Assignment Three - Buildings in use.

Assignment Three – Buildings in use.

“Choose five or six buildings and for each produce between two and four images that describe effectively and attractively the way in which these spaces are used.”

“For each building, it is important that you conduct some research beforehand …., so that you have:

·      A good understanding of how and why it was designed in the way it is

·      An opinion on its effectiveness as a usable space.

I chose the following buildings:

1.     The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

2.     The Playhouse Theatre, Oxford

3.     The Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford

4.     The Holywell Music Room, Oxford

5.     The Alice Marshall Hall, Middle Barton, Oxon

The premise I held before starting this course, it being “People and Place” was that there is an intrinsic connection between a “people” and their “place”. This connection could quite clearly be the singular fact of domesticity, that people have domiciled themselves in buildings since time immemorial, but they have also designed and constructed buildings for specific social and functional needs. Some communities still favour communal domesticity over familial constructs, though sociologically speaking the current (in anthropological terms) trend is for people to isolate themselves – I read recently that there is a rise in figures for  single occupancy, speaking perhaps to the breakdown of some of the social aspects of western society. 

I suspect that many who start the “P&P” have a notion that it is about people first and place second and, despite my concerns over the implied titular instruction, I have had the notion of people in mind for every shot that I have taken in these series. I wanted there to be actual or oblique references to people in the photographs – the Holywell was the only place I knew I wouldn’t, or couldn’t, get people in the shot – it was only available with vacant possession. 

The Ashmolean

I have written about the museum here, here and here. It is a purpose built museum that has recently undergone a massive redevelopment; all things are relative in the life of one of the oldest purpose built museums in the world. Photography during normal opening hours is permitted though tripods aren’t, so I needed to arrange permission to use one on one of the days that I went to take photographs. There were a reasonable number of people all through the this beautiful museum, people ranging from foreign tourists and local visitors, from school trips to business people meeting for coffee or lunch and, I suspect, a number of Oxford academics to whose University this museum belongs.

The redevelopment, as I have written elsewhere, makes a great use of light and space in all the social and movement areas. The stairs, escalators and hallways have a feel of “being designed for the job” in that they are bright, often with objects d’art to engage with. The restaurant and cafeteria on the top floor makes a great use of natural light with one wall almost all glass looking over the rooftops of the city and a terrace area for when the weather is fine. The gallery areas are individually designed to reflect the era or genre they are displaying. The museum staff are discreet, polite and informed.

Tour groups are not uncommon in the building, though I suspect they are kept to a minimum number as I have never seen them block areas with their presence (maybe I’ve just been lucky). As a museum I think it works wonderfully well, it is conscious of its need to continue to develop it’s presence as an intellectual facility for the University, a resource for the public and an educational resource for the community as a whole.

The pictures that I have chosen for the Ashmolean all have people in them. I deliberately ensured that people’s presences were recorded and that they were in the process of engaging with the museum and its collection or resources. In effect I have depicted two versions of the Ashmolian with both having the opening shot.

The opening shot of the Ashmolean presents the museum as it presents itself to the world - substantial, worthy, venerable, learned; established in the twin institutions that are Oxford and the University and which anchors it's vision of itself in the world. The inclusion of the institution's title, which, as a brand, is, I think very important and whilst the image suffers from lens aberration the clear blue sky says a lot about the building, reminiscent of a Grecian heaven, emphasising the heritage of the University and the genesis of it's early classical collection.
The rest of the images in the Ashmolean section can be sectioned into two streams. The first is to do with how the building has been constructed/designed to enable the movement and communication within the building and the second set to do with the artefacts within the museum.

These first four photographs emphasise the ease by which visitors can move around the museum, interconnecting between the various gallery floors. Wide well lit corridors that allow easy access to the artefacts. The use of glass and light coloured walls give a very clean and fresh visage to the central core of the building rising from an atrium at the basement level to the rooftop restaurant. The image top left shows a hall/corridor that serves both as an access and a gallery of statuary and is found directly to the right after entering.

This lady on the left is overlooking the atrium from a balcony annexed to one of the corridors. The statue is in the classical style and is typical of what the Ashmolean is famous for. The artefacts are given space to be able to be viewed usually in three dimensions, small items may be encased in glass cabinets allowing the visitor to roam around the piece and larger pieces are not overly protected and can be viewed very closely. I have included one example of the museum working with the community.

The lighting is well designed, combining white light and soft warm tones, the lighting technicians have worked to highlight the three dimensionality of the pieces, even when viewed from afar.

