St. Mary’s Church
For this project, I was tasked to go to a specific location to analyse the area, how people interact within it and also how people interact with the place itself. After the research stage, I was to design a way in which people could gather and connect with each other without it seeming forced and unnatural.
My research group travelled to St Mary’s Church next to the Nether gate shopping centre and spent time sketching and developing a more in-depth knowledge on the area and what factors make the place most interesting.
I had discovered that the church itself dominated the area as it was so big, and the aged style of the building contrasted heavily with the more modern shopping mall curving around it. I also noticed that the church had a very prominent path wrapping around it, standing out to me as a feature that could be utilised. I used google maps to understand the topography of the area, giving me a better idea of how much space I had to work with and where the majority of people will see the church from.
Once I was done with my research, I went back to the studio and began sketching and coming up with some ideas on how I can get people together.
Immediately, I was drawn to the idea of using the church’s history as a vehicle of connectivity. I investigated ways that the history of the church could be shown or told to the public – such as plaques, speakers, projections and even interactive objects.
I struggled to find a way that just one of them could be interesting enough to draw people in, so I looked at creating a larger installation that would be seen from further away. To do this, I came up with a concept involving an ‘interactive timeline’ surrounding the church where (if stood on) certain slabs on the ground would trigger a small speaker to explain an interesting fact about the church.
Although I thought that this idea would bring people together and encourage them to learn about the church’s heritage, I felt that many people may find this concept controversial as it may seem as though it is degrading and disrespectful as it totally surrounds the perimeter of the building. I did not want the space to become a hindrance, so I decided to think about how the design could be less ‘in your face’.
Revisiting my previous idea of interactive objects and aspects, I wondered if it would be more noticeable to use a mixture of different forms of information – such as listening to an object, reading a hidden fact or looking at an interesting image.
I decided that it was best for me to use a wide range of objects to inform people about the church, so I researched 8 interesting things about the building and began creating examples of how I could express them to the public – such as using a gas lamp too convey the theme of fires and highlighted marks on a wall showing invasions from the English.
The Model
To explain my concept in a simple and easy to understand way, I created a 1:150 scale model of the church out of thick card. To do this, I measured and drew a 2-dimensional ‘net’ of the church and then folded/scored certain edges to create the form needed to represent the church. After this had been completed, I taped the sides together and painted it too make it look more aesthetically pleasing and match the style of the church itself.
To express my concept, I highlighted 3 ways in which the public could interact with the area to find out more about the church. To show these highlighted aspects, I added small red markers on:
- An information plaque
- An electronic slab next to a point of interest
- A button located close to the church
To show the viewers an idea of the scale of the church, I incorporated a small figure. On top of this, I also painted the base of the model to create a more realistic impression of the street in which the church is located.
My concept revolves around the idea of bringing people together and making people stop for longer to appreciate something magnificent. Using fun and interactive aspects, I hope that the design would also allow younger people to learn about something that they may find uninteresting – but in fun and exciting ways.
