March Atelier: USE

From: China

BA: Tamkang University in Taiwan

Interests: Drawing/ Fashion/ Cooking

Skills: Hand drawing/ Photoshop/ Rhinoceros

About:
During my college years, I participated in several workshops of community development and historic building renovation. It is very interesting to listen and know local people’s own stories, wishes and memories. The process of rebuilding people’s stories, using the method of designing to give the old building new life are really amazing.

Religion-Roman Catholic Church and John the Baptist

St. John the Baptist Church is Roman Catholic Church which is the oldest, largest and continuously functioning international institution all around the world, and it dedicated to John the Baptist. John the Baptist was an important figure in Christianity. In addition to Christianity, other faiths, such as Islam, the Bahai Faith, and Mandaeism, John the Baptist is also considered as a prophet and saint. According to Christianity, John the Baptist baptized people in the Joran River and persuaded them to repent.

Decoration-mosaic

St. John the Baptist Church is know as Rochdale’s hidden treasure. Its beautiful Mosaic decoration has recently been reconstructed which was designed and manufactured by an Italian artisan company. In addition, the mosaic covered the entire wall behind the altar with color tiles, which took morn than a year to complete due to the exquisite craftsmanship. The theme of the oasis is eternal life, which was designed by Eric Newton of Ludwig Oppenheimer Ltd, cost 4000 pongs and was made by craftspeople in Manchester. As we know, mosaics have always played a very important role religious architecture, that is why our MSA Live group is particularly interested in it. In religious buildings, mosaics are composed of small stones to form a variety of religious figures and stories. The mosaics in St. John and Baptists Church is an excellent case. Therefore, part of our project will focus on the mosaics, through which we can deeply understand the religious culture and atmosphere of the church.

Building style- Byzantine Revival architecture style

The St. John the Baptist Church ‘s design began with the hope of replacing the brick church with something similar to the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. The architect of St John the Baptist Church was Henry Oswald Hill and Ernest Bower Norris, and the design of the church was influenced by Westminster Cathedral and John Francis Bentley deeply, both of them are associated with Byzantine architecture. The architectural style of St. John the Baptist Church of Rochdale is Byzantine Revival style (also known as Neo-Byzantine), a kind of architectural revival movement. This kind of architectural style is commonly found in religious, institutional and public buildings. It combines elements of the Byzantine style commonly associated with Eastern and Orthodox Quarterly architecture.

The Mosaic Task

Mosaic task is the first activity of our group!
Students can use any available materials to complete their Mosaic task, such as recycled materials, Post-it notes, cardboard and so on
Through the first attempt to Mosaic project to other members to show their strengths, preferences and anything else they want to show. Mosaic task is a bridge for group members to get to know each other and
it will also help BA students have a better understanding of the future activity plan of our Rochdale Revival team.

Culture Group

The church's visibility in Rochdale will be reflected through the mosaic as a key element. By creating a colourful mosaic walkway to lead people from the train station to the church and adding mini dome installations along the way for people to enter and experience.

Illustrator Tutorial

On the third day, we arranged a tutorial about Illustrator. Our MA member, Yifan, demonstrated how to use some basic skills of Illustrator to clearly express strategies and ideas in maps by showing his previous work and using an example of a 3D view mapping of Rochdale that he had already drawn. By the end of the tutorial, the BA students will have used Illustrator to draw mapping that expresses their ideas and hopefully this tutorial will be of great help to future students when they complete their own work.

Community Group

The position of the structures allows for people to have direct view and access, with circulation from all routes North and South of the Church. People visiting Rochdale will be able to see the installation when arriving via the metro, bringing attention and direction towards activities happening underneath the sheltering structures and around the Church.

Culture Group

The first image shows a large scale 3D view of the symbols representing the church that one can see on the way from the station to the church, including the small mosaic dome, the fire station tower, the mosaic road, and the information about the church that one can see on one's mobile phone after scanning the QR code.

The second picture gives a closer look at the small mosaic dome pavilion. The signage takes one in the direction of the church. It is also possible to see in this picture how people move around inside the small dome exhibition pavilion.

The third image, the final image of the storyboard, makes it clear how the people are guided by the mosaic path to the even more beautiful church at the end. These three storyboards act like a book, gradually leading one to the best part of the story - the mosaic inside the church.

Culture Group

Today, members of culture group combined the models and sketch, which was made during the speed model making exercise in a single drawing, continuing in the style of the previous work and discussing more specifically what the mini dome might look like and how the mosaic path leads people into the church. It was a very interesting experiment and the results were very creative.