The Pulse of a Contemporary City

1. FC031 Urban Environment project Lecture 1 of 6 The Pulse of a Contemporary City January 2011, Peter Matthews

2. Some thoughts about a city environment: What characteristics make a city have its independent identity? Do cities breathe? If you grow up in a city and move to the mountains when you are an adult, can you live in the mountains without the city voices inside of you? How do we express ourselves in a city with honesty? When a city transforms from day to night. Lines around a city, limits, streets, prohibited spaces, inside and outside a park, etc.

3. Perception of a city environment. How do we engage with the urban environment today? How close can we be to a city without being physically there? Technology can take us anywhere, but not there completely.

7. Three photographs from the Brazilian photographer Sebastiao Salgado, one of the 21c.’s most striking social documentary photographers.

11. Where is the centre of London? Urban sprawl radiating from a nucleus…to what limits?

12. Pros and cons of a city. Caught in the middle is the natural environment – Air, water, space, light, waste, etc.

13. Caught in the middle is the natural environment – Air, water, space, light, waste, etc. We must design our way into a healthy future. This is a very significant area you could explore in this project. We will go deeper here . How can we avoid these issues?

14. Next slide Sao Paulo, Brazil

16. The following images of Pike Loop are from the IconEye.com online version of the paper magazine. Subsequent images were taken by P.Matthews on site in New York in mid January, 2010.

17. Pike Loop by Swiss architects Gramazio & Kohler. It’s a 22 meter wall fabricated from bricks using digital technology, advanced robotics and special synthetic adhesive compounds. But is it just a simple, ordinary wall? Form follows function?

18. Contemporary cities. The human element. Who is designing who?

20. Section view of Pike Loop

21. Elevation and plan view of Pike Loop

23. Drifting. Homeless or free? The daily pace of life in a city. Unlimited design ideas.

24. Pike Loop after it’s installation on site. Images taken in January, 2010.

49. Following images of Grand Theft Auto 4 , RockStar Games, were taken off Google images, January, 2010. Some of the core issues that Grand Theft Auto explores in it’s content and game play are: Freedom and restriction Money and power Material possession, material wealth and material exchangeability Government law versus civilian free spirit Violence, sex, dreams, drugs and crime Identity of place and identity of the self Relationship with a space/place etc

59. We need to explore the theme of the Urban Environment from different angles on this project. You can be as creative as you like. There are no restrictions. Think outside the box but focus on the core of the theme. Your concepts and ideas should connect with contemporary issues that connect with the Urban Environment. There are lots of contemporary issues, like we have recently brainstormed together. So, where does that leave us now? What is ‘contemporary’ about art and design now? To start with, we need to define who we are individually, and look critically around us. This will help to define some important parameters in which you can define a more centered understanding, appreciation and awareness of what is ‘contemporary’ about our urban environment. Artists and designers often take this first step. Establishing a critical picture of where we are and who we are will help you to generate exciting and stimulating ideas. And ideas are everything in art and design.

60. Following images were taken from Google with searching fashion trending, 2011 summer collections , etc. The questions we need to ask ourselves, is where do these designs come from….and don’t say the local shoe shop! Think critically, from different angles….the materials, the colours, the forms, etc. All these formal, visual, aesthetic, etc, decisions have been developed over weeks of designing….what inspires these decisions, what informs the designers style, message and purpose? You should ask yourself these questions…go deeper now. You got your feet wet in the first term. Now start swimming.

61. G-Star Raw (left), Diesel (above) 2011

62. Gaetano Pesce

63. Giorgio Armani, Spring 2010 collection

64. Adidas sneakers designed by Jeremy Scott, 2010