes, Orchids, Irises, Endangered Wild Cyclamen...

Diana Bobar's Spring’08 ready-to-wear collection

There are more, but my eyes are going fuzzy so I'd better stop. Thanks Jill for letting me post your great pairings, I love the way you mind works and can't wait to see more!

Blue stays, red fades to pink

LA has an abundance of blue walls changing tone with the passing of the day. If we'd had time I'd have loved to do a series of the same walls over the course of a day to see how much those blues change.

Touches of red

LA Trip, March '08, Venice parking sign

LA Trip, March '08

I've no internet access until Tuesday so I'm scheduling photo's for each day I'm away.

Mirrored glass

LA Trip, March '08, Building across from Paramount Studios
I love the reflections and the stonework

I've not internet access until Tuesday so I'm scheduling photo's for each day I'm away.

This building was beside Paramount Studios. We weren't going in for a tour, he just wanted a photo of himself by the sign. Of course, I had to take the photo, which involved standing on a street corner opposite the entrance/exit with a huge camera (he has good kit, big lenses etc) looking like some lone paparazzi who got the wrong day for a celebrity snapshot. We were there long enough to see George Lucas (I didn't know it was him, too busy trying to get a shot of my Brother) and Bill Paxton coming out. Another box ticked for 'things you must experience in LA'.

For me, the best part was when we needed to turn the car around and thought it would be easy to drive into the Paramount visitors parking lot, turn and come back out on the road we needed... but Bro got flummoxed and forgot to drive on the right. Even when the lady in the parking booth said "you can turn around and go out the right way" he still didn't realise until I squealed. It was very funny because it was in a safe place. Less funny was when he did the same thing doing a U turn on a a tight corner on a mountain pass and I nearly grabbed the wheel when he started to veer across to the left into what might have been oncoming traffic (blind corner). He was in a panic because he'd suddenly realised we were driving miles into the middle of no-where with an empty fuel tank!

Growth

LA Trip, March '08

I have no internet access until Tuesday so I'm scheduling photo's for each day I'm away.
This has reminded me that I've not said how much I've enjoyed Chelsea Flower Show this year, lots of calm, restful, contemplative gardens that are what I feel I need just now (though I still love colourful flowers and less hard landscaped gardens).

Of the large show gardens I think I most loved Andy Sturgeon's Cancer Research Garden because it had that calm green planting and water that my mind needs just now but also the most fabulous sculptural 'thought wall' made from waxed steel. It was like an architectural version of my paper and felt hangings and looked amazing on such a huge scale.

I also liked the thinking behind Cleve West's garden for Bupa, the paths curve around everywhere because people with dementia don't like dead ends (I never knew that). I like the section where he has the large sculptural ball with the angelica plants nearby, I still have a gap where angelica is meant to go in my garden near the fennel, i want the yellowy green kind people know well, but also the gigas variety with the maroon coloured heads, I think they would both look wonderful with the soft fennel foliage.

As I hoped there were also more examples of green walls and green roofs.

Rain chain + reflection

LA Trip, March '08, Venice rainchain and light reflected onto a wall

I've not internet access until Tuesday so I'm scheduling photo's for each day I'm away.
I loved this rain chain, though I still can't get used to the fact that such things are now needed in LA. When we were kids proper rain was so rare in L . I can still remember Michelle, the girl at the end of our apartment block, coming out to see what we were all dancing and laughing about. When she walked into the torrential rain she was terrified and ran back into her apartment in tears! I never imagined someone could not have experienced rain. As homesick Scottish children we were squealing with delight.

Sheds & National Work from Home Day (UK)

Just accidentally deleted most of the images and links for this post! Here's what is left...


Ukrainian architecture found via microscopic

What an amazing building, I'd like that as a home office. Here in the UK it's National Work from Home Day today which I discovered this when browsing the great blog Shedworking. I've been wanting to use waste pallets in the rebuild of my mobile home as well as for fencing and I've spent months trying to find examples. I was very pleased when I strayed upon Shedworking (I'm a true shed lover) and lo and behold, they had this post about a pallet built temporary shelter for refugees but it can be adapted for permanent use.

