About
With a background in Fine Art, I enjoyed using my drawing and painting skills throughout the course to help communicate my designs. My style is more traditional as I prefer artwork to be representational and aesthetically pleasing. This is equally important with an interior space as it should look attractive and pleasing to the eye. With an interest in gardening, my inspiration comes from the outdoors and nature, for example a classical landscape painting reminds me of the countryside. Historical architecture is also a source of inspiration as I enjoy painting townscapes, especially Victorian buildings with detailed features. The Victorian buildings in particular have been a key subject for the project, especially the terrace homes that are prevalent in the towns of northern England. In addition, attracting nature to our towns has never been more important.
Project overview
Transforming a forgotten community
Focusing mainly on the town of Accrington due to the large amount of neglected property. In particular the Victorian terrace housing which is prevalent in the Scaitcliffe area of the town. Disused houses are also a common sight in the surrounding towns. Lancashire in particular has some of the highest amounts of abandoned housing in the country which is contributing to the current housing crisis. Accrington and many of the surrounding towns were built during the Industrial Revolution and expanded as more factories opened. The terrace homes were originally built by the mill owners for the thousands of workers that helped to produce cotton for the textile industry. This continued until the 1960’s when the factories started to close due to cheaper imports resulting in unemployment. Residents then started to leave leading to a steep decline. Fast forward to today many residents are still unemployed despite jobs being available. They seem to have a lack of hope that translates into a run-down neighbourhood Currently the terrace homes are in poor condition with outdated interiors and poor insulation which can be hazardous. The streets are dull with a consistent lack of green space as many of the trees have been removed and the small front gardens have been covered over. This is an opportunity to look at how the terraced streets can be improved by making them both attractive and environmentally friendly. The project will focus on the interior and exterior of the properties and the methods to improve them. The project will also explore community areas and how they could bring the residents together. With the intention to reinstate pride back to an area. This often reduces anti-social behaviour as the aspirations of the residents increases. On show is a selection of hand-drawn and digital work of terrace homes, interiors and a community garden.
Ariel view of town - hand drawn sketch
End terrace section sketch of Perth Street - pencil and watercolour.
East elevation with bespoke wallpaper design (Drawn in Revit)
Bedroom Section (Drawn in Revit)
Elevation in a traditional terrace living room (Drawn in CAD)
