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At first I was a bit worried about how I would mock this idea up. I was lost on how I would depict a piece of furniture made out of bits and pieces of broken decks. I initially thought I had to go about this like a puzzle, tediously putting the broken pieces together to form a whole. After getting a bit stuck on how I would portray this without, I found this youtube video. This video portrays a perfect method on how to recycle old/broken wooden decks and create solid brand new ones, all while minimizing waste. This possibility made it a lot more feasible for me to image a bench of broken decks existing because it meant I could work with the whole form of the deck instead of just parts.

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SKATEBOARD MADE OUT OF BROKEN SKATEBOARDS

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Another reason I was inspired to do a character-based sign approach is through looking at the SBC's children's festival designs. I really like how this brings a more playful and fun vibe to the SBC, feelings I want to capture with this project.

The images below are from Google image search, all from various sources. I really like the opportunity this character-based design approach has in allowing the characters to give life to the space. Southbank's architecture is brutalist and at times harsh and sharp. These characters really liven up the space and add a sense of excitement for visitors.

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I think it's so interesting that these symbols can be so embedded with political and social histories, and yet people don't even know just how deep these associations run.

My design was not intended to be reminiscent of kilroy, maybe I just found myself subconsciously placing my character peaking over the wall because it felt so familiar to me from my childhood (from the influences of my brother's tags and from growing up in Massachusetts, where this symbol would be literally everywhere).

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“Kilroy” was everywhere around the world. But little Kilroy started his journey in Halifax, on the South Shore.

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Beautiful project by Long Live Southbank, the initiative started to protest the proposed closure of the skate park.

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After doing some research on the pile of discarded decks on the bridge, I found out that this was referred to among the skating community at SB as the graveyard. For years, skaters have been chucking their decks over the bridge to commemorate the life of a southbank skater that was killed. For this reason, I feel it would be really disrespectful and unjust to initiate a cleanup project for this area and disrupt the tradition that the skaters have held for such a long time.

This became the inspiration for one of my Zero Waste touchpoints. I thought my festival could have an event where skaters could donate their old and broken decks and the Southbank Centre could commission local carpenters/wood artists to make new public benches for the centre in memory of this lost life and in the spirit of the strong skating community and culture at the centre.

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Why Is There a Skateboard Graveyard at South Bank?

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Twenty years ago today, best friends Timothy "Timo" Baxter and Gabriel Cornish were crossing Hungerford Bridge after a night out. Neither of them would make it to the other side.

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During one of my site visits, I walked around Southbank with waste in mind and noticed that the area was generally quite clean and clear of waste. What I did notice, though, was a big pile of old and broken skateboard decks on one of the walking bridge pillars close to the skate park.

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The skate park is something so central to the centre, and is a important visual inspiration for my design project. I really want to play into Southbank's mission to "open up the arts". Street art is one of the most accessible forms of visual art and culture. It challenges the idea of "high art" that art spaces often push. While I don't plan to include graffiti in my brand world specifically, I think referencing the vibrant colors and interesting patterns/layering of the centres skate park will help give that fun and exciting edge while also speaking to their mission of "opening up the arts".

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Scans of my two favorite pages out of marks made during our first class workshop. I really like how tactile and playful this exercise was. Scanning these in black and white gave them a really interesting look, and I can definitely see the second one existing as a pattern somewhere. Although I enjoyed the process of making them, they just didn't match the vibe of my project and the look of my brand world for this term.

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Naming exercise I did inspired by the NPD design sprint we did in class to come up with names for my other two events

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Images originally from an ebay skateboard listing https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/321630081622

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Using images of skateboard decks was a way for me to get out of that 2D realm and get a real feeling of what these would look like in 3D.

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One of the way people would come in contact with my designs at the festival, specifically at the ThrashBash event, is through a custom grip tape the skaters could use to freshen up their boards. I decided to make a pattern out of all the stickers I made, and use that pattern for the grip tape.

