informal urban practices

‘T.H’ Project group will work as small groups underneath the banner of a larger collective due to commitments and varying timetables.
Each member will undertake smaller stand alone projects that will collectively, when grouped side-by- side, contribute and relate to what is termed “T.H”……….

Key Phrases:
Communication; trial maze, observation.
Ephemeral; movement, Transient.
Stimulation of senses.
Momentum/ Transition.
Appropriation.
Emulation; Behaviour; Social Convention.
Viral Element; Growing/ spreading marketing practices.
Activation.
Relation-scapes.
Empowerment.
Hivemind.

‘T.H’ aims to:
1/ Members will use ‘T.H’ as a framework to expose public perception and social conventions.
2/ This will facilitate an experience for the user-participant to question urban social construct. With the stimulus provided we aim to harness the collective creativity that is born from individual speculation and interpretation.

Mediums/ Process to be undertaken;
Guerrilla advertising.
Culture Jamming (websites, blog, stickers, postering)
MX Classifieds.
Video, public performance.
Word-of-mouth.
Graffiti.
Subconscious objects.
Profile/ Branding.

where should we go for our informal mid-semester market trading? please submit your suggestions under comments

Modifying & Customising from informal.urban on Vimeo.

This video deals with the themes of modification and customisation of urban spaces – explores three different ways that this could occur in Urban Spaces.

The first clip is a work Banksy produced on a wall that divides Israel and the Gaza Strip. This work is typical of the politically provocative style in which the artist works. Banksy, along with many other street artists of his type provoke the viewer into thinking about the wider context of which they live, in particular, how citizens might be ‘controlled’ by particular aspects of the spaces around them.

Knitta Please is a Street Art group that works in the medium of Knitting, which goes by a variety of names, most commonly those of “Guerrilla Knitting” and “Yarn Bombing”. Whilst this may not have the same political potency that perhaps Banksy and other Street artists work might have, it none the less subversively works to make the viewer question the context and in particular, the materiality of the vernacular spaces in which they encounter on a daily basis. “Yarn Bombing” as an informal urban practice is interesting in this sense in that it directly deals with the viewers current physical environment.

Guerrilla Bench by German firm Rugwind, further narrows this trend of customisation down to deal with the ‘user’ (unlike the other two examples, there is a capacity for the ‘viewer’ to become the ‘user’ within the context of this example) and how they might engage with public furniture on a one-to-one basis. A park bench, which is normally out in the open is now concealed and available only to those who know of its existence.

Why am I doing the studio?

I was initially drawn to the studio for a few different reasons: the inter-school collaborative structure; the chance to investigate urban use and; an interest in cultural/social habits.

Motivations?

I came to interior design from a performance/acting background and so when I’m designing, I think I naturally tend to focus on the body and its relationship to space. How a body interacts, overlaps and connects with design. Designing for the body - user driven design.

I’m interested in the experience of space and reaction to space – mentally, physically, emotionally and culturally. How deeply does it affect our social experience, our state of mind, our choice of action? Can we influence this experience?

I also believe there is a performative aspect of life/everyday activities which is at its most heightened in public space – this could provide an ineteresting starting point when investigating urban use.

I’d like to gain…

A wider technical knowledge, quicker design visualization, a deeper understanding of social interaction in public space and a higher level of resolution in my design outcomes.

1) What is it you are interested in the informal urban practices studio?

I’m interested in interacting with different designers to experience different points of view, and opportunities to communicate with people of different age, gender, communities and culture.

2) What is your motivation?

I would like to promote positive human behavior using public spaces.  I aim to create new ideas for communication within a space to inspire change, create opportunities for people to participate and feel better about them self.  I am interested in experimenting with space for environmentally friendly activities, public health, and social networking.

3) What are you hoping to learn in the studio?

I would like to learn and understand how people react to public environments from various cultural perspectives and different design disciplines.

Why am I here?

I chose this course because I consider urbanism as the main influence on our daily life apart from our private spaces. Urbanism to me means foreign cultures, different backgrounds, density and vivacity which I think are the substantials of life as it affects us every day, I think it is a very intereting topic that I would like to learn more about especially how things are interrelated.

What is my motivation?

I would like to improve people’s living qualities in a rather subtle way, which means turning public spaces into places where people can take their dwell time and get in touch with foreigners, other cultures without moving mountains.

What do I want to learn?

I would like to learn more about how the melting pot of people react to their surroundings and in what way can I contribute to it. I would also like to learn more about the conversion of waisted space in urban areas and how to improve the quality of cities the image of their districts – how can I find niches in urban spaces that need to be transformed.

Interested in?

Learning from an interdisciplinary environment involving different opinions, definitions and outlooks towards informal urban spaces. I’m interested in analysing relationships between intended uses in urban spaces and how society acknowledges or ignores designer intent, and the consequences of such behavioural patterns and choices determining experiences within those urban spaces. Altering function, experience or the nature of a space and observing the after affects of such change. The perception of ownership of a public space and the limit of acceptable behaviours according to perceived rights. Broadening functional and behavioural uses within a limited urban space, investigating stereotypical modular trends and how to break out of stereotypical design cycles for predetermined urban spaces. The need for objects to determined uses or behaviour within a space and the possibilities of encouraging behaviour through other sensory perceptions. I’m also interested in tackling the concept of pathways, and why a large proportion of urban space is designated for ‘travel’ functions rather than evolving other bahaviour within pathway space.

Motivation?

I wished to study broader disciplines of design and to research concepts of universal design in relation to spatial design. I am intrigued to discover how other disciplines will tackle similar projects with diverse outcomes. I was motivated by the broad spectrum of this subject and the multiple possibilities to shape our own projects to a degree.

Want to learn?

To learn how to perceive informal urban spaces with a multitude of design possibilities, observing, interacting and experiencing social behaviour to promote diverse responses beneficial to society, as well as focusing towards universal design and social trends towards future urban spaces.

I’ve learnt space design in foundation course before.In that project, I need to get inspirations from fashion design and reflect to “space”. I like this kind “cross” course.I am curious to know what intrtior design student learing.In this studio, I am hoping to know what is relationship between interior design and industrial design or the interactive of people ,object and public space. How to manage lots people with a small space? Does city chang people’s life? I think this course will be interesting to find that way.

The design studio ’Informal Urban Practices’, has given me a chance to explore my interest in meeting and interacting with different cultures, this is by meeting new people from around the city, exploring public areas and places and also learning more about urban environments and finding out if there a fixed places or if there a moving places. Within this studio the main motivation is interacting with people from off the street and getting to know what they do and what motivates them and another point that motivates me is to be able to walk around the city and documenting what I find by drawings, taking photos and sketching pathways, hopefully then I can take that further as my design reseach and documentation. The main ideas that I’m hoping to learn is to be able to expand on my knowledge and skills and also be able to identify what is an urban setting / environment and also learning to grow by working with Industrial Designers and learning how they start a project and followed through to the end result.