Detail of photo above

The inclusion of people, in many of the shots provides calibration of scale for both the areas they inhabit and the size of the objects d'arts. I found it very difficult to portray this building in four or five shots which is why I streamed them into two separate 'views". The Ashmolean is a building that works extremely well; there is a thought I have with the people in the shots who are static that they will be compared to the artefacts, whereas the shots that have movement in them show some engagement with the museum.

The Playhouse Theatre

I have written about The playhouse here and here. It is a purpose built theatre with no great pretention to be anything else. Photography during productions isn’t permitted and so in order to take photographs I needed to gain permission from the theatre management who, whilst knowing that I wanted to photograph from the stage in order to get a performer’s perspective, very kindly also provided a tour through the backstage areas. Next year will be it’s 75^th anniversary and is the most modern of the buildings I have included in this assignment. I first went to this theatre just before it had the most recent of it’s renovations – theatres get tired relatively quickly, seats get soiled and broken, new technology needs to be employed to enhance the audience and performer experience and greater use of the total space needs to be consistently reviewed in an effort to “work” the audience. The other working over the audience gets is the process by which the building will seek to maximise revenue per seat - the bar area, the programme sales, the cafeteria area and the box office all offer "opportunities" to help fill the rather depleted coffers of The Playhouse.

I hadn’t expected the tour that I was offered and I am therefore more able to present a fuller portrait of this building than I had previously imagined. Hester, who took me around, was very generous with her time, but most of the pictures in the assignment come from the area that belong to the audience and/or the performer’s area that coincides with the audiences experience. The scenery building, "Green Room" area, dressing rooms etc won't be used in this assignment - they will stay on the learning blog but won't form part of the submission.


The opening photograph depicts the stage from the upper circle second row back - it is interesting to see how small the stage seems, it is further back than the technical team who operate from the back of the stalls downstairs. The house lights are all on which "de-focusses" the attention to the stage - which at this time only has minimal lighting. The shot though does present a strong contrast that is antiphase to when a performance is being staged i.e. the stage becomes alive when the houselights go down and the stage lights are lit. The Playhouse's last major renovation did a lot to improve the "sight-lines" for the audience and it currently boasts "no bad seats". These first two shots depict the "plushness" of the seating, with ample leg-room and shows the raking in the shot to the left from the perspective of the stage orchestra's conductor. The curve of the rows isn't obvious from the shot on the left but clearly visible on the right.

One of the clear design goals of this purpose built theatre is the height of the proscenium arch, which provides significant benefits to both audience experience and to the directors vision of the performance. I tried to provide a good sense of the scale of this feature with two shots from back stage; firstly the rigger's ladder that climbs to the ceiling backstage and another shot of the scenery, showing the height above which the backstage area ascends to and the substantiality of the set construction
The Playhouse works on many fronts - as a business it continues through these straightened times, as a theatre it works, continuing to produce popular and artistically challenging works.

The Sheldonian Theatre

I have written about The Sheldonian here, here, here, and here. From the Greek theātron – meaning a place for seeing, especially for dramatic representation and routed in the verb  – to see, the Sheldonian isn’t a theatre in the modern dramatic theatrical sense, it was intended to aggrandize the business of the University, it’s raison d’etre to elevate the importance of the establishment and equate it to the status of the University and help to inform it's prominent place in this world. Wren’s vision for the design was firmly placed in the classical period and the ornamentation that gilds the edifice is equally routed in that period. The architectural features, unique in that time, enabled Wren to bring untrammelled visual qualities to the floor of the building enabling extraordinary line of sight perspectives to all parts of the building (and dancing).

For this assignment I have tried to not only include people but also to highlight the ornamentation that situates the building in the mind of the University body corporate.

The opening shot of the Sheldonian squarely situates the building amongst it's peers in Oxford - the Bodleian library to the right and left of the square and the School of Divinity just visible. There is no untrammelled view of the Sheldonian and this view is the only one that can be taken from a distance away. The building itself is set above street level, there is a step down to Broad street to the right and behind this shot is also a couple of steps down into Cattle street. Very little was done to the photograph, I thought about "brightening" the image, but I thought that would paint a false image on this monument; clearly there would be days when the sun would light up it's stone facia, albeit one that was replaced nearly a century and a half ago. The building has been designed as a shell, The inside, whilst designed to celebrate ceremony has very few features other than what one sees on entering through the entrance. Wren's architecture has little other than the outer wall and some narrow staircases to gain access to the upper galleries; it is, therefore, why I have concentrated on the inside of the main Hall - the theatre - to depict this building.The shot above left from the Broad street perspective shows the scale of the space. Shot high up in the "gods" with the organ opposite and close proximity to the painted ceiling this gives a strong perspective of the scale of the space. Whilst the shot above right are the pipes (now redundant) of the defunct organ. These pipes still retain a sense of the majesty of the ornamentation which can be seen all over the space, gilded crests, ornate thrones for senior members of the University, specially reserved spaces for same - this is a building with a very strong sense of it's heritage and place within the University

Another view of the space in the Hall, from the opposite perspective as the one above, though this time from just above head height - the chairs laid out as if for a performance of some kind. The ceiling is one which gets a lot of attention, rightly so, from most visitors to the building - each panel is a self contained composition and symbolises the Reformation - the triumph of Religion and the Arts over Envy, Malice, Rapine and Ignorance.

