Trans on Scotswood Road. On one side are shops and houses.
On the other side are the railway line, river and the factories
of Vickers, Armstrong’s for shells and tanks.
I uncovered this note from my late Dad describing life as a young child in the Scotswood area of Newcastle in the late 1930’s. The area was adapting to rehousing, changing communities and social engineering. Although this was more than 80 years ago I believe many of the expectations and aspirations of the residents are still of value today. |
The Scotswood area started to the west of the Central Station and Scotswood Road ran along side the River Tyne until it reached the Scotswood Bridge. It was a long road that I remember walking when we visited my Aunt’s house. It was long, busy, black sooted but had some good shops and lots of pubs. My Aunt lived in the back to back houses that stretched from the Scotswood Road up to the steep banks of the Tyne towards Elswick and Benwell. Elswick, Benwell, and a bit further up the bank, Wingrove and Stanhope Street were a bit posher than the areas of Scotswood. However, some of the houses in Scotswood dated back to early Victorian times and boasted cellars, an imposing entrance up a number of stairs, big windows and big rooms. My Aunt by comparison lived in a small ground floor flat with a living room, a kitchen and two bedrooms. There was no bathroom; the lavatory was in the back yard next to the coal house. Lighting was by gas and in the evening the lamps hissed above the general conversation. My cousins were noisy and street-wise. They had black hair like their father and were dark skinned. Uncle John was fierce and tough and stood no nonsense from the neighbours but was always ready to help if there was anyone in trouble. He was a great union man and capable of nicking anything left lying about. Scotswood was a bit like my Uncle John; tough, without airs and graces, fierce in defence of his beliefs and a bit suspect when it came to living by the law of the land.
My family was moved by Newcastle Council from Elswick and with other families from Scotswood were given new homes on the Blakelaw estate next to the northern parts of the Town Moor. The house had an upstairs and downstairs, a living room, scullery with a pantry, three bedrooms and a bathroom. It had a garden at the front and at the back which were roughly marked out by wooden posts and wire. It was 1938 and we had electricity! All of our neighbours were new to us. None of us had moved with people they had lived closely with in Scotswood. We were from the Elswick area, top of the West Road bank from Newcastle’s Snow Street. We thought we would know some of our new neighbours but we didn’t. We were a new community that had to get along with each other in our cul-de-sac of houses in Murrayfield Road. We were a motley lot. Some found adjusting to the new houses very hard. Our immediate neighbour was a rag and bone man. He housed his horse in the scullery until the Council found out. Bugs from the heaps of old clothing he piled up outside his back door began crawling along the back walls of the houses. I had never seen bugs like those before. Adjusting to having a front and a back garden was a novelty for the residents. Agreeing the extent of each patch and keeping them cultivated and tidy became a new focus of communal attention and contention. Another change was the lack of shops. A lean-to hut and a house converted into a shop were the only facilities for the whole estate. These were located at the far end of the busy Portland Road which was a hike for both adults and children. A Co-Op existed even further away in Cowgate. We attended Cowgate School near Fenham which was another hike each day. The Council improved housing but neglected community amenities in their plan, especially for the kids.
The Moor was a great boon for us. Its space and freedom were something novel, and we enjoyed it. As a gang, the children of Murrayfield Road discovered that over the Moor, in the South Gosforth ‘posh’ houses, there was a small park with swings and a slide. We trecked there for a while and enjoyed the playground until we were chased off by the South Gosforth residents. Acceptance of the community did not come easily, after all they had come from Scotswood! Even on public transport there was a separation social groups. The No. 4 bus to the centre of Newcastle was always crowded. The No. 5 service to Newcastle ran on the same route but the closest stop was outside Blakelaw which missed out our estate. You paid more on this bus and it was used by people from Ponteland and Darras Hall.
Newcastle Council were recognising that they had to address the amenities of our estate when the war came along and all plans were shelved for 5 yeas. Apart from a new primary school, change was slow. The community had gelled well but self help was expected.
Later, in the 1950s, more people from the Scotswood were decanted in to the Montague Estate and Denton area and the new residents seemed to experience similar issues of cultural change as us. Money was scarce, the post-war years were lean and Newcastle council at that time was not really tuned to think of community assets to attract residents to the area.