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Rendering those ideas in Illustrator, but not liking how flat and 2 dimensional these designs felt. After not liking the outcome, I decided to change my approach.

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Sketches for what I'd imagine a bench made out of skateboard decks to look like.

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With posters and big cut-out like sculpture of my character infiltrating the space!! Inspired by was here Kilroy was here graffiti tag (more on that later)

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Original image, image credit Luke Freeman

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Though I didn't use these mockups, the characters peaking over the edge inspired my big cut-out style figure for the stairs. I thought it'd be a great way to catch attention and bring people in the direction of the skate park, which is just under the stair case he is peaking out of.

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I didn't end up using this mockup because I wasn't liking the color balance/value of the original image I used to mock up the posters. I also felt the posters were too small.

During one of my final tutorials, I got feedback that I wasn't maximizing the space enough. This inspired me to play around with ways I could use my characters to infiltrate the space. This take was of floor mural way-finding, which I wasn’t digging, so I decided to try again.

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My little character peaking over the text block reminded me a lot of this thing I used to draw a lot in my notebooks/sketchbooks as a kid! I picked it up from my late brother, who was very into graffiti when we were kids. (He's also one of the inspirations behind me taking a graffiti/street art inspired approach). I never took the time to look into the origins of this doodle. Being reminded of him through my design inspired me to look into it, and it's really interesting! This image sums it up quite well, so I thought I'd throw it in here :)

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Designing this festival program was a way for me to have this project feel more resolved. Having it be more than just one event really gave it that feeling of having a larger scale. In the design, I continued solidifying the visual identity of the sub-brand. In designing the events, I focused on making events that addressed waste, sustainability, and community among the Southbank skaters.

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These artboards really capture my process from dull to my final design

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Edited gif after hearing feedback that there was a visible pause before each motion.

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As I noted earlier, I envision this video to be played on screen before any big events that the centre will hold in the future. I wanted the video to feel quite festive and exciting. These are feelings I also hoped to keep through the use of sound.

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For places like the Southbank Centre, which hosts dozens of events, event tickets are a crucial touchpoint. I knew I wanted my event ticket design to be colorful and fun to match the core brand identity I was building. I also knew that the event would be no ordinary event- it would be for Vision of the Future.

In designing this event, I wanted to showcase the work of Hilma Af Klint, whose color palette and minimalist approach heavily influenced the brand world I work in. In keeping with my core values of accessibility to / representation in the arts, I thought it was fitting that the event I designed tickets for highlighted a female artist who paved the way for generations of artists to come.

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Different variations of the tear/punch out of the ticket design. I ended up going with the version on the right because I felt the image of Af Klint would be best suited in this kind of shape and composition.

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Thinking of my possible and intended audience in designing. I wanted to use graffiti text enough that it would attract skaters and those into street art/culture. I also wanted to balance the use of the graffiti with the use of my characters so that if people like the dad (who aren’t into skating culture as much) saw my touchpoints, they would feel intrigued.

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Final mockup, made in photoshop with a photo I took at the skate park.

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Inspiration, Skating / Street Art Culture

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Inspiration, Skating / Street Art Culture

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Stickers and customization is something I particularly noticed when visiting the skate park. I noticed stickers everywhere! I thought stickers would be a really cool way to advertise the festival among the skating community by slapping these sticker designs all over the Southbank Centre. People could also own one of these stickers and decorate the bottom of their decks in exchange for one of their old/broken decks as a part of the main event.

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I wanted to tap into the idea of graffiti tags with this project. However after doing research on the harm that traditional spray paints have on the environment, I wanted to consider an alternative to spray-paint tagging that was more conscious of impact. A community mural that is made out of living and growing moss would be a beautiful way to embrace life and culture in the skate park.

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Introduction: How to Make Moss Graffiti

Moss graffiti, also called eco-graffiti or green graffiti, replaces spray paint, paint-markers or other such toxic chemicals and paints with a paintbrush and a moss "paint" that can grow on its own. As people become more eco-friendly and environmentally aware, the idea of making living, breathing graffiti has become a more green and creative outlet for graffiti artists. It can also be considered another form of guerrilla gardening.

