woodbutcher453
Established Member
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- 20 Jun 2010
- Messages
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This all started with a church near Sheffield...
'A camel is a horse that has been designed by committee'
I was approached by THE architects because they had reached the end of the line with the clients. On the church committee was a retired architect, a town planner and several sheep/'yes' people. The architect clearly felt snubbed that she had not been asked to do it in the first place and was trying to be as awkward as possible. THE architects had come up with several ideas, all of which were dismissed by the clients. In desperation they scoured the internet and contacted me.
I came up with an idea that I thought they would like...
They didn't !
I came up with more ideas that I thought would please them....
They didn't like those either !
In a moment of desperation I thought past trying to please them and tried to please me. It was a bit mad, but why not...
The new idea was approved by everyone and it went ahead. This gave me the confidence to think 'F$£ck'em', I'll do what I want'
It's a pulpit... this was how it all started. it's curves in layers.
The idea was that because of the depth, as you move around the object, your view changes. Its American White Oak held together with cascamite (as normal PVA turns American Oak black)
The box that it stands on is veneered MDF. I made two boxes, one veneered and one plain. The veneered one was given to the flooring people to set in the floor and I built the pulpit around the plain one. The whole thing was transported to site on its plain base and then lifted from one to another.
Every thing seemed to go well but I'd only done drawings of the item from floor level. This church had a balcony, when you looked at it from up there was a gaping big visual space. Originally there was no rail at the back and fortunately the people wanted something to stop people from falling off the platform. This bit was the solution...
It prevented the safety problem but from the balcony filled the visual space.
This changed my whole design strategy. Symmetry is like an old reliable friend... but asymmety is a challenge. It makes you smile most of the the time but be warned... it can turn on you and make you look stupid.
As I was doing some finishing touches, an old woman walked up to me and said, "Is that it, or are you going to panel it?"
'A camel is a horse that has been designed by committee'
I was approached by THE architects because they had reached the end of the line with the clients. On the church committee was a retired architect, a town planner and several sheep/'yes' people. The architect clearly felt snubbed that she had not been asked to do it in the first place and was trying to be as awkward as possible. THE architects had come up with several ideas, all of which were dismissed by the clients. In desperation they scoured the internet and contacted me.
I came up with an idea that I thought they would like...
They didn't !
I came up with more ideas that I thought would please them....
They didn't like those either !
In a moment of desperation I thought past trying to please them and tried to please me. It was a bit mad, but why not...
The new idea was approved by everyone and it went ahead. This gave me the confidence to think 'F$£ck'em', I'll do what I want'
It's a pulpit... this was how it all started. it's curves in layers.
The idea was that because of the depth, as you move around the object, your view changes. Its American White Oak held together with cascamite (as normal PVA turns American Oak black)
The box that it stands on is veneered MDF. I made two boxes, one veneered and one plain. The veneered one was given to the flooring people to set in the floor and I built the pulpit around the plain one. The whole thing was transported to site on its plain base and then lifted from one to another.
Every thing seemed to go well but I'd only done drawings of the item from floor level. This church had a balcony, when you looked at it from up there was a gaping big visual space. Originally there was no rail at the back and fortunately the people wanted something to stop people from falling off the platform. This bit was the solution...
It prevented the safety problem but from the balcony filled the visual space.
This changed my whole design strategy. Symmetry is like an old reliable friend... but asymmety is a challenge. It makes you smile most of the the time but be warned... it can turn on you and make you look stupid.
As I was doing some finishing touches, an old woman walked up to me and said, "Is that it, or are you going to panel it?"
