Week 5 & 6 (+ Presentation)

Unfortunately I did not save most of my type work but have a render of the final one and a mock up one that we ended up using. The rest is the work from the other members in the team + the mock up whairepo stand for one of the look outs.

Presentation: 

Friday’s Presentation

1st Slide- Introduction

• Proposing a temporary urban intervention entitled ‘What’s been swimming in our lagoon? Marama o te Whairepo (Month of the Eagle Ray). Aimed at promoting discovery and learning.
• 
  
• Staging 4 reciprocal Urban interventions surrounding Whairepo Lagoon which will heighten engagement and interaction around various points at the perimeter of the water.

• Why? This will encourage more of an exploration of the site, provide some experiential tools which will then conclude in learning & conversation.

• We have taken basic inspiration from the design of the proposed city signage with the associating yellow colour as a director and a visual connector between the elements.

2nd Slide- Testing

• We wanted to include and enhance physical elements of the current urban environment as locations for our points.
• From our testing we realised how important it was to include interactive elements in our design, the participant becomes an actor within our staged environment.

3rd Slide- Lookout Point

The lookout point overlooks the lagoon from the City to Sea bridge and is the first point of contact, and a point of contact that leads you to the other installations around the lagoon that are visible from this vantage point such as the anamorphic text on the stairs by (the boatshed/karaka cafe).

The idea behind this concept is that there is a custom made viewing machine that acts as an oversized magnifying glass. The viewing machine is made enhance the the experience of finding and viewing the Whairepo in the lagoon.

4th Slide- Map

• We wanted to challenge the public’s engagement with the physical site further by creating an analogue interactive map. Encouraging each individual to grab a piece of chalk and map within the stencil on the wall where they personally sited the Whairepo.
• We are aiming for a catalogue of mapped traces of the Whairepo to be created, a public art in itself. The act of joining in with others and contributing a map of your findings creates a sense of community. Equally as engaging with children as it is adults.
• We want the question ‘What’s been swimming in our lagoon?’ to provoke the thought that we are living closely with other creatures, and enlighten more of a sense of curiosity about what else surrounds our day to day life. The question will encourage further engagement with the other touchpoints.
• The map is reciprocal to the sculpture.
• Size to span the entire width of the concrete structure (2500mm x 2500mm) From our testing down at the site we performed the actions and drew out the size of our movements (see testing images) to gauge the best size for interacting. We have made that the drawing aspect is at the height where it is widely accessible to all ages (Beginning at 50cm off the ground).

5th Slide- Sculpture

The point at the interactive map is one of a few spots around the lagoon where the whairepo can be seen swimming in the water given the right conditions. At this point we have decided to create an anamorphic sculpture directly across the other side of the lagoon, that aligns to reveal a whairepo. This aspect will help people to discover the whairepo in the lagoon and engage with the reciprocating interventions.

The anamorphic sculpture would be constructed from H6 prolam beams which is the highest grade of treated timber in order for the wood to be able to sustain its conditions by the sea. A 10mm thick yellow sheet of acrylic would be glued with heavy duty glue onto the face of the timber. Stainless steel rods would help to support the elevated sections of the sculpture.

The yellow colour of the acrylic is cohesive with that of existing city council signage around Wellington and the timber helps the sculpture to blend within its environment when viewing from behind. Connections can be made visually linking the interactive map and sculpture together from their colouring and more of a discovery can be made as each of the points are found.

The sculpture would be 2210mm at its highest point and approximately 1400mm wide.

6th Slide- Anamorphic Type

The type is the main naming aspect to our points as it is reciprocal to the lookout point. It would be the most temporary out of all of our installations, we wanted the size and the colouring to be bold, but follow on from other Wellington City Council branding around the wider city. The type, beginning anamorphic in form is a nod to the Whairepo as they too can only be seen in certain positions. We have followed the typeface that is used on the wall near our second installation. As it will be the most temporary out of the rest, temporary paint will work best. A very strong look from the beginning but overtime fade away. Following from that the length for this will roughly be around 13 meters.

Conclusion:

Marama o te whairepo offers  a unique interactive series of interventions that through observation, seeking alignment, discovery and recording how people are able to learn and understand the meaning of Whairepo lagoon. With all interventions being temporary for the month there is potential for the anamorphic sculpture and the lookout point to be permanent.