Making Connections...

Last weekend I went to Prague on a four day visit, an experience that let me take a step back from all my work. Its amazing how even when not writing and drawing ideas, you are still subconscious switched on in the mind as to how your surrounding i.e Prague's buildings, their relationships to the river and the use of boats and transport. Interesting graphic, slogans, the aerial views from the plane, textures, tiles and the cityscape captured my imagination as to how my design could be influenced.

The image to the right, was in a magazine I was reading on the flight, it caught my eye because of the way the boats docked inside the sheds - inside a covered habitat of a space. This led me to consider whether this 'boat room space' that is created, could be applied to the Pipewellgate site? It would be part of the Institute but could 'detach', more like a moving room than a ship. A connecting space that moves and helps network the urban farm ideology and the Finnish Institutes initiatives. This would be an interesting feature to the building and would being back life to the dead river. A reminiscent idea to the Tuxedo Princess ship that used to be on the river, an icon that brought nightlife and a new experience to Newcastle - it gave the Gateshead riverside an identity. This 'floating room' barge would input and output from the main building, completing the 'process' within. It would be an educational space, growing food, collecting waste and produce from allotments down the river banks. It could become a floating stall at the Sunday Market on Newcastle Quayside, selling produce and more importantly 'Fin-Gin'! It could act as a river taxi and reconnect remote villages and communities up and down the river. New experiences such as sailing under the famous bridges of Newcastle and enjoying a new form of transport. Sailing and shipbuilding is within Newcastle's historic urban grain, Pipewellgate and all the factories on the river banks of the 19/20th century were established around ship deliveries, I think this would be a good activity to bring back, both on a cultural and practical level.

Shot taken from plane coming back to
Newcastle showing the mouth of the Tyne.

   



Tuxedo Princess night club on the Tyne

FIN_GIN Mixing the English love of Gin & Tonic
with a some Finnish Botanical Hedgerow fruits. 

As mentioned in tutorials, the desired small scale urban farm and botanical aspects need to produce something worthwhile financially, its not a commercial farm, its an educational tool and a place for the public and the Finnish Institute staff to enjoy. Therefore the idea of growing and creating a product that is specific to the Institute would be worthwhile. A product that would help being identity back to the locality. Examples of this include Newcastle Brown Ale (which isn't actually manufactured in Newcastle anymore), Wensleydale cheese, Cumberland sausage, Mowbray porkpies, the Cornish pastie and the relevant example Jack Cain's Gin (seen below). My flatmate (who is a chemical eng student) had this bottle. On further study and chatting to him, I discovered the base ingredients to Gin is a mixture of neutral alcoholic spirit with the flavour of Juniper berries. This addition of a botanical element is what caught my eye, and led into further research into what variation were available. Saffron, Elderflower, lemon, orange, herbs, spices and many others are also on the market. However I want to make this specific to the Finnish side of things as Gin (and tonic) is quite an English tradition, and so I looked at 'Hedgerow Botanicals' and came across a reference to a fruit called the 'Cloudberry'. Used 'in Nordic countries traditionally for liqueurs such as Lakkalikööri (a Finnish liqueur). It has a strong taste and a high sugar content. (Another bit of info I found) In addition to cultivated berries, there are about 50 species of wild berries growing in Finland, of which 37 are edible. Sixteen of these are picked for consumption, most importantly lingonberries, bilberries, cloudberries, raspberries, cranberries and arctic brambles. Also important are wild strawberries, bog whortleberries, mountain crowberries, buckthorn berries and rowanberries, among others. Maybe then a Gin could be created and sold to generate funds and identity to the Pipewellgate Finnish Institute (Fin_Farm + Fin_Gin branding). Sloe Gin is also another specific option and there is a receipt for a Finnish Version called 'Sima'. 'To make sloe gin, the sloe berries must be ripe. They are traditionally picked in late October or early November after the first frost of winter. A wide necked jar that can be sealed is needed. Prick each berry and half fill the wide necked jar with the pricked berries. Folklore has it that when making sloe gin, you shouldn't prick the berries with a metal fork, unless it is made of silver, thus conventional wisdom is to use a wooden tooth pick or similar'. The connection with Folklore has connection with Finnish beliefs with the Forrest, and brings to my mind the Shakespeare play 'Midsummer Nights Dream'.

Traditional Finnish Sima

4 quarts of water

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

2 lemons, thinly sliced

1/8 tsp active dry yeast

4 raisins

1/8 cup sugar for carbonating

The new Roseisle Distillery by Austin-Smith:Lord Architects in Scotland.
David told me to looks for 'process building' precedents and this is a
great example of how beautiful the process equipment can be.
Form follows function in this building.

A table in a bar that mixed
copper and wood, thus 
reminding me of barrels and the
 pressurised equipments
alcohol is brewed in.



A small scale brewery in a bar in Prague