Spaces Appear & Disappear

Stratford Station 1       Photo by R Allen-Sherwood 2013

A thought-collage from a brief chat with Spanish architect Juan R.

Its difficult to separate form from space, or to think about architecture without thinking about space...

Rilke said something like “Every space in fact is an inner void. Our inner void that we all have

Stratford Station 2     Photo by R Allen-Sherwood 2013

JR - Space can sometimes have a deep resonance. They can arise a deep feeling in ourselves, do you know what I mean?
RAS -  Like when you're standing alone in the vastness of the desert?
JR - Yes, but it can also be in a tiny room. It’s a matter of feeling the space , perhaps.

Stratford Station 3       Photo by R Allen-Sherwood 2013

Sometimes space is so fragile, it needs a sensitive person to catch it, to touch it. 

Stratford Station 4       Photo by R Allen-Sherwood 2013

Some spaces in the city are so saturated, it seems to me they want to be born, to arise or expand but sometimes they can’t. For example if you go to Bedford Square, its a complete space.The quiet space, the defined space – and the city sometimes needs these types of spaces.

Stratford Station 5       Photo by R Allen-Sherwood 2013

 A type of space can also be created where people gather, or some situation that comes through. These spaces appear and disappear.

Stratford Station 6      Photo by R Allen-Sherwood 2013

 Light can also build a space very well. Light has a lot to do with space. It has the power of creating or transforming the space. Even a small window can completely transform one square space.

Stratford Station 7       Photo by R Allen-Sherwood 2013

 

Words by Juan R (except where specifically stated)

Photos by Rachelle Allen-Sherwood  2013

White Space

Exploring relationship /,   Ink, chalk, graphite, and pencil

I recently went to a talk about Zen gardens, given by Professor John White - the man who designed the Zen rock garden at Three Wheels Temple in West London.  Here is a small excerpt from that talk in the form of running quotes, alongside some recent experimental works I've been making - directly inspired by a few select small stones from Three Wheels. (With permission, of course).

Close-up detail ,   Ink, graphite and small stone

"Zen Gardens create a vast sense of calmness and space." 

 Describing a specific zen garden composition in Japan: "The smallest rock in the picture is the Alpha rock and the entire garden relies on this rock."

"You can make a zen garden with even one rock (and gravel)."

Drawing/  Ink, graphite and charcoa

"When the arrangement is right, there is no sense of scattering or cluttering of rocks. Wherever you are, is where you are meant to be." 

On the famous Zen garden of Ryoanji in Kyoto: "It is all about space. The rocks are merely measuring rods, Each one no more than a space within a space..."

Studies in relationship/  Ink

I'd like to end this post with one of Professor White's haiku poems, written specifically for a Zen garden in Japan which was designed around the idea of a flowing river:

Here in the still
the river races uphill.
No wave ever moves