In CHI, we have spent the last few weeks developing our project proposals. It has been great to see everyone’s projects and how they connect to different points of research. I’m so excited to see the projects as they progress. My project is 3D Modeling Departments Stores: Sheffield’s John Walsh, 1899.
In my introductory post, I talked about the early stages of my model of this store and how it influenced my place in the digital world. My project for the rest of CHI will further develop this project. I will build models of each of the floors of the original building (from basement to sixth floor) and a model of the whole building. I’ll be including images of the model in my dissertation and defense presentation for my discussion of the spaciness of space for the people working in the store. I’m hoping to make an AR version of the model to be able to allow people to explore it on their own terms. It would be very cool to have something people could “walk” around in!
Within my research, this store holds a special place. There are not the most complete business records, but there is a fair amount of information about both the building and the people connected to it. The 1899 physical building of John Walsh was the city’s closest representation of the turn-of-the-century department store in western Europe. Many of these buildings no longer exist, or, if they do, not in the same form. Walsh’s was destroyed in 1940 during the Blitz. Furthermore, the project also seeks to create a visual of the employee-only areas of the store. Photographs of the building, and many department stores, focus primarily on the exterior or unpopulated interiors. This model will include approximations of the exterior and interiors compiling information from the plans, photographs, and narrative sources. As opposed to many images, the model will include employee-only areas as part of the comparisons of spaces and their meanings Thus, one of the interventions of this project is about the importance of seeing department stores as industrialized employers and, for some, residences.
I’m so excited to keep working on this project and expanding my skills. Come back in the spring to see the completed model!
Recent Comments