Diana Vasilevski- Field Note 2- Touch

There are many different textures that I experienced and learned about on Brighton during my field days. On my first field day, I noticed the materials of the different buildings and shops. Therefore, on my next field day, I concentrated on that and was surprised by the variety I encountered on my way. I touched and took pictures of all the different textures I encountered. Overall, I noticed that brick was the most popular texture, but there were a lot of variations to it. I also noted that many other materials were used that I never payed attention to before. Some were more appealing to my touch and others less, some looked newer than others, and some were very damaged.

My first “touch” was the building I live in. It is about 100 years old. It’s made of brick and has a slightly dirty look to it. When I swiped my fingers across it, it felt very rough, bumpy, and scratchy. It had no smooth surfaces. I could feel every rock in between the bricks and the hard, vertical patterns on the brick itself.

When I moved down the wall and looked at its lower part, I noticed that the bricks were now placed vertically, and their patterns were therefore horizontal. I also noticed a patch of newer bricks. Perhaps the wall was destroyed in that area and they needed to get replaced. The new bricks felt the same but were lighter (I assumed it’s because they weren’t as dirty).
I then noticed an area that had three different colored bricks with a mix of horizontally and vertically laid. I could tell that there were two patches to the original bricks. However, they all felt the same.

As I walked down Brighton 5th block towards Brighton Beach Avenue, I noted another house which was newer than my building. It’s structure was significantly different. Although also made out of brick, it was very soft and smooth. I could feel the pores in the bricks if I pressed my fingers harder, but overall, they glided on the bricks without a problem. The bricks also felt warm from absorbing the sunlight the whole day, while the bricks of the old building felt the same temperature as my fingers. The filling between the bricks was also sooth, compared to the grainy rocky filling in the old building. The photo on the left represents a close up of the bricks in the newer building. The photo on the right shows the old and the new brick walls side to side.

The newer building also had very smooth texture on the caps of its columns (picture on the left), while the older building had columns that were also stony, but rough and slightly bumpy (picture on the right).

The pictures below represent a wall on the corner of Brighton 5th and Brighton Beach Avenue. It is also made out of brick, however, it looks like the brick and its filling were all covered with paint to give it all the same dark red color. The bricks also felt very smooth, despite the rocky filling in between. Picture 2 shows the painted brick and the non painted brick on top of it, which did not feel as smooth and the filling was rocky. This wall caught my attention because it had a lot of different brick fillings. Although all of them are bricks, they differ in colors and in textures. However, I was not able to feel the light bricks on the top of the wall because they were too high.

Picture 1

Picture 2

The structures that I’ve seen on the buildings of stores also differed significantly. The ffirst picture(Picture 1) shows three different structures- plastic and metallic. However, they all felt the same- smooth and easy to slide a finger on. Picture 2 shows another series of smooth textures next to each other- plastic and metallic. Picture 3 was my least favorite structure to touch. It is cement covered with paint. However, the paint is peeling off, which caused my fingers to get stuck on its pieces when I slid it. I was scared that if I slid my finger any faster, I would hurt myself. Picture 4 shows a tile of a Pharmacy located on the corner of Brighton 5th and Brighton Beach Avenue. It felt very warm and smooth, however some of the tiles had a 3D structure to them, so I felt the creases. I could feel the breaks between the tiles as well, when my finger slightly

Picture 4

Picture 3

fell in-between the holes. Picture 5 is material outside of a restaurant. Although it looks like a brick, it is simply a plastic cover on the original wall. It feels smooth and like regular plastic. It made a loud noise when I knocked on it. Picture 6 is what I called the “sloppy brick.” It has a rough, rocky feeling to it, completely opposite of the material described before, and looks like it was very sloppily made. I, once again, felt that if I press my hand harder and slide it, I will hurt myself. Picture 7 is what I named the “neat brick.” It was the most visually appealing brick out of all. Overall, it felt very smooth (even the filling between the bricks), completely different from the brick in the previous picture. Picture 8 shows another kind of brick, which looked like “stone brick” to me. It was smooth to the touch, despite being made out of such “rough”

Picture 5

material. I could feel the curves on the stones, but I got the

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impression that they were processed with sand paper to feel “soft.” Finally, Picture 9 shows the structure that felt the most pleasant to my touch. It is made out of a light layer of plastic and feels grainy, but very smooth and soft. It was also very warm from the sunlight.