2014 portfolio by Lok Cheng

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YEAR DESIGN REPORT

I love painting. For me, the hardest part of the design process, is to get started, the moment when I look at an empty canvas and think of what do I want to paint. The great pressure of not making mistake always holds me back from putting the first stroke on to the empty canvas. But once the first stroke is made, it gets easier that either the first stroke is as good as I can imagine, then I can continue painting or the stroke is not as good that I can do other things to start to make things right. After all, these can only be done after I have put my first stroke on. This portfolio is named “first stroke”, I see this as my new chapter of my life. Facing the life after graduation, I feel a little worried and a bit confused, and most of all lost. It is like I am now looking at a new canvas that I am not sure what I wanted to create. I hope that this portfolio would be my first stroke of my next chapter, either it is good or bad, at least I get it out on paper, I can review it, improve it and explore what I truly want to do. During the summer I have travelled to Africa, Malaysia and Taiwan, I have met some old friends and also made some new friends during these trips. By meeting different people, I learnt to look at the world in a different perspective, walk in other people’s shoes. Looking at different country’s culture and buildings, makes me question what is architecture. I couldn’t find the answer during the trip and the question remains. When I am not travelling, I was preparing for dissertation. I didn’t know what do I want to write about, I didn’t know what kind of topics that I want to investigate. Until one day I found this book called “Imagine”, it analyse creativity through neuroscience, which fascinates me. I started to research about the science behind the creative mind. Initially I read it just hoping to improve my creativity. At the end, it becomes my dissertation research topic. After I came back to Newcastle, our first project was Can Ricart. My friends and I spent

6 days in Barcelona for site visit. I remember reading this book of illustration in the shop of Casa Mila called “Enjoy Gaudi”. The casual illustration style reminds me of the days that I sketch in the streets just for fun. After coming back from Barcelona, there is one phase of the project that we need to draw a section drawing of the existing building in Can Ricart. The images in the book flashed in my mind, so I decided to divide the section drawing into smaller drawings to show different aspects of the site. When I doing work, I like to open videos as a background sound, (according to the book I read ambient sound helps creativity.) I saw there are architecture themed TED talks on Netflix, for the period of Can Ricart project I just listen to them while I work, Sometimes I got too focus on the video that I stop working but also there are times that I was too focus working that I have to press rewind button to see what the lecturer said. There is one lecture given by Jinsop Lee talking about design for all 5 senses. He said in the video that a good product design should stimulate more than one sense, the more senses that is triggered, the higher the satisfaction the experience it will be. (Lee also claims that the reason why sex is so good is because it stimulates the 5 senses at the same time intensely) This theory influences the way how I approach the design problem for the Can Ricart Project and also influence the way I think about Architecture. Before I thought Architecture was making cool shapes and forms. In Stage 1, tutors keep reminding me to think about architectural qualities, which at the time I have no ideas what that means. In stage 2, I thought a building with a good story behind is a good architecture, but I still struggle with the definition of architectural quality. I couldn’t figure out what makes a good architecture. I think I found the answer after watching the talk. In the graduation project, I am very lucky to be assigned to Show/Store. Display design is always one of my interest. During the project

I try to bring the answer that I found from the previous projects with me. and set the theme to investigate the 5 senses in architecture. I chose to focus on one relationship that built on the vision sense ,viewer and viewee. During the project I have ups and downs, but the main approach is still the same, try to make it not boring for people to read my presentation and not boring to be in the building, I start to be able to place myself in the building when I start designing. Although there still are a lot of things that I can improve, such as time management and communication skills, but designing with the consideration with how other people feel would be the most important thing I have learnt in these 3 years. I am not sure what I will be in the future, but I won’t stop designing, no matter as an architect, graphic designer or industrial design, I can still apply what I have learnt from these 3 years. To the question of what is a good architect, my answer is to think about what activities is going to happen in the space and what makes the space special. These are what I have been told in stage 1 and now I think I can proudly say that I start to understand what it means. Quoting my tutor Kati, not in exact words, “Architecture is a collective of space with human activities accommodate inside.” This is what I have learnt about Architecture over the last 3 years.

TA B L E OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

02 YEAR DESIGN REPORT

04 CHARRETTE WEEK

06 CAN RICART, BARCELONA

34 CHARRETTE WEEK

50 ARCHITECTURAL TECHNOLOGY 3.1

54 PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE & MANAGEMENT 3.1

68 PRINCIPLES & THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE 3.1

78 DISSERTATION IN ARCHITECTURAL STUDIES

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HIDE AND SEEK

THE COLLECTION: FOLDING CAMERA My Choice of collection is folding camera. Folding cameras was one of the most important invention of the history of photography. Before the invention of folding camera, camera was huge and people are only allowed to take pictures in studio because of the size of the camera. Impressionism starts because the invention of tube colours that allow painters to paint in outdoor, folding camera was the impressionism to photography.

OPPOSITE Sketches of incubator considering the keywords ABOVE Keywords extracted from the camera BELOW Kodak Nagel Vollanda 48 in Incubator mockup model.

PHASE I INCUBATOR Phase I of the project is to design a mean to display one of the object from the collection of choice. This camera that I have chosen is a Kodak Nagel Vollander 48, It was manufactured in 1930s. To display the camera, I need to consider which perspect of the camera that I want to show, first of all I tried to extract key elements from the camera. The incubator is designed to be a 500x500 mm one way mirror box. The small size of the box represents the compactness of the camera. People have to get close to the box to investigate the camera inside. The one way mirror represents the reflection of lens in the camera, The transparency of one way mirror changes according to the quality of light, so as the photographic films, the more the light, the whiter it gets. when viewer are standing in front of the mirror box, they can look into the box and see the reflection of the camera, there is a drawer in the box, it can be opened by pushing it inward, then the mechanism inside will bounce and push the drawer out, when the drawer is being pulled out, the platform will turn 180 degrees. so that the camera will be facing the viewer when it is pulled out. The mechanism is a representation of the mechanics inside the camera.

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PLUMMER CHARE S T R E

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LEFT Incubator site map TOP RIGHT Plummer Chare entrance from Quayside showing the fire escape stairs BOTTOM MIDDLE Plummer Chare from Quayside BOTTOM RIGHT Look out from Plummer Chare to Quayside.

INCUBATOR LOCATION: PLUMMER CHARE A chare in the dialect of North east England, means a narrow medieval street or alley. The narrowness of the chare represents the linearity of the viewfinder of a camera. When people take pictures with a camera, they look through the viewfinder with one eye. By doing so, the 3 dimensional world becomes 2 dimensional, and the sight becomes linear. When people walk through a narrow space, they are forced to look through the gap of the buildings on the two sides, which is very much like when we look through the viewfinder, the sight between

the two building becomes the viewfinder that frames the view. Plummer Chare is one of the chares that located near Quayside in Newcastle. PLummer Chare serves as pedestrian access and as fire escapes for the neighbouring building. The fire escape stairs can be folded up when it is not in use to provide a wider passageway, which matches the folding features of a folding camera.

LEFT 1:50 model showing passenger passing through Plummer Chare to Quayside, looking up to see the incubator on the fire escape stairs. RIGHT 1:50 model showing how poeple get to the incubator

The incubator is going to be placed on the first floor of the fire escape stairs. The high location allows people to see the incubator from afar. Attention will be attracted by the reflection of the sunlight of the mirror box in the dark alley. The small size of the incubator is designed to raise peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s curiousity, since the content of the box is concealed, just like the folding camera when it is folded up. It also requires peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s effort to walk up the stairs to stand in front of the incubator.

LEFT Site map showing points of interest that can be seen from the site (circled area) and the area that can see the site (coloured area) TOP RIGHT Bird Eye view of the site BOTTOM RIGHT Perspective picture of the site

ABOVE Figure ground with pictures of the points of interest. (From left to right: High Level Bridge, Black Gate, Castle Keep, Bridge Hotel, Voment Hotel, Newcastle Moot Hall.)

THE SITE: HIGH LEVEL BRIDGE The site is located near Castel Grath surrounded by a historical building complex, including the castle keep which Newcastle upon Tyne also name after it. The bridge that across the site is a listed building High Level Bridge. I chose this site based on a few reasons, such as the historical background around the site, the location of the site, and the atmosphere of the site. The site is divided into two part by the bridge, on one side of site is a busy road connecting City Centre and Gateshead, on the other side is a quiet residential/commercial area. There is a 3 metres drop across the site.

