Design Research

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Form Follows Participation, and Vice-Versa Gaudensia Olago


Research Focus: Form-Finding + Participation Fields of Influence Among my fields of influence are a number of personal ad researched projects whose focus can be categorised into: - formal/form-finding - social - process-based - environmental

hanging vault model antoni gaudi

hanging chain model, model japanese pavilion at the expo 2000 in hanover, shigeru ban with frei otto

foa

iris dome and folding structures hoberman design

mobile campus, n.y ftl happold

139 shelter future systems

formal process-based social

shelter frame kit world shelters grip clips robert gillis

global village shelters ferrara design

podville, burning man fest icosa village inc

hexayurt, burning man fest vinay gupta

low-tech balloon system technocraft

concr techn


rete canvas nocraft

The premise for my research focus is the desire to fuse these two different schools of thought that run through my work:- formal/form-finding approach - social and participatory approach The gap for me is the possibility of successfully fusing these two design methodologies, and allowing them to inform each other in a successful project.

parasite michael rakowitz

huts and low riders mad housers

rural studio variety of projects

various projects muf architects

housing design for australian indigenous people paul memmott, paul pholeros etc

dark days(documentary) marc singer

environmental

neighbourhood renewal project dhs, victoria+ rmit architecture

environmental

social

an architecture of participation giancarlo de carlo

slum clearance initiatives nairobi, kenya

environmental


Clusters of Informants As an initial study, I examined two projects I had undertaken in which I used tehse two different methodologies, looking at the clusters of informants for each of them.

a cluster of inhabitations (habitats to be transformed: program, site, event)

a cluster of urges (desires and directionality: aims, hopes, attractions)

a cluster of questions (won problems, curiosities)

a cluster of inhabitations (habitats to be transformed: program, site, event)

a cluster of urges (desires and directionality: aims, hopes, attractions)

a cluster of questions (won problems, curiosities)


nderings, derings, quandries,

a cluster of informants (material which informs and embodies aspects of the above; precedence, ideas, events, images, propositions, issues)

derings, quandries, nderings,

a cluster of informants (material which informs and embodies aspects of the above; precedence, ideas, events, images, propositions, issues)

a cluster of actions (compositional techniques, strategies, processes)

a cluster of actions (compositional techniques, strategies, processes)


Participation: Neighbourhood Renewal The Neighbourhood Renewal Project in Hastings’ was a government-funded regeneration project to help improve the area as well as social conditions of West Park Estate. Considered a marginalised community, it had once been, but no longer was, a government housing estate. The community was quite active in the project, with a committee of locals collaborating with us, and the RMIT team was led by Melanie Dodd, of Muf Architecture, a practice that has had extensive experience in collaborative projects, and especially in working with children to generate project ideas. One of the first things we did was a site visit that was led by children from the local West Park Primary School, and helping the children document these ‘adventures’ as digital stories. The first adventure I went on was through the backtracks, the neglected bush land behind the estate. The bush was a dumping ground for anything and everything, old and disused, from toys to car bodies, but for the children, it was their play area. They proudly displayed their lizard-catching sites (Adult: “Hmm! Looks like a bunch of rocks to me…”) , the broken cubby (Adult: “A broken computer, a mattress and some pieces of wood...”) , Big Foot (Adult: “Seriously, that’s just a big puddle of water…”) , and their cubbies (Adult: “That’s a big bush…”).

3 4

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1

MAP KEY

6

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PATH FOR WEST PARK PRIMARY DIGITAL STORY PATH FOR CUBBY BUILDING PHOTO STORY IMPORTANT SITES FOR WEST PARK PRIMARY DIGITAL STORY; 1. ENTRANCE 2. BROKEN CUBBY 3. BROKEN HOLDEN 4. KING’S CREEK 5. BIKE JUMP 6. CUBBIES


Digital Story, Cubby Building Eventually, my whole project came to be informed by a chance encounter that I had with a group of children off to build a cubby, while I was doing some site analysis. Taking a break from the serious stuff to play, I came along, enjoying and documenting the process, and in the end, I realised that anything I was going to propose for this site had to be small and real and enhance the experience of the site. The proposal was simple: a series of benches and dust bins, and a bird-watching hide. But it was the process that had meant the most.

