Right, this is my first post as part of the school blog project...

We started back at school a week and a half ago. My second semester at Edinburgh and of Architecture seems to have gone quite... satisfactorally. To be honest I haven't produced a lot of work yet, but I just can't seem to get into it. I always seem to take a long time to get started on a project, but once I get stuck in I can work for hours on end.

We started our current project - The Retreat - last semester. We had to create an object 'that you find comfort in viewing/using, are amused by, enjoy touching, etc. The object could be the ambodiment/materialization of a ritual (of retreat).' We also had a mapping project; this map could look at the journey to/around the island, various ethereal qualities, the landscape, etc. of the site - Cramond Island, in the Firth of Forth (half an hour from Edinburgh City Centre). I was pleased with what I produced for these two assignments so it's quite frustrating when I don't know what direction to go in now.

A photo taken from Cramond Island...


We are now starting to design our retreat. This is sited on Cramond Island and is a place to use/keep our object in. We had to create a narrative of our movement in the retreat, and this narrative is essentially supposed to dictate the form of the building. I know where I want to site it but I've only done some sketches so far.

Yesterday we had a little 'side' project: a Retreat Sensory Workshop. We had to 'find a place/thing which appeals to/ addresses/evokes one of [our] senses other than vision' and 'make something which will communicate this sensation/experience to others'. We were given the brief at 9am, with the aim to produce a piece of work by 5pm. It was quite hard to work in such a short timescale, but it was good to do something different. I tend to focus on the visual more than anything else, so it was good to have to focus on the other senses.

Well, I guess I'd better go and do some work now...