On the busy side of the site, it is a closed area bounded by the bridge and the old buildings. On the quiet side of the site, it is a more open area, has a view of the River Tyne. Considering the nature of camera, a beautiful view would be an advantage to the building. Because the site is located on a hill, it has vision of the points of interest around the area, since it is surrounded by the bridge, it is not visible from afar, this Scale forms a relationship with the surrounding that 1:2500 people in the building can look over the area 0 the people 20 40 cannot 60 be viewed. 80 100 120 while outside

140

160

180

200 m

THE CONCEPT: HIDE AND SEEK The concept of the building is about hide and seek. The idea comes from how nice pictures are hidden in the nature, and the photographersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; job is to seek these pictures in everyday lives.

ARCHITECTURAL TRANSLATION OF THE CONCEPT In exploring the location to place the incubator, I found that the relationship between viewer and viewee and how the role changes interest me. Initially I thought it is realted to the loaction of the poeple standing, but soon I realised it is not about the height. For a performer as a viewee, they are standing on the stage (a higher location) while the audience are at a lower location. But the same situation, the roles can be swapped. For example, in a lecture theatre, the lecturers usually stand at the bottom of hte room, but they are usually the centre of attention. This makes me wonder what makes people a viewer and vice versa. To investigate this kind of relationship, I created 6 different situations that involve different architectural elements and different viewer viewee relationship.

THE STAGE This situation is describing the relationship between audiences and the performer, while people are standing on stage, they havethe audience’s attention and become the viewee.

THE CATHEDRAL When poeple’s sight are being blocked, they wouldn’t notice that they are being viewed, that makes them the viewee in the situation.

THE DARKROOM When two people are located in two rooms when one is darker and one is lighter, due to the visibility, the one in the lighter room tends to be viewed rather than being the viewer.

THE PEEK When people are walking along the corridor and there is a window on the wall, the person who walk pass are usually the viewer, while the people inside the room are usually focusing on their task.

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THE TRANSITION This situation is describing the role of viewers and viewees can be changed according to position, number of people, and also other factors.

THE LECTURER In a lecture theatre, seats are designed as steps up from the lecturer, located around the lecturer, the form of the lecture theatre is forcing poeple to focus on the people standing in the middle.

LEFT The models are then translated into 1:100 models investigating the relationships between rooms. OPPOSITE These 6 models are treated as 6 pavalions, each serving different function, and connected by the core base.

ABOVE detail drawing OPPOSITE render drawng of the gallery space.

ABOVE and OPPOSITE model photos

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MEMORY LANE

LEFT The Machines De L’île, La Machine workshop in Nantes, France MIDDLE Le Grand Éléphant outside The Machines De L’île RIGHT La Princesse performing in Liverpool, UK

THE CLIENT: LA MACHINE La Machine is a street theatre company that was founded in 1999. The Artistic Director François Delarozière is also the creator of La Princesse, the most well known 50-foot mechanical spider. La Machine works through collaboration of stage artists, technicians and designers working together to build atypical performance objects. La Machine has developed various scales of projects, not only in the realm of urban planning (the Great Elephant on the Ile de Nantes, the Magical Menagerie originally commissioned by the new town of Sénart, etc.), but also in that of street shows (the Mécaniques Savantes, Le Grand Répertoire des Machines, the Symphonie Mécanique, Aéroflorale II, etc.) Movement is always the La Machine company’s artistic approach. La Machine describes their pieces as living architectures, movement is translated 36

as a language, as a source of emotion. Through each of these living architectures, the cities of tomorrow are dreamed of, changing the way we look at those we live in today. The La Machine company has acquired two workshops, in Nantes and in Tournefeuille, to create its constructions. Several professions are represented there, ranging from those of the world of performance art, to artistic master crafts, without forgetting those of the realm of industry and the very latest technologies. Man and his know-how are the very essence of the creative process.

ABOVE Map showing the location of the site with Can Ricart marked in pink

THE SITE: CAN RICART, BARCELONA The site for the new La Machine headquarters is located in Poblenou area in Barcelona, an ex-industrial quarter to the East of the city centre. Can Ricart occupies the central core of 4 joined blocks of Cerda’s city extension. The existing building in Can Ricart was a factory constructed in 1855 by architect Josep Oriol Bernadet for the textile company of Catalan entrepreneur Jaume Ricart. By the end of 19th Century, the Catalan textile industry stated to decline. During the 1920s the factory is sublet to a chemical industry until the 1960s

when the factory is finally sold to various small metal industries. Recently a redevelopment process “22@” plan is undertaken in the site by the municipality of Barcelona in the area of Poblenou. The main strategy of the “22@” is to transform decaying industrial buildings into a mixe used and technological quarter. Unfortunately, most of the projects under the “22@” have come to a stall due to the current economic recession. Nowadays, this empty ensemble consists of dilapidated listed buildings.

How to connect the client with the site? Identity is memory; When memory disappear, the self dissolves and love with it.

MEMORIES ARE THE ARCHITECTURE OF OUR IDENTITY Poblenou is an industrial neighborhood, It was the main focus area of the 22@ redevelopment project in the 2000s, In 2005, the intial plan for the redevelopment of the Can Ricart complex was to demolish over 50% of the existing building complex and turn into lofts and offices, which was not going to be public accessible. The neighbours of Poblenou wanted to conserve Can Ricart in its entirety. This incident shows the deep connection between the Poblenou neighbours and Can Ricart building complex. As memories are the architecture of our identity, the identity of a community is built up by the community memory. Can Ricart builidng complex is also an Architectural Heritage in thecity of Barcelona as cultural asset of national interest. It shows the general interest in preserving the industrial assent of

the area. To remind poeple the industrial history of the Can Ricart building complex, I decided to integrate the La Machine workshop as part of the experience of the building. To emphasis this part of the history, the design is about experiencing the industrial histroy in 5 senses. To tie the experience together, I decided to create a memory lane for people to reminisce the industrial history of the Can Ricart Building complex.

Concept Diagram The stairs are designed to face the clock tower, since the clock tower is an iconic building within the site, it will be the focus at the end of the journey. WORKSHOP

After passing through the exhibition rooms, guests finally get to go into the workshop and take a look of what is happening inside.

EXHIBITION ROOMS

In this area, guests are able to hear and smell the burning scent and the hammering sound from the workshop, promotes a working industrial feeling.

The ramp of the lane is bended inwards to face the facade of the existing buildng, so people are looking at the facade while they are walking up the ramp.

CAFE PLANT ROOM

CANTEEN OFFICE

The design proposal involves intervention of two buildings in the Can Ricart complex.

Firstly, the SW part of the old buliding will be demolished to open up the centre area of the Can Ricart complex.

most of the function is going ot fit into the old building.

WORKSHOP

EXHIBITION

PLANT ROOM

SEATING AREA

RECEPTION

OFFICE

CANTEEN

CAFE PLANT ROOM

The functions are connected by the memory lane.

Material Storage

Sculpting Area

Test Assembling

Welding Area

Cutting/Sanding Area

1. Box Office 2. Reception 3. Cafe 4. Public Toilet 5. Drawing and Modeling Atelier 6. Office 7. La Machine Canteen 8. Plant Room

N 8 1:200

9. Exhibition Space with Plant Room Machine 10. Exhibition Space 11. Exhitibition Space 12. Exhibition Space 13. Stairs/Seating Area

N 9 1:200

insitu concrete lane

precast concrete slab Fluorescent Light

Steel suspend frame

Micro approach To emphasise the idea of the journey and create a coherant language of the memory lane, lighting is used to help. under the concrete slabs of the ramp and on the floor in interior space, there are fluorescent lightings to create a light trail on the ground on the two sides of the memory lane. The light colour of concrete will reflect the light as a indirect lighting. the concrete slab is removable for access when repairing is needed.

Inspiration

Constructive process

ONSITE CASTING CONCRETE SLAB

COLUMN CAP

CONNECTION BETWEEN GROUND AND COLUMN CASTING REINFORCED CONCRETE COLUMN

Precedents Concrete as a structural material is always used to construct complex shapes, the finish of concrete can provide a feeling of a whole while other materials, i.e. timber and masonry, can still see the component of the structure after construction. Steel can also be used to create complex shapes and also suggest the industrial feeling but there are two reasons that I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t use steel. Steel is a temperature sensitive material. In spain there is always sunny, using steel may heat up the memory lane and it may cause burnt when people touch it. The second reason is the earth tone of conrete is coherent with the masonry finish with the existing buildngs.