The Sheldonian is fit for purpose. As an institution it is fully aware of its place both in the University and in the City and community. People feel elevated when they come into the arena, the pomp of the facility as designed by Wren, in the mid seventeenth century, is still as strong today as it probably was then.

Post completion addition: Not meant to be considered as part of the assignment.

Another shot of the organ combined with the ceiling and taken from high up in the gods with a MF camera - fuji Pro 400 H film.

The Holywell Music Room

I have written about the Holywell Music Room here and here. Claimed to be the earliest purpose built concert halls in Europe, I was aware that my access – organised through Wadham College – would mean that I would be alone in the building, suggesting that I wouldn’t need to compromise on where I photographed, but that there would be no-one to physically insert in the frame. As can be seen, this building is not situated within the norms of the commercial world; staid and a little fusty this building and it's facade look today as it must surely have looked approaching three centuries ago. Whether the "Green Room" would have been nominated such is unlikely all that time ago, but the room was there, as was the area now termed "box-office". However other than some nomenclature and "window dressing" this building hasn't changed very much at all.

The opening shot. of course, suffers from significant lens distortion - this could have been mitigated if I had stood over the road - by about 15 feet - this would have militated against the aberration but not by much - and it would have included the road. It would have been possible to move to one side and deeper still, but would have lost the full frontal aspect. I chose to shoot in this way and crop square. I suppose the clue is in the title - Holywell Music Room. Whilst it is a standalone building, within the grounds of Wadham College, in all practical senses it is a room with some ancillary areas for the sole purpose of showcasing musical recitals. Chamber music, some jazz maybe, choral is what this "room" was designed for; certainly not symphonic works. Playing host to Haydn and others through the recent centuries it isn't hard to imagine the venerance afforded the performers in this "room". The shot left is one I have chosen to portray the "space", taken from the upper stalls and central it provides a "wide-angle" view of the auditorium. The shot right denies the viewer a sense of the seating arrangement and diminishes the apparent intimacy of the arena. Whilst the shot below, in itself a head level view as the audience enters the auditorium blanks off the seats almost completely.

The shot left is the view to the right upon entering the building, showing the blue double doors (locked on the day - I arrived by a side door) though sparse, is beautifully lit in muted tones. It tends to suggest to me that the focus in the building is all set to the music room - whatever else is in the building (not much) plays a poor second fiddle and gets less attention than maybe it deserves. Whilst the shot on the right is the view forward into the music room - I purposely opened the door to reveal the organ - the principle focus of attention - to draw the view into the picture.

I am not sure about whether to keep this picture of a newel in the assignment. Unsure because: It is in a different medium to the rest of the assignment photographs. Because it has no contextual references to the Music Room. And because it harks back to what I would have focussed on before starting this course - an exercise in tone and texture.

The HMR was purpose built for the elevation of music, it has been praised through the centuries for that purpose and it still works extremely well today.

The Alice Marshall Hall

I have written about the Alice Marshall Hall here. The AMH was chosen as a direct comparison to the other buildings inasmuch as the others were purpose built for a singular function, whereas the AMH was designed (if that is not too strong a term, maybe erected?) in 1888 as a general purpose facility for (the common) folk to find alternatives to idling their time in public houses in and around the village. A cross between Victorian philanthropy and puritanism this building has survived for over a century as a hub and haven for the village and it’s inhabitants. Again, the core of this building hasn't changed that much - the stage was added pre -war circa 1930 "...The stage was made up of moveable sections, and by all accounts was not very secure." ~ The Alice Marshall Hall 1888-1988 pub' b the Middle Barton History Group p15. All other change to the building were by means of extensions - toilets, kitchen etc.


