Time managment

Time management is crucial when trying to achieve many important things at once. Sticking to timetables, and allotting sufficient time to activities will achieve this.

I am currently sitting on the floor of the ECC studio waiting for a tutorial. Crucially, we are running late. That seems to be a generic complaint about many of the units throughout the architecture school, and one which is extremely annoying, but expected, to many.

In my opinion, this is a very embarrsing fact that the SBE department is associated with lateness and poor time keeping throughout university. Standards.

However, this is obviously going to happen. During a tutorial all we want is to firm up our idea as much as possible, and want to extrude the short amount of time we get with the tutors. The more ideas we get the better and the longer it takes, the more complete our ideas will be.

Photo courtesy of http://www.foxnews.com/ucat/images/276600_time-management-clock.jpg accessed 23/o3/10

Forest Mill 2010?

Photo courtesy of http://www.e-architect.co.uk/iceland/jpgs/reykjavik_ccc_henninglarsen_1107_6.jpg accessed 22/03/2010

An extra 80,000 tickets for 2012.

Today LOCOG have announced 80,000 new tickets for the 2012 olympic games. Crucially, 75% of these will be available to the public, via a public balot. However, this arrangement means that the British supporters will be as likely to gain a ticket, as any other international supporter who enters the balot. I think this is a serious problem, as members of the London districts which have been disrupted by the construction, will not be able to see the games.

The 16 days of international competition will culminate 7 years of sport development in Britain. The 2012 games will allow for many governing bodies to have new homes, and many sports to have better facilities. The most important post olympic upgrade is for British Athletics which will move to the olympic stadium. The current home, Crystal Palace sports stadium is cimpletly iinsufficent for Britain's atheltics team, to call home. The Olympic stadium, within the Olympic park, will also house national high performance medical and conditioning centres.

Many people are starting to feel that the nationalistic July 2005 bid has now changed in personality and character to an international and cold programme of construction. What we need to remember is that the 2012 games will revolutionise the Sporting scene for the UK. Sport is crucial for society and gives many people an agenda which drives their professional career.

Photo courtsey of http://www.e-architect.co.uk/london/jpgs/london_olympic_stadium_oda071107_1.jpg accessed 22/03/2010

The final count down.

The final week of term, for me, starts tomorrow.

For the final week of term we have to suggest which part of Forest Mills we wish to re-design for our final year 2 project. The above picture shows the facade which faces onto a central court-yard. Initial ideas are to insert a glass and steal structure into the brutal and industrial existing structure.

The Easter holidays is a crucial period for 2nd year Architecture. In the 4 weeks I aim to do 80% of my final project, with minor changes needed for the 3 weeks in the summer term. Continuing my blog and developing my website for the final proposal, will help form part of the DEX submission. History of Architecture 3 is to be assessed through a 2000 word essay which I am writing on the Bauhaus.

For rowing, next Saturday the Head of the River race takes place on the river Thames between Chiswick Bridge, and the university stone in Putney over a 4.25mile course, a week before the Oxford Cambridge Boat Race pictured above. 400 mens eights will race the course at 13:15. During the holidays a weeks training in Soussons, France, will hopefully build towards a successful summer season with Nottingham Rowing Club culminating in Henley Royal Regatta in July. I will also train in Nottingham with the University boat club towards a successfull BUCS (British Universities) Regatta in the Lighweight Men events, maybe including the coxless four and the eight. Both these categories, aswell as the lightweight double, my late rowing coach, Carl Smith, won at the World Championships.

Crucial Week.

Image courtsey of http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=38953 accessed 21/03/2010

Image courtesy of http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2008/12/9/1228854724711/Crowds-flock-to-the-Boat--001.jpg accessed 21/03/2010

Radford visit

Today we visit Radford Mill on the Alferton Road, Nottingham. The Mill is a large quadrant sealed by 5 roads. The Mill quadrant is full of derelict buildings which we will investigate for the next two weeks, before proposing a building project towards the end of term. I am not sure what building I wish to design thus far, however I think some form of public performance/viewing space.

Yesterday we looked at ArchiCad in our DEX module. I feel confident now in building a model in ArchiCad for my next architecture project. This blog is going well, but I want to up-the-anti between now an June to give a more comprehensive documentation of these important months.

Photo courtesy of http://www.mortardevelopments.co.uk/images/casestudies/17/main/103.jpg accessed 16/03/2010

2 weeks left till the end of term.

The 1-1 review went quite well yesterday. I was first on at 1030, and performed to an empty theatre! Unit 5 wasn't on great form, with very few people attending the reviews.

I was proud of the final piece, and happy to have achieved it within a week. A similar project at school would have taken much longer. It was enjoyable to come up with the idea, resolve it in my head, and build it; this process is much shorter than previous design processes.

However, why am I allowed to do more in my school workshop at school at 18, than I am now aged 20 at my university workshop? My 1-1 project was assembled and built exclusively in the studios, using my own tools. I would not have been able to do the same in the SBE workshop.

The final two weeks of term are now upon us. We will be embarking on the site analysis stages of our final project.

DEX Images cropped in Photoshop

Won to 1

Easter is quickly approaching and both Architecture and Rowing are hotening up.

Our most recent studio project is a 1:1 scale study of a chosen industry. I am building a portable street theatre, which fold up from a lamp-post. My industry was the football stadium business. The project has been received with some serious skepticism from the unit. The project has educed a unexpected, and previously unfound feeling of apathy. Who takes the blame? 
On the weekend, Nottingham played host to many rowing club from around the county. The annual Trent Head has three divisions planned, however this year the division for novice crews was cancelled due to safety fears in a very strong stream. I rowed in the 2 seat of the Nottingham Rowing Club eight (far left), which came 4th overall. The eight now looks towards the Head of the River race in London on the last weekend in March, where all clubs from across the country will compete, with entries totaling 400. In the 2nd division of the day, a 4 from the 8, with myself sitting in the stroke seat won our category!


The next week is another crucial week, with the 1:1 study being reviewed on Thursday, and the 8 preparing for it's first international race, against the Russian International Eight, in Spain next weekend.

Welcome.

The Nottinghm 2010 blog is set to document the following period of 2010 for me in Nottingham. Key events which are up and coming are the end of my 2nd year studying Architecture at the University of Nottingham, and the second half of the rowing season.