Assignment 3

Buildings in Use

The third assignment in People and Place is to produce two to four images of five or six buildings that "...describe effectively and attractively the way in which these spaces are used".

I chose a wide variety of buildings and spaces including one or two less obvious subjects in order to demonstrate breadth and originality of subject.

The technical details of the images, the personal observations of how the subjects were chosen and the learning outcomes are included in the Appendix.

Kiev metro station

Kiev metro  was the third metro system of the Soviet Union. There are four lines totalling 40 miles in length. Built as part of the postwar regeneration of the devastated city, the metro follows a standard Soviet style - lines intersecting with very deep stations on the middle. The escalators are very long as demonstrated by these images taken at Universytet station. This is a function of a possible secondary use of the underground: as a shelter during an aerial or nuclear attack, an important consideration for the Soviet designers during the Cold War period.

The lighting and resulting ambience on the escalators are what would be termed "retro" in contemporary western culture. The shiny surfaces are completely impractical, and doubtless cost a lot to maintain relative to the income of the metro. The lights also give a fine reflection on the ceiling, emphasising the largeness of the space; the station has the 1950s look.

There is perhaps no more functional space imaginable than an underground train station - broadly semicircular with a platform; no more is needed and little more supplied. There is a noticeable absence of advertising material that would commonly be seen at Western stations.

M Shed, Bristol

M Shed houses a primary museum of Bristol. The history of the building is admirably set out on http://mshed.org/about-us/history-of-m-shed/. The salient points for this exercise are:

• Built postwar in a typically austere steel and concrete design;
• Designed to serve as warehouses for the port industry, with railway outside serving to transport goods to and from the ships and the warehouses;
• Fell into disuse in 1960s when the docks were closed by Bristol City Council;
• Opened as the Industrial Museum in 1977;
• Remodelled and opened as M Shed museum in 2011, with the stated aim of encapsulating people's experiences of living and visiting the city. 

We can see then that M Shed is a building that is adapted from its original use.

A key to understanding M Shed is its setting on Bristol dockside; the museum was designed so as to acknowledge the building's former function as a part of the functioning docks. In this respect, the outside is as important as the inside as demonstrated by this image:

The close proximity of the steel cranes and the railway lines to the museum provide a very obvious link to the building's (and the area's) past as a busy port.

A bus dating from 1970s is on display outside the museum, providing an opportunity to experience (or relive depending on one's age) climbing on board an open back bus. The reflection of the crane in the windows of the museum reinforces the link mentioned above.

The atrium of the museum is airy and provides an excellent vista over the harbour. Here, the visitors can see the iconic Matthew on a trip in the docks. Bristol Cathedral, The Wills Building, and Cabot Tower are all visible.

The exhibition areas are modern in design, with a blend of narrative (as on the board describing the city's part in the slave trade) and physical (as in the model balloons depicting Bristol Balloon Festival's status as Europe's premier event) exhibits.

Edge Equipment Hire depot, Runcorn


Edge Equipment Hire Ltd ("Edge") - www.edge-equipmenthire.co.uk -  hires out equipment to the damage restoration industry. The customers are mostly approved enterprises appointed by insurance companies to carry out remedial work after fire or, much more commonly, flood. The equipment is specialised; fans, blowers, pumps and dehumidifiers comprise the majority of the fleet.

In contrast to the public spaces discussed above, Edge's depot in Runcorn is a functional space. It is a standard warehouse unit on a nondescript trading estate, suitably adapted for the purposes of the company's activities.

Space is required for four purposes:

• storage of equipment awaiting hire;
• maintenance and repair of machinery;
• customer desk for the minority of customers who collect;
• to accommodate staff and customer/supplier meetings.

In these respects, Edge's depot is typical of thousands of similar units across the country.

For storage purposes, the main aims are simple: make your items visible and accessible as evidenced by this image of driers, fans, and snail fans. Health and safety is an over-riding consideration; the green roadways indicate approved transport routes (including to the fire exit) , and the sign makes clear what should not go out on hire before inspection.