Ingredients

One or two clumps (about a small handful) of moss
2 cups of buttermilk
You can also substitute with yogurt (vegan yogurt can be used)
2 cups of water
1/2 tsp. sugar
Corn syrup (optional)

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Step 1:

1
Gather up as much moss as you can find or buy.

Step 2:

2
Wash the moss to get as much soil out of the roots as possible.

Step 3:

3

Break the moss apart into manageable pieces and place in blender.

Step 4:

4

Add the buttermilk/yogurt, water/beer and sugar.
Add the buttermilk/yogurt, water/beer and sugar.
Blend the mixture until completely smooth. You'll want it to have a paint-like texture.

If the mixture is at a consistency where you feel it will drip, add corn syrup until the consistency you desire is reached.

Step 5:

Use a paintbrush to apply the moss-paint to the surface on which you wish your design to grow.

Step 6:

If possible, check back weekly to either spray the design with water (to encourage moss growth, especially if you live in a dry environment) or apply more moss-paint.

Hossein Khorrami . Iran

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How to Make Moss Graffiti: Moss graffiti, also called eco-graffiti or green graffiti, replaces spray paint, paint-markers or other such toxic chemicals and paints with a paintbrush and a moss "paint" that can grow on its own. As people become more eco-friendly and e...

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Process, coming up with different layouts

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Original photo, image credit Southbank Centre Design Studio

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Final mockup, made in photoshop with a background photo of the SBC from the internet.

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Mockup I made for my initial design for the festival program. I liked the scale of this bigger banner but felt the design fell a little flat compared to my other work so far. After attending the final tutorials, it seemed like the tutors also agreed. I got feedback that the banner was not as exciting as my other designs, and was way too busy for a banner of this size (which should focus mainly on visuals because people won't look up for long to read the fine text). Also, because of its location on the building facing the bridge, most people see it in a car/bus while driving along the bridge. They most likely won't digest all the info while on a commute. I agreed with all of this feedback, so I decided to give it another go.

After tutorials, I also realized that I had created a lot of printed material up to this point. Despite the eco-friendly choice of using recycled paper and soy and algae-based inks (based on my materiality research), I decided to shift to a digital approach for my re-designs to unnecessary printing and waste. A feedback I got to help me manage the amount of info being decimated in ways that were easily digested and read (unlike this poster with too much info) was to separate it into two touchpoints- posters to capture attention and a digital flyer to highlight the program.

I went with posters because I wanted there to be a QR code that people could scan to pull up the digital flyer on their phones to curb too much physical printing.

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Development of the symbol for my NPD, which I sketched ideas for in the Impact and Innovation research and brainstorming column.

Originally, this symbol was a custom icon I designed to signify community. I revisited the mark in creating the logo for this festival because one of the central goals of this festival was to highlight the strong skating community. I also liked how the symbol looked like a cycle, reminiscent of the recycling logo.

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After reading the articles I thought: how powerful would it be to have a festival embracing the skater community? A festival that would address ideas of waste and space. Pivoting around the idea that, if it weren't for their powerful protests, this strong skating culture would have been erased. We would have seen such a central space of Southbank gone and replaced- space gone to waste in the interest of capital instead of culture.

This festival would exist to highlight the importance of the skating community at the centre, and showcase the strong social power and change they can make when they band together, just like what they did years ago to save the skate park.

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As you'll see in my reflection post in a section later on, this event was supposed to be a stand alone event in a larger festival addressing trash and waste at the Southbank Centre. I got to a point where, because I hoped to keep my audience as broad and diverse as possible through designing different events, my festival didn't feel resolved. However, after doing a bit more research about the skating culture and history at the SBC, I was less interested in the other touchpoints I had developed. After reading the articles below, I pivoted my project, purpose, and approach.

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Boris Johnson has thrown the Southbank Centre's £120m redevelopment plans into disarray by declaring that a part of the complex used by skateboarders should be left unchanged.

