Conclusion

http://youtu.be/RdE0gAYVCQg- link to slideshow

Overall I feel the groups final idea was good but I feel the outcome could have been much stronger and better executed, I feel that had whole group communicated and worked better together then a stronger outcome could've easily been achieved. Although we had a facebook page where we would share any information and ideas as well as meetings in person and on skype not everyone in the group contributed equally.

links to the groups facebook page and the groups blog;
https://www.facebook.com/pages/BCUCoLabModern-Gazetter-Group5/247787051938440
http://co-lab5.blogspot.com/

Final Idea

We decided  that our final piece of work would be the documentation of the site; sound recordings, photographs, rubbings, pressings etc. It was also decided that the size/scale of the intended interchange was to be represented with imagery and drawings (to scale).
I liked the idea of producing a simple but minimal representation of the space 1:1 scale of a section either through a technical drawing of the elavation or maybe something similar to the above picture.

Preston bus station

During a lecture I came across a  publication by the PPP group about a brutalist bus shelter in Preston and the people that used it. 

http://www.archizines.com/1017493/Preston-Bus-Station

Further Ideas

The other ideas i had were;

• trying to re-create the feeling of the 'idea' behind the intended interchange through a sound piece highlighting the sounds that could have been, played at the site during the night or when dark so that it would be almost eerie when played in such an isolated space.
• to highlight the bus interchange using lighting or some other form of non permanent decoration to give it some prominence and add beauty to it.
• to view it as a structure that's purpose/ use has altered although the site itself remains un-altered and maybe photographing these other uses.

I went to the lost in lace exhibit and liked the idea of maybe decorating the space with textiles as they would contrast with the angular hard and solid concrete structure.

Ideas

We looked into different ways in which the intended interchange could be used as a stage or as a destination and I thought about the possibility of it being a venue for some kind of reading or performance like a monologue or the destination for a flash mob of some kind but I realised that there isn't much foot fall at the site so something like a flash mob could go by unnoticed and I also didn't think we would be able to hold any type of organised event there 1. due to its location and 2.we didn't feel confident we could gain permission to use the site.

During one of our tutorials the idea of the/ a folly was highlighted and so I looked into the meaning of  a folly and how it could relate to our chosen site. I felt that the site could be seen as a folly that showcased virtually untouched brutalist architecture, although the interchange was built for a purpose and folly's aren't generally seen to be constructed for any particular purpose. I also looked briefly into brutalist architecture to gain a greater understanding of the style and I liked that the Utopian ideology linked with Brutalist architecture was never met and felt it parallelled with fact that the intended purpose of the structure was also never fulfilled. 

Bus interchange

We visited the site and took intial photgraphs measurements and went to the library to see what information we could gather on the site.

We found there was very little information available on the intended bus interchange but we found plans for the library where the interchange was present, other than that there was a sentence where it was mentioned on the wikipedia page about Birmingham Central Library.
Kevwe said she felt the shelter was like a stage,we all agreed and so looked at the idea of it being a stage for some type of event.

Tour Photo's

   

During the tour we each took photographs and discussed the buildings and highlighted pro's and con's of the different buildings/ sites.

Following the tour of the buildings and our discussion as a group we decided to concentrate on the unused bus interchange built to service the Central Library.

Initial Research

After  our briefing we decided to gather general information on all of the 10 buildings in the guide, as well as gathering general information on Birmingham as a city. We divided the research between us and I had the job of collecting general information on Birmingham, I collected quite varied and random information on things from when birmingham first gained city status to information on the cities dialect. We also quickly discusses initial ideas we had for the project and all agreed we liked the idea of maybe trying to create some kind of intervention and alter the way people used a space, so we looked at interventions other artists interventions.

We looked at smaller more subtle interventions to larger scale ones but decided to wait until after the tour before we done any further research .