A N I M AT E S PA C E

Scan code and watch the video or visit https://vimeo.com/76698744 for more information. 53

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Technology summary Can Ricart is a Cultural Heritage Site. People fought against the government to keep the buildng in the site to preserve the history look of the area. Because of this, the initial approach has always been keeping the buildings as much as possible. The clock tower between building 1 and building 2 is an icon of the site, it is tall and a symbolic logo of the area. Instead of directly working next to the clock tower, I chose to work in a more subtle way. By choosing building 3, guest can appreciate the clock tower and the building groups among the area in a distance, which can give the guest a wider context of the area. Memory Lane is the main concept of the design proposal, people are going to walk through the whole building and experience the building itself in different senses. Also, the building is the link of the past and the future. When people looking at the old building structure, they are also making new memories for the future, and the new elements and experience in the building is also telling a story of the past. To Encourage people to walk through the whole site, a concrete lane is created, in different part of the lane different events happens. Also, the exhibition space is divided into smaller components, which can provide a greater flexibility and encourage people to walk through the building. In terms of the choice of material, concrete is a material that has a feeling of a modern industrial material. By using concrete, people can easily identify the different between new structures and old structures without losing the industrial language in it. The shape of the building is mostly aligned with the existing building itself, to unify the building as a whole. Fluorescent lights are used under the lane to create a light trail to emphasis the idea of memory lane.

Site Plans

First Floor 1:500

Welding Area

MATERIAL STORAGE

Sculpting Area

Test Assembling

MATERIAL STORAGE

Sculpting Area

Cutting / Sanding Area

Ground FloorN 1:500

Floor Plans 59

Elevation

Section AA

Section BB

Exterior rendering

Macro Approach According to the master plan, there is a chance that there will be a high residential builidng right next to building 1, to avoid changing in a later development, it is assumed that there is a building. The site is actually bounded by tall buildings on three sides, so the circulation of people is considered to approach the site from the direction of the park and the Av de la Diagonal. To attract more people to the building, part of the building 3 is knocked down and allow sight and sound to pass through. Since the park is a rather flat area, the noice produced during the events of La Machine is easy to transfer. Hense will increase the curiosity of people in the park. In terms of design the buildng, most part of the builidng 3 are kept to restore peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s memory of it. Concrete are used to match the masonry material was used in the existing building. Both materials have the same earth tone character in colourand texture.

Building Scale Approach The main Staircase here is a multifuntional space. It is a staircase, a ramp and also seats for people to relax, enjoy the La Machine performance and it is also a space for people to cherish the building 1 & 2. In construction, the staircase is supported by a series of concrete panels sit underneath it. It will be casted on site. Under the staircase, there are reception and box office. Between panels can be used as an area for displaying previous work of La Machine or as a spare exhibition space. Between steps of the stairs are suspended which can bring in sunlight and light up the space underneath.

insitu concrete lane

precast concrete slab Fluorescent Light

Steel suspend frame

Inspiration

Constructive process

ONSITE CASTING CONCRETE SLAB

COLUMN CAP

CONNECTION BETWEEN GROUND AND COLUMN CASTING REINFORCED CONCRETE COLUMN

Journey Section

Concept Diagram The stairs are designed to face the clock tower, since the clock tower is an iconic building within the site, it will be the focus at the end of the journey.

WORKSHOP

After passing through the exhibition rooms, guests finally get to go into the workshop and take a look of what is happening inside.

EXHIBITION ROOMS

The ramp of the lane is bended inwards to face the facade of the existing buildng, so people are looking at the facade while they are walking up the ramp.

In this area, guests are able to hear and smell the burning scent and the hammering sound from the workshop, promotes a working industrial feeling.

CAFE PLANT ROOM

CANTEEN OFFICE 66

Environment Approach Construction Reduction In the three aspects of the environmental approach, reduction of the waste source is the most important part. By doing so, the demolition of building is kept to a minimal. As builidng 3â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s condition is the best among the three existing buildings, many of the walls and roofs can be kept. By keeping most of the building 3, on the one hand it can preserve the look of the site; on the other hand, it can keep the waste production low. The new built part is relatively small, which can reduce the use of material, and use the budget on other more long lasting material, which can reduce the maintainence cost and reduce the waste of material during maintainence. Standardisation For the new built part, the pathment work of the lane is standard components. The concrete slabs are used as the material for the pathment, it can provide accessibility of maintainence of the fluorescent light, also by standardising the components, it can largely reduse the waste of material. Concrete is a good material to use outdoor and indoor, since the pathment pass through both, it is a reasonable choice of material. Building Component & Material Reuse In this design proposal, resuing existing building is important. People are emotionally connected to the building here, that is why they fought against the government to preserve the building. Since the good condition of the building 3, many of the existing builidng are reused. The square shape walls are reused as La Machineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s workshop, the T shape bulidng are renovated as the office and exhibition space. By reusing the existing builidng, it can minimise the construction cost by reducing the new built components. Building Component & Material Recycle Concrete was chosed to use in the design because of its free form nature. It can be casted into different shapes. which can create a fluidity in space and keep the space coherent. As mentioned before, the demolition of buildings in this design is kept to minimal, the crushed wall bricks created during demolition can also be reused in constructing the ramp and other on site casting part of the building. The crushed brick can be used as aggregate in constructing the stairs and the column of the ramp. It can match the theme even more since the memory is actually incorperated in the lane itself.

& M

Mid-year practical experience during Part 1 studies Name: 110423308 General Information Dates of Experience

27/01/2014 - 14/03/2014

Category of Experience

Experience Level

Stage 1

Location

United Kingdom

School of architecture/ Monitoring Institution

Newcastle University

Professional Studies Advisor

John Kamara

PSA’s Email

john.kamara@nal.ac.uk

PSA’s Phone No.

0191 222 8619

Placement Provider

Newcatle University

Placement Address

School of Architecture, Planning & Landscape, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, United Kingdom

Placement Phone No.

+44 (0) 191 222 5831

Placement Website

Http://www.ncl.ac.uk/apl/

Student’s Phone No.

+44 (0) 740 364 9902

Student’s Email

y.l.cheng@ncl.ac.uk

Brief Description of Placement Provider

Employment Mentor

Kati Blom

Mentor’s Profession

Lecturer in Architecture

Membership of Professional Bodies

Registration Number

Mentor’s Email

katriina.blom@ncl.ac.uk

Mentor’s Phone No.

+44 (0) 191 222 6003

Name: 110423308 Project Details (repeat boxes as necessary if recording more than one project)

Project Name

Show / Store

Project Description

Archive and Museum Board Museum and Archive in city centre of Newcastle upon Tyne, 1900sqm. Project team: Mentor and myself in current design team Current Design Stage: C-E equivalent designing detail plan and section from the conceptual planning.

Project Tasks

Designed a kiosk for displaying an object from a chosen collection and located the kiosk in a site in Newcastle city centre. Extracting ideas from the kiosk and the site that chosen to locate the kiosk to design a building which store and show the whole collection or the linked collections and/or activities on one of the given sites. Tried to explore new target audience of the collection and changing to use or perception of the collections when put into public. Redefining the consensual usage or possession of compendiums. Explore solutions to store the continue increasing amount of archive and pieces of collection. Site visits through the four possible sites and examine possibilities of different sites. Explore the relationship between viewer and viewed by making experimental models and by creating different situations.

Work Stages

Hours as participant

Hours as observer

0 Strategic Definition

1 Preparation & Brief

2 Concept Design

150

3 Developed Desgin

4 Technical Design

5 Construction

6 Handover and Close Out

7 In Use

Total

291

Name: 110423308 Work Stages (2013) â&#x20AC;&#x201C; summary of hours from all projects

Hours as Participant

Hours as Observer

Total

o Strategic Definition

1 Preparation & Brief

2 Concept Design

150

165

3 Developed Design

4 Technical Design

5 Construction

6 Hand Over and Close Out

7 In Use

291

359

Other (please specify)

