Assignment 5 - Part 2

One of my studio briefs this year was titled ‘culture’. I chose to look at culture in terms of architecture in Dundee. Looking back at the project I am definitely not satisfied with the research that went into it and if I had the chance to do it again I would definitely make changes to how I tackled the research part of the project, especially after experimenting with different research methods in Design Studies. In the future I will try to incorporate these methods into my studio practice as I feel they would give me a better understanding of the topic I am studying and therefore give me a better outcome.

The research work I did for this brief consisted of taking photographs of different parts of the city, drawing buildings and skylines and looking at various artists that used cityscapes in their work. This was clearly not enough to understand the city landscape in terms of how the culture has changed, I only got an idea of what was happening at that moment. If I was to start the project again there are several things I would do.

Firstly I would use interviewing to ask members of the public what they thought of how Dundee has changed and how it is changing at the moment.

The wind turbines are quite a prominent and new feature of Dundee’s skyline. I think they would be a good starting point for getting different people’s views about the changing skyline; whether they like how they look or not and if they think they are a good addition to the city. Just typing ‘Dundee wind turbines’ into Google has given me access to opinions about plans for two more wind turbines for the city. This is a very current issue as being ‘environmentally-friendly’ is a large part of our culture and it would be interesting to compare the views of different generations about these changes.

Primary research to investigate this further could be interviewing Dundee residents and using surveys to find out general opinion about various features of the Dundee skyline. I feel that interviewing older people to find out how the city’s architecture has changed over a period of time could give me some interesting information. I could also ask for opinions about the plans for the future of Dundee (the Victoria & Albert museum and the two wind turbines for example).

I could use the secondary research skills developed in semester one to look in the library for any research already undertaken about the city’s architecture as well as the plans for the future. It would be interesting to see the building plans for prominent parts of Dundee skyline from the past and compare them to how they look in reality.

There are massive plans to completely change Dundee waterfront by 2030. There is a video available on the internet showing how Dundee City Council plan to completely change the look of the city over the next twenty years to connect the town centre to the waterfront. Showing the public this video and asking for their opinions could give me a good idea of how people feel about the changing face of Dundee.

I could also use a picture time line to show how the city has changed by looking in the library for pictures of Dundee from across the Tay at different times in the past, my own photographs from right now and then continue it on using the building plans for the work that is to be undertaken over the next twenty years. It would be interesting to compare the older photographs to what was happening in society at the time and see if there are any cultural links between the buildings and what was going on.

After looking back at the ‘culture’ project I feel quite annoyed at myself for not seeing the potential in the topic I had chosen.

For level three I feel I am better equipped to handle research and I think I have a bit more confidence to ask questions to people I do not know well and get information first hand instead of relying on other people’s research.

I think the assignments we have been given and the books we have been assigned to read have changed the way I think about design in general. When I thought about what design was I would think about researching a topic, pulling out interesting information and making something out of this within my discipline. I definitely now see design in a wider sense due to the wide variety of lectures on the course as well as the assignments.

For example our third assignment this semester was about observing a public space, paying attention to what was happening around me, how the space was designed to function and how people were acting. This has definitely made me pay more attention to my surroundings, questioning them and considering what my discipline can do to improve situations and spaces.

The way I think about what I do has also changed after seeing how designers do not necessarily stick to their specific discipline from lectures. I feel like there are many more options for me than being a fashion or interior textile designer. I have never thought of myself specifically as a textile designer. Since starting this course I have thought of myself as an art student, with textile pieces as the outcome from a body of drawing and visual research.

When I started the culture project I do not think I appreciated how important the research part of the design process was. I went straight for drawing and development into samples far too quickly and would really have benefited from using the research techniques I have now learned to get a better understanding of my topic. In level three I intend to do much more extensive research when starting a new project using these skills and hopefully by developing more ways to get information.