Ouseburn Ideas Store Part 1 Project 2006 Erin Byrne Newcastle University | UK For the Ideas Store project I analysed the urban landscape of the Ouseburn Valley as a language of architectural gestures. I aspired to identify and address the signs and "icons" that hold semantic value in the valley and create an architectural intervention that responds to the area's striking urban grain and verticality. By using transparency as a vehicle for spatial choreography I sought to knit and mesh the functions outlined in the brief into the texture of the 'mixed-use' Ouseburn landscape. Consequently, the building explores the interaction of function and semantic charge of a very specific place. Erin Byrne’s design for an Ideas Store in Ouseburn Valley, Newcastle-upon-Tyne is based on a very close reading of the context using Barthes' theories and applying the semiotics of urban space to the site and design . The result is an amazingly rich, spatially brilliant design which connects the adjacent buildings and successfully emphasizes the verticality of the Valley. Erin’s study of the precedents is intellectually convincing and mature. The inner circulation patterns and spaces are developed in a way which is exceptional and subtle. Concepts in Erin's case are never tied to abstract notions, but based on urban sensitiveness.