Walk One

I began my walk at 9am on July 12, 2011 and I had decided before hand that I wanted to explore the exchange district first, as it is an area that, I admit, I don’t know that well. The purpose of the walk was to record all In Between spaces such as parking lots, alleys, small meeting places or plazas, and entrances.  During my walk, I kept track of my path and created images of alleys, entrances, plazas and some interesting parking lots (there are just to many and the images seemed to become redundant). I found it difficult to record all the In Between spaces and became very overwhelmed with the information. I began to focus on the smaller plazas and alleys that I knew I might not be able to record through other means, such as aerial maps.  The following map depicts the path that I took and locations of images created.  The map also locates the alleys, parking lots and plazas that I encountered on my walk. 

During my walk I felt like I was wandering aimlessly without a tangible goal or strategic plan, which can be seen on the map. Therefore, I decided for the next walk that I would establish a walking route beforehand in order to ensure that I don’t miss anything. Also, I have decided to locate parking lots and larger plazas that can be seen from aerial maps so that I focus on the smaller areas that can only been seen while walking through the area.  

Exchange District, Winnipeg

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And so it begins...

I have created this blog with the intention of recording my progress throughout the course of my practicum.  At first, I wanted to keep my options open and look at a variety of different subjects before narrowing my topic.  I reviewed several books that were recommended by my advisor; Collage City, by Rowe and Koetter, Learning from Las Vegas, by Venturi and Brown, and Invisible Cities, by Calvino. Collage City and Learning from Las Vegas provided interesting insight into different design issues, however, the inspiration they provided was not what I was looking for in a topic for my practicum.

I was fortunate to complete the Traveling Concepts in Photography course in May 2011, as an elective.  During this course we were required to create images based on a concept that we developed.  My concept was based on a previous interest in abandoned spaces or spaces in between buildings.  Through the development of this concept in writing and creating images I was able to develop a broad topic through which I could begin to narrow the scope of my practicum. 

My practicum topic is the In Between.  In order to study this topic further and to find possible locations for future design projects, I will be walking throughout downtown Winnipeg recording In Between spaces using mapping and photography.