ECTIP Blog 5

ECTIP Blog 5

Due to overseas students we were limited to the four of us who were in person to present, as the main purpose for overseas students was research I helped take on their presenting responsibilities. By reading up on others research and properly analysing the artefact I was prepared to give detailed analysis on our project, we all shared the responsibilities evenly helping each other and communicating often when preparing the presentation. My focus areas were initial ideas, research as well as justification of the choices that we made along the project, as in was involved in all of these aspects to begin with I was able to pick up other group members work and express it with confidence in order to support the presentation.

Despite some sporadic communication to begin with, the group began to reach out more often improving the relationship between members as well as aiding each other during difficulties. Through the use of discord and google drive we were able to keep up to date with our own and each others progressed. Due to the range of different personalities and background knowledge, we were able to effectively develop the project with a broad range of creative concepts. As the project came to its conclusion I found it clear that we needed motivation for the final push, the group and I, all encouraged each other to keep working hard until the end. Following the presentation we were satisfied with the feedback we received which was supportive and encouraged the continuation of the project to make the additions that we ran out of time to complete. 

I believe working as a group was beneficial for myself and has encouraged me to approach these projects and artefacts differently. I hope to carry this on and look forward to future group projects.

ECTIP Blog 4

 ECTIP Blog 4

We began making our designated assets, mine was the scientist feature, I began attempting to model the scientist in blender but struggled due to my inexperience I struggled to develop the concept quickly. Based off of the advice of my other team members I started from scratch learning basic blender tutorials, this was time consuming but I began making progress. Despite this, bugs in the code and time constraints led to the scientist being left out, so I created a photoshopped render of a low-poly scientist to give a visual of what we could have created given more time. Instead we began focusing more on the main plan that we had developed.

From there I continued to research the science and statistics behind invasive species in order to back up the artefact and support the development of the game. The facts that appear during the game are key to getting to the point of the game, whilst also keeping the game fun and not too serious. In doing so we aimed to create an entertaining educational game that would create young citizen scientists.

My process throughout was non linear as I tend to do for a lot of my projects, however from having to learn a new skill by the end I was working in a more organised fashion starting from scratch and working methodically. 

ECTIP Blog 3

 ECTIP Blog 3

Through my research I composed a document of research about Chinese mitten crabs as the invasive species and the long snouted seahorse as the native species. I believed that the seahorse would be a good choice as they are a stunning creature who many would be surprised to find out that they're native to the uk and Portsmouth. They are poor swimmers due to only the use of the dorsal fin to swim, with the need to eat 40-50 times a day it is difficult in the fairest habitats, however invasive species such as the mitten crab destroy the environments of seahorses making it more difficult to survive. Chinese mitten crabs have come over to the Uk for the last century and have built a strong population causing millions in damage in Europe by burrowing up to 2 feet into river banks as well as in the ocean as the ocean for miles. 

A great deal of this information I found on the Seahorse trust website, which carries out annual surveys of seahorse populations and research. This credible source allowed me to find statistics and figures that would support our decision to choose the seahorse as the main character and gave us information to incorporate into the game. In terms of the invasive species topic we found it important that an interesting native species that is susceptible to invasive species and at a vital time as climate change is believed to inevitably drive the seahorses to Scandinavia with rising sea temperatures the cause. 

The research on the mitten crab I focused on how to identify them and the damage they cause, through their hairy claws they are unique and easy to spot, they are also omnivorous meaning they eat any matter, plant or animal. This also contributes to the reduction of food for the native species as well as their previously mentioned burrowing causing damage to habitats

ECTIP Blog 2

After our day at the dockyard we decided to create a video game as our artefact due to the capabilities of the group, with an experienced member in the group in digital coding and animation, the others and I learned from them to aid the creation of the game. As well as this we had those who lacked confidence in the software blender assigned research roles in order to find a character for a native and invasive species to be put in the game. The research team, myself included, made files of research which were stored in the google drives in order for everyone to access them whenever making additions as they do so. 

We debated between a game that would be a 3rd person video game where a scientist is controlled by the user to complete tasks to defeat the invasive species and aid the native species. This would have been an interesting concept as it would encourage the young users to become citizen scientists and act as the character does. However, we thought a first player concept would be more appealing to young people to be playing as either the native or invasive species itself. From this we considered a concept of an invasive species that has to take over new environments, despite this, we decided to have the first player as the native species to encourage their protection and inform the user how they can aid these species through facts through the game.

Frome here we were mentored how to create assets for the game to allow others to start creating an environment, following the trip to the harbour, we took a keen interest on protecting the native species in the ocean with it being so closely linked to is here in Portsmouth. After scraping the docks in the harbour of ocean life we examined what we found, with a lively shrimp and a lot of sea squirts it was teaming with native species. From this I began researching for native and invasive species that live around Portsmouth's coast, from this research we would go onto planning our finalised concept.