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Final Design proposal The final proposal was for a kit of parts that consisted of: benches, rubbish bins, and a bird-watching hide. The path is experiecned as a path, like one of the digital stories.

site 2: bird-watching hide

connecting path: benches+bins

site 1: benches


Form-Finding: Aboriginal Tent Embassy The basis of the project was the redesign of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, that was established in 1972, and presently exists outside Old parliament house in Canberra. The embassy is central to the fight for Australian Aboriginal land rights, but presently consists of a few containers an a few tents pitched on the grass. The project involved research into the land rights movement, Australian aboriginal history and ethno-architecture. This went hand-in-hand with a series of intensive form-finding exercises, that were aimed at producing ahighly adaptable tent-like structure.


form-finding exercises

model 1: basic valley and hill origami folds

model 2: basic valley and hill folds

model 3: basic valley and hill folds


model 4: paper space-frame system of valley and hill folds

model 7: plastic space-frame system with stocking skin

model 6: plastic space frame system


Final Design Proposal

B

AN 1:200

SINGLE WOMENS' SLEEPING QUARTERS

VERANDAH

WOMENS' TOILETS AND BATHROOMS MARRIED PEOPLE'S SLEEPING QUARTERS

MENS' TOILETS AND BATHROOMS

SINGLE MENS' SLEEPING QUARTERS

VERANDAH

ACCESS TO TENT EMBASSY

A

COMPUTER ROOM

A

VERANDAH

OUTDOOR COOKING COUNTERS

KITCHEN/ DINING AREA MUSEUM/ EDUCATIONAL AREA

OUTDOOR COOKING HEARTH

EXISTING CONTAINER

FIRE OF JUSTICE SURROUNDED BY SEATING LOGS EXISTING PATH

FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP FP

ARTWORKS ON THE GROUND

FP

ACCESS TO TENT EMBASSY

B



Research Project Form-Finding + Participation: Ampilawatja Health Centre Ampilawatja is a small community about 300km from Alice Springs, and the community needed to upgrade the local health centre. They specified that they wanted a ‘real proper clinic’ that would cater for the mens’ and womens’ special needs. Initial site visits were made, and a few dyas of camping just outside te community provided an ooportunity to see and experience the town, landscape, as well as meet the local indgenous people and the doctors an nurses who work at the clinic. The local women met with us, and discussed the art works made by them, which will be hung in the future clinic, and also showed us important sites in the surrounding locality. Likewise the local elders met with elders from our group to discuss their expectations for the future clinic.

the clinic


ampilawatja town plan


Participation: Participation was achieved through Initial site visits and client consultations.I also regarded the act of seeing the place and experiencing the indigenous way of life in the community as an act of participation. Through the design process, the CEO of the clinic also kept in constant touch with us, reviewing the brief and giving updates on discussions he had with the clinicians and community, and expecting our feedback. he laso attended a reiew of the work, and gave helpful suggestions of what he thought would be the best way forward for the project. The dominance of the lanscape struck me, and i decided to work with the landscape as a major defining factor of the design.


According to Paul Memmott and Joseph Reser, an imporant thing to consider when designing architecture for Aborigines is direct experience and emotional response. The experience of a building and its felt harmony with place and purpose. This harmony can be enhanced by visual access to the external environment, maximum natural lighting and sunlight.


Form-Finding: Play with models brought break thorugh and definition to the project after a while struggling to define exactly what I wanted. By re-iterating my idea of ‘framing’ by model-making, I was able to clearly articulate what it was I wanted to achieve.

Models: Part 1 The first iteration of models


Models: Part 2 The second iteration of models axplored the concept of framing on the level of individual rooms, and the application of these to different part sof the building.


Models: Part 3 The third iteration of models explored a different way of framing, by treating programs/ activities as translucent boxes that were inserted into the main building. It was also a concept of framing light that enters a building.


