christmas crit

i am well aware that christmas is well and truely over now, the new year is in full swing and everyone is starting to get their resolutions into action. im one of those people who always make resolutions but never manage to keep them. so this year i simply didnt make any. (i was actually in bed at 10:30 on new years eve!) but it is indeed time for a little update on the hobby house and something that i need to keep updated more in this shiny new year. after a slight break from design work in order to get the dissertation submitted it was time to get back to work for our christmas crit which ironically was just before christmas. this was a pretty informal crit to see how the progress was coming along and to get some ideas on how to further the design over christmas in prep for the round table event happening in january.



after the midterm crit i arranged meetings with lots of the creative groups/people of dundee. i wanted to get first hand research as to what was already going on in dundee, the people i was wanting to link up, work with, help, design for. it was great to get so many emails back from people willing to meet up and lots of great advice and ideas from them.



after some research the design idea started to change as one of the main issues that the creative groups in dundee have, is getting people involved. i had to search for the different groups online which took some time. once i got the research started, one group linked to the next and a chain occured...but the problem is finding the start of the chain, or, if you are a creative group, becoming linked to the chain. my aim is therefore to get these groups to interlink with eachother and therefore link with the public in order for them to become involved.





the main object of this is to advertise. many of these groups are online, on facebook, twitter etc but they have to be searched for. i believe that it is important to bring these groups to the people in order for them to get involved. this is my current design idea and process. i plan to design a pavillion style hobby house that can be placed or moved throughout the city center in order to make people aware of the current happenings and then get involved in the goings ons of the creative community. i hope that this will be a space that the creatives can advertise in, display their work, sell work or have demonstrations and events in/on/at.



i am currently in the process of researching existing community groups throughout the city in order to see what the people of dundee are already aware of, or what they would like to get involved in which will hopefully give me an insight into how the hobby house can work most successfully.

i will hold myself to my "resolution" of keeping this a bit more up to date over the next few months. im also planning on getting the twitter page back up and running to feel free to follow on @_hobbyhouse

mid term

wowwzers! how has this happened? its half way through the first semester already! and therefore midterm crit time which also means time for me to update you on the community hobby house.

after lots of thoughts, doodles and discussions i have decided to break the project up a little bit. one of my main aims of the community hobby house is to reach out to the community of dundee and get them involved in craft, hobbies and design. i would like to have a central hub for this but i am currently in the process of thinking how i can interact and entice the community of dundee to get involved in the building and the hobbies.

i have decided to create mini hobby houses that will connect to the central hobby home. the idea is to have these little hobby houses throughout the city acting as places that people can meet for their hobbies. as the thoughts and design ideas continued the idea is constantly developing. i want the houses to be a place that people can come and interact, no matter if they have a creative/design background or not. they will be a place of skill sharing and to find out what hobbies and activities are happening within the city.

this idea of networking hobbies is something i feel is really needed in dundee. the community of dundee are often unaware of what is happening in dundee and therefore a way of working with them and introducing them to different projects that are happening within the city is very important.

one of the main driving forces for my design project is the V&A coming to Dundee. speaking to people about the V&A and finding out that they don't know what it is worries me. this needs to change and so working the hobby houses and the V&A together to create this idea of anyone being able to get involved in design and everyone being a designer is a main aim in my project. the intention for this is to cause the community of dundee to get involved in the planning process of the V&A and ensure that it is being designed for all of the community of dundee.

through researching different design/craft centres in dundee it has been really interesting to see how many independent places there are. at the minute i am brainstorming how these can all become connected and work together and therefore benefiting each other and in turn working with and involving the community of dundee. my aim is to do this through the hobby houses.

the beginnings of community hobby house...

and so it begins....the start of community hobby house, dundee.

this is a fourth year interior and environmental design project by DOJ student, karen lyttle.

as part of my final project in third year i looked into the community of dundee and the idea of bringing the design and craft, skill sharing business back to the culture of the city. a city centre site was chosen for a building to be used as the central hub for this community hobby house. (perth road, dundee)

this year the project is being developed for my final year degree show. the idea of the community hobby house stemmed through the merge and changing happening in the art college. new groups were brought together in order to share the skills and facilities within the college. this caused me to think how important it is for skills to be shared both within the student community but reaching out into the wider community of dundee.

the hope is to create a multifunctional building that will involve all members of the public; old and young, rich and poor, creative and not so much! it will be a place that anyone can use, come in and see what is going on, get involved, watch, learn, share, teach etc etc

with everyone having very different hobbies my research is starting to look at the different hobbies people partake in currently, or ones that they would wish to learn. i hope that this will give me a greater idea of what facilities can be inco-operated into the community hobby house.

with the V&A coming to dundee, i feel this is a great opportunity to make the community of dundee aware of the V&A and to get them involved in the planning and functions that the exhibition centre will serve.

I aim to use this blog to keep you up to date on the design process, the purpose and facilities through to the final outcome and running of the building. (unfortunately it is all a design idea at the minute and therefore not reality. but if anyone is interested in making this dream a reality, please get in touch!)

so here we have it, the design process of the community hobby house for dundee. feel free to leave a comment on your hobbies, what hobbies you would like to participate in, facilities you feel you would like to have in dundee and any other thoughts or ideas. i will be more than happy to hear them!