 ECTIP Blog 1

My initial response to the project was a conservative one, without a complete understanding of the task at hand, but particularly through the dockyard trip early on it gave me a new understanding and thought process. By deeply analysing what at first could be a boring space I quickly learned that a simple alleyway could tell a thousand stories, with brick carvings and informative stories by my tutors about sailors and workers waiting to be paid, carving their stories into the old worn brick. It created a sense of erosion and corrosion which symbolised the tough periodical time that these sailors endured, the surrounding space seemingly being swallowed by the moss and cracked concrete that had developed over the centuries since it was laid there.

Through sketches and photographs I attempted to encapsulate these stories in what now looked like 'dark dying space' as I described to my group, when in fact there was a great deal more to it. This paved the way to our project as it gave me a different perspective not only on the one site, but my general approach to the project upon seeing the magnificent dockyard gave an incentive to me to focus on the ocean when looking into this project. Portsmouth as a city has a deep reliance on the ocean in modern day with fishing, transport and the navy included, and will rely on it further in the future, but upon the visit I realised the magnitude of history there and realised how important it is to the city. From this I aimed to research further about these mysterious waters and took it further into my invasive species research. I believe it was a helpful exercise to enlighten my creativity as well as providing a source of inspiration for the following project ahead. 

Symbolic Architecture

When considering that if early man, we consisted of a hunter gatherer species that needed a place to escape to when in danger. As humanity developed and as civilisation became democracy, religion and culture, the Architecture changed and evolved just as we did, with structures being built not just to hide from danger, but built for a variety of purposes. This is an extremely important scheme as without somewhere to apply a certain activity, it would never be done and that's why Architecture is so important to our development as a species.

However, when looking at Architecture too often we forget about the past and focus too much on what the next design will be without remembering what came before. As well as this it is easy to look at what has been built in Architecture rather s to why it was been built and what it symbolises. A perfect example of this is shown by The Acropolis in Athens which is literally translated as to Highest City, which was dedicated to the Goddess Athena. Overtime it was used as a Christian Church, an Islamic Mosque and was even partially destroyed, despite this in modern day it is regarded as a symbol of iconic Greek Architecture. This is also shown by the Grand Mosque in Casablanca originally being the site of an early Christian Church, in 1236 it was made into a Catholic Cathedral by King Ferdinand, this shows that this piece of Architecture is symbolic to both religions, not just whether it looks like a Cathedral or Mosque.

Also when analysing these early pieces of Architecture it is clear that they were designed to represent authority, order, sophistication and civic power through grand flamboyant aesthetic pieces, and this has been continued through History. Albert Speer was known as 'Hitler's Architect' and when analysing the work he designed it is much more of a neo-classical design, which is described as the revival of the Classical Greek and Roman architecture. The main objective of Nazi Architecture was to symbolise power, and with great these immense neo-classical structures it created the same powerful presence of that of the Romans and Greeks. This once more shows how symbolic Architecture is, that it is used to create a sense of power, not just to look nice or for its functionality, but to show who is in charge. This isn't the only example of symbolic architecture however, particularly when analysing God's Architecture they tend to be grand designs to please God not to show how powerful the church is, but to bring those inside closer to their God.

Architecture of Enlightenment

 Beginning in the late 17th century and continuing through the 18th century the period of enlightenment saw great adaptations within architecture due to the great advancements in science and technology, as well as the period also seeing advancements in politics and knowledge. Set in motion by revolution in certain countries and the steep rise in others, it saw Europe as a whole excel as a society. An example can be shown in France which saw the Revolution take place in 1789, this saw power be taken from the church and monarchy which allowed new ideas to be implemented in all aspects, not only politics, but also in design.

During the period the rise of Etienne-Louis Boullee was seen, with his own iconic thought process and vision, he followed his fathers footsteps into Architecture. His main focus was on neo-classical design, which saw unnecessary design elements removed and stripped to their basic needs with a focus on keeping symmetry and variety. An example of his work shows off the era of enlightenment focusing on the accomplishments of Sir Isaac Newton, the cenotaph he created used the reflection of light to create a glow, which was a new development within design, and was made on a huge scale. I found this extremely interesting as the first projects have created during my time on my Architecture course have involved some sort of light projection and this was one of the first to effectively implement it.

Another key designer is Ledoux, from his work it was the beginning of what we take for granted, the design of his theatre allowed everyone to be able to sit down, something that in modern day is very much the norm, but during this period it was almost unheard of. Prior to this only the wealthy were able to sit in the theatre, with the less wealthy having to stand at the front of the stage with the upper class seated behind and above. This design came in 1784 which was not long before the revolution, which went hand in hand with this design and the idea of equality between classes. 

Through this period, the combination of ethics and Architecture went hand in hand. This can be seen through the develop of science causing new techniques as well as new aesthetic being achieved, as well as the development of society creating a greater ideal of equality, which required design to change in order to complement the needs.