THE IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM NORTH

THE IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM NORTH 

on friday I visited the imperial war museum north to see if I could find out any information on bomb shelters and fallout shelters . on my last visit i recalled it having a section on the topic but i didn't give it my full attention with the impressive harrier jump jet hanging over head. to make the experience more like an adventure i decided to walk to the museum , this proved to be quite a big mistake as it left me horribly lost wondering around salford despite navigating with GPS. I ended up waisting 3 hours trying to find the place just because i didn't trust modern technology , on the other hand in my search for the museum i found some very interesting corners of manchester and an architectural reclamation shop which i will defiantly be visiting again , so all in all it balances out . 

At the museum I found no information about bomb shelters but there was the video on fallout which had some valuable information. I also found another interesting example of a shelter called a fire watchmans shelter . used by fire wardens in the blitz to take shelter from flying debris and bomb blasts so they could be in the middle of the action and ready to start fires . After getting back home ( now i knew my way around ) I spent the rest of my time watching public information films on fallout shelters . Overall a very interesting day .

The first 72

The first 72

this week was kicked off with the start of the final major project . A pretty daunting thought that all our work up to now rests on this however the best way to do it will be to hit it head on . I started my new sketch book , what do you put on the first page of a sketch book ? - i will never have a good answer for that . 

Monday began with laying out some things that need defining before things really get started . Most importantly defining whats essential and what a shelter is . to solve the question of what is essential ive gone with the rule of 3s for survival which say that a person can only survive for 

• 3 seconds without hope 
• 3 minuets without oxygen 
• 3 hours without shelter 
• 3 days without water 
• 3 weeks without food 

its suppose to be a list of priorities for someone in a survival situation , obviously this is very generalised but it functions as a good model . the next thing to sort out is what is a shelter ? ... now this could be a whole project in itself but to keep things simple i went with the dictionary definition. 

shel·ter  

/ˈSHeltər/

Noun A place giving temporary protection from bad weather or danger.

Verb Protect or shield from something harmful, esp. bad weather.

Synonyms noun.   refuge - asylum - haven - cover - harbor - retreat verb.   protect - guard - harbor - screen - harbour - cover

So to start with this is what i have been gathering research on this week 

Worangpong Manupipatpong 

Lebbeus Woods 

Hobbit Holes

Moken people

Tree Houses 

Tipis

Wigwams

Yurts 

Igloos

And thats all so far . the next update will be tomorrow and will be about what i learned at the imperial war museum and what i have planned for next week .

The Essential shelter

The Essential shelter 

For my final major project i will be working towards creating a shelter that serves a function in an essential part of life . for the project i plan to use a large range of research to help formulate and construct my idea , thats where this blog comes in , like a cage for thoughts.