GDES3003 – Cob Oven Build

GDES3003 – GREEN DESIGN

Building our own Cob Oven

This week as a group we were asked to get our hands dirty and help with the construction of our very own Cob Oven on the University allotment grounds.

It’s amazing to think that the construction of the oven was completed over just 2 days.  The intention was to have the test firing Friday evening, which in retrospect was a little ambitious particularly given the weather.  We were helped and guided by Matthew from the Fabulous Cob Oven Company, who determined we should allow a week for the cob to dry properly.  So this time next week we’ll be enjoying the fruits of our labours.

All in all it was a fun experience and will hopefully be put to good use for many years to come.

Notes from the build:

• Cob is an ancient building material made from sand, clay, straw and water to help bind it all together.
• The mix is generally 1 part clay to 2 parts sand, this is then trodden & turned to mix together.
• A layer of straw is the added and the process repeated until it is well mixed.
• You can test the mix by making a ball of cob with your hands and then doing the drop test.  If it stay together then it is ready to go.
• The internal dome is constructed out of sand which then gives a solid base and offers support for the Cob as it dries.
• The Cob is then build around and over the sand dome until eventually it meets at the top to complete the structure.
• Cob ovens are often given decorative features – We chose to make sun flare like flames that spread out from the doorway.
• The mixture is then given time to cure fully before the archway for the door is cut out.
• At this point the sand inside will also have dried and can simply be scooped out, revealing the open oven space.
• As the exterior of the structure is also dry by this point t is possible to smooth the finish and carve the small details into the decoration.
• Our oven will have a wooden door.

COB = Sand, Clay, Straw & Water

Be, Meg & Dawn mixing Cob

Treading the Cob mix

The Cob oven approaching completion

Nearly there – This illustrates the internal sand structure and how the Cob was built up

Lecturer Andy on burger & tea duty

Andy’s post apocalyptic stove

Matthew from the Fabulous Cob Company taking 5

Dawn enjoys a well earned cup of tea

The finished Cob Oven – Just needs a little smoothing and refinement

Adding the decoration and final touches

Muddy but happy helpers at the end of the build

A clay bird

GDES3003 – Centre for Alternate Technology visit – Nov 12th ‘15

GDES3003 – GREEN DESIGN

CAT visit – 12th November 2015

This week our little group huddled together on a rather cosy cross country mini-bus trip to the Centre for Alternate Technology (CAT) in Powys, Wales.

A brief uphill walk from the carpark (the water powered cable-car/lift was out of order) saw us entering the centre.

It was really interesting to see the number of different initiatives and technologies that were in use at the centre.  The only downside being that we barely had time to look at anything as headed straight to the restaurant area for a bite to eat, before being taken into the Sheppard lecture hall for a talk by Ann, one of CAT’s lecturers.

The walls of the lecture theatre were of particular interest as they are made from compacted mud (mud, clay, grit composite) which is extremely hard and structurally strong, not to mention aesthetically very beautiful.  The walls are designed to store heat and also feature a number of vents with sensors in that regulate the temperature in the theatre.  The whole centre is built to be ‘low impact’ with materials sourced locally.

The roof was of particular interest to me as it features a circular cover that can be rotated to reveal a skylight that allows more natural light into the theatre.  It features a really clever pivot and rail system that allows it to spin into/out of place.

The lecture also featured a wider remit of issues for us to consider and discuss, from climate change, eco footprint and bio-diversity reports as well as a number of on screen charts and infographics that showed the effects of climate change over time and by nation.

It was also interesting to learn how they have a computerised booking system for the lecture theatre, from this they are able to regulate the heating so that the room is only warmed as needed and so energy is not wasted when the room is not in use.

References

I took note of a few interesting websites, which I have referenced below:

Hans Roslings’ Gapminder – http://www.gapminder.org

Laura’s Larder – http://blog.cat.org.uk/category/lauras-larder/

WWF Carbon footprint calculator – http://footprint.wwf.org.uk

WWF Biodiversity – http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/biodiversity/

If Bee’s were lost we’d be done for in 3 years!

The above statement was made during the lecture, I’m not sure where it originated but it’s interesting and so I did a little investigation and found this really interesting article :

http://nativeplantwildlifegarden.com/will-we-all-die-if-honey-bees-disappear/

They also had a cob oven and social eating space around it on site.  I made sure to take photographs as this is obviously of particular interest given our current brief.  I was particularly interested in the space around the cob oven and how CAT had opted to create a seated area and the create a cover over the entire space.