The original community of Scotswood was tough. It was not always pretty, but it was alive and vital. Planning and action by the Council tied to breathe life in to the Scotswood community with improved housing, but also in the process, a re-engineered community culture and controlled social hierarchy. I wonder how much of what they delivered to this community was working for the community’s benefit.
July 2007
Working regularly with children and school groups running architectural workshops, I use techniques on paper folding and paper engineering. The work involves investigating design in 3D to help develop spatial cognitive skills. Folding paper and card helps develop children’s dexterity and the fine motor skills in their hands, which is something easily neglected with the use of iPads and games consoles. The workshops regularly take the children’s design ideas and scale them up to full size with large-format corrugated card and plastic, so the students can experience their creations full-scale.
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| Products of a design workshop in the Design Technology department of Graveney School, London SW17 |
I think working with paper in this way identifies a gap in the architectural work-flow for professionals as well as being a study focus for school workshops. Architects don't really play with paper and card to test 3D ideas. Too often it’s done through 2D or 3D computer models. UCL's 'Fabricate 2020' conference this year addressed a wealth of computer technologies, parametric software, rapid prototyping and CAD-driven machinery. Foster & Partners are also investing significantly into large-format 3D printing. We're handing over our creativity to AI. The human brain and hands are more sophisticated and articulate than any software or machinery. A goal of this post is to encourage architects to ‘play’ with paper and card more freely.
Play is the highest form of research - Albert Einstein
I normally work with school students in local authority schools where resources are limited. Simple paper and card is hugely effective and gets quick results. I aim to 'lead' the workshops with examples and pre-made kits but the emphasis is on experimentation and play. It’s not long before they flip the script and student’s creativity takes over. What children have in imagination out-strips anything I can offer in design experience. They unpack what experienced designers consider normal or take for granted, and re-structure the work in ingenious ways.
My enthusiasm for this hands-on paper-based approach to 3D design led me to reach out to Paul Jackson, a world-renowned origami artist and author of over 40 books on the subject. We discussed the subject and he offered lots of advice on teaching methods and workshop exercises, to get the best results out of this working method. His advice was very insightful, offering a lot of strategies to work with in the classroom. Paul said:
There are many reasons to want to manipulate paper, and many methods to work with. Folding and cutting are the two most basic mechanisms and are creative opposites: Folding makes a sheet smaller and cutting makes it bigger. This expanding and contracting are two sides of the same coin but do very different things with the paper. Folding is geometric and a controlled process. Cutting can offer a lot more freedom creativity but can be without the same discipline and control as folding. Paul focuses on folding as it offers more creative control and is a reversible process, which cutting is not.
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| Playing with variations on one of Paul's standard folding motifs. |
Secondly, start with the reasons for wanting to fold. Is it to create a structure, a shelter, a pavilion, a bag to piece of furniture? This should be the starting point of the process. From there, let play and experimentation drive the investigation to see what the paper offers through your mind and fingers.
Paul often begins workshops teaching generic folding techniques. These are outlined in his books and offer many many possibilities and applications. Using A4 paper makes work simple and accessible. Students are less concerned about making mistakes. Trial and error is important. The process involves making a mess in the classroom; creating a large body of studies from which the more successful examples can be extracted to form a vocabulary of 3D geometries to develop design proposals with.
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| Developing variations on standard folding motifs |
This process gets students working three dimensionally, realising studies they can hold in their hands and developing their understanding of 3D geometry which they can then apply to multiple applications. It’s a process which also seems to work for different design subject areas such as Architecture, Sculpting, Textiles, etc., because the basic principles are transferrable. Improvisation is an important part of the workshop process because the design sequence will always be different and individual; creativity unpacks what we think we know and offers new possibilities for achieving the design goals.
Some other very simple exercises include the use of post-it notes. Asking the students to make one fold only in the sheet might not seem too creative, but assemble them in sequence in a grid and they can transform in to am impressive composition. Examining the pattern with changing light adds to the dynamic and can be really exciting.
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| Options on the theme. Even crumpling a sheet makes a versatile structure! |
Paul says that a simple fold offer more design possibilities than complicated folds. They can be used in many applications. Two to three folds can offer a great base for creative design. Start simple and play. Test the designed forms in changing light and the environment of the workshop.
Simple folds establish modules, units, simple patterns and folding motifs which can be arranged in a variety of ways and at different scales to create a huge variety of forms. Experiment with variations on the same pattern; repositioning nodes, angles of folds and changing the shape of the paper etc. This offers yet more variations and possibilities. Different arrangements achieve entirely different forms and results.
