Describing Architecture

Yvonne Hamell - Image 3_Brussels building gardens parks_628Yvonne Hamell - Image 2_Brussels Streets_628DA13-CO-18

European Quarter, Brussels / Yvonne Hamell

2012
Computer drawing on cartridge paper

This drawing is a study of the buildings, gardens and parks of the European Quarter in Brussels. It began with an interest in the backlands of a city block and the interlocking of space.

City blocks can often look like whole city plans. Outside space instead it becomes an outside room. There is a constant switch from inside to outside, outside to inside. The border becomes blurred and instead the space changes are regulated by material change: a step, a gate, a stone, a wall. This creates an alternate way to navigate a space. It offers a background view of a building, block or city. A new space is created: that of the in-between, a public-private place. These spaces are intrinsic to the city and individualise areas. Visually linking these spaces creates a dynamism and tension between the apparent frozen and kinetic spaces.

 

Images:

1    Drawing

2    Drawing detail

3    Exhibit in context