CAT’s Cob Oven

This is the covered, seating area that can be found where the Cob Oven is

The sheltered area had red panelling in some places which created really interesting light. It looked especially beautifully as it was covered by Autumn leaves

Beautiful natural patterns, of which there are many at CAT

To name but some of these themes (there were loads more):
Perceived obsolescence (phones etc), properties of materials, energy efficiency (inc Cob Ovens), climate change, Zero Carbon Britain, The Living Planet Report 2015, Hans Rosling/Gapminder/his mother’s washing machine (TED Talk video), quality of life, decarbonising the economy, travel & food (the most contentious aspect?), Laura’s Larder, the FairPhone (& it’s sustainable packaging), the largest users of resources per person (countries, Living Planet report), the future viablility of air travel, Nuclear Power vs renewables – costings, government cuts/impacts, rammed earth buildings, the Sheppard Theatre/it’s heating/cooling methods, locality of materials.. The list goes on..

(The above is taken from our module blog, but it gives a good overview of subjects that were covered on the day that I may not have mentioned).

Photographs

I also took a number of photographs whilst I was which can be found by following the link below (Couldn’t include them all on this blog due to upload restrictions).

Check my Flickr album here – CAT Trip Photo’s 12/11/15

 

GDES2012 – Psychogeographic Walk

GDES2012 – Graphic Information design

Based on an article titled “A road of one’s own” written by British author Robert Macfarlane, we have been tasked with taking our own psychogeography walk and documenting it.

‘ Psychogeography: a beginners guide. Unfold a street map of London, place a glass, rim down, anywhere on the map, and draw around its edge. Pick up the map, go out into the city, and walk the circle, keeping as close as you can to the curve. Record the experience as you go, in whatever medium you favour: film, photograph, manuscript, tape. Catch the textual run-off of the streets; the graffiti, the branded litter, the snatches of conversation. Cut for sign. Log the data-steam. Be alert to the happenstanceof metaphors, watch for visual rhymes, coincidences, analogies, family resemblances, the changing moods of the street, and the record ends. Walking makes for content, footage for footage.’

As I am a keen photographer, I decided that this would be the best medium with which to record my walk.  I started by taking a map of Worcester city centre (my home city) from Google maps and then randomly drawing a circle over an area close to the centre.

The walk

I started by parking my car by the Museum of Royal Worcester.  Having lived in Worcester a number of years I actually remember Royal Worcester Porcelain as a business, in fact I had a friend that used to work there.  I took pictures of this, the road signs and also noticed a new development being built called the Waterside.

I have included a gallery and slideshow of the route I took.  Throughout the walk I was looking for things I wouldn’t normally see or pay any attention to.  Looking high and low, behind things and down side streets/alleyways I wouldn’t normally walk.

Worcester is a fascinating place as there is so much history here.  There architecture in places like Friar Street, the magnificence of the Cathedral, the tradition of Kings School etc.  I was also fascinated by the mixture of new and old.  For example there is a church in the High Street which never even noticed, it so seamlessly blends into the background although it is completely different.

I made a point of looking out for signage along the way too, from the major road signs found on the busy roads, to the pedestrianised areas and finger posts throughout the City…. All fascinating stuff and almost invisible unless you look for it, which is what makes it so succesful.

The walk starts here… Museum of Royal Worcester

Road Signage

Men at work

The Commandery

Civil War helmets and spears

Commandery Plaque

Shadow play

Commandery beams

Lock gears

Road signage

Tudor buildings

Weather beaten typography

Painted mural with interesting addition

Worcester Cathedral panorama

Edward Elgar statue

Pedestrian signage

Up high on the old Russeld & Dorrell building

Russell & Dorrell

Moon visible during the day

Old street signage

Up high again! Building details

This church is in the middle of the High Street, a real juxtaposition of new and old

Gold details on a High Street clock

Worcester City Centre finger posts

Gold detailing of the gateway to the Guild Hall

Gold details

Guild Hall statues

Guild Hall statues

Guild Hall entrance looking up. That’s Oliver Cromwell’s head pinned by his ears over the archway

Oliver Cromwell

Walkway between the High Street and the Shambles

Friar Street

Coffee time

Keeping the streets clean

Walkway between the Shambles and Friar Street

Old telephone wires, up high in Friar Street

Archway to College Green

A different perspective of Worcester Cathedral, from College Green

Sunset from College Green, Kings School grounds

Antique shop before Royal Worcester Museum & the walk is complete

Once my walk was complete, I headed home to go through my photographs.  I spent way longer in post editing than I intended, but I’m always the same with photography… such is it’s pleasure.