The surprise intervention could threaten the whole scheme as the centre planned to use the undercroft that has been used for decades by young skaters as retail units to generate income.

Johnson told a preliminary planning meeting at City Hall, London, that he supported much of the Southbank Centre's plans, but not moving the skaters from their present home.

He said: "I wholeheartedly support the principle of enhancing the world-class cultural facilities at the Southbank Centre and am encouraged by many of the aspects of their plans. However, redevelopment should not be at the detriment of the skate park, which should be retained in its current position.

"The skate park is the epicentre of UK skateboarding and is part of the cultural fabric of London. This much-loved community space has been used by thousands of young people over the years. It attracts tourists from across the world and undoubtedly adds to the vibrancy of the area - it helps to make London the great city it is."

Johnson's decision now threatens to derail the entire project. In a statement the Southbank Centre said: "We are surprised by the mayor's unexpected statement. We look forward to hearing how he intends to fill the financial gap that now stands between us and our ability to provide free art and culture to millions of Londoners. In the meantime the Southbank Centre board must consider the implications for the future of the project if he fails to do so."

The Southbank Centre wants to create a new Festival Wing, redeveloping the brutalist 1960s buildings that include the Hayward Gallery, the Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Purcell Room. Its most visually eye-catching proposal is for a spectacular glass pavilion that would "float" above the complex, providing space for orchestras and choirs to rehearse.

Johnson said he backed the glass pavilion idea, but he was not in favour of the proposal to move the skaters 120 metres upriver to a new space under the Hungerford Bridge.

The mayor's intervention appears to be a serious setback for the Southbank Centre, with the proposals already opposed by its neighbour the National Theatre.

The National's director Nicholas Hytner wrote a long letter of objection to Lambeth council last summer in which he said "irreparable harm" would be done to the setting of the NT's buildings, threatening a "signature night-time view of London".

Attempting to move the skaters was never going to be easy. They have been there since 1976, and this month the Long Live Southbank campaign delivered a 27,286-name petition to the council objecting to the move.

The Southbank Centre enlisted Søren Nordal Enevoldsen, considered one of the world's top architects for designing skateboarding and urban arts spaces, to come up with plans for a new space under the Hungerford Bridge.

Lambeth council has yet to decide on the planning application, but the mayor's office said it would be referred back to the mayor in any event, making Johnson's position key.

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Southbank skate park must stay, says Boris Johnson

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Mayor says he supports much of Southbank Centre's redevelopment plans, but not moving skaters from undercroft

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The 'Long Live Southbank' Campaign Saved the UK's Most Iconic Skate Park

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After a 17-month campaign, a community lobby group started by a bunch of London skaters managed to save the Southbank Undercroft skate park from redevelopment.

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The London Society - ARCHIVE | The Skate Escape | The Southbank Undercroft

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From the London Society Journal 471 (Spring/Summer 2017). The fight to save the much-loved Southbank Centre undercroft as an informal, but internationally famous, skatepark raised impassioned support from unlikely quarters. But, explains Jack Layton, when it comes to use of public space, democracy is never straightforward.

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The Southbank Centre's famous Undercroft was a global destination for skateboarders, though it was threatened by closure and decay.

On the morning of Saturday, July 20, a wall of temporary construction fencing on the south bank of the River Thames was torn down, unveiling a 4,300-square-foot landscape of virgin concrete flooring. The space slopes in sections, culminating in L-shaped barriers and a white plywood wall, which, by the end of the 20th century, was covered in triumphant graffiti. This is the Undercroft, the open-ended subterranean space of the Brutalist Southbank Centre. It's also the oldest, and among the most famous, consistently skateboarded space in the world.

