Week 10 - Feedback

The interim review went well. There was lots of discussion and debate about the project. It was really good to present to the outside tutor, and the 5 minute allowed for presenting meant I had to get to the point quickly.

There were a couple of issues raised. Firstly, Alistair thought that I was taking on to much, not only in the work load, but that what i proposed, i.e. the "Music Village" could in fact be a " Music Building" with all the facilities I proposed under one roof. This of course is true, but the fact my presentation appeared to be 5 seperate building, the most under developed being the music venue gave him the impressiion that the other building would only dilute the project, that i should focus on one, the venue. It was a matter of presentation, i wanted to make sure that the other buildings would work, i explained that they would only be presented as a series of diagram and images that showed how the spaces would work and by who.

The second issue was about the narrative i had taken. It wasn't initially clear how i had come from the Busk-Box to this point. I used the stick man images from the first interim to explain the process. He felt that before i start to investigate the "venue" and start designing and thinking of acoustics and floor plans, that i should take a few steps back, back to the image of the busker. How are spaces used, used by different people, what else could i bring to the venue that isn't found anywhere else. He suggested that i re-investigate the steps between busking and the venue.


All this taken on board I'm feeling really confident about the project, I have lots of new ideas and am really excited, lots of work to be done, but I know it'll be worth it.

Interim Review

For this review I looked at all the aspect of the proposal individually. Each sheet included site analysis, contextual information and rough plans diagramming how the spaces will be divided. I also included some of the conceptual sketches for each.



Kings Court - Retail Village



Paddy's - Rehearsal Zone & Festival Storage



The Briggait - Music Commerce Centre & Academy


Venue & Festival Site

Poster

Here is the first draft of the poster. Its a very typical example of the type of poster associated with music festivals and events. I hope the final version will be a lot crisper with more relevant images ( I'll replace the armadillo with my proposed venue!) A good effort for a couple hours work I reckon?

Week 9 - Interim Week

Friday we will have another interim. This review will mark the halfway point of the project. It will also be reviewed by a tutor from another unit, it should be a good opportunity to test my proposal on an outside audience. We've been asked to prepare another A5 booklet, continuing on from the last. We've also been asked to prepare a "design postcard" which is to give the visiting tutor a brief overview of our project. The wall presentation is to included all research to date, site analysis and contextual information and a "teaser poster" for the proposal.

Design Postcard

Week 8 - Design Concept

This week I've focused on getting a clear understanding of the space that I intend to use, gathering site and context information for each. As the focus of the project will be the venue and the how it relates to the rest of the zones, I am thinking that maybe the other building types should be presented diagrammatically rather than presenting working drawings for 5 buildings. I don't want the other to dilute the final presentation. I've drawn up ma series of sketches for each building, interior and exterior, which will highlight the changes made and how the building will be used.
I plan to presents these as a series of Photoshopped images for the final review. Below is an unfinished example, The service yard between the Briggait and Paddy's been used for Festival equipment storage.

The Proposal

Firstly I expanded my research to the entire city, looking mainly at the infrastructure that is already in place and any future developments, namely the east ring subway and the new relief road. I also highlighted the biggest venues, Ibrox and Celtic park stadium and Glasgow Green, which regularly hold mass crowds without much disruption. Also highlighted were other potential sites on the South side.



Having conducted this research i am happy that the selected site and its surrounding infrastructure is suitable for the proposal. Here is a rough plan highlighting the different zones that will make up the Music Village.



A key part of the proposal is to be able to hold festival on site. Below is a diagram highlighting the key facilities nessacary in a festival site and how they should be laid out.




Below is a simple plan of the site in festival conditions. Calculations show that the site could potentionally hold a capacity crowd of up to 25000 people. This diagram shows the key facilities and what adjustments would be needed to the surrounding roads.

The Brief

What?
The aim is simple, to create a Music Village to support and promote Glasgow’s music industry at every level. A home for music in the city.
The endeavour is to use this Music Village as a centrepiece for a full calendar of events, expos, competitions and conferences all relating to music and the industry. To create a close knit community of performers and professionals, where connections can be easily made and used to their premium positional.

