Harriet Walton
The project looks at the relationship between film and architecture. The setting takes place in the Pembrokeshire village of Little Haven, which like many isolated and rural communities, is beholden to the tourism industry. The sense of isolation and loss of heritage of many these communities, in part caused by the outmigration of young people, means that much of the culture and stories of the places are lost over time.
The driving idea for the design became about creating a space in which the performance would document the lives of the village, whereby the stories of the settlement become the plot, and the villagers the actors. In response, the project proposes an integrated film studio and set of theatre/performance spaces experienced through a route in the landscape.
Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood acted as the foundation to the project. The film and set tests developed throughout the year culminated in the development of a film piece which sought to bring together the language of the architecture as well as the stories and performances of the village. I returned again to Under Milk Wood, carefully extracting the particular phrases and reediting a version which spoke of Little Haven.
The design focuses on the theatrical and intimate performance of the village stories in relation to then the expansive performance of the landscape.
The commercial film studio is anchored by the main path, which in turn connect the different buildings occupying the ground plane, whilst the audience can take a less direct route, accessing the roofscapes and upper floors of the building to experience the performance.
The typical stage and seating arrangement is removed, and instead the stories are experienced walking through the spaces and the landscapes, collecting fragments along the way.