Total

Activities - non-project related Task

Hours Completed

Description

Office Management

Lecture

Lectures with modules involve

Public Lecture

Public lecture by Marcos Cruz

Total

General

Name: 110423308 Reflective Experience Summary

Task performance and learning during this period of experience In the first phase of the project, we were asked to choose a collection to work with, which is folding camera. One of the pieces from the collection is picked and we need to design a prototype to display the object. I have designed the prototype by extracting keywords and features that differentiate from other cameras. It enabled me to analyse in a more architectural way. For example the mechanism of the camera can lead to a space that can be change the function according to occasions. In normal project, sites are provided and we need to design a building according to the site. In contrast, in the first phase of the project, I designed the prototype first then I find a site to locate it. By revering the process, I can think of the site in different perspective. I can look at what makes a site is suitable to my prototype (building) and apply these elements in the building site in the second phase. When I first come up with the choice of the site, I was planned to just place the object on a block like one of the window display without putting much thought in it. Then I was asked to clarify what is the relationship between the prototype and the viewer. I have been taught the importance of how I place an object in a space can dramatical change how people value the object, and the relationship of the person and the object. I also attended an open lecture hosted in the school during this project. The lecture was given by Marcos Cruz, talks about how he experiment with materials and how he faces failure. This lecture taught me in two ways, practically and spiritually. I have learnt about the possibility of the materials and also I have learnt to be more dare to make mistakes in terms of design, A failure of a project maybe the birth of another idea. I also benefited from working in the studio in the building science. There are students from different stages, which we can help each other’s work and the flow of ideas are surprisingly unexpected. In return of giving ideas to stage 1 and stage 2 students, they also gave me inspiration in model making skill and my communication skill. It was one of the most interesting studio experience I have had in these 3 years. Personal development & role performance evaluation I have expected that this project is going to be really engaging and will involve of a lot of model making. I found that I was able to work harder than I expected. Tutors arranged tutorials every half week, which helps me to keep on track and keep me working through out the project. Initially I was concerned that my working speed is slower than average, but with the arrangement of the tutorials every half week, tutors helped to produce a lot more work than before, and I am happy with the progress of the project. In this project, I realised that I tend to spend too much time on researching rather than designing. Tutors and colleagues suggests me to just start drawing on tracing papers. By working in this way, the ideas are not kept in my mind but recorded on paper, so that I can refine it bit by bit, which is a important change for me. The most challenging part of this project was to make decisions and time management. As I mentioned above, I spend most of my time researching, which is because I don’t want to make a wrong decision. This is actually slowing my working process, which leads to the time management problem. With the help of tutors and colleagues, I am now trying to change the indecisive side of me. Aims for next period of experience I am going to continue to work on this project, and refine the detail plan and sections. There will be structure engineers to come in and discuss the structural aspect of the design. I hope to make the most out of it, so I am going to do research on materials and different kinds of structures, and how these kinds of structures help or affect the theme in a design. Also, there will be a peer review section, where we are asked to present each other’s project using other people’s presentation board without knowing the detail of the project. This is going to help us know that what is not communicated effective graphically and what is missed in the presentation board. Further skills needed and actions to take to achieve aims I need to find tutorials on how to create a contour site and put buildings on the site in SketchUp. Since most of my previous project is located in a rather flat site, this is my first time to building 3D models on contoured site in SketchUp. Also, I think my oral presentation skill should be improved. Since English is my second language, it has always been hard for me to do oral presentation. I will be aiming to do more practice with my colleagues and prepare keywords that I may need to use during presentation. This can help me to develop more confident in delivering ideas orally, and I am planning to organise a peer review sessions and rehearsals of presentation among a few of our colleagues in order to improve the presentation skills orally and graphically. Additional student comments, support required from placement provider

I confirm that I have worked in the above office between the dates stated and that the description of project details, tasks undertaken and learning achieved is accurate. Signature: 110423308

Date:14/03/2014

Implementing CDM regulations

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Figure.1 Number And Rate Of Fatal Injuries To Workers In Construction

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All construction projects, with very few special cases, are regulated under the CDM regulations. There are two categories of projects, notifiable and non-notifiable. For projects that will last longer than 30 days or more than 500 person days of construction and projects that are expected to have more than five employees on site at any time will be classified as notifiable projects and others are known as non-notifiable projects. Notifiable projects have to notify Health and Safety Executive (HSE) on Form F10, and are required to have a CDM coordinators and principal contractors, which non-notifiable projects are excluded to have these requirements. Notifiable projects are also required to prepare a Pre Construction Phase Plan, a Construction Phase Plan and a Health and Safety File. CDM coordinator appointed are responsible for the health and safety aspects in the planning process, they are required to make sure the clients, designers and contractors are all aware of their own duties in terms of health and safety of the construction project. Their responsibility including to keep a health and safety file. The role of CDM coordinator has to be notified to the HSE as well as the project detail in the Form F10.

Over 7 Day Injuries

Figure.3 Number And Rate Of Over 3 Days And Over 7 Days Injuries To Workers In Construction

Construction (Design and Management) Regulations, also known as CDM regulations, are regulations made to reduce the number of both fatal and non-fatal injuries of workers in the construction industry. CDM regulations encourage all parties involved in the construction to take responsibility for health and safety of the construction, including contractors, clients, architects and consultants. By requiring architects and clients to derive a health and safety plan from a early stage of the management of the project, risks can be identified before the construction starts, and measures can be made to avoid those risks in advance. The regulations that applying now was first introduced in 2007 due to the increasing number of fatal injuries between 1 April 2006 and 31 March 2007. The regulations are effectively reducing the number of injuries over the years. According to the report â&#x20AC;&#x153;Health and safety in construction in Great Britain, 2013â&#x20AC;? done by Health and Safety Executive, it shows a declining trend in the number of fatal injuries (figure 1), major injuries (figure 2), and over seven day injuries (figure 3).

The project Show/Store is to design a museum and archive building in Newcastle upon Tyne city centre. Because of the size of the total building area, which is 1900 sqm, it is safe to

Image.2 From F10 page 2 of 4

Image.1 From F10 page 1 of 4

Image.4 From F10 page 4 of 4

Image.3 From F10 page 3 of 4

assume that the construction is going to last longer than 30 days. To follow the CDM regulations, it has to be notify HSE by using F10 form. In the F10 form, it needs to clarify whether it is an initial or an additional notification, the site address, the local Authority that should be notified (image 1), type of building that being constructed, length of time for planning and preparation, the estimated start and completion dates (image 2) and the details of all important management roles (image 3), also it needs to be declared by CDM Co-ordinator or the Client (image 4). In image.2, I have made assumptions on the time for planning and preparation for construction work to be the duration of the graduation project, and completed the form with imagined numbers, also I assumed myself as the lead designer to be appointed to be CDM coordinator.

After notifying the HSE, a Pre Construction Information Pack is required to be prepared in order to follow the regulations. This information pack can be divided into four sections: project description, the client’s consideration in the aspects of health and safety, restrictions and risks on the construction site, and the Health and Safety File. Take the Show / Store project as an example, the description of project would include that the project is a museum and archive building which is open to public, the programme involves a series of exhibition spaces, archive libraries and offices. The client would be the Board of the museum/ archive, myself will be the designer and the CDM coordinator and my tutors and the external structural engineer will be my consultants. The client’s role in this project will be to make arrangements for managing the construction, by providing financial supports and provide preconstruction information such as a comprehensive asbestos survey in order to take precaution on any possible risks on the site, security, fire precautions, emergency procedures and means of escape are also aspects to be considered by the client. Once the information pack is collected, it is CDM coordinator’s job to distribute the pack to all parties involved in the construction. Construction Phase Plan is also required to be prepared by the principle contractor before the construction starts in order to manage the project. Firstly, project description has to be included, existing site information, in this case, survey of the high level bridge should be carried out to determine if there is any hidden risk around the historical

site and surrounding buildings. The structure of the whole construction team including client and designers has to be considered and declare everybody’s responsibility. Goals should be set for monitoring and reviewing the health and safety performance. Set rules for the construction site, for instance, safety helmet has to be worn at all time on site. Safety risks arrangement should be made, the site under high level bridge have one access for loading which is also the entrance for the nearby building, to prevent injuries, special consideration has to be made according to each particular occasions. Also, because High Level Bridge is a Grade I listed structure, extra care should be applied. The site is close to neighbouring building, and the arch of high level bridge may cause extra noise and vibration, it may affect the neighbouring building and the train pass by the bridge. These are also needed to be taken account of. Health and Safety File is required in the Pre Construction Information Pack and it is required to be prepared by the CDM coordinator which is me in this case, the file contains information regarding residual hazards that was dealt with in the process of construction and on site before the construction, and the procedure of dealing with them. Structural information, which should be provided by the architect, in this case is myself, information such as plan, section drawings, detail drawing are filed. Working loads for floors and roofs, it is very important for the archive part of the building, papers are heavy when it is packed together, and also the load of the archive will increase with the increasing volume of the collection. The location and plans of significant services are collected and put into the file for future construction or refurbish reference. The Health and Safety File is going to keep by the client and is available for future use for maintenance and maybe future expansion for exhibition space or archive space in this case.