The opening shot is the AMH in context in the village; in the middle of the village, at a crossroads, difficult to engage with for younger children and older folk alike, due to traffic issues, no parking facilities coupled with poor visibility. These next two shots depict the box-shape space and the view from the serving hatch into the kitchen. The view from the back of the Hall looking forward doesn't reveal much, as there isn't much to reveal. The kitchen perspective at least portrays a kitchen that might be useful, though the H&S police have largely shut down the usefulness of this part of the facility as it cannot be held responsible for food poisoning, safety issues and so kettles are boiled in here, but nothing much more.

Signs are everywhere in the Hall, the various group's have areas designated for their instructions, news updates, regulations and disclaimers. The cubs and scouts have at least made their board colourful. The impression that I hope to get over with these pictures is the "jack-of-all, master-of-none" space that is the AMH. What was once a haven from the ills of society now serves a different purpose. The AMH is a community "gelling point"; whereas once it was a place for the community to bring people together for a step in the path towards their salvation, it is now a step in the path for the communities salvation. This hall provides a mechanism for the community to gel, to become community again, to reach out to what is fast becoming an insular society. And maybe the absence of people in these last shots goes somewhat to the earlier statement about this assignment in this course being about People and Place. One could imagine that this last set of photographs was actually taken in a few decades from now and that no-one had been back since - or, that they are current images about a facility that ran out of community some decades ago.


The AMH is a general purpose building, master of none, it has many problems and it's users would define it as satisfactory at best but flawed in many ways. However it is likely to remain, it is an institution in the village and has been now for a few generations - see Reunion for examples of this Hall in use.

Post completion addition: Not meant to be considered as part of the assignment.

Another shot of the with a MF camera - fuji Pro 400 H film.

So, what did I learn?

From a practical perspective I needed to gain access/special permissions in order to photograph buildings that were either normally closed or that didn't normally allow photography/tripods etc. I was pleased with the way I was granted these permissions etc; the various managements were usually very welcoming and accomodating. From a photographic perspective; I had a number of preconceptions about buildings, about how I wanted to create photographs that had people or physical references; the Ashmolean set did so I think, though with mixed results as I felt the moving people shots were better as the static people shots looked a little like artefacts. Overall the limited number of shots restricted the expression I could bring to these buildings that all had many sides to their characters, though without people they could seem a little desolate or soulless - especially the AMH. I was certainly challenged to portray these buildings in this assignment, it would have been more in keeping with my photographic past to seek out derelict buildings and make studies of their tones and textures, so I suppose I sub-conciously tried to capture their "life" and from the Ashmolean which has a great energy and vibrancy, to the semi-comatose Holywell, which comes to life only when life enters it, to the AMH which seems like an OAP despite being younger than most in the set I think I may have achieved that.
I am now looking forward to assignment four which deliberately inserts people into the frame.

Appendix 1

Camera settings:

The Ashmolean opening shot:

Camera: Nikon D3
Lens: 12-24 mm
Focal length: 12mm, 18mm effective on 35mm
Aperture: F22
ISO setting: 200
Shutter speed: 1/80th sec
Date shot: 23.5.12

