The New Catholic Church

I'm making way with my Google SketchUp model of St Brides, East Kilbride. Right now I'm still on the simple stuff - tracing around the plans of the model and matching them to the floor plan (my main point of reference).

When I start modelling like this, it reminds me of why I enjoyed my work last year so much. You get to know a building intimately when working from plan, and constructing it into a 3D model. My toolkit (SketchUp) and process may be rudimentary but it accomplishes everything I want - a basic exploration of form. There's something almost sculptural about modelling in 3D, as one requires a little artistic licence in translating form.

I'm still at the early stages of the model, but hope to have the exterior completed by the end of this week. The interior is going to be more challenging, as the detailing is what gives St Bride's it's sculptural narrative. There's an ironic indulgence in the use of brick to create such opulent form.

I owe Gillespie Kidd & Coia and St Bride's a (partial) apology. As I previously indicated I found it difficult to swallow the concept of modernism applied with such a lack of socialist vision. However when we put St Bride's in the context of its period and location, I begin to understand GK&C's rationale in creating such a brute. First off, St Bride's was in East Kilbride, Scotland's first new town which was in many respects the archetype of new town planning in Scotland. Enter modernism. With a focus on community, open space, the separation of man from machine (the car), modern affordable (especially important to a local authority) building techniques made modernism fit well with the model of the new town. A new church for a new town therefore had to integrate well with what I would describe as The Modernist Vision (generalised, I would describe this as a view to a more socialist future). GK&C were following the lead of their contemporaries by not following the status quo in church design. Modernism did not do nostalgia, and therefore St Bride's had to be of its time.

The non-descript form, simply asserts, like many modernist buildings, "I am man made". St Bride's catered for the Catholic community, rather than the state, and as such, it transposes some concepts applied in modernist architecture (such as quality of light) to this client. At the same time, St Bride's pre-empted The Vatican II which saw mass become a much more inclusive affair, and as such the sense of community in the church was never greater. In a similar fashion in which the application of modernist architecture by the state improved peoples way of living, the application of modernist architecture, improved peoples way of worship. Exploring this notion, particularly exploiting the importance quality of light (or lack there of), allows a narrative to developed from even the buildings on the periphery of The Modernist Vision (as religion is generally a redundant concept in the socialist state).

I am not an architect.

So, I've spent the best part of today cleaning up and organising photographs I have taken of the plans of St. Bride's. As I explained in my previous post I plan to use these drawings to create a 3D model to export to Maya but it's giving me a bit of headache.

I've spent the latter half of my day trying to figure out how to translate these plans into 3D. St. Bride's is relatively complex in comparison to the modular design of the previous building I modelled (QEIIS). It's more sculptural, with details such as a spiral staircase and intricate brickwork. The main difficultly is I'm working from 2 digital scans scans, 100 (approx.) photographs and isometric illustrations of the building. Excellent, plenty of source material, but I am having issues with matching scale. Most drawings do not have measurements, so it becomes difficult when trying, for example, to figure out the height of the walls in relation to the floor plan. I will work through it over the weekend.

It would be nice to put up some images of what I've managed to model thus far, but I'm working on top of one of the plans, so have to keep on the right side of GSA's copyright.

Will update over the weekend with images of just the model.

Heroic Modernism

As mentioned in my previous post I visited the Glasgow School of Art Archives to view the Gillespie, Kidd & Coia architectural plans, drawings and photographs of St. Bride's, East Kilbride. The GK&C archive material is extensive, as the firm gifted a practice worth of material to GSA in 2001, so I only tackled one building, St. Bride's. That said, I spent all of Monday afternoon sifting through folders and folders of tattered tracing paper like drawings. This is one of my favourite parts of research.

I bought a couple digital scans and took around a hundred photographs of the plans. Unfortunately due to copyright issues, I cannot publish this imagery online, well, I don't think I can. GSA has an online archive on Flickr with lovely big watermarks stamped over every images (including some photographs of St Bride's), so I don't think they would be to happy with un-watermarked digital scans of their archive going up online.

I digress, the plan for the plans is to model the church in 3D. It's a bit of re-hash of a technique I employed last year (measure the plans, create in SketchUp, export to Maya) but one which I want to develop using another exemplar. St Bride's provides an additional challenge, as unlike QEIIS, I want to model the interior, to explore the more sculptural elements of the building.