Bibliography

List Of Illustrations

Skargren, E.I. & Oberg, B. (1998) ‘Predictive factors for 1-year outcome of low-back and neck pain in patients treated in primary care: Comparison between the treatment strategies chiropractic and physiotherapy’, Pain [Electronic], vol. 77, no. 2, pp. 201-208, Available: Elsevier/ScienceDirect/ O304-3959(98)00101-8, [8 Feb 1999].

Fig. 1. Women of Britain say “GO!” (1915) [Poster] At: http://www.vads. ac.uk/collections/IWMPC.html (Accessed on 25.02.13).

Figure.1 Number and rate of fatal injuries to workers in construction (2013) At: http://www.hse.gov.uk (accessed on 13.03.14)

Leigh D, (2013), ’Statistics on fatal injuries in the workplace in Great Britain 2013’, Available: http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/pdf/ fatalinjuries.pdf, [12 Mar 2014]

Figure.2 Number and rate of major injuries to workers in construction (2013) At: http://www.hse.gov.uk (accessed on 13.03.14)

Great Britain. Health and Safety Commission.(2007), Managing health and safety in construction, Norwich: HSE Books.

Figure.3 Number and rate of over 3 days and over 7 days injuries to workers in construction (2013) At: http://www.hse.gov.uk (accessed on 13.03.14)

Murdoch, J and Hughes, W. (2000), Construction Contracts: Law and Management, 3rd edition, London: Spon Press.

Image. 1 Form F10 page 1 of 4 (2014) screen capture at: http://www.hse. gov.uk

Speaight, A and Stone, G. (2010) ,Architect’s Legal Handbook: The Law for Architects, 9th edition, Oxford: Architectural Press.

Image. 2 Form F10 page 2 of 4 (2014) screen capture at: http://www. hse.gov.uk

Image. 3 Form F10 page 3 of 4 (2014) screen capture at: http://www. hse.gov.uk Image. 4 Form F10 page 4 of 4 (2014) screen capture at: http://www. hse.gov.uk

CAN RICART - Memory Lane Literal Translation Of Sensual Experience

My design concept for the Can Ricart project is Memory Lane. The concept comes from me after hearing the story of how the local residents protest against the government to reserve the area as an industrial heritage area. This story makes me realise that the people are very appreciate the history of the area and reserving the looks of the area as an industrial site is very important to them. It makes recalling people’s memory of the industrial stories the main theme of the project, hence created the concept of Memory Lane. People can experience the history and memory through different senses throughout the journey of the lane. The design hints the history of the site and the La Machine activities by the hammering noise from machines, smell and flashes from welding. The design connects the old and the new, and the experiences through a concrete lane. The design also celebrates the history of the site, keeping the outlook of the old building and telling the story of the site. These eight pieces of poetry are based on the Can Ricart project. Starting from the diagram I made for the presentation, I tried to communicate the idea in another format. Text is a good alternative media to present the idea, as it is more abstract in nature compare to the other visual media such as models, videos, drawings collages and diagram. Even it is described very detail in words, imaginations of those words from different people still vary. By making the presentation abstract, people are forced to imagine how it is like to be in the environment, hence communicate better in terms of experience in the space. Since part of the concept is to hint the content and history of the building, poems can be made to hint the concept and experience of the design. The smells, sounds, and visual hints are like riddles that make you wonder what

the history of the building is and what is happening in the workshop. Poems are also like riddles that they usually present in a more abstract way that people need to think what is the poem talking about. By researching different type of poems, I found this kind of poems called blackout poetry. It is made by finding words in a piece of text to form new meaningful sentences, then blackout the other words in the text. This method of creating poem is like the poet using other people’s story to tell a story of their own. In the Can Ricart project, we worked with existing building on the site, we are using the old building to tell our own new stories. The second key concept of the design is that the new building is acting as a frame or a showcase of the old building, people can appreciate the old building from the stairs of the new building. The clock tower itself became an art piece. Therefore, all the blackout poetry is framed. The frames of the pieces are made of plaster to introduce the material choice of concrete for the design project. The plaster is dyed to grey to emphasis the material. One of the eight pieces is describing the sound experience in the building, one is about the connection between the smell and the memory of the site as an industrial building. Others are about the main theme “Memory Lane”, the appreciation of the history, the fact that this project is working with existing building, the experience of different senses is used in the building, and the relationship between the clock tower and the new building. Through these eight pieces, I hope people can get to know the concept of the idea, have an imagination of how it is like to be in the environment.

SHOW STORE - Folding Cameras Study Of The Relationship Between Viewers And Viewees

Show Store is a project that required to design an exhibition and archive building for a collection of our choice. The collection that I have chosen is folding cameras. By subtracting key elements of cameras, I have come up with a concept of hide and seek. It is based on the idea of how folding cameras are hiding from the exterior world by folding into a pocket sized box and also the idea of photographers are the seekers who look for pictures that are hiding in the nature. To archive the experience of hide and seek in my design, I decided to explore the relationship between viewers and viewees, in order to let guests portray different roles in the relationship throughout the experience in the building to recreate the scene of seeking and being sought. This piece is a series of 6 models that describe 6 different situations that involve relationships of viewers and viewees. Models in theory is very much similar to diagrams. Diagrams are usually abstract and partial, because of the nature of diagram, it is impossible to include every aspect of truth in one diagram. Same as diagram, architectural concept models are usually abstract and partial. Although it can reflect one more layer of information than diagrams because of itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s three dimensional quality, models still are reflecting a subtracted reality, which makes models are usually specialised and limited (Monk 1998 cited Starkey 2007, p.236). In the article of Post-secular architecture, Bradley Starkey mentioned that models were used to convey a design idea rather than to produce the idea itself, which is opposite to this series of models. These 6 models was created in the early stage of my design process, when I was investigating the relationship of viewers and viewees, I have looked up different buildings or urban context that have a relationship of viewers and viewees such as the relationship for the people on stage and the audience, the lecturer in an lecture theatre, how the role is changed by changing the position, how movement affects the relationship, the relationship between light and dark area. This approach allows me not only to investigate the idea of viewers and

viewees, by eliminating the original building form from the precedent, it provides me new possibility to apply the situation in my design proposal and also since there is no true formless, by subtracting the situation from the original form means they have transformed into a new form by itself. This approach is surprisingly coincided with the concept of building a model from the article. Starkey compared this kind of model making to the conventional architectural models, stating that conventional models are used to communicate the design idea of the building, the model is made as a replica of the building, while this kind of model making is more experimental. The product of this kind of model making becomes a study object rather than a presentation piece, the outcome of this kind of model making is more accidental. Because these models are siteless, formless, it is easier to investigate the spatial quality through these models. Conventional architectural models usually used to test if the building is going to work or not when it is scaled up, it is important for them to have a site context and other reality aspects in the model. Conceptual models on the other hand is located in a vacuum universe that the only things exist are the elements that we want to investigate, hence it is easier to study the relationship through conceptual models. There is something different from the normal conceptual models than these 6 models, normal conceptual models are usually used to explore different possibility of lighting effect and forms of the building, while these 6 models are establishing a relationship between people. This difference may appear because not every relationship can be studied as an spatial quality.

Frascari, M., Hale, J. and Starkey, B. (2007). From models to drawings. 1st ed. London: Routledge. GullstroÂ¨m-Hughes, R. and Monk, J. (1998). The book of models. 1st ed. Milton Keynes: Published by Dept. of Telematics, Faculty of Technology, Open University in conjunction with Metamorphosis, Centre for Writing and Performance Research. Smith, A. (2004). Architectural model as machine. 1st ed. Amsterdam: Elsevier, Architectural Press.

