My Thoughts in the Library Stairwell:

It is much colder in here than in the actual library. The door opens. I bet he thinks I am quite weird sitting on the stairs writing notes compared to sitting in the library. He ran up so he must be in a rush. I don’t really feel that I am actually part of the library here. I feel like I am more outside in the cold, well that is because it’s really cold here. Oh, they are two more people coming up. I think they are Chinese. They passed me, they looked at me in a weird way too. Oh look! It’s trying to snow again, better not settle. What was that? Oh, it’s the door but I don’t hear any footsteps. They must have forgotten something.

This is just some of my thoughts from sitting in the library stairwell. It was very interesting to see how the stairwell is used and the different people who go up and down depending on whether they were in a rush or not. It was also interesting to observe how, even though I was part of the library sitting there, I didn’t really feel a part of the conventional library atmosphere where people are in there to work. It felt like I was outside walking into the library and not within the building itself.

Samantha Foster

Theatre and Architecture

Juliet Rufford quotes in her book, “For Copeau, architecture is the most fundamental and consistently overlooked aspect of the theatre.” (Rufford, 2015, 2).

Until the Site-specific session on Wednesday the 28th January, I would have never linked buildings with theatre, except from the idea of space and where you are performing. This session and reading has inspired me to look at buildings as performers themselves. The library is filled with layers of context, history, memories and double meanings, not only being a place of work for academics, but also for the industrial and manual work that happened there years before. This concept and notion of a performing place has inspired me to think of all other buildings and what they mean or what they could be performing to the people who enter it. Therefore, I couldn’t agree more than with the statement above as it has made me see the University Library with open eyes and an equally open mind.

50 Imaginary Book Titles (Well, 38)

From today’s seminar, here are my 38 that I did, enjoy:

  1. Hitler’s Underpants
  2. The Biggest Book in the World
  3. A Million and One Ways to Utilise a Carrot
  4. What If Peter Parker was Batman?
  5. Never Mind The Yellow Brick Road, Where Does The Red Brick Road Go?
  6. 99 Pieces of Chewing Gum
  7. What’s The Difference?
  8. Maybe We Are All Robots
  9. You Should Have A Volume Switch
  10. QWERTYUIOP
  11. What If Heaven was Hell?
  12. Shakespeare: A How To Guide
  13. Why?
  14. Explore the Core of the Moon
  15. Plants Have Feelings Too!
  16. How To Read a Book
  17. The Most Creative Title Ever
  18. If You Want To Know What The Colour Pink Smells Like, Go To Victoria’s Secret
  19. You’re Middle-aged
  20. Religion Is Full Of Sh*t
  21. Who Invented the Hole?
  22. What If I’m Brain Washing You Right Now?
  23. Words & Letters
  24. Mirrors Are Actually Portals
  25. How To Play The Debit/Credit Card
  26. Red Pandas Rule
  27. You Aren’t A Fan of A Band Unless You Know The Bassists Name
  28. I’m Gonna Put Curtains on My Computer
  29. What Does A Swan Actually Look Like?
  30. Windows 8 – Why You Shouldn’t Use It
  31. There’s A Crack In The Wall
  32. Grass Is Actually Black
  33. Ebola
  34. Yorkshire: A Guide To The Country’s Greatest County
  35. Why Is A Computer Mouse Called A Mouse?
  36. I Need The Toilet
  37. Gloria Schnitzleberger
  38. Have A Nice Life

And the categories I came up with, completely random and in no way make sense:

  • Random Books
  • Books with the word ‘the’ in it
  • How many books can you fit in this section?
  • Hitler’s Thoughts and Feelings
  • Stephen Fry
  • Shakespeare’s Secrets
  • Each book down here has its own Wi-Fi hotspot
  • I’m not telling which book from this section is about love
  • Books that have protagonists
  • February