Category: Uncategorised

https://www.mapcustomizer.com/map/Burdett-Coutts

Mapping the citizens of the Baroness Burdett-Coutts Fountain and Gardens.

---

Thoughts on Architecture as Symbol (Learning from Las Vegas)

The symbolism inherent in the Burdett-Coutts Fountain and Gardens can be read metaphorically to tell of Britain and its relationship with the world. 

A structure proudly towers over a flat land decorating in the bright colours of many blooming flowers; none of which come from the United Kingdom itself. Cherubs perch over the basins on now dry drinking fountains which once served East London’s poorest communities; a private solution to a public problem as provided by Baroness Burdett-Coutts. Now, a century later, the gardens exist as a transient public space traversed and enjoyed by the city’s vastly multi-cultural populace.

From my vantage-point, situated in and by my own Irish heritage, the site begs to be seen in terms of nation, state, and empire.

Venturi, R. Scott Brown, D. and Izenour, S. (1977, p.7) Learning From Las Vegas: Revised Edition . Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.

Could You Describe this Place with One Word?

---

---

Narrowing my process, I have opted to focus on interview as the primary method for investigating my chosen site. Asking interviewees to close their eyes and focus on their surroundings, I aim to encourage each to reject the role of Marshall McLuhan’s “detached observer” (McLuhan 1967, p.42) and foster a self-awareness in relation to their environment. As to whether this works or not is entirely down to the individual interviewee and makes for interesting listening.

When collated together, the listener is presented with a catalogue of approaches and ways of interacting with space that illuminate the concept of situatedness. Depending on the person, we may be treated to a brief history lesson, a recall of the site’s physical features, or a description of the atmosphere which envelops it.

McLuhan, M. and Fiore, Q. (1967) The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects. Corte Madera, CA: Ginko Press Ltd. 

Note-Taking / Interviewing / Census Conducting

Taking inspiration my last visit – A census of the garden’s inhabitants …

Daniel (Snaresbrook, London, UK)

Milo (Rome, Italy)

Linh (Hackney, London, UK)

Nisa (Cairo, Eygpt)

Martyna (Warsaw, Poland)

Possibilities of creating a map based upon and within this small plot of land emerge.

(Census conducted 13h00 02/10/2021)

Collecting / List-Making / Sorting / Reconfiguring

Tagetes Erecta / African Marigold (Mexico)

Zinnia Peruviana / Peruvian Zinnia (Southern America / Southern-North America)*

Echinacea / Coneflower (Easter North America)

Cosmos Bipinnatus / Garden Cosmos (Mexico)

I counted 11 species of plants in the fountain’s flowerbeds including the 4 above. Reconfigured in a precise and orderly fashion, the possibility of using the site’s flowers as a mean’s of data visualisation, as well as the site’s inherent tensions come to the forefront. Interestingly, none of the flowers counted are native to the UK providing a potential thematic framework within which to understand this cordoned-off space (in the context of multi-cultural London and British Empire).

A further list includes:

Cuphea Hyssopifolia / False Heather (Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala).

Heuchera Micrantha / Crevice Alumroot (Western US).

Pennisetum Glaucum / Pearl Millet (North-Central Sahel, West Africa).

Gaura Lindheimeri / Lindheiemer’s Beeblossom (Southern US – LA, TX).

Salvia Microphylla / Baby Sage (Southern US, Mexico).

Helleborus Niger / Christmas Rose (Central & Southern Europe, Western Asia).

Lavandula Angustifolia / English Lavender (Mediterranean Europe).

Pennisetum alopecuroides / Chinese Foutaingrass (Eastern Asia, Australia)

*Zinnia have also been grown in space.

There are 4 clocks on the Fountain, 1 on each of its alternating faces. These seem to have long since stopped ticking and now display static times (which present a framework for further exploration of the site).

The times, as judged from below, are:

5:30 / 7:50 / 8:13 / 10:05

List-making / Note-taking

A non-exhaustive list of the Fountain’s environs (as defined by the octagonal fence which encircles it).

Photography.