ARTIFICIAL C R E AT I V I T Y

[...] Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will. - George Bernard Shaw, The Serpent, in Back to Methuselah (1921), Part I, Act I

LEFT First generation iPod RIGHT Rio MP3 Player

Introduction There was a secret project started at the Apple headquarter in California in February 2001. Steve Jobs and his team was complaining to each other that how the MP3 players on the market are not satisfactory; how the whole device was covered with buttons that make them so complicated to use, while most of the time, their user only use less than half of their functions; how small the storage capacity is. So they started developing their own version of portable music player. Due to technology restriction at the time and the small size of the designs, most of the players on the market provide 64 megabytes to 1 gigabyte storage, which can save around 20 - 240 songs. The team soon gathered a 1.8 inch hard drive that can provide 5 gigabytes storage, it is more than a thousand songs that can be stored; a small LCD screen that is large enough to show the information of the songs and a rechargeable lithium polymer battery which can provide 10 hours of music playback time. Considering the huge song storage of the player, it could be difficult to navigate among songs and playlists stored. In order to solve the problem, Phil Schiller from the team came up with an idea: a wheel that users can scroll through songs or menus by turning it. The wheel is later known as a track wheel. It plays a significant role in simplifying the user interface. Users are not required to press the buttons for hundreds of times to get to the songs they want to listen

to. Finally on October 23, 2001, Steve Jobs introduced the release of this innovative music player at Apple Music Event 2001 in California, this music player is the well known iPod. This product has changed the music industry and how music being consumed ever since.1 The invention of iPod was begun from an imagination of a better portable music player. Imagination leads to creativity, as George Bernard Shaw written in Back to Methuselah “[...] Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will.”2 The team desired a better music player, and by imagining it, they at last created a best selling product of Apple. Creativity is a concept gaining high significance in the current era, as it is a leading cause to various advancements and innovations. Since the last few decades, creativity has been a major subject of interest among psychologists and environment professionals. Because of the advances in technology, it is the first time in the history that scientists get to have a glimpse of how the brain works. Scientists are now able to monitor the neural activity level under different conditions through various scanning technology, for example, functional 1 Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs, (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011), pp.384-392. 2 Bernard Shaw, Back to Methuselah, (United States: Project Gutenberg eBook, 2004), Part 1, I.

Magnetic Resonance Image (fMRI) scans and Computed axial tomography (CT) scans. By carrying out experiments, scientists are able to study the causes and effects of different stimuli on creativity. Brains collect messages and gather information from the surrounding through the five senses: sound, sight, touch, smell and taste. All these different experiences are combined and processed by the brain to generate a comprehension of the world. Since these information are ingested both consciously and subconsciously, therefore, the environment that a human being operates in is constantly influencing how the human brain process and react. Likewise, the environment plays an important role in creativity. By enhancing creativity, people are able to look at the world in a different perspective, new ideas can be created and a solution of problems may be found. In order to promote a more “creative friendly” space, the relationship between environment and creativity is studied. The advance in the level of creativity is artificial, hence this dissertation is titled “Artificial Creativity”. This research is entirely based upon the concept of creativity in contrast of environmental aspects. The goal of this research is trying to apply the existing theories and knowledge of creativity to spatial design.

Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really do it, they just saw something. -Steve Jobs

What is Creativity? People usually fall back to their routine daily life and the same thinking pattern, staying in the comfort zone, slowly, they take it for granted that it is supposed to be like that. Gradually, they canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see where is the problem. Take the story of iPod as an example, before the invention of iPod, designers, without a second thought, solve the problem of navigation by placing buttons onto the device and assigning each one with different functions, they did not realise that the buttons are part of the problems. They are good designers, good designer design products to satisfy the given brief, but a great designer is able to think out of the box and challenge the brief, and think ahead it. Phil Schiller was able to think outside the box and invented the track wheel. The invention of the track wheel makes the world different by providing a more elegant and easy way to access the content. The track wheel is intuitive that people do not need to read the instruction before using it. This is creativity. Creativity is the ability to create and to find new and original ideas, deviating from the accepted patterns of thought (buttons each with their own functions) to successfully tackle the challenges (navigating the device) ahead in an unusual way (track wheel). There are two main subjects of study in association with creativity: creative personality and creative thinking techniques. The study of creative personality suggests people are born with a different degree of creativity, some people tend to have an unusual trace of thought than others. On the other hand, the study of creative thinking techniques analysed creativity as it is a skill set that everyone can learn. Creative thinking is revolutionary and constructive. Today, creativity is a fashionable

matter of study. Creativity is admired and in the modern world is an important factor to be known by people.3 Being creative means to have certain preferences and advantages in this world, for example, compare favourably with work colleagues to be more interesting to talk to (boredom and banality - extrinsic quality, creative person), to be able to find unexpected solutions of difficult life situations. Creative people are more balanced and tolerant of others, because they know that everyone sees the world differently. In addition, as creative people can always solve difficult problems with original ideas, their efficiency is recognised, thus in the modern society, being creative are always considered as being intelligent. There still are debates in the academic community regarding the definition of creativity and how to quantify it to be studied. It is difficult to value creativity due to its nature. Should it be measured by quantity? Or should it be measured in quality? If it is measured in quality, then how to define an idea is a good one or the bad one? To understand how to improve creativity via the alternation of the environment, we need to understand where does new idea or insight comes from, and how the creative process work. There are two kinds of creative thinking process, divergent thinking and convergent thinking. Divergent thinking tends to be non-linear, it draws ideas from different fields; while convergent thinking is a linear thinking process, it keeps digging in the question and pushing the limit of details.

3 Joe Y. F. Lau, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;What is creativity?â&#x20AC;&#x2122;. An Introduction to Critical Thinking and Creativity: Think More, Think Better, 23 (2011), 215-221 (p. 215).

Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere.

-Anton Ego, in Pixarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ratatouile

Individual creativity Creativity comes in different forms, shapes and scales. Individual Creativity is one of the most common forms of creativity. People use creative thinking to deal with daily life’s problems and so as professional problems. To quantify creativity to study, it is usually analysed in four different dimensions: Fluency, Flexibility, Originality and Elaboration. Fluency is the measure of quantity of ideas one can produce in the given time. These ideas do not need to have huge variation, the main focus here is the number of ideas generated. The quantity of ideas provide a possibility of providing a solution.Flexibility is the measure of how many different angles one has considered. By analysing the problem in different points of view, one can understand the different interpretation of the question, and hence may lead to the final solution. Originality is the measure of uniqueness of ideas. By generating unique ideas, they can fill the blind spot of perspective that others may have not discovered before. Elaboration is the measure of how much detail is given in the ideas or the question. This dimension of creativity focus on one’s ability on adding details to the question and the idea, it is crucial for moving forward

from the initial idea to a final solution. These four dimensions are complementary to each other.4 There are two kinds of creative thinking methods, divergent thinking and convergent thinking, both method are used during different stages of a creative process. One may not have a creative personality, but people can always improve their creativity by learning the different creative thinking method. Divergent thinking Eureka! It was originally an Ancient Greek word meaning “I found it!”. 2200 years ago, Archimedes was requested by the king to find a way to test the gold coin to see if they are real or just some alloys of silver. It was known that the density of silver and gold are different, so the volume of gold coin and the volume of coins that made of alloys would be different, but Archimedes cannot think of a way to measure the volume of the coins. One day, he was going to have his monthly bath, when he steps into the bath, the water splashed out of his bath. He found that by measuring 4 Weiping Hu, and Philip Adey, ‘A scientific creativity test for secondary school students’, International Journal of Science Education, 24.4 (2002), 389-403 (p.390).

the volume of water that splashed out, he could know the volume of the coins. “Eureka! Eureka!” He screamed excitedly after his insight of finding the solution of the problem. This tale is one of the famous moment of insight. Although the story is only a myth, it gives a very good demonstration of what an insight is. According to Sara J. Shuttleworth, there are three characters of insight. Firstly, insights are a sudden discovery with experience of surprise and satisfaction; secondly, insights usually come after a series of fail analytical attempts, and thirdly, it usually involves a redefining the problem and looking at it in a new perspective.5 The discovery of the generation of insight is noteworthy for studying the creative process. Insight is usually happens for generating an initial idea in the creative process. Insights happen so fast that it is hard to trace the chain of thought to study how it is created. By taking the advantage of modern t e c h n o l o g y, researchers are able to study the electrical activities in the brain to reveal the mystery of insight. Gamma waves

Human brains are divided into the left and right hemisphere. Each hemisphere controls various kinds of thinking. In general, left hemisphere often related to controlling the right side of body, logical thinking, languages, and is used to studying science and mathematics; the right hemisphere on the other hand controls the left side of the body, imagination, metaphors, and is used to study all kinds of art, for example, visual arts, music and sculpture. The experiment by John Kounios and others has found that insight is created in a fold of brain tissue called Anterior Superior Temporal Gyrus.6 The experiment is conducted by showing the test subjects a series of insight puzzles called compound remote associate problems (CRA), each question 5 Sara J. Shettleworth, ‘Do animals have insight, and what is insight anyway?’, Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 66.4 (2012), 217-226 (pp.217-218). 6 John Kounios and others, ‘the prepared mind: neural activity prior to problem presentation predicts solution by sudden insight’, psychological science, 17.10 (2006), 882-980.

