Studio Brief 2 - The Land Travelling Exhibition - Crystallography Research

Pattern and Science at the Festival

The Festival wanted to create the impression that technology would create a Utopian society.
Kathleen Lonsdale presented a paper about crystallography and how crystal patterns would be suitable for contemporary textiles at the Society of Industrial Arts 1949. This led to Mark Hartland Thomas contacting Helen Megaw who went on to initiate the Festival Pattern Group.
Half the designs were for textiles which suggested the importance of the textile industry in manufacturing.
The Regatta Restaurant was the largest project for the Pattern Group.
The discovery of microscopy , which was a type of photography allowed magnification of very small objects.
The scientific displays in the festival ordered scientific achievements into a historical narrative. The use of molecular and crystal shapes would continue this story into the future.
The molecular systems and structure were used heavily in engineering and architecture.
For the public microscopic photography suggested objectivity especially because these things could not be seen by the eye, revealing 'a reality normally hidden from view'
The power of progress suggested by science and technology heavily influenced the Festivals outlook for the future.

From Atoms to Patterns  

It was suggested that they be produced as a series with there proper names.
The process of crystallography meant taking X ray photographs of crystals.
The regularity of the structures meant that the light was refracted in a regular way. These refraction's were then recorded as black spots or lines on a film.
From the position or intensity of the spots it was possible to identify the size and contents of the structure.
Using these calculations allowed 'maps' to be plotted, showing the relationships between atoms.
 Many of the crystallography that Dr Helen Megaw contacted and submitted to the Pattern Group would go on to win Nobel prizes for there discoveries.