10 Acres

This is an investigation into a 10-acre patch of land which is located in West Ealing, across the road from where I live. The land has taken many forms over the past 200 years, from the early years of being an orchard right through to it being a network of cottages making up the largest working-class colony in Ealing during the late 1800s. Once branded as a slum area known as Stevens’ Town, it is currently undergoing its third stage of regeneration where the more commonly known Green Man Estate is being destroyed. Even though time has passed we are still battling with the issues surrounding social housing and an increasing population. It is now 2018 and we have not yet been able to create suitable houses for everyone and there is a fear that we will never be able to fulfil this idea. This study acts as a visual journey highlighting the change of a landscape and its lingering problem which to this day has been left untouched.

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A couple of test strips where I have experimented with mono printing on veneer. 

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Experimenting with mono printing onto veneer. Veneer works well as it absorbs the ink fully.

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Selection of building materials used for mono printing.

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Mono-printed textures of the three generations of housing. Made using various building materials such as sandpaper etc

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Experiments of housing using various building materials and masking shapes

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Experimenting with shapes and textures of various building materials

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The base prints. Swapping out the sandpaper (in the top print) for rough cartridge paper (in the bottom print) 

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Printing the cottages base texture

The polystyrene is so thin that the ink needed to be watered down with white spirit to allow for it to roll smoothly over the pattern. In doing this it gave the houses a more visible stoney texture

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All the textures I am using will come from building materials such as carpet, wood, sandpaper

Test textures for mono-printing

I am using canvas paper/wallpaper for the new estate block (far left)

 I am using sandpaper/coarse cartridge paper for the middle tower block to create a stoney gravely texture. 

I am using thin polystyrene with small holes in it for the old Stevens’ Town cottages to create stone/brick textures. 

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The making of the sliding tile puzzle. When the tiles are positioned correctly the light will turn on to indicate it is working 

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Video of pages in the first book 10 Acres

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The centre pull out section of the book highlights the three stages of regeneration on the patch of land. The three stages connect the narrative of the land in the first book with the research book at the end

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Pages from second book on the research behind 10 Acres

This book features a series of transcripts, maps, comments, emails and articles which show my investigation into the area of land

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Pages of first 10 Acres book

The first book is comprised of mono prints and photographs both found and made.

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I am currently creating an A1 sliding tile puzzle which will feature the three regeneration stages that the estate has gone through. Using interactivity is important as it will allow people to work together to try and solve the puzzle. 

Participants will be able to piece together the three stages but the space in the far right hand corner will remain empty, leaving the audience to consider the future of social housing. When participants piece together the puzzle it will play an audio track talking about the future of housing and how Green Man is but a small example in a nationwide issue.

There are small magnets embedded within each tile so that when a tile is slid into the correct position this completes the circuit. When all tiles are in position this will trigger Arduino Lilypad to play an audio track.