REFLECTIVE JOURNAL . JUN MING TING . 789843

d e s i g n w o r k s h o p

R E F L E C T I V E j o u r n a l

JUN MING TING 789843 STUDIO 4 HAMID AMOUZAD KHALILI 1

2

WEEK 1 3

LECTURE 1 - INTRODUCTION GLASS HOUSE (VILLA KOGELHOF), NOORD-BEVELAND, THE NETHERLANDS, PAUL DE RUITER

4

The housing looks very unique & futuristic and is part underground and part supported off the ground. These supports are very minimalistic and does justice to the modernistic look of the housing.

The glass feature makes the structure look sleek and modern. It allows a lot of natural lighting into the housing, while also enlarging the visual perception from within, making the space seem more spacious than it actually is.

There is also the sense of a guided path - whereby the quality of human movement is used to created an interesting experience for the user. This path starts at the entrance which leads underground.

Only by passing the underground part of the housing enables the person to move up into the supported part. This path would provide a transitional experience, whereby the user would move from a small and compact underground phase to a very open and pleasant overground phase. This technique can be used to enhance the visual perception of the overground area, as humans usually perceive with relativity (in this case the compact underground is relatively smaller and contrasts with the spacious overground.

5

FARNSWORTH HOUSE, PLANO, ILLINOIS, LUDWIG MIE VAN DER ROHE

6

The overall design is simple and elegant (contrasting to the first housing project). It’s similarity to the first housing project, however, is that it uses simple geometry i.e a rectangular shape. It is also rather minimalistic.

This is a frame & infill structure, whereby glass surrounds the majority of house. This allows a lot of natural lighting into the building (similar to the overground structure of the first housing). This increases the visual perception of space within the house, which is already quite small. This aspect is therefore essential to the design of this housing.

The implementation of glass also allows users inside to appreciate the surrounding wilderness in which this housing was built.

Another notable feature of this housing is that it is minimally supported by stilt like supports, which elevated then main body of the structure above the ground. This would protect the house in the case of a flood which is a safety feature. This almost makes the structure more stable, as there as less points that are in direct contact with the ground.

7

DOME HOUSE, NAVENO COURT, HAWTHORN, MCBRIDE CHARLES RYAN This housing strongly contrasts the first house housing projects. It has a complex and unorthodox dome-like structure, where parts have been removed from the dome to create this interesting shape. It has a central courtyard which in itself, in a way, is an ‘open’ concept within the house.

This is interesting because the central courtyard would be surrounded by the dome structure, which provides a pleasant contrast between the simple landscape design and the complex shape that the housing embodies.

The colours and textures used produce a very natural and organic feeling. The warm lighting compliments the brown exterior cladding, which also compliments the green central courtyard.

There is also a sense of a guided pathway whereby movement is used to create an experience for the user. The use of greenery surrounding the pathway makes the experience more pleasant and relaxing, as if walking through a garden.

8

PERSONAL LOGO DESIGN This rather minimalist logo is simple and compact, as a logo should be. Each letter shares a shape with another letter, while the breaks in the logo help accentuate the different letter, while keeping the gaps small enough to help the view visualise each letter. I personally like the style of minimalism, as if it is my personal designer’s agenda. This may give the viewer that I am knowledgeable about the different styles of design, which could imply that I am a designer.

9

READING REFLECTION ON ‘SUPPORTING CREATIVE WORK’ READING The first part summarises that we should be constantly immersed in design, and that we should surround ourselves with many images as well as sound (through music). This could be a great way for us to stimulate many random ideas, from which some could be ideas that have great potential for development. This relates to the next part which is ‘travelling’recording ideas on the go. We constantly generate ideas, especially when we are on the move. Moving through different environments and spaces may stimulate different ideas in our minds, and it is important that we record and draw these ideas and thoughts in our sketchbooks immediately, as these ideas could easily and quickly be forgotten. If we never record ideas that pop up, we would never know the potential these ideas could have on our designs.

The next few part talks about how to get the best out of our design ideas. One of the most important aspects to is to just draw and illustrate as many ideas as we can, no matter how good they are. It is true that we generally like to think a lot before we draw, and that’s because we want to draw out the best design idea we could think of at the time, or that a lot of our ideas seem uninteresting , infeasible or just unattractive. This however limits our creativity, and because of the limited number of ideas we were able to produce in that amount of time, we don’t have many ideas to look at and develop from. Talking about ideas to others, or even showing them our ideas is also just as important. When we design, especially when we are in the process of developing a certain idea, our minds usually have quite a linear thought process - that is we usually have an idea that we want to pursue and this will definitely limit creativity. Showing others our ideas will allow us to gain their feedback, and usually their ideas will be quite different to ours, and we can sometimes implement and integrate their ideas into our design. Editing our ideas can also provide the same effect - after a while, we start to think of different ideas, and some of these ideas can be used to develop our designs.

10

WEEK 2 11

WORKSHOP 1 In the workshop session, one of the exercises was to think of keywords that relate to the idea of Poetry, Amenity and Technology. Some of the keywords are: Poetry: Evocative, Emotion, Memory, Imagination, Creativity, Narrative, Phenomenology, Symbolism Amenity: Functionality, Spatial-efficiency, physical/mental comfort, ergonomics, necessities, subjectivity Technology: System, Advancement, Constraint How do some of these words link together?

Imagination - Functionality - Constraint Imagination is a very broad concept. It can be simple, or it can be as wild and eccentric as we want it to be. When visualised, these ideas are usually impractical and infeasible due to its complexity. Functionality and the constraints of technology ties in with this topic very closely. A very successful idea must be creative (and in some cases unique), but it also has to be functional for use, and must be able to be manufactured using contemporary technology. Great designs therefore must have a great balance of creativity, functionality and feasibility.