Final Design proposal The final proposal took into account the form-finding processes, as well as the brief and practial aspects that had been established through consultation.

male/female areas

Due to avoindance relationships, it was necessary to functionally divide the building into distinct male and female areas,without cross-over. Staff and emergency areas were made accesible to both males and females.

general

male

female

circulation and exit points

From speaking to the staff, easy acces and exit points were also an important factor, and the building is designed with an easy thoroughfare N-S and E-W.

degree of internalisation

Another important factor was the importance of providing enough outdoor spaces. Form site visits, we observed people sitting outside the clinic talking, waiting for the doctor, and even having community meetings. Therefore, teh design provides sufficient veranda space, and the corridors are easily openable to the outside, creating a semi-indoor/outdoor space.

increasing degree of internalisation

planning diagrams


Final Design Proposal



interior-womens’ waiting showing childrens’ play area


Research Project 2 Form-Finding + Participation: Wales Street primary School Bean Garden The Wales Street Primary School Bean Garden was a supplementary project in investigating bridging the gap between form-finding and participation, because it was to be built in participation with and used by students from Wales Street Primary School.


Form Finding: Wales Street primary School Bean Garden The design is what I would describe as a ‘fairy garden’. The design is made of plastic backing that is folded multiple times to give a ‘lacy’or flowery feel. The spaces created act as the planting pods, and climbers made from cable ties are hung from the fence for the plants to grow up. Because the form had been set, I supplemented these by doing some formal experiments on how we could provide a lattice for the bean plants to climb up. tensegrity systems were suggested, but a system of long flexible plastic rods seemed sufficient, and I did experiments on weaving them.


Participation: During the building of the 1:1 project, we had the help of some of the children in testing how the configurations worked. For example, we used one of the children to test whether the space we had provided in between the pods was sufficient for them to sit in. The cable tie tendrils proved aesier and more efficient to make so the idea stuck. Most of the pods were set up in time for the School Music and Arts Festival, with the aim that we could give parents and children a chance to participate in making the cable-tie tendrils. We set up a cable-tie tendril station and got a few helpers, and afterwards strung up the tendrils we had made. I think the setting for the project was ideal, because it provided a creative yet simple solution, that gave the user the chance to interact in building it as well. Also the flexibility of teh design allowed teh user the chance to alter it if he wished, even by chance. The cable ties could be tightened or even broken, and they could also be pushed and pulled, and this would alter the design.


The Role of Play in Bridging The Gap Between Participation and Form-finding

I believe that play could be seen as a way of bridging the gap between Participation and Form-finding. Play can loosen up and bring creativity both into the participation and design/form-finding processes, because it operates both on the level of teh designer and of the user. Play and the User Because of the nature of play, it requires an active participation of parties in one way or another. Play cannot be defined as play unless there is somebody engaging in it, playing. Therefore, it can be used as a means of eliciting participation in architecture, whether or not the party playing (be it the user or the designer) is aware of the fact that they are an active participant in a game. Playing with the user can open them up and allow the designer to see things their way,and this works especially well when designing with and for children, as in the Neighbourhood Renewal project. By playing with the children, coming along on the cubby-building adventure, I listened and got to learn what they wanted from the design, and I was able to propose a project that might fulfil their desires. Play can be a means of reading between the lines.

Play can also be a means of encouraging user participation with a project, even after it’s been constructed. By making a project less strictly defined, and more open-ended, room can be created for play. The essence of participation is the ability for the user to define a project, and make it what he wants it to be,possibly allowing him to express his identity through it. The Wales Street primary School Bean Garden and The Aboriginal Tent Embassy projects both give opportunity for this because of their form, which is designed to be flexible and adpatable. The Embassy project also allows the user to define the building by painting on the canvas surfaces, and writing slogans.


Play and the Designer Play is also a means for the designer to test ad develop forms. Model making is a good means of doing this, because it provides the chance to physically make and test different iterations, and decide which one works te best. Sometimes breakthrough comes to the designer when he gives himself the liberty to play, as in the Ampilawatja Health Centre project.

I see play as a key element that can runs through these two different schools of thought, the difference being that the subject differs.


Conclusion

I believe a successful project for me would be one that sets up ooprtunities for play in its different dimensions. That gives the designer leeway to explore form and function, and also gives the user the chance to define what it is he needs and wants. Of all these I would say the Wales Street primary School Bean Garden had the best set-up and opportunities in terms of this, and I would hope in future for an opportunity to develop fully such a project.

References: -Giancarlo De Carlo, An Architecture of Participation -Peter Blundell Jones, Jeremy Till, An Architecture of Participation -Sanford Kwinter, PlayTime


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