Islington

After our 8 week program at the London College of Fashion, we have a second two week intensive course with Anne Cecil from Drexel. During this course as groups we are researching and observing the small part of London called Islington.

The best part about exploring and studying in Islington is that we probably would not have visited this part of London on our own if we did not have this program with Anne. Islington is an up and coming are of London and our job is to research specific parts of Islington that need work or need improvements to make life there and visiting there the best experience for the people. Islington is a specific part of London that many of the original architecture and buildings still remain so there is a lot of history still thriving in the area.

My groups main area is a new up and coming apartment complex fused with retail spaces and a cinema. Our job is to: 1. Observe 2. Debrief and 3. Synthesize the area and come up with a plan to make this area mix correctly with the market of people that are living, working and visiting there. We are using a new method of "AEIOU. In this method we observe the Actions, Environment, Interactions, Objects, and Users of the Area. This method was taught to us by Anne and has allowed us to organize our thoughts and really observe everything in this area from the people that live there and are walking around there to the signs that are on the street. This project has opened my eyes to seeing just how much goes into the building of a new area. You have to think about so many different aspects that all make up a successful living and shopping area. I liked this project because it gave us the opportunity to work in groups and really observe and research one particular area and learn what it is now and if that is right for the people that are there now. It really gives us a chance to work in the field and stray from the norms of learning in a classroom. It gives us the opportunity to learn and then put into place what we are learning and get feedback and see what we are doing well and what we need to improve on.

Overall, I am so thankful for the chance to both study at the London College of Fashion and study with Anne for the two week intensive. Both programs were very different and gave us two different views of the industry form the high streets of London and the places in London that need to be researched and maybe need improvements put into place.