Why am I modelling the building? It's part research, part output. When you measure from plans, create a 3D model, you get to know a building very intimately. You understand where it works and where it doesn't. The use of 3D software in the modelling process (as opposed to say making a physical model) is allows me to manipulate and play with the form. I explore some of the modernist ideologies the building encapsulates by working with it conceptually - for example lighting the building in a particular fashion. 3D tends to work to towards the goal of hyper-realism, I do not. In a sense, I want to "make strange", in the case of St. Bride's, something which already exists.

Beyond making strange, I'm still exploring the notion of modernism ideologies in Scottish modernism. In my previous post I commented on GK&C adopting modernism as a style, which, in reading the introduction of the book Gillespie Kidd & Coia: Architecture 1956 - 1987 (DJCAD Library link) is confirmed by the editor, Johnny Rodger (2007):

Unlike most other architects involved in the massive social generation programme at the time, Gillespie, Kidd & Coia had the opportunity to experiment with such individualistic, expressionistic and heroic designs because they had a very particular principal client, namely the Roman Catholic Church.

I don't know why I've got the hump about this, but I think the notion of modernism being part of a greater social movement sits better with me. I could see what Basil Spence was doing with the Hutchesontown C Development, but I'm struggling with St Bride's. We can celebrate the architecture, the form, and the structure, but there was also something more poetic about the demise of modernism and the placeholders it left - in the form of buildings - of a future that has still not transpired (and probably never will).

All is not lost. Gillespie, Kidd & Coia churches did employ some traits of modernist ideology in their buildings, for example, a consideration of light (although I would argue this is a little over-hyped) and space. They were not bound by the weight of architectural traditions, and, like other modernist architects, set a bold new agenda.

In some senses a church is a place which should inspire worship, and Gillespie, Kidd & Coia employ a sculptural opulence which came in direct conflict with the materials used (i.e. brick, concrete, etc.).

Less thinking, more practical outcome.

MAPMAPMAP

As promised, an update into my adventures in video mapping with Jaygo Bloom at the VRC. The two day workshop saw the small group of us (three in total) video map onto cardboard boxes in the Centerspace. Thoroughly enjoyable and a chance to get a hands on experience with some of the technology which makes these visual spectacles possible. There's a lot of "visual indulgence" in video mapping, as it's often employed by VJ's but when applied in an installation based environment it can heighten the visual language of the piece being shown.

First off, apologies for the poor quality video and image, I was a little ill-prepared and only captured images using my iPhone. However a fellow video mapper at the workshop brought a SLR, so I will update with links when he puts up the images. Quality of image aside, the above video demonstrates the high level of interaction between the physical space and projected environment. At this juncture in my Masters I see this as a method of contextualising modernism within the present and giving it relevance using the technologies of the "future".

My first semester has been dominated by an ever broadening attempt to "understand" modernism, but one must draw a line between looking at the Smithsons and dissecting The Communist Manifesto. Modernism commands contextualisation within socioeconomic history but yet when you look at many of Gillespie Kidd & Coia's buildings the movement is applied as a style. It seems as the movement is diluted down from Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier the utopian agenda is adapted and altered, which is why I refer to it as a "style" rather than a movement. We did have our moments of glory with developments such as Robin Hood Gardens but I feel we often misappropriate the values of modernism to a building which carries the distinct style. This is very much a thought-process in motion, and perhaps when I wake-up tomorrow and gaze upon my pictures of St Bride's I will lament on this notion.

I have digressed slightly, but my post still relates to the application of video mapping in my practice. If anything it can be used to highlight the irony and contradictions within the modernist movement, specifically Scotland's attempts triumphed by Gillespie, Kidd & Coia.

For my contribution to the video mapping I created a 3D object which was lit in Maya. When mapped on to a white plinth it was gradually illuminated with a light that does not exist. The creation of a fiction within a virtual environment can serve two purposes in my work: juxtaposing reality against the forgotten fictions of modernism and the creation of a narrative which only exists within the viewer's pre-conceived notions of the history of modernism.

I'm on to something, I just don't yet know exactly what it is.

Links, links, links:-

http://www.antivj.com/ (video mapping artists extraordinaire)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamvlog/sets/72157625462044176/ (my Flickr set of the video mapping workshop)

Late Night Render

So, I'm going to keep this post brief, as I want to avoid blogging for blogging's sake. I'm currently taking part in the Video Mapping Workshop being run by Jaygo Bloom in the VRC. Basically we're exploring the visual possibilities of mapping images (static or moving) on to physical objects.

My interest comes from the idea of working within a virtual environment with architecture and juxtaposing this against the physical. There's no better an example of architectural video mapping (in an installation enviroment) than the work of Pablo Valbuena. Jaygo gave some examples of his work today, but missed out one of my favourite of his pieces (video below).