If I lived anywhere else I would have been testing all my house plans by building sheds (goodness knows I can never have enough storage space) but wooden sheds are now forbidden where I live, we are only allowed to put up metal ones, though luckily a wood one was already in place when I bought the house (and a metal one, I love having 2 sheds) and the rules only apply to new additions.

On the subject of sheds (and work), I was watching The Apprentice last night. What has the Apprentice got to do with sheds you ask? Well, according to this post on Shedblog (yes, another shed blog) contestants Michael and Lindi were carrying on in a shed in the garden of the house this year before Lindi was fired. UK readers probably already knew, but that is quite literally the only piece of gossip I have heard in months. If I got a man into my shed there'd be no nooky, I'd have him fixing a cross-brace to the back wall because the shed is slowly but surely tipping sideways on the sloped ground!

My current plan, for when I'm well enough to tackle things again, is to build a dog house for Lucy to stay cool in on hot days, a hedgehog house (he/she currently has a little leafy corner but it's not weatherproof) and some birdhouses... all with different types of green roof. Here is a link to another black lab called Lucy sitting outside her green roof dog house.


Sustainable Pet: Heart cat house (found via groovygreen)


Sustainable Pet: Birdhouse, bluebird

This will be my way of experimenting what will grow well because I really hope, one day, to have a green roof on my house extension. That is a very long way off, but it seems a good idea to start getting some practice with the plants now to see what survives best where I live.

I'm planning 3 tests. One with grasses, one with succulents and one with mosses. I suspect a combination of mosses and succulents will best suit the final roof, given that parts are in the shade (mosses) and the rest is nearly full sun. I like grass roofs, but I think it would cause too much trouble with the neighbours if it got straggly and I wouldn't be up there cutting it, though perhaps a loan of a rabbit would work.


Gallie Craig Coffee Shop, Drummore, Scotland.
Architect: IB McFadzean

I started the experiment a few years ago by putting broken bits of succulents on the nearly flat garage roof that backs onto my garden. The rain washed a lot of them away (it's not my garage so I can't build a retaining lip on it) but there was moss up there already and it held some in place. They are now doing quite well, though a lot is lost due to birds always pulling out the moss. On a proper green roof the succulents would have something to root into so I could pre-grow areas before putting them on the roof. Blimey, I didn't expect to witter on so much, but I never get to talk about my building passions these days with everything on hold.

Bleeding heart

Editing my flower photo's as I watch Grand Designs Live. I really liked the one last night with the guy who did lots of inventive things. He's the sort of bloke I've been looking for all my life so make my ideas a reality. He had made this brilliant running wheel in the garden for their dog, and the dog loved it. I'd have made one small change, I'd have it hooked up so the dog was generating electricity while running. I wondered if anyone was making wheels commercially and found this, not on sale yet but I will be keeping an eye open. It's presumably not as unique as the home-made one, but handy for those with no carpentry skills.

Spring is really here!

LA pictures above and below, Mr P has my camera so I've not been able to take any of the fine things around here this week but let me tell you, Spring is really here!

We've had two days of proper hot sun, and suddenly hundreds of shrubs and trees have burst into green growth. The path which, one week ago, was just bare branches and low winter grass is suddenly alive with birds, and insects. The grass, nettles and wildflowers have grown at what seems like miracle speed and the bushes that were light and airy are suddenly all lush and creating their lovely shadow filled covered pathway once again.

It's quite astonishing. Last week the lilac was just tight buds. This week it has leaves AND 3 inch long flower stems almost ready to open. I can hardly believe it. Wonderful. No more thermal long johns under my trousers, no jackets, no jumpers. I was out with a little vest top on doing yoga in the garden, with Lucy and the cat sleeping in the shade beside me.

Welcome home Spring, we've missed you.