Week 1 – Oct 3rd
1 – Photographing
After taking a tea at the Costa coffee next to King’s Cross station, I came across this peculiar building.
- Where: Argyle Street, London
- When: October 2nd
- What time: About 5pm
The first method of investigating I found myself using was photographing. At first what caught my attention was the big spot of red color among all of that greyness. Continuing I noticed that it was an external lift, almost futuristic, which I found really fascinating. Directing my attention downwards I saw something written below this lift: THE STANDARD.
The Standard hotel
Argyle Street, London
External lift of the building
Designed by Shawn Hausman
2 – Notetaking
New to this city, I didn’t know what this building was and it wasn’t very clear from the outside. So I started imagining different meanings that this lift could have by taking some notes. I was inspired by the reading we had for that week and I followed Georges Perec method to investigate my physical site.
Three elements are the main characters of my observation: the grey building, the red lift and the white title. Looking up and following the path of the lift with my eyes I noted that I found myself looking at the sky. The elevator path seemed to have no end, as if a piece was missing. In this respect, a lot of questions came to my mind: where is the elevator going to end its ride? Why is the title THE STANDARD upside down? Just to prove in fact that is not ordinary? Is the lift a transport or a connection between the typical (below) and the unknown (above)? “
2 – Sketching
After having a abstract view of my site I took some quick sketches to analyze it under a visual point of view and trying to imagine what are the graphic elements that compose this place.
Week 2
Research
The Standard Hotel is the international debut of the Standard brand. Located in King’s Cross, the building once served as Camden Council government of offices. In contrast to its origins (and the notorious grey skies of London), the newest Standard features a bright and bold colour scheme throughout the interior. The designer Shawn Hausman was inspired by the early 1970s style.
The curved corners of the building’s original windows recall the style of the new interior, creating a sense of undulating spaciousness.
Most of the walls show a geometric composition of lines and circles, commissioned from ceramics artist Lubna Chowdhary.
Week 3
Experiencing
The books are divided in categories: we can see different subjects that range from gardening to adult relationships (one of the most popular apparently).
Week 3 challenged me to explore my site inside and to became an official guest. The main lounge you can access has a library with a vaste choice of books to borrow. The waitress that got me to my table told me that the librarian collects unique books from all over the world and has his collection right here inside the hotel.
Week 4
For my final week I first created a simple geometric composition from which I identified multiple shapes that reminded me of the design of the hotel and its objects. Then I chose the first category of books: gardening. Always respecting the shapes of the hotel I started to recreate nature elements in a more abstract and geometric way. I wanted to express in the best way the category I was representing with the main elements that compose it, with the help of the simplest shapes.