Back to Dundee, back to university, 18th January back to Lecture Theater 5013, where our tutors are ready to explain what we are going do this semester and what aims we need to achieve. First of all this semester has a number of changes: now we are divided in different groups and have new tutors, moreover we have new lectures, such as Writing on Mondays and Structure of buildings on Thursdays.
So first week starts with a new project, called Mediator, which we suppose to finish by 5th February working in groups. The purpose of the project is to explore the place, Hospitalfield, located in Abroath and present our observations, which in general are based on different feeling what inherit exactly to this area.
On Tuesday morning we went to the place, the journey took about one hour to get there. As we know, buildings are not merely objects in the landscape, they also have emotional baggage attached to them. Hospitalfield is a great example of such a place, where you can feel something new. Going through the site my feelings and emotions were changing. My first impression of the house was quite positive, good looking building, made from red stone, which has an exciting shape and perfectly sits on the site. It creates a feeling that the buildings and their surroundings can live together, they are united and the house is an integral part of the environment. The house is surrounded by lots of trees; I was inspired by massive trees in the south garden, with their huge crippled and twisting branches - all of this makes this place mysterious, especially now, when there are no leaves. I suppose that in summer the place will create another feeling, because of different colours and forms of crowns.
Because of the high humidity level, trees and stone walls are covered by moss, which helps you feel the atmosphere of the past.
Another feeling which I had being there was fear. Hospitalfield was a place where a lot of people died and the site is full of graves, with unknown symbols, statues and names. Such an atmosphere makes you think about life and death, about the time we have and how we plan our life. In other words, the place causes the right atmosphere for philosophical thoughts.
On the other hand, the place makes us feel integrity and solitude especially when you look to the sea and hear the voice of the waves.
Hospitalfield is a place which unites different and even opposite feelings, so it is an amazing place for new impressions. I was really fascinated about the place, hopefully it would help in developing my Research Retreat project.