consists three words, for instance, flower, friend and scout, the test subjects are asked to provide a word that can combine with each of the three words to form a compound word or phrase.7 The test subjects are given a 30 seconds of limit for each question, after they answered the questions, they are asked to identify that they solved the question by insight or by analysis. In the process of answering the questions, test subjects are monitored by both electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Researchers found that before the insight is made, a high level of gamma wave rhythm is recorded. Gamma wave is believed to be generated during the connections of neurons are made. Steve jobs once said “Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something”. After all, maybe he did know something about creativity. Sometimes people feel they can’t connect the dots, that’s because the re q u i re d n e u r o n s are not connected yet, once they are linked together to form a new n e t wo r k , everything seems to make sense, and that’s when an epiphany happens. Alpha waves

To make the insights happen, the first thing is to produce enough alpha waves. Although the exact function of alpha waves still remains unknown, researchers found that it is closely related to relaxing activities, when there is visual stimulation or open eyes, the amplitude of alpha waves drops. On the contrary, when the brain is working on internal tasks, it amplifies the alpha waves.8 In an experiment that carried out by Joydeep Bhattacharya and Simone Sandkuhler, they discovered that 7 The answer for this question is girl. For more CRA question, visit http://remote-associatestest.com. 8 Satu Palva, ‘New vistas for α-frequency band oscillations’, Trends in Neurosciences, 30.4, (2007), 150-158. (p.150).

by measuring alpha waves of test subjects who are completing the CRA tests, they can predict the arrival of insight. They also found that by observing the activity in the visual cortex has the effect. Before the insight arrives, there is a decrease in activity in the visual cortex.9 It is the status that one is looking, but not seeing, the mind is too focused on the internal thinking that it left the world behind. The best term to describe this status is daydreaming. When daydreaming, the mind is constantly thinking, but in a more relax manner, that is the kind of thinking that promotes insights. Loosen up the mind is one of the key points that leads to insights, but it’s not the only factor. Daydreaming is easy, almost everybody daydreams when they are bored, but not everybody can come up with new solutions or new inventions when they daydream. One critical factor that differentiates normal daydreams and innovative daydream is that whether the person is aware that they are daydreaming or not. Without acknowledging the fact that one is daydreaming, they will not notice the insight. Convergent thinking Compare to the excitement, s u r p r i s e and sudden that comes with insight, convergent thinking appears to be a long lasting and boring process. One who practice convergent thinking has to keep editing the thought that until they finally have their piece of art. Convergent thinking is generally used in atask that requires more accuracy, for example, writing poems or solving equations. Many people may disregard convergent thinking as a part of the creative processes. The reason of that is mainly based on this kind of creative thinking are more related to the left hemisphere activity. This kind of creative thinking required the person to be focus on refining the ideas. Convergent thinking is a try and error process, people keep clarifying their thought and finally came up with a new idea. This type of creative thinking is always used by writers 9 Joydeep Bhattacharya and Simone Sandkühler, ‘Deconstructing insight: EEG correlates of insightful problem solving’. Plos One, 3.1, (2008), e1459

and architects, when they already have their initial ideas, they need to depend on convergent thinking to refine their design and writing to finish their product.

Dopamine

In nervous system, there are gaps in between neurons, neurotransmitters are produced to transmit signals from one cell to another. A different kind of neurotransmitters serve various functions. One of the kinds is called dopamine. It is responsible to carry the signal of delightful emotions, in other words it controls people’s happiness.10 It also serve the function as an information value indicator. The part that control the conscious mind and attention is called prefrontal cortex, it connects with the dopamine system to form a reward system in the brain, the more pleasure a thought can produce, the more it will be noticed. It plays a crucial part in co nve rg e nt thinking, as it determines what is interesting and what is not. If this thought contribute to a valuable result, then a new connection between cells is created, and this thought or this solution to a problem will be stored as an experience, when the same problem appears, the brain can react faster by using the stored connection. In the CRA tests mentioned before, sometimes test subjects get the answer from the try and error phase before they get to find the insight, and this is OPPOSITE and ABOVE what has happened in their brain. Divergent Thinking tackle problems in different ways while Convergent Thinking raise questions to solve the problem.

10 Solomon H. Snyder, ‘What dopamine does in the brain’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108.47, (2011), 18869-71.

Our species is the only creative species, and it has only one creative instrument, the individual mind and spirit of man. Nothing was ever created by two men. There are no good collaborations, whether in music, in art, in poetry, in mathematics, in philosophy. Once the miracle of creation has taken place, the group can build and extend it, but the group never invents anything. The preciousness lies in the lonely mind of a man.

- John Steinbeck, East of Eden

Collaborate Creativity Collaborate creativity is very different to individual creativity, when creative individuals are put together as a team, this team may turn out to be the worst team ever. However, if the team is built with the right people and work together in the right way, their talents will incorporate, they can create something surpass their imagination. In view of this possibility of creation, people start to raise awareness to the principles of how to make a team to collaborate. Collaborate creativity can be viewed in two different aspects, social influences, and urban influences. It is interesting to look at collaborate creativity as a catalyst of individual creativity. Although people work together as a team, when it comes to creativity, it is still a personal process, just like playing one of those IQ questions, other people can give hints, but at the end of the day, the individual has to solve it by themselves. As John Steinbeck mentioned in the East of Eden, only individuals can invent things, group can only build it and extend it in the sight of the individual. Social Influence Social intimacy is a crucial factor to predict whether a team will lead to a more successful creative process. By studying Broadway musical productions, he realised that everybody who works in Broadway are in a high density of connections with each other. The lower the degree of separation induced a higher level of closeness among the crew. To analyse the social intimacy level of each production, he names the density of those connections Q, the amount of Q is an indicator of a creative collaboration. When the level Q is low, most of the members of the crew are strangers, which implies a great risk of failure in terms of creative collaborate. Because to collaborate creatively, everybody should be able to express their opinion and feel comfortable to have fun with each other in order to create the “chemistry”. It takes time for people to build their confidence towards each

other to develop a successful collaboration. On the other hand, when the Q is too high, it is not a good signal as well. Members of the crew are too close that the wavelength of their minds are too similar, it deprives the variety of ideas among the group. The equilibrium of Q is that the team has a mix of old friends and some newcomers. The old friends in the team will provide a good foundation of closeness to the group, while the newcomers will provide new stimulations to the existing Inherent pattern of thought.11 Urban Influence Different cities have different characteristics, some cities like silicon valley are more creative compare to other cities. By comparing different features of a city to its population size, Bettencourt and team found that those cities that base their income on innovation have a scaling exponent larger than 1, which means that creative cities have increasing profit and growth in size. The theory also signifies that when the population grows, the rate of innovation is created increases in an accelerating rate. In other words, the growth in population of a city helps the city to generate more creative power.12 By observing the case of the silicon valley, Anna Saxenian found that the independent flow of information, is the fuel of creativity of a city. In the 80s, people living in the silicon valley works in different companies in the day. At night, they would go to relax and hang out in bars with a mix of people from different companies. They exchange ideas and the professional experiences among each other. A community is formed in the silicon valley at that time. This kind of communities provide a lot of stimulations to individuals, hence that can provoke more 11 Brian Uzzi and Jarrett Spiro, ‘Collaboration and Creativity: The Small World Problem’, American Journal of Sociology, 111.2 (2005),447-504.! 12 LuÍs M. A. Bettencourt and others, ‘Growth, innovation, scaling, and the pace of life in cities’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 104.17, (2007), 7301-6.

insights from a singular person. Moreover, the healthy competition atmosphere in silicon valley brings fun to the community. Which helps loosen up the thoughts and therefore induced more creative power of the city.13 Summary To summarise, divergent thinking is an addition, from drawing two or more elements that seems unrelated, to form an insight while convergent thinking is a subtraction, by continuously refining and editing the existing idea or design, it eventually will become the piece of art. Divergent thinking plays a significant mode in generating insights. Convergent thinking can be treated as fuel to keep a project goes on after the insight is made and the initial idea is fixed. Also, it seems like both individual and collaborate creativity can be induced by increasing the number of stimuli. Maybe because by receiving different kinds of stimulants, the higher the chance to meet the right stimulus that leads to a moment of insight. Collaborate creativity can be understood as creativity in a larger scale. The study of social influence seems to be useful in studying to improve the workspace creativity, while the urban influence is suitable to study to build a creative city.