Taken round the corner from the first image, this photograph shows the maintenance and repair area. It is small so as not to take up too much valuable storage space. No fixtures are required as the testing is carried using mobile tools.

Although only a minority of customers collect equipment from the depot, it is important to have a facility to accommodate those who do. The front desk is functional with a display of the chemicals sold as an accessory to the hire equipment. The ceiling is used from which to hang an advertising sign. The ever necessary legal and health and safety notices are prominent.

Behind the front desk, an area has been set aside for meetings. The company is strong in getting its message across as evidenced by the message board on the left. The area is unfussy but comfortable.

The City Academy, Bristol

The City Academy, Bristol ("CAB") was one of the pioneering Academies, opening in September 2003. It replaced the St George Community School, a hitherto failing school with among the worst GCSE results in the country. CAB was to all intents and purposes a brand new school, notwithstanding taking over the cohort of students from the predecessor school. The government agreed to fund a new build, at a cost of £26m.

The school rapidly filled to its maximum number of about 1,200, parents and students attracted by the new learning regime and attractive buildings. The Academy is situated in an area of high deprivation: over half of the students are eligible for Free School Meals. There is a high (60%) ethnic minority and many students do not have English as first language.

It is difficult to encapsulate the experience of a building as large as a secondary school in a few images. I intend here simply to present a feature that was key to the design: the sense of openness in non classroom areas, avoiding dark corridors and emphasising light and colour.

This is the main corridor leading from reception through the Ground Floor. At all points, either to the left or to the right, there are windows to the outside, and at most points additional light from above. The indoor plants help provide a natural feel. Display boards of artistic work adorn many walls.

Wherever possible, the ground floor corridor is open to receive light from above. This is not possible on the first floor, where artificial lighting is more prominent. The panelling, carpet (unusual in a school) and pot plants add colour.

There are light panels in the roof at strategic points; here one is placed above the open stairwell. The IT set up is designed to be open and accessible to students and to staff.

The library acts as a resource for reference material and for private study; many of the students find it difficult to find a quiet location at home. In this space, the natural light from the window to the right is augmented by artificial light. IT facilities are evident.

Bonawe Iron Furnace


The previous images have focused on large and relatively contemporary buildings and spaces. For the final location, I choose a small building constructed more than two hundred and fifty years ago. Bonawe, on the shores of Loch Etive, is home to the most complete charcoal fuelled ironworks in the country. The site is now owned and run by Historic Scotland and open to visitors during the summer months. Most of the buildings are devoid of any contemporary items, relying on story boards to inform the visitor. One of the exceptions is the small charcoal shed where a 18th century wheel barrow and bags of charcoal are stacked.

The sacks not only present the charcoal as it would be stacked but also carry informative inscriptions on, for example, the methods of transport and the quantity of charcoal required to make one tonne of pig iron.

The first image demonstrates the height of the shed and the limited amount of light received from the very high window, presumably to deter theft. The second image emphasises the smallness of the space (little more than the width of the wheelbarrow) and thus helps the viewer visualise how small scale the whole operation was.

APPENDIX

I set out below the technical details of the images and observations of how the subjects were chosen, and conclude with learning outcomes.

As a general point, I endeavoured to choose one or two aspects of the buildings and spaces that struck me when viewing them. The adage "less is more" came to mind; it would be easy to endeavour to do too much with the result that the messages from the images become diluted and confused.

Kiev metro

As mentioned above, I was amazed at the depth of the station. As a secondary observation, the Soviet legacy of 1950s architecture uncluttered by advertising paraphernalia was highlighted. The two images of the escalator (particularly the second) are designed to give the viewer the strong impression of the length of the escalators (there are actually up to three of these). The third image presents the uncluttered nature of the platform area. All three images have the retro feel mentioned in the text.

Technical details:

f4; 1/90; ISO 1600; focal length 24mm

f4; 1/45; ISO 1600; focal length 24mm

f4; 1/45; ISO 800; focal length 28mm

The black and white conversion seemed to work for these images, applied using Silver Efex Pro 2.

