Lost in Lansdowne....again

Its that time of the year again.... no not Halloween, the second Lost in Lansdowne event!

This time we are exhibiting our work that we have been developing over the course of our 5 weeks on the Lansdowne Estate, and we would like to know what you think.

What is the new cladding going to look like?

Is the lighting going to get better?

What and where is the Lansdowne HQ?

Will it be any easier to find 200 Washington Road?

All this and more, plus free tea and cake, Saturday 1st November, Lansdowne Meeting room. (Next to Asif's shop)

3 Phase Strategy

As proposals have been worked up, the Lost In Lansdowne team have propsed a 3 phase strategy, which corresponds to the nature of each proposal. The phases have been called #1, #2 and #3:

#1 = Immediate implementation, non skilled work needed and with little or no cost attached

#2 = Short term implementation, some skilled work with some cost attached

#3 = Long term implementation, needing skilled work, time and substantial funding

This phasing strategy has allowed each propsal to be categorized, creating a flexible 'primer' for Lansdowne. Each area of the brief (gardens, residents, internal etc) therefore has #1, #2 and #3 level proposals, meaning that mix and match strategies can be put into place which are flexible enough to respond to the fluctuating nature of funding, skills and labour.

This 3 phase strategy has been designed to ensure that each area of the brief can begin to be tackled, regardless of funding, skills and labour.

Some Interesting Images...

POST EVENT BRIEF

The following brief has been designed based on the engagement with all client bodies and the findings of the first Lost in Lansdowne event. Conversations with residents centred around prepared activities, drawings and a scale model of the estate, have led us to a five pronged brief;



1 Strategy for Gardens
It has become evident from conversations surrounding the model that the current colour coding in place to aid navigation is in need of some re-configuration. It appears that, instead of each individual block having its own identity, the distinction should be made by courtyard. The naming of the courtyards may also add another line to the addresses of flats facing into the courtyards. This will make it easier for visitors, such as postmen, to the estate to find particular flats. The cladding will be considered alongside the garden identities and this may be developed alongside local artists.

2 Internal Strategy
Another interesting trend which emerged was that the residents largely move around the estate via the stairwells and open internal corridors particularly when visiting friends. We have therefore allocated a team to investigate the design of these internal areas to enhance opportunities for meeting and to improve the internal environment making it safer.
Considering the importance of the internal navigation of the estate, the stair towers are pivotal to the overall strategy. They signify the entrance to each building and we hope to develop a scheme which transforms these stairwells into inviting and prominent features which will aid both navigation and identity, and hopefully the successful development of community meeting and activity.

3 Meeting room Strategy – External/ internal
Considering its role as the only internal communal meeting facility for the estate, there will be a strategy for the development of this room and its role. Possibilities include design strategies for its re-location, its accessibility, its signage and its usage.

4 Residents Strategy:The strategy for the meeting room will go hand in hand with enabling the existing creative users of the estate. The Lost in Lansdowne event was most helpful in identifying residents who already have ideas and enthusiasm. It is thought that by facilitating these residents, both physically and tactically, we will ensure the longevity of our proposals. The users identified include;

Jerry - Interest in developing an edible gardening strategy for the estate.
Ross - A sculptor eager to incorporate art into the built enviornment.
Kid Acne - the graffiti artist identified by several of the residents as a possible contributor to the identity of Lansdowne.
Graham - Resident and member of the TARA who has a particular interest in the details of the signage.
David - Long term member of the TARA with access to significant funds for change.
Dorothy - Resident and member of the TARA interested in organising activities for both children and adults.

5 Basic strategy
Finally, we propose to develop a basic strategy which will bring together all the above branches of the brief, particularly providing basic yet essential suggestions for lighting, signage and maps.

The Lost in Lansdowne Team envisage that their final strategy will be separated into distinct phases. The first phase will include the most basic and immediate solutions for the problems of safety and navigation which were first identified as the major issues of the estate. Further phases will include short and longer term design strategies which hope to facilitate more opportunities for the development of the community.

Lost In Lansdowne Launch: Tea, Cakes, Gangs and Kids

The Lost In Lansdowne Launch event took place between 2pm and 6pm on Friday 17th October 2008.

Vital Statistics:

Total Adults = 30

Total Children = 15 (felt like 200)

Cubic Cm of biscuit cake devoured = Lots

Packets of Biscuits = 15

Mugs of Tea = 85

Electric Blackouts = 1 every 20 minutes

Yellow Foot Prints = 36

Exhibits / Installations

1.400 Site Model = Mapping routes, connections, friends, names

Lost In Lansdowne Mapping = Aerial maps, Routes day and night, Occupancy, Lighting

Interactive drawing = Posting thoughts, aspirations, ideas...

Post-it wall

Kids Drawings and models

Build Your own Lansdowne Blocks

Tokens

You can print these off and you'll get some lovely tea and cake at the event.

