Concept Model 5 (Frame)

(Aluminium wire)

This model addressed the frame of the building, and started to map the potential layout and plan of the area.

Concept Model 4 (Massing)

(Wax, paper cast)

I begun by creating an exact copy of the existing buildings. I then poured liquid wax into the cast. When the wax had dried, I immersed my model in water overnight, leaving the areas not encased in in wax under water to deteriorate away, leaving a transformed expression of the original and existing structure.

Concept model 3 (Plains)

(Plaster of Paris, material bandage and card)

This model addresses the vertical qualities in my section cut of the site. I will need to ensure the 3 separate buildings are some how tied together to create a single homogenous design.

Concept model 2 - The Mermorial Diamond Factory

(Aluminium and twine)

Communicated through this model was the idea of holding onto the industrial textiles heritage, whilst designing for a modern day diamond factory

Unit 5 Forest Mills Site Model

(Unit 5: Site Model in stained wooden block and White card)

(Scale 1:200... roughly 2m x 2m)

I feel I should congratulate the modelling team on a job well done here. I know a lot of effort went in to this piece, by both the modelling and surveying teams across the unit, which is obvious by the quality and accuracy of the finished article... wow we are a talented bunch! Haha Well done folks.

I am informed the colour and degree to which the blocks are stained are equivalent to the age and time period separate elements of the site were erected. 

My chosen site is a slice through 3 time periods, a section through time, a factor to be considered in my concept and initial designs.  

Concept model 1

(Card board former, Plaster pour)

With the brief set, and site study well under way, it was now time to start thinking structurally. My first concept model involved pouring plaster into a card board former made previously, mimicking, or implying a structure. 

The leading idea behind this ties in with the concept of 'commemoration' which has been running through my project. The idea of respecting the sites past, and commemorating it in return through considerate transformation, allowing the existing structures to live on in their transformed state.

By pouring the plaster into my former, representative of the rooms, corridors and 'form' of the mills interior, the negative space of certain areas are cast in plaster, leaving others un-cast.

When the plaster set, and the former was removed, the result was a form dictated by elements of the original structure, yet manipulated and transformed into a unique structure.  

Urban Decay...

(Photographs shot on site at Forest Mills, Radford. Finished in photoshop)

Neglected, Abused, Forgotten...

So is the story of Forest Mills, once at the forefront of the worlds lace industry, now a decaying memory in Nottingham's pages of history.

The constant squeak of rats and stale stench of neglect was a constant reminder I was intruding, and my Levi Strauss didn't appreciate the spiked razor wired fence we had to scale in order to get these shots, but it was worth it in the end... beautiful isn't it?

I love the World War 2 aesthetic achieved in these ones, although the raw shots are just as nice. I hope you don't feel they are over photoshoped, I try to achieve a distinct theme in each shoot, but always keep a copy of the raw photographs. This is very important I feel. 

Anyway, this is my site... what a gem ay!