Week 01 Reflectioion

We began a task to complete a 'Learner Contract' this was a booklet of questions which sought to garner an understanding of where we felt we stood coming into final year. I found that completing this task really got me thinking about the ways in which I have approached work to date and also how I could go about improving this. It also helped as a way to organise my thoughts about how I could tackle the year ahead by pinpointing my areas of interest both architecturally and outside of the realm of design.

I was then able to reflect on my affinity for the use of timber in design and my application of the material in a number of my previous projects. This is a vein of research which, as I reflected upon, I really felt I would like to continue with throughout the year as it plays a large part in the drive for the use of more environmentally friendly construction materials. Week one ended with both a meeting concerning our learner contracts and a 1:1 tutorial. These

meetings were very beneficial to me as a mode of redefining what I was thinking in terms of thesis. Many points which sparked my interest were discussed, such as the possibility of resource mapping during a project's design stage. This resource mapping would help to pinpoint potential materials and construction methods which may inform the design of the structure in a way which involves less embodied energy.

I was advised to go about a process of trial and error and not to tie myself down to a particular building typology straight away but instead to test a number of concepts against my theory of low embodied energy design before coming to a definitive design project. This really helped me initially to slow down my thinking process and allow my research to inform the work that I would produce.

By the end of the first week back I felt as though I had somewhat managed to get a grasp on the pace of the semester and the work that was expected of us.

I came into the week with a sure idea of

what I wanted to pursue for my thesis but by the close of the week this had already gone through many iterations as my thought process moved from one thing to another and was influenced by research, talks, tutorials and chats with other students. The change in mind of ideas like this was something which I always thought would be a barrier to progression of work but I came to realise at the start of the semester that it is exactly the opposite. That the evolution from our original thesis ideas is something which is a natural progression during the process of thesis formation, and that our stance will continue to ebb and flow as we research and develop new thought processes while we develop a deeper understanding of our chosen topic. From the beginning of the week I took a step back from solely thinking about the architecture of the structures which provide us with power to thinking about the processes involved in the creation of these materials and

how we can use less of the energy we are producing to fabricate materials which have an extremely low impact on our environment. Taking a step back in my research meant that I could prevent myself from getting too specific too quickly and allowed me to get the most out of the process of research and formation.

By the end of the week I felt as though I was in a good position to begin research into ideas such as circular economy and the cradle to cradle approach and that these ideas would drive my work for the week to come. I also felt as though alongside this I would be beginning to think about a vehicle to express this research or a building typology which would be best suited to exploring the idea of low embodied energy construction.