Pillared hallway

Camera: Nikon D3

Lens: 12-24 mm

Focal length: 24mm, 36mm effective on 35mm

Aperture: F22

ISO setting: 400

Shutter speed: 2 sec

Date shot: 23.5.12

Stairway with children

Camera: Nikon D3

Lens: 12-24 mm

Focal length: 14mm, 21mm effective on 35mm

Aperture: F22

ISO setting: 200

Shutter speed: 1/5th sec

Date shot: 23.5.12

Escalator shot with three people

Camera: Fuji X100

Lens: 23mm

Aperture: F3.2

ISO setting: 400

Shutter speed: 1/180th sec

Date shot: 16.3.2012

Woman with statue

Camera: Fuji X100

Lens: 23mm

Aperture: F2.2

ISO setting: 400

Shutter speed:1/105th sec

Date shot: 16.3.2012

Hall

Camera: Nikon D3

Lens: 12-24 mm

Focal length: 12mm, 24mm effective on 35mm

Aperture: F22

ISO setting: 200

Shutter speed: 2.5 sec

Date shot: 23.5.12

Statuary

Camera: Nikon D3

Lens: 12-24 mm

Focal length: 24mm, 36mm effective on 35mm

Aperture: F22

ISO setting: 400

Shutter speed: 1.6sec

Date shot: 23.5.12

Community statue

Camera: Nikon D3

Lens: 12-24 mm

Focal length: 24mm, 236mm effective on 35mm

Aperture: F22

ISO setting: 400

Shutter speed: 1.6 sec

Date shot: 23.5.12

The Playhouse

View from the circle

Camera: Nikon D3

Lens: 12-24 mm

Focal length: 12mm, 18mm effective on 35mm

Aperture: F13

ISO setting: 200

Shutter speed: 4 sec

Date shot: 27.4.12

Seats

Camera: Nikon D3

Lens: 12-24 mm

Focal length: 13mm, 19mm effective on 35mm

Aperture: F13

ISO setting: 200

Shutter speed: 5 sec

Date shot: 27.4.12

Rows

Camera: Nikon D3

Lens: 12-24 mm

Focal length: 12mm, 18mm effective on 35mm

Aperture: F11

ISO setting: 200

Shutter speed: 8 sec

Date shot: 27.4.12

Ladder

Camera: Nikon D3

Lens: 12-24 mm

Focal length: 17mm, 25mm effective on 35mm

Aperture: F4

ISO setting: 6400

Shutter speed: 1/30th sec

Date shot: 27.4.12

Scenery

Camera: Nikon D3

Lens: 12-24 mm

Focal length: 12mm, 18mm effective on 35mm

Aperture: F4

ISO setting: 6400

Shutter speed: 1/100th sec

Date shot: 27.4.12

The Sheldonian

Building

Camera: Fuji X100

Lens: 23mm

Aperture: F16

ISO setting: 200

Shutter speed: 1/200th sec

Date shot: 27.4.12

View from the god's

Camera: Nikon D3

Lens: 12-24 mm

Focal length: 12mm, 18mm effective on 35mm

Aperture: F11

ISO setting: 400

Shutter speed: 0.4 sec

Date shot: 11.6.12

Organ pipes

Camera: Nikon D3

Lens: 12-24 mm

Focal length: 17mm, 25mm effective on 35mm

Aperture: F9

ISO setting: 800

Shutter speed: 1/13th sec

Date shot: 27.4.12

Ceiling

Camera: Nikon D3

Lens: 12-24 mm

Focal length: 12mm, 18mm effective on 35mm

Aperture: F9

ISO setting: 800

Shutter speed: 1/13th sec

Date shot: 27.4.12

Floor view

Camera: Nikon D3

Lens: 12-24 mm

Focal length: 12mm, 18mm effective on 35mm

Aperture: F9

ISO setting: 800

Shutter speed: 1/20th sec +1.33 stop

Date shot: 27.4.12

Holywell

Building

Camera: Nikon D3

Lens: 12-24 mm

Focal length: 13mm, 19mm effective on 35mm

Aperture: F22

ISO setting: 200

Shutter speed: 1/125th sec

Date shot: 23.5.12

Wide shot of auditorium

Camera: Nikon D3

Lens: 12-24 mm

Focal length: 12mm, 18mm effective on 35mm

Aperture: F22

ISO setting: 200

Shutter speed: 0.3 sec -1stop

Date shot: 23.5.12

Side view

Camera: Nikon D3

Lens: 12-24 mm

Focal length: 12mm, 18mm effective on 35mm

Aperture: F4

ISO setting: 400

Shutter speed: 1/400th sec

Date shot: 23.5.12

Front view

Camera: Nikon D3

Lens: 12-24 mm

Focal length: 12mm, 18mm effective on 35mm

Aperture: F4

ISO setting: 400

Shutter speed: 1/50th sec

Date shot: 23.5.12

Newel

Camera: Nikon D3

Lens: 70/200 f2.8 mm

Focal length: 70mm

Aperture: F2.8

ISO setting: 400

Shutter speed: 1/400th sec

Date shot: 23.5.12

Alice Marshall Hall

The building

Camera: Nikon D3

Lens: 12-24 mm f4

Focal length: 18mm, 27mm effective on 35mm

Aperture: F20

ISO setting: 400

Shutter speed: 1/125th sec

Date shot: 13.6.12

The Hall space

Camera: Nikon D3

Lens: 12-24 mm

Focal length: 12mm, 18mm effective on 35mm

Aperture: F22

ISO setting: 400

Shutter speed: 0.6 sec

Date shot: 14.6.12

The Kitchen

Camera: Nikon D3

Lens: 12-24 mm

Focal length: 12mm, 18mm effective on 35mm

Aperture: F22

ISO setting: 400

Shutter speed:1.3 sec

Date shot: 14.6.12

Cubs and Scouts 

Camera: Nikon D3

Lens: 12-24 mm

Focal length: 24mm, 36mm effective on 35mm

Aperture: F20

ISO setting: 400

Shutter speed: 10 sec

Date shot: 14.6.12

Notice board

Camera: Nikon D3

Lens: 12-24 mm

Focal length: 14mm, 21mm effective on 35mm

Aperture: F22

ISO setting: 400

Shutter speed: 1.6 sec

Date shot: 14.6.12