Onwards

I am still in need of developing my programme and while I have been discussing events with others who are also focusing their projects on women, with the drawing having taken over the last couple of weeks, we haven't had the chance to get much further than discussions.

It was suggested that I look at Matrix's book Making Space: Women and the Man-made Environment. The introduction started talking about 'a woman's place' and comparing home and work. Essentially, there is a distinct boundary between home and work for employed men while, whether employed or unemployed, this boundary isn't there for women as work continues at home in the form of housework or child care. In a way this links back to my main theme of blurred boundaries although instead of the physical boundary between public and private, it is a mental one between leisure and work.

It also talked about women outside of the home and the potential dangers in the streets, especially after dark. This has made me look again at the sites and the accessibility to each other and to Cheetham Hill Road. Pedestrian access to the graveyard site is via a couple of short but quiet roads that could be quiet intimidating during the day, let alone at night. While there is only one entrance to the Library site, there is a potential for a second in the cut through from Cheetham Hill Road to the World Wide supermarket and this again isn't the most welcoming. Humphey Street, running perpendicular to Cheetham Hill Road and one of the links between the sites, is more of a major road that the others but it's tall brick walls with very few windows again make for an intimidating route.

If I am to design mainly for the women of Cheetham Hill, I am going to have to look at the accessibility between the sites and to improve these routes of transit. Site analysis to look at the light levels will be beneficial, if not necessary in order to develop this part of my design.