Modernism (in terms of form and structure) seems designed for the preciseness of architectural video mapping. This output also fits nicely with the concept of Virtual Modernism I discussed in my previous post. The use of 3D simulation gives modernism the clean lines, and completed fictitious utopian narrative it so desires.

Moving forward I have to consider how this technical craft can be applied to the realities of modernism (i.e. its demise). There's a fine line between nostalgia/ rhetoric (remembering modernism for what it was and could have been) and contextualising the movement in the present (without resorting to the typical MODERNSIM = FAIL conclusion). Perhaps I want to resort to nostalgia and rhetoric - a little socialist ideology is always welcome in our every expanding globalised capitalist democracy. I'm still not sure.

Anyways, I've nattered on. Once the workshop is complete I will update with some images and a more detailed account of what went on. I will also be updating about my visit to the GSA Archive where I viewed the original architectural plans for Gillespie, Kidd & Coia's St. Brides in East Kilbride.

Virtual Modernism

Perhaps modernism was never supposed to move beyond the utopia of Constant's New Babylon or even Le Corbusier's Plan Voisin. Perhaps modernism should be confined to the imagination where it cannot decay and erode over time.

It struck me when in discussion with two members of staff from the School of Architecture the great discourse between the often over-hyped ideologies of modernism and the application of these ideologies in reality. I'm currently shuffling my way through Gillespie, Kidd & Coia: Architecture 1956 - 1987 and I've got an ever increasing sinking feeling as I read on. The book opens with Nick Barley (2007), Director of The Lighthouse in Glasgow, proudly proclaiming: "This book offers a careful explanation of why MacMillan and Metzstein's - already well-loved by users and occupants - deserve much wider acclaim now."

Hmmm. Now granted, I've not visited all of GK&C's buildings and asked users and occupants: "Do you love this building?", but I have touched base with a parishioner at St Brides, East Kilbride and Everything's not Coming up Roses. As I've previously mentioned, it appears to be a common theme within modernism that things go wrong. For example, take Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye, in which the the tenant, Mme Savoye had a written exchange with Le Corbusier about issues of a leaking roof (article link). Buildings have problems, and I'm not suggesting for one moment GK&C's buildings were of a poorer build quality than the status quo but they did have the weight of their modernist ideologies to carry.

When I use the terms "modernism" and "ideologies" in the context of this discussion, I do mean it in the broadest sense possible. The modernist ideologies I refer to are the socialist utopias in which “A house is a machine to live in.” (Le Corbusier, 1923).

Going forward I want to explore the notion of confining the remnants of modernism to the confines of a virtual state. Similar to my work last year working in a fictitious state can preserve those ideologies which are challenged within the context of the real world.

St Brides, Flickr and Blogger

St Brides - interior, originally uploaded by jamvlog.

So I've worked my way through a few of the key shots of St Brides, cleaned them up, and got them looking fairly presentable.

One thing that strikes me about St Brides is the stark contrast between The Vision and reality. It's a common theme in modernist buildings, that, although built for function, they often failed in their main purpose. I met a parishioner who had no end of stories to tell about the "failings" of the building. For example, apparently the sewage system is so poorly designed that it backs-up after heavy rain.

So this leave me in a quandary, I have to confront these issues in a manner which is still sympathetic to the ideologies of modernism. The use of 3D may provide an interesting solution. If I encapsulate St Brides in the virtual, then it becomes like a fiction, one where I can re-direct the narrative. I can use this the fiction to confront modernism with its harshest reality, that, buildings aside, its ideologies never came to fruition.

I will update as my thought process flows.

On a side note, I think I'm going to have to do something fairly drastic with my Blog. I'm caught in a never ending battle in my attempts to imbed linked images from Flickr into my posts. Also the complete lack of flexibility in altering layouts (this post has been achieved by using Flickr instead of Blogger to update) is driving me to despair. Hence "Flickr" and "Blogger" in the title.

Quality of Light II

As mentioned in my previous post, I planned a visit to the modernist marvel that is St Brides in East Kilbride. First off, and slightly off topic, this was my first experience of a New Town. East Kilbride was Scotland's first post-war New Town which adopted a very modernist approach to town planning. I came in direct conflict with this planning when trying to navigate my way to St Brides. The New Town layout (which can be seen in more extreme examples like Cumbernauld) separates (to a degree) the car from the pedestrian. A lovely idea, except when you're trying to get anywhere. The endless roundabouts circle what I can best describe as "islands" of inhabitation. Trying to infiltrate these Islands of Man can be a difficult task when using an alien mechanical moving device (i.e. my Fiat Punto). In St Brides case, I could see it for quite some time, but had trouble locating what appeared to be one access point. It's also difficult to stop, and re-evaluate your strategy when trapped between roundabouts on the dual-carriageways. An efficient endless flow of traffic which becomes difficult to navigate when you're lost. Eventually, however, I found St Brides and took sanctuary for the best part of the day before tackling EK's road labyrinth to get home.

