SCRACE ARCHITECTS

Adding a fourth dimension to our clients dreams

architecture

INTERVENTION

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10th/11th & 17th/18th September 11am-3pm

An exhibition by Tim Scrace ft. Judith Rodgers
Salisbury Art Trail 2022 Venue 12

Combining mixed media, VR & sculpture, events and artworks, INTERVENTION explores the contrast of action and inaction within our urban fabric. Intervention is a fully immersive experience that will enable you to see all too familiar streets, roads and landmarks from a completely different perspective.

INTERVENTION showcases a sculpture of transparent plates, mapping the lines of the city, introduces a series of physical layers whilst meandered charcoal drawings and watercolours set your mind free from the rigor of history and the built environment. The foundations of this yet to be explored virtual world are also presented in conceptual sketches and prints. 

INTERVENTION is being held at Scrace Architects offices at The Enterprise Network, The Old Fire Station, 2-4 Salt Lane, Salisbury SP1 1DU.  Directions are available on the contact page. For more information please contact us on 01722 658048 or using form here.

INTERVENTION VR takes you on an orange pathway to a landscaped skydeck where you walk amongst trees above moving cars, across rivers and between skyscrapers.  In this re-imagined version of a #peoplefriendlysalisbury a balloon station, an aqua-theatre, art galleries materialise as new structures and Stonehenge is relocated to a roundabout. Accessible either on your own mobile phone or on a state-of-the-art VR headset, Scrace Architects invite you to explore this vision of a future city and start your own re-imaginings.

The juxtaposition of environment, space and time within the realms of sublime 3D architecture provides a unique investigation of the city’s potential.  This project, part of the Salisbury Art Trail 2022, is the result of five years of development by artist Tim Scrace and his practice.  Tim, who has applied and developed this concept through the Design Visualisation course he lectures on at Solent University is excited about the possibilities of virtual and real space and the conversations and visionary context they hold.

“Over the past few years’ students have engaged directly with the artwork, enabling them to evolve their own projects and learn from integrating them in the urban realm.  I have been lucky to witness how this has added to and expanded the dialogue of an emerging virtual landscape.”

Judith Rodgers who is working in collaboration with the team on the exhibition responds with alternate perspectives of the local geography adding a sensory and landscape orientated layer to this exciting journey of possibilities.

Scrace Architects hope that INTERVENTION will offer the hope needed to encourage the city and its inhabitants to aspire to a bigger better yet more sustainable way of life. Bring your phones and be prepared to #seespacedifferently.

In-Between

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We often overlook our environment as we pass by.  However, it is the spaces in-between that form part of our journey which tend to be the most interesting.  The adventure of architecture is not in making one-off beautiful buildings, but seeing how they relate to the landscape and to one another.

It is the spaces and shapes of the in-between that tantalise, the sculptural play of light from object to object, the collective coming together of design and effort.  It is the conversation between two forms that makes the architecture.  This is most prevalent in the city, where the history of a place is captured in a moment.

A compressed medieval passageway leading to a meteoric, manmade skyscraper is what makes the built environment so exciting.  The in-between space is encapsulated by the cobbles underfoot coupled with the glint of light of a unitised glazing system.  The surging symphony of the shapes around, the touch of a damp old walls, a steep level change, the weather, the sound, all bubble over to speak of an architecture of sensation.

Much like a still life, architecture is the meeting of objects and forms that connect in their similarity by arbitrary arrangement.  It is in the shadow, and in colour and contrast that their relationship to one another is expressed.  “Half shut your eyes” I was told by my art teacher, “… take in the outline, the silhouettes, the shadows, then turn to draw textures.”  If you want to see space differently, now is the time to take the magic potion.  Imagine yourself 1/100th of your normal size, walking amongst the old lantern, the pepper pot and the baseball bat.

You are now experiencing the architecture of still life.  Time to explore what the in-between space feels like.  Large and foreboding, or intimate and cosy, what factors are at play?  I suspect you will find they are the same factors that define our built environment: surface, light, natural colour and form.

It is all very well defining the contained spaces inside, but a real place maker looks outside their box to the shadows of the past, to the collective consciousness of a place, and to the meetings of these buildings.  When you are next out and about, take a moment, half shut your eyes, look at the in-between spaces, look up and you may just begin to see space differently.

Frame a View

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Our connection with outside seems to be entrenched in our experience of the world.  The great outdoors has a natural hold on us.  We are compelled to seek out natural light, fresh air and green from within our internal environments.

Whilst we enjoy the comfort, security and shelter of indoors it is often at odds with our nature.  Just as we are disorientated when we don’t recognise our setting, it seems we do not want to forget our roots.  When internalising a space, there is a need to create opportunities to remind ourselves of this connection.

There is more to an opening to a wall than meets the eye.  Whether a window, a gate, or a door, their treatment and definition vary widely in colour, frame, finish and use.  Where a door provides a threshold, a transition to the outside, a gate provides a defence.  A window seems to offer the visual connection to the natural world we seek.

The desire to create sight lines in modern design emphasises this need.  So as not to take away from this link, we find that the simpler the opening treatment, the more successful the effect.  A more modest approach to finish leads one to look beyond, back to where we came from.

The only question left then is: what we are looking at?  The subject of the view is fundamental to good architecture.  Whether a window’s function is simply letting in the light or having a clear shot at the church tower, both connect us to context, orientation and place and, accompanied by the body of our shelter collectively contribute to our subconscious understanding of place.

ENTER COMPETITION

Comment – FRAME A VIEW