Last week Sasha and I went over to the Postman's Park together to take a closer look at the layout and possibilities open to us for the Chelsea Fringe Festival. We are currently in conversation with the City of London about the logistics of siting our work here during the event but until we have officially confirmed this the design still remains sketchy.
In projects such as these everything has to move along in a particular pattern. Although we do have some idea what we want to achieve we can only develop the concept so far until we definitely know which site we will be responding to. Until then the best way forward is to try and gain a good understanding of the space.
The first time I visited the Postman's Park was probably about a month ago it was interesting to see how dramatically it had changed within that short period of time. The leaves had dropped quite quickly and the feeling of Autumn was heavy in the air. It was a cold and slightly darker day. Sasha'a previous visit was a lot later on the day and it was beginning to get dark so we are gathering plenty of imagery to be able to move forward.
One feature we are both focussing on is the idea of the pathway and this space has so many options. The grassy mounds are quite organic in form. Nothing here is formal and rigid there are plenty of different routes around the park some open and others fairly secluded. One side is overlooked by offices the other side by housing. The church also sits at one end which is a sturdy brick structure I'm still yet to go inside. Last week it was locked and the previous visit there was a service. Maybe next time!!
We have to take a look as I think that will also give us more to think about and consider.
December
Our visit earlier this week we wanted to document the park in full winter mode.
Firstly we met our Fringe co-ordinator Jane Merrick who has been appointed to help us along the journey but also to make sure the project happens.We also used this opportunity to begin taking more detailed dimensions of the space and the areas in-between the five main trees planted there.
The space felt bigger because all the leaves had completely fallen leaving a wonderful structural quality to the larger established trees.
It did however, allow us to look at the space in a more analytical way for the first time it was possible to see what we have to work with. The points we need to use to hinge the form from, the height, the contact or non contact with the floor and how that would work with the ideas surrounding seclusion and quietness.