I digress, so on to the main event, St Brides, East Kilbride. As the title suggests, my visit was to bathe in the glory of Gillespie Kidd & Coia's architectural genius in their manipulation of the structure to produce a high quality of light. My modernist ideologies were shattered when I found such a dark expansive space (even with artificial light). The windowless indented brickwork (shown right) barely captured enough light to emit even a glow. Now to be fair to GK&C it was a very overcast day, so the exterior lighting was not ideal, but it still struck me how dim the space was (a fact, regardless of weather conditions confirmed by one parishioner).

Now my opinion of St Brides may seem of doom and gloom (no pun intended), but in actual fact I took a lot of positives from experiencing the space. For one, the poor quality of light resulted in a very sobering experience. I was left to my own devices for well over an hour, and the main hall, with it's dim artificial lighting was extremely calming (although at one point I thought I saw a ghost). The the soft warm tones of the brickwork also added to this mantra.

Perhaps my perceptions are slightly bias due to being brought up a Catholic (not currently practicing) and familiarity of churches - until my early teens attending weekly. I therefore associate a church as a place of quiet and sombre reflection - the closest comparison I can make of this feeling is being in a library. This paragraph may seem a little off topic, but ultimately feeds in to my choice of subject matter. Whether I like it or not, something in my subconscious is drawn to the church through years of conditioned worship - old habits die hard. I'm not sure to be honest, but I do know for me that churches + modernism = interesting subject matter.

I'm currently in the process of Photoshoping my way through the 160 plus images taken on my visit to St Brides. I plan on uploading the worthy to Flickr (link below), with some already up at the time of this post. More to come as I explore and develop ideas in relation to St Brides, modernism, the church, et al.

Links:-

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamvlog/sets/72157625224573437/ (St Brides set on my Flickr)

Quality of Light

I had an excellent tutorial with Jaygo Bloom last week, who is currently showing at the DCA - part of the Discovery Exhibition. I discussed my interest in creating work within virtual environments, with possible extension into his field of video mapping onto real objects. It was refreshing to get the perspective of a practicing artists who works successfully both commercially and in respect of his own practice. Jaygo re-affirmed the importance of the idea, and the means by which this is realised should be an afterthought (considered, of course).

That leads me to my focus for this year. "Focus", a term I'm constantly banding about almost in a state of fear that if I "loose focus" I will implode. I'm never short of ideas, just putting those ideas into practice almost seems sacrosanct, and therefore I hold off until I know my focus. That said, most of my 3rd Year in TBADF was spent pondering, so I tend to draw more and keep momentum through reading, blogging, etc. I have to strike a happy medium between research and practical work.

Last year I enjoyed working from plans of the Hutchesontown C Development, it allowed me to develop a "relationship" with a building that no longer exists. As such, I think that's a good starting point for any practical work, establishing a connection with my subject matter.

At the point in time, my focus has been drawn to the churches of Gillespie Kidd & Coia. There's an interesting juxtaposition between the employment of modernist architecture to re-invigorate the liturgy and the subsequent dissolution of the modernist movement. The socialist ideals of modernism also seem at odds with their employment in religious structures. I'm still not sure if I'm entirely comfortable with the notion of modernism and churches - in particular GK&Cs application of a "style" rather than an "ideal". I sound like a purist, and give GK&C less credit than they're a due, their application of the "style" is beautifully informed.

St. Bride's in East Kilbride has to be my favourite of GK&C churches, an ominous exterior downplays the even more striking interior. The light is channelled through the thick walls of exposed brickwork in a beautifully considered design. The consideration of light, especially when employed to draw focus to (for example) the altar in a place of worship, seems central to CK&C buildings. Modernism prioritised function over form, and as such, the consideration of lighting was a major focus.

Lighting, a crucial component of my Degree Show work, but something, surprisingly, I did not put too much weight on. As such, to truly experience how the light interacts with some existing modernist structures I'm planning a trip to East Kilbride, to visit St. Bride's. From there I can start to develop the idea beyond sketch-book drawings with photographs and video.

Links:-

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsalib/ (GSA's Photograph Archive on Flickr)