The final outcome of this task was to produce a document showing points & notes of interest from my walk.  Here it is :

GDES2012 – Week 3 – Road Signage

Week 3 – Graphic Information Design

Road signage brief

This week we were asked to design a road sign with one of 4 headings in mind : Warning, Tourist Information, Motorway or Primary route.

I have Chosen the Tourist Information sign for Worcester New Bridge.

• A TOURIST INFORMATION SIGN
  Pointing in the direction of Worcester’s ‘New Bridge’ over the River Severn. The sign would be sited somewhere near McDonalds. The sign must have a simplified rendering of the new bridge on it with the text ‘New Bridge’ and be pointing towards the bridge.

Having already researched Jock Kenner & Margaret Calvert for a previous project, I decided to add to this with the recommended findings from the brief – Namely a BBC Top Gear clip featuring Margaret Calvert & additional research from the design museums website.

• Road signage system development of the new system to the graphic designer Jock Kinneir (1917-1994) and his assistant Margaret Calvert (1936-).
• They devised a rigorous signage system of carefully coordinated lettering, colours, shapes and symbols for Britain’s new motorways in the late 1950s and for all other roads in the mid 1960s. Efficient and elegant, their system was one of the most ambitious information design projects ever undertaken in Britain.
• It is a role model for modern road signage in other countries and is still in use today.
• Their system was rooted in the concept of each sign taking the form of a map oriented towards the driver.
• A combination of upper and lower case letters would be more legible than conventional upper case lettering, they developed a new typeface, a refinement of Aksidenz Grotesk, for use in the signs. Later named Transport, it is recognisably modern as a sans serif font, but it is softer and curvier than the blunt modernist lettering used on continental European road signs. Kinneir and Calvert felt that these qualities would make it seem friendlier and more appealing to British drivers.
• Each letter within a sign was placed on a letter tile to determine the correct spacing – based on the width of the horizontal strokes in the Transport version of the capital letter I – between it and other letters. By treating each letter as a separate unit, the overall size of a sign was determined by the amount of information conveyed.
• The width of the capital I stroke was also used to specify the size of borders and the spaces between lines of text.
• Used colour coding – Just as their motorway signs consisted of white lettering against a blue background, they used white lettering for place names and yellow for road numbers against a green background on signage for primary roads, and black lettering against a white background for secondary routes.
• They decided to adopt the continental style of using pictograms rather than words on the road signs, and Calvert drew most of the pictograms in the friendly, curvaceous style of Transport.

“It is sad but true to say that most of us take our surroundings for granted,” Kinneir observed in 1965. “Direction signs and street names, for instance, are as vital as a drop of oil in an engine, without which the moving parts would seize up; one can picture the effect of the removal of this category of information on drivers in a busy city or on pedestrians trying to find their way in a large building complex. It is a need which has bred a sub-division of graphic design with more influence on the appearance of our surroundings than any other.”

Source – http://design.designmuseum.org/design/jock-kinneir-margaret-calvert

I then went on to look at existing signage for tourist information & attractions.

• A tourist sign is often referred to as a “brown” sign.
• They feature a brown background, with a white border and white text (transport).
• Usually featuring a pictogram of the attraction.

Type

• Type used is transport, which I will incorporate into my design.
• Transport fonts downloaded from this resource http://www.cbrd.co.uk/fonts/

Tourist Information Signage

I found this fantastic website called http://www.followthebrownsigns.com which offers up a wealth of information regarding the brown tourist signs, from their history to attractions in “my area”.

What makes a brown sign?

• Technically the definition of a brown signed destination is “a permanently established attraction or facility which attracts or is used by visitors to an area and which is open to the public without prior booking during its normal opening hours” (as stated by the Highways Agency).

This image from – http://www.ukmotorists.com/motorway_signs.asp

The picture below shows a good example of the types of pictograms that are used on tourist information signs.

 

Location

The brief stated that the sign should be located by McDonalds, before you get to the Bridge.  I knew that there was already a large signpost in this vicinity and so I took my own photographs so that I could see what was already there and to visualise my design in-situ.  This was also born out of necessity as I could not find any usable shots to convincingly mock up my design.

A few of the shots for consideration are :