M Shed

Here the emphasis was on the building in its setting - the building works partly because of its situation, hence the two outside shots, and the vista taken from behind the spectators. The two more traditional shots of the inside demonstrate contrasting ways in which the museum presents elements from the city's past and present.

Technical details:

All the shots were taken using a tripod.
 

f13; 1/60; ISO 200; focal length 10mm

f13; 1/90; ISO 200; focal length 14mm

f13; 1/60; ISO 200; focal length 15mm

f13; 1/2; ISO 800; focal length 20mm

f13; 1/2; ISO 800; focal length 10mm

The first three images were substantially post processed. The second is a composite of three images taken with Auto Exposure Bracketing and then merged using Photomatix Pro software. The metadata is from the middle exposed image; the other images had shutter speeds of 1/250 and 1/30.

Edge Equipment Hire, Runcorn

I co-own the business of Edge and took the opportunity when visiting the depot to take images for the course and also for the company's own use (the company's website includes some of my images).

Why this? I thought it was important to include a mundane subject in the portfolio photographed for the assignment, to show how in this case a very standard industrial unit on an unremarkable trading estate has been adapted to suit the needs of the occupant.
 
Technical details:


All the shots were taken using a tripod.

f22; 1/60; ISO 640; focal length 16mm

f22; 1/30; ISO 320; focal length 10mm

f8; 1/90; ISO 320; focal length 10mm

f8; 1/90; ISO 400; focal length 10mm

The City Academy, Bristol

Working in this institution, two of the most noticeable features of its design for me are the clever maximisation of available natural light, and the use of colour. I took four images to demonstrate these.

It is not feasible to use a tripod so the images are taken hand held.

f3.5; 1/60; ISO 200; focal length 10mm

f4; 1/60; ISO 640; focal length 24mm

f8; 1/60; ISO 640; focal length 13mm

f8; 1/60; ISO 400; focal length 24mm

There is clearly some loss of depth of field as a result of using 1/60 shutter speed, practically the slowest speed one can use hand held without risking camera shake. I have permission to take shots of the children and to use them for own work, but there is an understanding that the shots are not overly composed, and using a tripod suggests otherwise. I used Topaz Detail 2 to add structure (very similar effect to Unsharp Mask in PS but I find it more effective).

Bonawe Iron Furnace

The consideration for including the charcoal shed was twofold: 1) it is an old building, older than the four other buildings combined; 2) it is a very simple and small area. The lighting and the arrangement struck me as very photogenic.

Both images were taken using a tripod

f19; 3 sec; ISO 800; focal length 13mm

f19; 2 sec; ISO 800; focal length 13mm

The first is a composite of three images taken with Auto Exposure Bracketing and then merged using Photomatix Pro software. The metadata is from the middle exposed image; the other images had shutter speeds of 1 second and 6 seconds. The second was a single image with HDR toning applied.

Learning outcomes

This was an enjoyable and challenging assignment. I found the most important consideration was the selection of subjects. The remit per the assignment is to "try to encompass variety in your choice of buildings". Apart from the five used, I also considered Cabot Circus shopping centre and the cloisters at Iona abbey. These are among the images that would have been used:

Whilst the second image of Cabot Circus shows very well the airy and open design, the first image is of dubious quality and added nothing. The images of the cloisters were in my view better standalone images than ones that could be used in the narrative style required of this assignment.


Having selected a variety of subjects, I then thought about what design features of the buildings suggested themselves to me, and to focus on these specifics. I augmented with some background research using the internet, coupled with my own knowledge of the Edge depot and City Academy in particular.

Lastly, I took and selected the images that I thought best demonstrated these features. Part of the challenge was to present images demonstrating the features in an interesting and technically sound manner.

In the broadest sense, this is a further assignment exploring context and narrative; in this case using the photographic medium to demonstrate features and concepts emanating from the built environment.