The Creative Space: Scott Wilson, Morgan Studio
This month we set our sights on the sunny city of Barcelona and we’re not the only ones that she this Spanish hub as a place to draw inspiration…
Scott Wilson, designer for Morgan Studio found a spot in Barcelona that we think really deserves the gold medal for getting creative juices flowing. We asked him about why he finds it so inspiring…
So Scott, Which place in Barcelona is your creative space and why?
An odd one I think you’ll admit but I find endless inspiration in old Olympic Parks. A recent visit to Barcelona took me to the Olympic park, situated just a short funicular ride away from the heart of the city. What strikes me when visiting these vast complexes (I have also previously visited the Montreal & Munich Olympic parks) is the sense of energy and vitality, which still moves throughout, even though the flame was extinguished many years before and the park now lies somewhat abandoned. This sense of abandonment and the inevitable eerie silence, coupled with the lingering energy of the bygone event gives a sense of an off-world experience almost as though you’ve stepped into something rather dystopian.
A strange place to find inspiration you may well be thinking, but I have found that it can force your mind to think differently, opening up various racing trains of thought instantaneously.
Of course, this sense of another world is heightened by the striking architecture often associated with the Olympics, most obvious in Barcelona is Calatrava’s futuristic Montjuic communications tower giving an immediate contrast to the more familiar and Coliseum-esk Estadi Olympic. The scale and grandeur of both buildings certainly makes one stop and take in their surroundings, allowing for a reflective moment before returning to the state of awe that they both work almost seamlessly within one venue.
The Olympics also famously comes with a fair amount of controversy with regards to legacy and the lavish expenditure from the host nation. An interesting thought for all creative types visiting these now deserted white elephants, serving few purposes outside of the odd concert once everyone has gone home from the party. What use is a product that renders itself largely obsolete after a very limited life if it does not lend itself to being re-purposed or disposed of in an economic and ecological manner?
One would hope that in a world that is becoming far more conscious of itself, that these sorts of questions could find answers in these old world monuments.