meganfletcherinteriordesign-blog

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Interior Design - Industrial - Velvet Hotel. This photograph was captured in December 2015 when I stayed at 'Velvet Hotel', in the 'GAY village in Manchester'. The interiors of the building were industrial inspired with exposed wood and metal beams. This style is a personal favourite of mine and could be interesting to research for the "in detail" project - for creating my own personal space.

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Liverpool Museum - I really loved the stair feature in the museum. The shadows and sharp curved lines they created as you look up into the building was interesting. The light is beautifully captured as it leaks through the top of the building. The light is a main feature to the stairs and the natural light allows the main light to filter through one of the main features of the building. The centre piece is fantastic - must see in Liverpool.

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This photograph shows my local station in Salford. "Irlam Station"

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Salford Lads Club - CP Map pin

Stop me if you think you've heard this one before...

The mecca of all Smiths fan across the world. The Salford Lads Club has meant a lot to me growing up in the dark street of Salford. The club was founded by the Groves Brothers and has been serving the community since 1903. The Edwardian club was designed by architect Henry Lord and includes; a concert hall, billiards room and a sports gym. 

The Salford Lads Club was set up to stop teenage gangs of the day take to the Salford streets, the club offered a range of activities for youths such as; sports, art, culture and even education. 

In 2004, Leslie Holmes created 'The Smiths Room' - dedicated to Mancunian band ' The Smiths'. Including even some of their album covers being photographed outside the club.

The club represents a sense of community and safety in the local area. I think the club symbolises the area and the social revolution that has happened. The area can now be seen as quite run down and ‘shabby’. Yet, this club is still standing with a very strong sense of community spirit and character. The surrounding areas are becoming run down and neglected but somehow this club. This club is something quite special. 

The club just represents to me how Salford has revolutionised. The area was once the home of docks and industry with people packed into back to back houses. Now, the streets lie empty and cold. The Salford boarded up houses lie in fear of being bulldozed. New apartments being thrown up all round. Is there still such thing as community? The comforting feeling of knowing your neighbour is so close in the house next door. Is it all that safe anymore?

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Blog post 2 - Tatton Park art exhibition

'Guardian Angels’ exhibition by Cristina Rodrigues

During the first week of starting at MMU, I visited Tatton Park in Cheshire. The mansion in the grounds had an art exhibition inside. The exhibition was called ‘Guardian Angels’ by Cristina Rodrigues. Cristina is a Portuguese artist who came to Manchester to start making art from a different part of the world. The exhibition was to reflect her experiences and views on British culture. The exhibition explained how Cristina had women from all over the North West UK helping her make installations for the exhibition. The main purpose of this was to simulate women traditional habit to embellish the home; with things like crochet blankets and sewing.

The exhibition itself was inside the Neo-Classical style mansion. The mansion was built between 1780 and 1813 by the architects Samuel Wyatt (1737-1807) and Lewis William Wyatt (1777–1853). The grounds and interior itself is breathtaking. The traditional interiors and precise attention to detailing were particularly emphasised by the abstract art of Cristina which was displayed within each room of the mansion.

I have chosen to write about the mansion for a blog post as I thought the difference between the interior and details of the rich class quarters of the mansion were juxtaposed with the servant quarters of the mansion. The servant quarters were very minimal and dirty. Compared to the main section of the mansion where everything was sharp and clean.

For my CP essay I would like to focus on how different parts of the city have different types of housing and how as you get further out of the city the type of housing and the style of housing become more expensive and more diverse. This is a modern day and much larger scale as to what I saw in the mansion at Tatton Park. The interiors of the servant and the rich quarter were shockingly different and lead two completely different purposes.

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blog post 1 - atmosphere in the interior fundamentals lecture

The fundamentals lecture 'atmosphere in the interior’,  really inspired me and my outlook on my present project. The lecture explained how factors such as weather and light can emphasis or create an environment. For example; The weather project of 2003 by Olafur Eliasson, was an experiment to test how people can react to the light and also certain objects. The piece at the Tate Modern in London represented the sun and sky, the subject was set up as a basis to explore ideas about peoples experiences in a space. The reaction of the people experiencing this was extraordinary, visitors would lie down ‘in the sun’ and almost pretend to be experiencing the suns raise.

The project inspired me to think particular objects within a space can make people react in a very odd way, humans reaction to things can be the main feature of an interior.

Although the light within a space can be artificial, the lighting within a space can also be natural and emphasised with the architectural structure. For example; the Vaulted House built in 2014 in London is a architectural structure which is specific designed around how the light falls into the building. There is 6 roofs in the building and each is topped with a skyline. The angled roof draws the light down into the interiors of the building. This is purposely designed to bring all attention into the interior.

An atmosphere which uses minimal lighting for dramatic purposes is the Imperial War Museum North, Manchester. The lighting within this particular environment is being used to control experiences of the visitors. The dark lighting connotes in particular ‘the blackout’ during the second world war. The lighting makes the museum seem quite a dark and dramatic place to be.

As humans we are conscious of our surroundings and are aware what is going on around us. However, small details within an interior can affect this and how we feel and react to spaces.