Date: Friday 17th October

Time: 2 - 6 pm

Location: Meeting Room on Lansdowne Estate

Bananas are yellow and so are we

Dave and I (Yogs) went around Lansdowne today armed with a placard and some tokens to further publicise the event. It was pretty successful, speaking to a fair few along Washington road and Cemetery road. By the sounds of it, people seemed to be genuinely interested in what we were doing, and plan to come along.

The sketchup model of lansdowne

This is the initial model of the lansdowne. I hope it would give you an overview of lansdowne. Thanks a lot.

Yellow's definitely our colour!

After printing the tokens and preparing the posters it was time to make a statement on Lansdowne. A group of us went down to the estate to distibute the tokens and put up posters to advertise the Lost in Lansdowne event on Friday. We all looked very fetching in our yellow t-shirts and it certainly got us noticed!

Spot the Poster

Poster's go up at Surestart and Mohammed's Shop. Thanks to both Purno (of Surestart) and Mohammed for letting us put our posters up.

What's that coming over the hill...

...that's right, it's Dave modelling our new "Lost in Lansdowne" T-Shirt. Nice balloon.

Wondering around Lansdowne once more

We spent yesterday evening and this morning printing over 500 tokens and cutting them up to advertise our tea and cake. A little manual labour can go a long way! In the afternoon we walked around the estate looking conspicuous in our lovely yellow handing out tokens to the unsuspecting masses. It was rather quiet in the area until the school run started where the estate came to life with running children and adults talking. People seemed interested in what we are doing which bodes well for our event on Friday. Some of the residents have said that they are definitely attending so it should be good.

what a difference a day makes...

*sings* "24 little hours"...ahem...

Work on model has continued today and now our contours have been adorned with the blocks of the Lansdowne estate.

9am

5pm

More tomorrow :)

H

Photo Gallery

Having looked at mapping of the site in the first couple of weeks of the project, we are also trying to look at Lansdowne to explore what is special about the estate. The event on Friday will include images of the Lansdowne estate in celebration of its current form. The aim is to create an interactive wall where people can leave comments and suggestions on the estate.

Official unveiling on Friday 2pm!

Acitvity Sheffield (the first visit)

Activity Sheffield came about to keep children active in play. Two / three youth workers armed with a van equipped with outdoor toys and games: cricket, hula hoops, a jenga set, a massive connect four, footballs and space hoppers. It's a weekly event and seems to be popular with its target group, the 8-11 year olds.

I say seems popular because, unfortunately when we (Josh, Tom and Yogesh) went the weather was pretty bad. So only three kids turned up, and they were far too energetic to question them about the estate, so we just played cricket instead. YAY! But the youth workers were open to be asked about their own experiences about Lansdowne and spoke about how in the beginning the older-teens were a little hostile towards them (verbally abusive). This was down to them (Active Sheffield) being an unknown outsider, working in their area. But once they got to know each other they now have good relationship with each other.

The younger-teens that we played cricket with, well I suppose you could call them a little rough and ready, but essentially good kids, in need of something like this (sports) to keep them occupied and out of trouble. Seeing their enthusiasm practically bursting out of them, being prepared to come out in the poorly rain for a game of cricket (which incidentally lead to some questionable bounces and frankly bias refereeing). Is this the only opportunity for these children to engage in physical activity in a safe environment after school? What happens after Active Sheffield leave. Looking around the estate there's plenty of green spaces, but it's a shame that they're not really designed for play. A piece of land so can play badminton, or throw a fisbee, or lay on the grass in the summer. True when we've visited the estate, the weather hasn't been all that great, but it's striking just how uninhabited the gardens are, even on a Saturday. I wonder, if they were habited would the estate feel safer?

Anyway the plan's to go in a weeks time and meet up with Activity Sheffield, so we become a familiar face and use this to build a relationship between the children and us.

model making begins!

Work on the big site model of the estate has been started by Craig, Heather and Naomi. The team's plan is that the model will be used at the Lost in Lansdowne launch this friday, as one of the interactive methods of gathering information from the residents about the community.

So far the contours of the site have been done and we will be moving on to building the blocks of the estate tomorrow. Check back soon to see how we're progressing...

COME FIND US!

collecting

The Lost in Lansdowne team have been investigating ways in which to collect information from the residents of the estate, whether they are specifically related to the main themes of navigation and identity or to their memories of the estates (both positive and negative). The following projects are several examples of creative methods used by artistic professionals.


//Encounters - The Moey, South Liverpool, 2007.

The Moey was produced by Encounters and gmproducts as part of Capital of Cultures Four Corners project, a city-wide neighbourhood regeneration programme working with residents, cultural organisations and neighbourhood services. The aim of the project was to investigate the life of the communities in Liverpool, through creative engagement which would collate memories, opinions and aspirations for the future of the city.

