In our first lecture we looked at what is a site. I believe that a site can be anything you want it to be, and your interpretation. whether that’s of a text, a past, a future, a space or place i realised that you have to open your mind. When you first walk into a room, it could be thought that it is simply a room, but then when you think about all the possibilities of what can be interpreted as a site, such as the corner of a room as a fragmented site, the chair has a site to sit down on, the white board has a site for text, anything can be a site.
We then went on journey’s outside to look at the same route we take to university everyday whilst looking at them through different ways with tasks. The first task i had was to search for accidental architecture. The image of the gate with some of the wire missing was not destroyed on purpose, through time or maybe by accident a hole has been created and i found this image really interesting, it gives you a different view of the brayford depending if you look through the panels with wire missing or the panels with wire. Along with plants wrapping themselves around the fence which takes place because of nature, which eventually will change the whole appearance of what was first put in place as simply a wooden fence.
We also explored touching and pressing our bodies against decaying objects which we found uncomfortable yet at the same time we felt almost a connection with the objects like a human in that we could feel they were cold and it made us feel sorry for them and want to hug them (ie the trees). We also listened to strangers conversations but it wasnt what we heard that intrigues me it was more then realising how we were acting whilst listening, such as walking slower, trying to not make a sound with our footsteps, leaning nearer people when normally strangers would try to distance themselves from others. Another task was to use our peripheral vision and by doing this it made me notice things i had never looked at on the same walk everyday, i noticed mirrors and the bright light from starbucks across the brayford water, as they caught my eye, i also noticed things hidden behind bushes which normally i wouldnt look for when looking straight ahead. This change in perception made me think that there is so much more to a site than just what appears from the first look, which is why i am excited to learn more about the site of the drill hall and explore its hidden history, architecture and space.