Visiting Portland Street

My visit to Portland street was essentially planned to be a joint visit based mainly on the RIBA library and exhibition (that was located in Portland street), however I was unable to find it and therefore centered the visit only on the street. Unfortunately it also rained so I had to rush my visit and wasn't able to take as many photographs as I liked. 

Here are the pictures of the street

This was the first building that caught my attention and already I am able to understand the spatial and structural planning that has gone into the street to create a certain style, What caught my attention was that combination of the colour of the building and the window style that created an almost vintage effect. The advantage of this style is that it allows the building to have an aesthetical multi-functional use which suits the everyday structural purposes of the street, such as being able to work well with the homes that were nearby, but also the style of the educational places. What I like about this building is how it softly blends in with the surrounding environment, not straining the eyes in any way, It interacts beautifully with the environment, for instance an increase in sunlight emphasises the contrast between the two colours and gives it a graceful shine, that encourages one to continue exploring and reminds them to look up and not just focus on architecture that is facing  their eye level.  

This was another building I saw that I really liked, despite its common building style I liked the way that the use of line was used throughout the building to create a rhythmic repetition that enhanced the visual interaction with the texture.  I also liked the way the buildings com-positional factors emphasised its three dimensional depth and change in shape. In addition to this I liked how the building unified different architectural styles into one whole form, this enhanced its spatial presence with users that are passing by. The only disadvantage is that with the streets architecture it can seem a bit repetitive, not highlighting the buildings main aesthetical features but overshadowing it, as it all starts to seem bland to the eye after a while. A building that when seen once can easily be ignored by daily users. 

What I liked about this building the most is that it acted as a checkpoint for the area, helping me to understand where I was and weather I was exploring in the right direction, because of this  I grew quite fond of this building as it was very helpful to me. This made me realize the wide variety in which a building can communicate and interact with users, but also the ways in which buildings can impact a users perception towards it. How a building can be manipulated in ways to encourage the user to target the building with positive feelings. The building was also designed well and had an aesthetically pleasant form that was also spatially designed in an intelligent way, to fit a small space but still create the illusion of an increase in space. 

Overall this visit was very resourceful as it gave me an insight into the architectural approach to the streets and the slow change that happens from where people live to the areas near stations and shops. It relates to my theme of deconstruction and reconstruction and my project proposal as it widened my understanding of the importance of spatial navigation and presence through architecture, more specifically how that can be used to empower a designs influence and purpose in an environment.