For this project of investigating, I focus on photographing a street called Combermere Road. I started my process by using Georges Perec’s method to observe the street. Besides, the theme is related to Venturi, Brown, and Izenour’s Learning from Las Vegas in terms of subjects.
I followed Georges Perec’s method of observation, forcing myself to scan the most obvious, most common things with my eyes (1997). What I tried to deduce is the living style of Londoners, like Perec described (1997), analyse the place and draw conclusions based on the evident facts. From looking upwards to the roof line to count the wireless receivers and pots of plants, to seeing downwards to the signs embed on the ground, I can depict signal reception method of every family and a rainwater system of the road. The most interesting aspect I found is deciphering the garbage disposal system through looking at the appearance and arrangement of the bins. Furthermore, buildings on the road are mostly in brown, grey, and white, but residents decorate the balconies and windows with more colourful objects, such as pots of flowers, toys, and stickers, which make the scene livelier.
As Venturi, Brown, and Izenour stated in their book (1972), one approach to be revolutionary is to learn from the current landscape and to question our perspective on things. I had a chat with the shop owner on Combermere Road, who started the business with his partner by collecting and fixing things thrown by others. Turning discarded items into new works of art is probably where the name “Loved again” comes from. What is more, according to Learning from Las Vegas (1972), space is dominated by symbols, and architecture alone is insufficient. It is interesting to look at signage on the street, which shows the collaboration of serif and sans serif fonts and how they divide space.
In conclusion, I adopted the method of detailed observation on objects may be overlooked from Georges Perec’s Species of Spaces and Other Places. Additionally, I kept learning architectures and questioning how I look at things after reading Learning from Las Vegas.
Bibliography
Perec, Georges. (1997) Species of spaces and other pieces. London: Penguin Books Ltd.
Venturi, R., Brown, D.S. and Izenour, S. (1972) Learning from Las Vegas. Cambridge: MIT Press.