Where?




Why?
Music is a fundamental part of everyday life. It affects everybody and is constantly changing and evolving. At present music takes many forms whether it is performing, recording, appreciating or promoting the facilities to partake all exist within the city context.
The aim is to put all these facilities, services and individuals under one roof, so to speak. A recording studio next to record label, a promoter next to a venue, an equipment
shop next to a rehearsal room. Historically it was Record labels and genres that created a scene phenomena, Detroit has Motown, LA has Aftermath and Manchester had Factory. Glasgow will have The Village.


Who?
The Village is for anybody and everybody involved in the music industry at any level. The goal is to create an environment where music can be accessed, experienced, created,
learned, promoted, distributed, and enjoyed. The Village is for the music consumer,
the man on the street who spends his hard earned cash on the music he enjoys, for the Record Company executive, looking to explode his artist onto a global stage, or the struggling band, looking for their one chance to make it big, and for everybody in between.


When?
With all Facilities are in place the plan is use them (along with other city facilities) to host a full calendar of events, expos, festivals, conferences, competitions, awards, seminars and workshops. The vast array of facilities and professionals on site will act as guide, one month for production or sound engineering, the next for management or promotion,
multimedia or web design. These events would be matched with a series of music events and festivals utilizing both the venue space and the festival site its self. Each month, a different genre perhaps?


How?
The Music Village will act as a hub of musical activity in the city, fusing all facets of the industry together. There are 5 key aspects of the proposal.

-Retail
The existing retail area of the Kings Court will be updated, the court itself closed in with the addition of a canopy. A selection of music retail shops, along with a bar, restaurant and cafe will occupy the spaces. Relocation grants will be giving to help encourage both outgoing and incoming tenants.

-Rehearsal and Recording
The arches, currently know as Paddy’s market, will be converted into a series of different size rehearsal and practise spaces along with recording studios, again of different scales. Some space to the north and east will be used as storage space for festival equipment.

-Commerce
Just like genres of music, the number of jobs, businesses and opportunities in the music
industry are countless. The Briggait building will act as headquarters for the Village cooperative, those responsible for running and coordinating the facilities and the events held. The building will house a large no of mixed use spaces, for offices, studios, retail, performance and lecture. The space will be available to any person or organisation involved
in the industry, record companies, managers, producers, distributors, multimedia artist, web designers or promotion agencies.

-Venue
The Venue of the proposal will be Glasgow’s first and only purpose built music and multimedia venue. It expected capacity will be between 3000 – 4000 people. It will have completely adjustable floor plan along with state of the art acoustics and lighting. The Venue will be linked directly to the festival site, expanding the space and allowing for 2 stages to run simultaneously. There will also be a bar, restaurant and Music Hall of Fame that will be open to the public.

-Festival Site
A the heart of the village will be the festival site. It can hold up to 25000, inclusive of the linked venue space. The stage will be uniquely positioned on top of the Paddy’s market which will ensure that the audience will have a clear view of the stage from anywhere on the site. All equipment and mobile facilities will be stored onsite; the staging
area will utilize the railway line to store all equipment in modified railway cars, while all site equipment will be store in the arches next to the Briggait. This will ease logistic problem that maybe encountered by holding a regular festival. Close proximity to Glasgow
Green could allow for further expansion.

Week 7 - Compiling the Brief

After a lovely time in Barcelona it back to the dull wet reality of Glasgow. This week we have been asked to pull together all the research carried out over the past 6 weeks and compile a brief. Very simply a A5 booklet that answers the questions, Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How?
We also been asked to compile rough drawings for our proposals at a suitable scale.

Week 6 - Barcelona Field Trip

We have the pleasure of spending most of this week in Barcelona. A tight schedule has use visiting a good mixture of contemporary architecture along with the highlights of the cites ancient architectural roots.

369 Photo's, (not all of architecture) here are my personal highlights.



Here are a few wobbly sketches due to severe hangover.