13 AnnaLee Saxenian, Regional Advantage: Culture And Competition In Silicon Valley And Route 128, (London: Harvard University Press, 1996), pp.29-59

Applications in Spatial Context The focus of this research is by studying creativity theories and hence analyses approaches to stimulate creativity growth. After studying how creativity works in individual and in collaboration, theories are tried to put to use in daily life to improve the performance of creativity. colour theory Different colours emit different kinds of energy, physically and spiritually. Colours associate with different emotional experiences in our subconscious mind. Experiments show that external factors affect one’s creativity performance. Simply by changing the colour of the environment of test subjects are being examined, can either suppress or enhance the test subject’s creativity performance. As how Ravi Mehta and Rui (Juliet) Zhu conduct their experiment, they first randomly place the test subjects in either red, blue or a neutral colour situation, then the test subjects are requested to finish a series of various task. It shows that by operating in a red colour environment can introduce improvement in detail based tasks while by operating in a blue colour environment can improve creativity performance. They suggested that blue imply openness and peace while red associates with caution, hence the blue background frees the mind. When the test subjects are placed in a red environment, the colour suggests danger which is why it is associated with caution, the brain received a signal to be careful to survival, hence the awareness of detail is raised. This kind of detail cautious status may actually be useful for convergent thinking while it works by refining ideas. On the other hand, the colour blue is good for divergent thinking. Generally blue is associated with the sea and sky, just by imagining the scene, the brain instantly feels relax, it can induce more alpha wave in our hemispheres, and finally led to a boost in creativity performance.14 This experiment only compared the difference between the colour red and blue, and also the implication of different colours varies in different cultures, these may affect the result of the experiment. Physical Disorder 14 Ravi Mehta and Rui (Juliet) Zhu, ‘Blue or Red? Exploring the Effect of Color on Cognitive Task Performances’, Science, 323.5918, (2009), 1226-9.

There are myths about artists are usually messier when compared to other people. A disorder environment can provide more opportunities for creativity. One of the definitions of being physical disorder is untidy, everything are not in the right place. By being messy, one are less likely to take for granted what is in the environment, in other words, they are more easy to raise awareness to the hints that is hidden in the surrounding and hence lead to a higher chance to discover hints and create the moment of insight. Also living in a messy space also indicates that there are stimuli everywhere. When a place is packed and tidy, everything is stored nicely, it gives people pressure to look into things in the room. While in a messy room, it suggests a more relax feeling, due to people don’t need to worry about breaking the order in the room. Recent research also supports that physical disorder environment could produce more creativity. In the report, Kathleen D. Vohs stated that orderly environment encourages compliance, while disorder can nurture creativity. They related the findings to the broken-windows theory, which assume that a minor disorder will grow into a bigger aftermath, it may lead to challenging social order and result in a destruction. In my opinion, the messiness is a symbol implying breaking the order, the tradition, which cause a visual impact that almost works like a hypnotise that encourage people to think out of the box. After all, being creative is challenging the society and one as what is normal, and find an answer in the process of it. Light bulb effect When we do a google image search of the word “idea”, more than 90% of the result are light bulb related. Light bulbs are always used as a symbol of the moment of insight in cartoon and comedies, we have been taught in this way since we were young. There is a number of reasons why alight bulb is symbolised as the moment of insight. Joseph Swan and Thomas Edison are famous of being the one who invented the modern light bulb, although they only improved the design, they are not the first one who created light bulbs. The story of Edison keeps trying different combination of materials, keep failing, but keep trying,

until he got the combination right. Thomas Edison as one of the prolific inventors, it is easy to relate him as a creative person, and the light bulb as one of his iconic invention, it is very reasonable to take it as a symbol. Not to mention the feeling of one when they finally have the “Eureka!” moment, it is like the brain suddenly turned on, electrons passed through and lit up the brain. Both of this makes light bulbs associated to the insight moment. Recent research discovered, by showing the test subject a lit incandescent light bulb, it can improve performance of creativity. The light bulb as a cliche of insight increased people’s sensitivity of the hints hidden in the surroundings which leads to a higher possibility of getting an insight.15 Light Quality Another research by Anna Steidle and Lioba Werth instead of studying the effect of the symbolisation of the bulb, they research about how the lighting quality affect creativity. Lighting quality affects people’s impression of space. Different colours of light can introduce different kinds of atmosphere. For example, a bright cool lighting will make a space more formal, it reduces the social activity in the space. On the other hand, a warm light promotes closeness, it is why is more pleasant to use a warm light in the living room and more productive to use a cold light in the reading room. The team conducted a research on what levels of illumination will provide a better atmosphere for creativity. The result suggested that the dimmed light is best for creativity among the other options in the experiment. The result fits the research of alpha waves and insights. The reason why a dimmed light is good for insights is because it recreated the atmosphere the brain experience when insights happen. When the light is dimmed, the brain can stop reading the visual message collected. Ambient Noise It may be a cliche and a bit pretentious to do work in a coffee shop. Influenced by the cafe culture, movies and other media, coffee shop is still one of the popular workspaces for writers and students, and this trend is spreading to 15 Michael L. Slepian, and others, ‘Shedding light on insight: Priming bright ideas’, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46.4, (2010), 696-700.

different professions. There is a few reasons why coffee shops become so popular among writers and students, surprisingly working in a coffee shop is actually a good idea for creative works. Firstly, going to a coffee shop involves a change of environment, and fewer distraction, comparing to work at home, the environment of coffee shop lower procrastination, and opportunities of human social connection when you need it. And most importantly, the background noise is helping you to be creative. When people working, they tend to be stay in a rather quiet atmosphere, like the library, but recent research discovered a certain level of ambient noise is constructive to creative task.16 The small amount of ambient noise works as a distraction that distracts the conscious mind and make it easier for the subconscious in charge, which led to a higher alpha waves produced and can provide a better environment for insights to happen. Workspace In a workspace, it is very important to increase the opportunity of accidental encounter. This kind of informal meetings is crucial to collaborate creativity. In the process of accidental encounter, people start to have small talks and gossips, it can provide the chance to increase the number of Q, and the free flow of information. This kind of meeting has to be informal and spontaneous. When a meeting is scheduled, many of the time people just keep the comment to themselves, while in a casual conversation, the information starts to flow between them. The exchange of information will then lead to opportunities of insights. An informal meeting between different departments and background are even more important. By sharing information with people in a different background, it may help to solve some big problems. Due to the knowledge database of one is limited, sharing the problem and asking for comment is a good way to look at the problem in a new angle. Besides, the solution may be already existing in the other fields of study. By designing a workspace with a more open communal space, it encourages people to stay there and spend time in the 16 Ravi Mehta, Rui (Juliet) Zhu, and Amar Cheema, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Is Noise Always Bad? Exploring the Effects of Ambient Noise on Creative Cognitionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, Journal of Consumer Research, 39.4 (2012), 784-799.

space. By locating the service area in the communal space, for example, toilets and cafeteria, everyone in the group have to go to the space at some point, thus it will induce the accidental encounter. city density Most of the principles of designing a workspace can be applied here in planning a urban area. The key point is to provide leisure spaces like parks and pubs for people to exchange information, keep the flow of mind fluent in the city. This can help to form communities. Conclusion Creativity and innovation are two vital components with high involvement in various domains of life. As per fact, these elements have highly assisted in different advancements, be them from the personal perspective, organizational, or associated factors. The research was based on the concept of creativity, in contrast to the impact created on it via environmental factors. The domain of natural science is dealing with multiple hazards, which reflects the need for creativity. Though, there are various creative responses and factors that are affected by the environment. Creativity is a complex series of consecutive high level of mental activity. It requires people of all physical and mental high tension, as well as creative thinking carried out at the highest level. It is the creative activity of the most critical and most active factor. Environment and innovation are two factors that affect creativity. For people in terms of environmental and innovation factors influence the development of their creativity mainly for different environments and create motivation.

per a research, we are leading of the phase of innovation in the current time in history. Working in gatherings to investigate a quite true issue for college, to be specific person use (or non-use) of non-showing space for study and socialising. It is a fascinating task based on the usage of standards of creativity which have begun to produce some novel and handy thoughts. According to the data gathered from the research, it was analysed that environmental factors and social factors contribute to oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s creativity in various way. The main focus is to loosen up the mind and create an opportunity of exchanging information with others, and try to look at the question in a different angle. After decades and decades of research, creativity and the human brain still remain mysterious. How inspirations come to us still remain unknown. By controlling different variables such as the light quality, colour, and creating a sharing atmosphere, modifying the space we accommodate, we may be able to nurture creativity, we may be able to take control to activate and accelerate the creativity process.

As researchers have affirmed, creativity is not a given but instead a method for working and accordingly, it could be supported and improved. In this connection, our work surroundings become possibly the most important factor. The greater part of us disparage the imperativeness of our physical surroundings as well as of the environment around us, the general principles originating from the top, the weight to complete our work in time and of not committing an error. So how are we influenced by our surroundings at work and how to help our creativity? As

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