The Moey itself was a converted police pod which travelled along a predetermined route through South Liverpool, passing through areas suchs as Garston and Woolton. At each stop, Encounters engaged passers-by regarding the themes of neighbourhoods and neighbourliness through the use of various techniques; creative writing, visual arts, photography, digital images, film making and audio technology.

http://www.sharrowencounters.co.uk/cs/moey/moey.htm

//Folk Archive - Jeremy Deller and Alan Kane

Taking 7 years to put together, Folk Archive is a collection of approximately 250 images collected by Deller and Kane of what British people consider to be 'folk art' . There are photos and footage of strange festivals and competitions where life becomes performance art, including the World Gurning Championships, and a festival of insults and horse skulls in South Wales, called Mari Lwyd.


Within this project, there is a strange underlying theme of identity. What do these objects or events reveal about British-ness? What hidden stories are there to go with theses objects and could they reveal interesting information about a certain place. Could the Lost in Lansdowne group use this technique to discover Lansdowne-ness?

stakeholder version 02 and the Sharrow NAG

With a clearer idea of the relationships between various groups involved in the project, the Lansdowne team are now able to present version 02 of the stakeholder. Over the last week or so, it's become clear that Sheffield Homes, Sharrow Partnership and Sharrow Community Forum could regarded as a multi-headed client group. For the most part they share similar aspirations for the estate and the quality of life for the estate's residents.

Our stakeholder also appears to be growing in terms of the number of groups involved in improving the Sharrow area. Ari, Heather and Leanna attended a Sharrow NAG meeting last week and were introduced to members of Activity Sheffield, Sheffield Futures, South Yorkshire Police, as well as the youth football club Kickz. The meeting proved useful for the team in terms of finding out information for current proposals for funding youth projects, targeting anti-social behaviour and vandalism, as well as, establishing a wider context than just the boundaries of the estate itself.

Check out these webpages for more information of the work these groups do for the city:

Sheffield Futures: http://www.sheffieldfutures.org.uk/

Activity Sheffield: http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/out--about/leisure-services---activity-sheffield

Sharrow Kickz: http://furd.fast2host.com/default.asp?intPageID=413

Aerial Mapping in Lansdowne

As our mapping continues, we will ensure that each excercise is posted on the blog and available to download. The first of these maps is shown above, documenting the amount, type and position of TV aerials in Lansdowne, and there are alot....

stakeholder - version 01

You might want to wear some shades for this one...














As a reflection of how our relationships might evolve with various groups involved in the project, the Lost in Lansdowne team have decided that our stakeholder map should evolve with it.

stay tuned for version 02...

Second Meeting: 03/10/08

NAVIGATION

The brief has been streamlined to allow us to focus our time more effectively on one focus for the live project, Navigation.

Navigation encompasses the aspirations of the live project, looking at how the Lansdowne estate is navigated, not only in the sense of how people get around, but also how they identify themselves as part of the estate, and how identity is in way

finding.

As part of our ongoing 'navigation' through the project, we have completed a first draft stakeholder map, which will soon be uploaded. Yogs looks especially pleased with the map in its paper form (see above).

We have also undergone an identity change, now becoming:

LOST IN LANSDOWNE

No one seemed quite sure where LIFE came from, so it was jettisoned for a title which better suits our aims.

Mapping is continuing, as is further historical research, but we are now beginning to delegate tasks for the launch party of LOST IN LANSDOWNE.... more details to follow

Goat Watch= No sightings as yet

First Meeting of the Lansdowne Live Project Team

Group Meeting 01/10/2008

The Lansdowne Team met for the first initial debrief following the first client meeting onsite on 30/10/2008.

The agenda of the meeting established a team structure, with primary client contact (Leanna Boxill), finance officer (Heather McGill) and blog manager agreed (Dave Sparks).

The meeting established the course of action for the coming week, mapping. This was agreed to be the initial priority, as to tackle wider areas of the project (identity, navigation), we felt it was important to begin to understand the site from a range of different perspective. Teams were allocated to undertake a range of mapping techniques:

Yogesh, Josh and Tom are heading to site to contact Activity Sheffield to begin to explore route finding among younger residents of the estate.

Ariadna, Derong and Leanna are beginning with a comprehensive site survey, and moving towards more creative survey techniques.

The meeting also exposed some of the initial ideas for the development of the Live Project:

- Master plan Document

- Events

- Considering Issues of Security and High Risk Areas

- Responding to Cultural Diversity

- Involving younger generations of Lansdowne Residents to build trust

- Involvement of Community Forester

- Long term engagement with Lansdowne

- Community Garden

- Programming and Information Transfer

- Addressing Block Division

- Networking - Relationship between Lansdowne and Sheffield

- Memory Navigation

It is proposed that this blog becomes an increasingly important and public part of the Live Project, becoming a bank of information, and crucially, making all the information we generate available to visitors.

More information to follow....

Goat Watch= No sightings as yet...