The relevance of my proposal is a very current and recognised issue. I am re-designing the interior space of the building 2 Roseangle, infamously known as the ‘Murder House’ into a creative hub which supports the arts. I am focussing in on social issues regarding creativity cuts and ignorance in schools highlighted in the press, which is detrimental to creative industries. I am also focussing in on social issues regarding the DJCAD art school’s identity and lack of an art society. I have always been very interested in what ‘Creative Dundee’ do for the city so I have researched into what they do in regards to my creative vision. The Roseangle building is a speculated building with constant press coverage regarding its past history of a murder. The building has been derelict for years, and constant proposals to change the building have not been accepted. The building is a beautiful listed building in a prime location just off of the Perth road and directly across from The DJCAD art school. Over all my creative vision is to design an arts union which supports DJCAD students, the community and creatives. My space aims to enhance the Dundee design culture and support creativity within Dundee.

 

Social Issue 1- lack of art society

To begin with I researched into social issues affecting the art school, I noticed that there was DJCAD elections taking place and there was a current objection to create an arts society, which DJCAD lacked. I interviewed candidate Charile Rodgers, 2nd year Product Design and one of his objections was to increase DJCAD’s presence and identity on Campus and in Dundee. I also interviewed candidate Lorna Conye, 2nd year fine art who drew on the side of the Mathew building in chalk “where is the art society”. I saw this and to be honest that is where my idea initially sparked from. She highlighted that we need to build a network of connections and have a safe place to explore individual creativity.

 

DJCAD President elections

Charlie Rodgers won the election and we had a meeting and created an arts society which now has about 300 plus members and our application is underway, processing with DUSA. I also got the art society to give me some opinions.

 

Social Issue 2- Creativity cuts in schools

I then noticed in the press, that creativity was a subject being heavily discussed. The articles I looked at were challenging the question ‘education vs creativity’. From reading these articles is was clear that creativity wasn’t being taken seriously, cuts were to be made in schools taking away creative subjects and there was a 50% drop in design entries for the classes as there is lack of support. This really hit home for me, at school I took all the creative subjects and it got me here to where I am today, it is such an important skill it is was keeps our country growing. With this issue the creative industries will see a detrimental effect as creativity is what underpins our economical and social success within the U.K culture. 

 

Support Networks

I began to look into what supportive hubs we have within Dundee, I looked into the reading rooms who support graphic designers and fundraising events for the degree show as well as drouthy's basement. The ideas I was thinking about also connected to my design proposal I did in Leeds, for the GIDE event- we were designing an arts district connecting the surrounding buildings which is a key theme in this project.

 

Reaching out to students- service design

I then carried out a service design technique, called cultural probe, people & place. I asked DJCAD students their opinions and suggestions on what they would like to see within the space- I got great feed back- people were saying for the space to have a make lab, mac suite, artistic conversation, exhibits and skill swaps (to name a few)

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Location

Location was a huge factor within the design process, My 3 main target audience was:

 1, DJCAD Students

 2, Community

 3, Creatives.

 

Service Design Workshops

After receiving service design workshops with linsey, I decided to use my previous service design technique with the students and turn in into a 3D model, conveying the connections of the art school to the Roseangle building and the key themes the students mentioned. I also created a ‘story tellling’ space & services visual, combining the ideas of location, key functions of the space and here is where brand and identity was born: The art Junction- supporting creativity enhancing culture.

 

Further Research- ‘Creative Dundee’

I looked at the student magazine we have on campus as this promotes students and I then took a main focus in on Creative Dundee, they “support creative talent to base, grow and sustain their practice in and around Dundee, by connecting and amplifying the city’s creativity.”- creative dundee.com

 

Reaching out to Creatives- I decided to reach out to Creative Dundee as I had a similar vision to what they do. I decided to email their Digital Producer Diarmid about posting an article about my idea to gain some research, opinions and suggestions from the public via my twitter feed. Diarmid sent me a ‘how to write a press release’ kit so I wrote one up and before you know it it was posted on their website, Facebook and twitter and It went a bit crazy! Diarmid emailed me saying my post had reached an audience of 20,000 people within 2 days.

 

Reaching out to Community-I had wave 102 radio and  the evening telegraph requesting interviews with me to promote the idea and social issues regarding creativity. I did a phone interview with them and the reason they wanted to write about me was to highlight the issue of creativity cuts in the u.k and how the Roseangle building desperately needs a function, its been derelict for too long and from the tweets I received it seemed as if a lot of local people were quite passionate about the building. 

 

Public Input for Design

I then used my twitter feed to self promote the project asking students and local artists to tweet me their work so I could use them within the exhibit design and also for a series of posters I wanted to make to advertise the space.

 

The Design Process

After tedious research and ideas I decided to move onto the design process, I did this through sketch modelling structures and mapping out the key functions the space was to have. I watched a youtube video called ‘How to think like an architect’- Barry Berkus, he talks you through the design process to consider views, sunlight, how the space and rooms connect and how the users communicate and function within the space. I did this with the existing floor plans and I found it really helpful. I then went on to creating my own set of technical floor plans of my design. 

 

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