Guest Speaker: Peter Morris.

Last week Peter Morris an architect who currently works at Curl la Tourelle Architects in London paid the Interior Design department a visit. He gave a lecture discussing the places he has worked and showed us some images of his work. Later that day, he took the level three students away to do a quick two day project with him.

One of the main topics he discussed was his involvement in the design of the ‘Sutton Life Centre’. It was designed to encourage young people to connect with the community, a 21^st century youth centre.

 The local community and its buildings were used for inspiration in the designing process. The final building was split into two sections a ‘Dark zone’ and a ‘Light zone’. The dark zone would be an experiential area where children would come and learn about issues that will affect them such as street crime, drugs and online bullying.  The light zone would consist of a library and community centre.

He mentioned how important the local community were to him when designing the building as it was a community centre he wanted them to use. Therefore they were brought together and talked through the design and any suggestions they had were taken on board and incorporated into the design. He said that sketches were the best way of explaining the design to them even better than computer generated images. A computer generated image looks too finalised for a client so they will not suggest any changes as they feel it is too late, where as a sketch gets the idea across with out being too formal.

The final design looked amazing and something which the community will benefit from. The dark zone which looks like a street has interactive displays which show images at a 1:1 scale involving the viewer. Instead of just watching a t.v. screen school kids will feel part of the action whilst learning, a great way to keep their attention. The light zone was given a street party theme. The centre also has a habitat garden, an area outside for children to play and a climbing wall. The climbing wall was one of my favourite parts, I thought it brightened up the side of the building and blended in well. The grips are multicoloured and to me look like paint splashed all down the wall I never thought a climbing wall would look like a work of art.

Artists impression of the centre.

Image of the completed building.

'Light zone' Lights to look like flags at street party.

'Dark zone' 

Climbing wall.

I love when the department bring in guest speakers to talk about their work. By seeing the different ways in which they create perspectives, presentation boards, or go about their thought process is inspiring. I always take away a few handy tips to use in my own projects. Thank you Peter Morris!