Paul’s advice is to keep the investigation simple and work up to a level of complexity comfortable with the class. It’s a visual and tactile process that enables students to understand 3D form directly like no other activity - but play is a must: Play play play! Paul adds that origami might have been around for thousands of years but there are novelties, new discoveries and new creations that emerge with every investigation.
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| Translating folds in to sheet patterns to create pleats and structures |
There is something magical about taking a piece of paper and from a starting point of nothing, creating a form, structure or an object with your hands and a few quick folds. Paul describes it as modern day alchemy. It's also a reversible process which can transform between one state as another, something which is unusual and special in creative processes.
There is nothing in a sheet of paper that suggests what the form is going to be before it is folded. It is usually very difficult to visualise a resultant 3D geometry from looking at a folding pattern. This is a learnt skill. We are not born with it. We are used to 2D and 3D patterns and forms but we are not trained to perceive the transition between the two. Perhaps because this needs to be learned we find it easier to rely on computers, CAD, parametric software and 3D printing etc. But automation and digital technologies are not the same as having something that you can create, hold in your hand and manipulate from one stage to another. This is not something achievable with 3D CAD. Computers produce one item at a time and these are not immediately accessible as items you can hold in your hands.
For primary school pupils, paper folding is important for developing fine motor skills and dexterity in the children’s hands. Muscular strength required to hold a pencil with early years classes could run in parallel with basic origami skills.
For architects and design professionals it should be second nature to have a stack of paper to hand by the desk, to enable design issues to be investigated with folded paper exercises.
For me, this makes workshop planning more focused and efficient. I look forward to testing these principles out in the classroom soon, when restrictions allow.
Paul Jackson and his work can be found at:
Website: http://www.origami-artist.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/miri.golan
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeJA_47Q_WpgrLca-MT22ug (Although Paul stresses that books on the subject are a much better source for ideas and learning skills)
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| Architecture demonstrates the importance of the full spectrum of academic subjects; individually, integrated and from the connections in between. |
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| Site investigation, design considerations and brainstorming |
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| Initial concept ideas and MoSCoW analysis |
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| YouScape Student concept perspectives |
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| Materials for practicality, durability and fun |
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| Planting selected for variety of type and colour, and for ease of maintenance |
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| Plans, sections and elevations of the proposals for discussions with suppliers to resolve price and programme issues |
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| Structural developments in discussion with a Structural Engineer at Price & Myers and with feedback from timber fabricators |
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| Services developments kept simple to be easily managed. Proposals developed with AECOM. |
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| Exploded Isometric: 1 Structural ribs, 2 Bracing, 3 Flooring with anti-slip surface, 4 Central tower book case 5, Rear wall book case, 6 Metal grid for training plants, 7 Polycarbonate coloured transparent roof |
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| YouScape A place to sit, relax and read a book and engage with nature in the heart of London |
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| Value engineering: Investigating options with geometry, materials and fabrication methods to reduce costs |
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| Amended scheme to meet the competition budget |
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| Value engineered scheme, exploded isometric: 1 Four base panels bolted together, 2 Six rear panels, 3 Two panels bolted together to form the lower walls, 4 Two panels with polycarbonate roof to form the upper walls on each side, 5 Central book case tower, 6 Four panels with polycarbonate sheets to form the roof |
In addition we had assistance from the industry specialists listed below, which gave the zoom discussions an additional dimension and grounded their proposals in reality. I understand that one student now wants to pursue a career in architecture and another in design-based engineering.
Professional Design assistance:
Structural Engineering: Price & Myers, London
Services and Sustainability Engineering: AECOM
Cost Consultant: Morham & Brotchie (Oban)
Buildability assistance:
Phil Cooper, Cooper Joinery & CNC Services
Michael Acey Furniture & Bespoke Interiors
A professional Architectural drawing class was presented by Phil Buckingham: Drawing Classes for Architects. The class took place over Zoom and focused on interior and exterior perspective techniques to help the students develop the proposals.
Visualisation:
By Chris Curtis, 7-t.co.uk, developed from the student’s drawings.
Our scrap-book of ideas which we used in the design discussions can be found on our Pinterest page.
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| Barriers to Innovation |
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| Innovating with building materials |
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| Opportunities for Innovation |
