PAM LECTURE TALK 2
DEFINITE & INFINITE
The Public Lecture about “Between Definite and Infinite” by Charlie Sutherland. He has been a visiting critic and lecturer throughout include Oslo, Versailles, Boston, Edinburgh, Chongqing and the British School in Rome. He was elected as a fellow to the Royal Scottish Academy for Art and Architecture in 2011 where he is active on a range of communittes to promote the links between education and the Academy and was awarded on Honorary professorship at Glasgow University in 2013. In this talk, he described how to design space which blend with nature and the surrounding issue, such as boundaries. I could say that the most of his project were almost in artistic conception.
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An Turas
Located near to the pier, the structure is intended to act as a ‘shelter’ whilst waiting for the ferry. It reflect some of the qualities of the island, the big sky and horizon, the white beaches, the monochromatic black houses dotted over the land – all distilled as a line in the landscape. The building is experienced as 3 part spatial sequence. The first is the white walls, which open to the sky but sheltered from the wind. The bridge is the second, which protected from the weather, closed to the sky and the horizon but open to the rock and sand of the beach below. The glass box was a complete panorama, looking out along Gott Bay and beyond. I think in this building, the space quality and the spatial relationship created with definite. The view of frame to the sky was infinity.
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Lawson Park
Located on the west side of Grizedala Forest, Lawson Park overlooks Coniston Water and across the lake to Coniston village, framed by a backdrop of craggy mountain peaks. Grizadale Arts have been using the farm since 2000 for housing artists and projects, but have developed the whole site as the new headquarters for the organisation. The renovated buildings provide residential accommodation and research facilities for artists, curators and Grizedale guests, along with small scale conference facilities, warden’s accommodation and a site office. The organisation of the building developed the existing linear form into the private cellular bedrooms bookending the central split section of interlocking social spaces. The mixture of intimate and grand spaces also allows for the diverse activities that periodically occur from conferences, lectures, dining, to cheese making and bacon curing. This is a purposefully sculpted response, giving a strong definition of light and shade to an essentially hermetic interior, a common problem when converting existing barn buildings. I think that the definite is the relationship between interior and exterior, contrast between ancient and modern. The infinite was the exterior façade blur with the nature of surrounding.
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The loveshack
The proposal is a replacement for the existing dwelling on the site which is of modest scale and accommodation, providing a compact retreat for two people. The Shack, as a sustainable holiday location, offers direct rail connections to the Scotland. This means the journey for many will involve disembarking form Windermere station, a lazy ferry across the lake to Cunsey, from which it is a short walk to the entrance gatehouse of the shack. A walkway traverses the site to the front door from which you ascend to the living space to discover a view of the secluded and sheltered plateau within the site and from there up to the bedroom culminating in views back out over the lake and the distant views of Blackwell. I think in this project, he did well ‘infinite’ on the material with the surrounding. The materials selected for the building are in sympathy with the surrounding woodland. The main body of the building is clad in vertical timber boarding. Natural larch panels and glazing are contained within this frame. A sedum roof is used both for environmental stability internally and to reduce the carbon footprint of the building. Definite, was the journey to the space and the space quality.
In this PAM Lecture Talk, I simplify definite as building form and space quality; infinite as site context with the building and material. His talk really attracted me, it was a memorable talk for me.