I decided to create a set of influence maps in order to get an idea of what sort of designs I would use in my city. The first is a collection of hats worn by celebrities and Parisian models that have been made by him (some good, some not so great, such as the infamous hat worn by Princess Beatrice at the royal wedding and what looks like a rotary telepohne on Lady Gaga's head.) Several of these hats also appear specifically designed to combine with the outfit they are worn with (particular note; Princess Beatrice again, the hat with the stylised military dress uniform and the bright blue dress worn by another of the Royal Wedding guests and the grass-green dress worn in the bottom-left corner) so its not just the personality he is designing for, but the outfit, which is understandably still very important due to the importance of adorning oneself in clothes in modern society.
His designs make me think of organic architecture; a concept I looked at briefly about a year ago that, like Tracey's own designs, looks to nature for inspiration not just in appearance but also in structure and design. I also looked into a couple of organic/expressionist forms a lot of which were designed to be built in the Far East (where there is a lot of desire, so an oriental city is one option) such as Beijing's "Birdsnest stadium", an orchid garden with bulb-plant-like glass structures and I also came across what looks like a building designed to look very much like a fish. A couple of these buildings such as the two landscape images at the bottom vaguely looked like something that I imagine Tracey might make as hats, the one on the right in particular as a number of his designs tend to reach out far beyond the person they are adorning.
I also briefly looked at British-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid (one of her designs is the white curving structure on the top row) but after a brief look on Google images of her designs I decided perhaps not; while her forms are definitely organic, she has a thing for a very blobby, very liquid-like style that looks like it was made from clay over a wireframe. All her buildings and designs are also snow-white to the point where they all feelbiolab-level sterile, some in particular oculd be compared to something that was grown rather than built.
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| Abu Dhabi Performing Arts Centre (Zeballos, 2012) |
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| Jazz-model Yacht (Nolan, 2013) |
- Zeballos, C; 2012; Zaha Hadid: Performing Arts Centre; Abu Dhabi; My Architectural Moleskine, Blogger; published 12th September 2012; http://architecturalmoleskine.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/zaha-hadid-performing-arts-center-abu.html (last accessed 29th October 2014)
- Nolan, S.; 2013; The Superyacht of the Future; Daily Mail; published 16th October 2013; http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2460706/The-superyacht-future-The-stunning-fleet-designed-British-architect-looks-set-billionaires-toy.html (last accessed 29th October 2014)
interesting stuff, Mark! Onwards!
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