The Southbank Centre, which contains three different performance venues, was completed in 1967. Oral histories posit 1973 as the year skateboarders-then-pioneers in a new form of mobility and spatial exploration-first took to the sloped concrete of the Undercroft on clunky boards and with flared trousers. Skids and scuff marks testify to how, in the subsequent decades, this public space and its board-formed concrete were creatively adapted by the fiercely tight-knit skateboarder community. By the 1980s, the Undercroft was the center of the U.K. skateboard scene and was drawing in young people from across the country and further afield; for example, the Smell of Death Jam event in 1988 drew skateboarders and sponsorship from Powell Peralta, the L.A.-based skateboard company.

Despite its popularity with skateboarders-or perhaps because of that popularity-the site was also a battleground for a fight between its users and their upstairs neighbors and landlord, the Southbank Centre. This was well before mainstream acceptance of skateboarding culture, and the Undercroft community was considered a public nuisance. In the 1990s, the center introduced anti-skateboarding measures (drilling into the ground to roughen the surface, for example) and gradually enclosed part of the space in the mid-aughts. Eventually, in 2013, when national cuts to arts funding forced cultural institutions to squeeze more income from their real estate, the entire space was threatened with closure and relocation.

More from Metropolis

"A planning application was submitted that would have seen the whole space infilled with cafés, shops, and restaurants," explains Stuart Maclure of Long Live Southbank, the nonprofit organization formed in order to unify the skateboarder community and counter the top-down proposals. After 17 months of campaigning and fundraising, the space was eventually saved with the unlikely support of then-Mayor of London, Boris Johnson.

In the years since, the skateboarder community and Long Live Southbank have worked in collaboration with the Southbank Centre and London-based architects Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios (FCBStudios), not just to maintain the space but to expand it to its original size.

"The project of the space was focused on the heritage of this '70s skate era," FCBStudios associate Chris Allen tells Metropolis. "We were looking at photos of the skaters, incredible tricks and things performed there for the first time." Indeed, the unplanned nature of the Undercroft means it's a particularly difficult place to skateboard, something which has contributed to its notoriety and broad resonance. Thus, the reopened section of the Undercroft doesn't look much like a skatepark: there are no halfpipes or obvious rails, and to introduce these would be to undermine the adopted nature of what has evolved there. Instead, barriers that appear like traffic blockades and 45-degree slopes populate the new space.

While Long Live Southbank had to entirely crowdfund the roughly $1.37-million project, the restoration was also made possible with the help of broad public support. "The whole idea of [the] enclosure of public space was a real big issue [in 2013] and this struck a chord with so many people," explains Allen. "They may not have personally related to skateboarding, or in some cases perhaps saw skating as a nuisance. But they saw ... a space being closed to young people to do creative things as an issue they could get behind."

For Maclure, at stake is keeping a space for young people to spend time safely and freely. "Amidst a huge cut in spending for young people, youth centers being destroyed, and a massive increase in violent crime, we are strong believers in the fact that there's a massive reduction in space for young people in cities," he says. "[Even if] no one could come down to the opening, as long as we know there's 40 years of potential friendships, passions, and other things we can't predict ahead-that's the important thing."
You may also enjoy "Sustainable Architecture Comes Into Focus For This Year's Stirling Prize." Would you like to comment on this article? Send your thoughts to: [email protected]

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A Brutalist Landmark and Skateboarding Mecca in London Is Restored - Metropolis

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The Southbank Centre's famous Undercroft was a global destination for skateboarders, though it was threatened by closure and decay.

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Final mockup, made in photoshop with a photo I took of the skate park.

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Early design versions. New versions (above) have updated type, festival logo, and name.

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The touchpoints below were made in the early stages of my work for this unit's Impact and Innovation section. My initial plan was to have a zero-waste festival (named Trash Talk) that would host many different events, all catering to diverse audiences. As the unit progressed, I was much more interested in further developing the concept and visual identity behind Deck It Out. This is because of some research findings and because I found I had a lot of fun working with the aesthetic I had created for the Deck It Out festival. And so the concepts below went unused, but I still really enjoyed making them.

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A visit to Southbank Centre for some visual stimulus, inspiration, and mock-up material. My specific goal was to focus on the architecture and tags of the skate park. Images by me, taken on point and shoot digital camera.