Emotion - Physical/Mental Comfort We all have emotions, and it plays an important role in how we think. Our emotions can easily be stimulated and altered by our physical environment. Therefore, the design of a space plays a major role at producing an interesting experience for us. In places such as our homes or offices, where we spend most of our time in, should evoke a sense of comfort, both physically and mentally, and this in turn will make us feel happy and relaxed.

Memory - Subjectivity Subjectivity can be classed under both poetry and amenity. For example, the sense of comfort for a particular individual may be quite different to another individual. However, there will be a majority whom prefer the same qualities. With memory, on the other hand, each particular individual will have their own unique memories which are linked to different senses. Once the particular sense is activated, a certain memory will be triggered within that individual’s mind.

12

Some important themes: Phenomenology This is acknowledged by implementing sensory design in order to establish experiential, architectural space. This involves the experience an individual feels through the five senses - sight, sound, touch, smell and (sometimes) taste. These experiences can be enhanced through the manipulation of the space, material, and light and shadow. There are many ways to do this. The most effective way to implement phenomenology into the design of a space is to utilise not just the human senses, but their movement. Designers and architects use this idea to design a ‘pathway’ for the spectator to move through inside the space. This means that the space can be exclusively designed in order to convey a specific emotion within their minds as they move through the space. These can be done through light and dark transitions, or the changes in material usage or the overall design of the space.

Symbolism Symbolism in architecture can be understood consciously or unconsciously. It is usually not explicit to the eye of the viewer, and is only really appreciated by the designers themselves. But these ideas could affect the design outcome in a subtle but noticeable way.

These symbols usually contain a hidden meaning, or it could be the use of the designer’s agenda.

It is usually quite mind-blowing for the viewer once they figure out the symbolism behind the designs. This is because the viewers usually never realise the hidden message or meaning in the design until much later, or until they’re told. The most simple and common use of symbolism is in the design of logos. This is because a logo is usually short and straight-to-the-point, so designers use symbol to add a hidden meaning behind their logos.

There is a hidden arrow between the letters E and X, suggesting that the company mails quickly and swiftly.

The arrow pointing from a to z symbolises the fact that Amazon sells and ships everything there is, from a to z.

13

How can I apply the ideas above into my design projects?

I will definitely use and integrate the idea of phenomenology in some of my design projects, I believe that experiencing through movement is a very strong way of allowing visitors to perceive architecture in a unique way. This is because movement is controlled by the visitors themselves, so everybody can experience the same architecture in slightly different ways. This effect can’t be achieve any other way, due to the static-ness of architectural features.

Symbolism can also be used in one of my current design projects from the design studio, ‘Earth’. This is because the design concept surrounds the idea of revealing a secret somewhere in the architecture. It is a very broad concept and we can take the idea and interpret it in multiple ways. But perhaps, one way of revealing a secret can be done through symbolism. Since it usually takes a while for viewers to understand the meaning behind the symbols, or even realise that they are there (in addition to the significance in the meaning of the symbols), the viewer will usually be left stunned, and they may feel like they have just found a secret.

14

LECTURE 2 - DESIGNERLY THINKING Notes & Reflections on the Lecture How would I get myself started designing?

If I am to design according to a brief, I would first read the brief and understand is thoroughly by picking out its key points. This would give me the design agenda, and this must respond to that brief. Once I have the agenda firmly in mind, I will start brainstorming random ideas. This is the part where divergent thinking plays its part. No matter how weird and absurd the idea is, just make some sketches about it. What ever comes in to mind goes down on to paper. This way I can generate plenty of different design ideas. After this, I can start to go back on my design ideas and pick out the best and most feasible ones for the brief. This is convergent thinking. I can then take these design ideas and develop them into better concepts. This way of thinking is much better because it ensures a high level of creativity, which would produce more interesting and unique results.

How would I design an experience for the user/visitor?

Some of the most notable ways to implement a particular experience in the design are the use of light & shadow, shapes, materials & texture, and last but not least, movement. In my opinion, light & shadow and movement are the best ways to implement a particular experience within the design. Sight is probably the most important sense we need to create an experience in our mind, and light & shadow plays with our sense of sight very well. This ties in with movement. Such examples are transitions from light to dark or from a space to another but very contrasting space.

This is evoke a narrative like experience to the viewer, as if the designer is telling a story.

Thoughts on own Designer’s Agenda I do have a preferred style of design, that is minimalism or modernism.

When I design an idea for a brief, I usually try to implement the qualities from these design styles into my design.

15

READING Reflections on Chapter 3: The Design Process by Nigel Cross This reading features different designer’s models of the design process. Even though they are all slightly different in their ways, they all essentially have the same aspects of the design process. The main aspects of French’s design process model are the analysis of the problem, conceptual design, embodiment of schemes and detailing, meanwhile Archer’s three-phase summary mode of the design process features the analytical phase, creative phase and the executive phase. Both design process models requires the designer to collect information, brainstorm ideas, development their ideas and then presenting them. Therefore the main thing I can take away from this is reading is that whenever I design for a brief, I should thoroughly study its requirements first. I then go through the process of creation of ideas and development. This process should repeat until an idea has been finalised, and that this design idea will meet the requirements of the brief. I will then have to communicate this idea to the user, making it as realistic as possible, making it as if they were experiencing it in real-life. This will enable them to give critical and accurate feedback to us if necessary. This ensures the design is at its best before executing the manufacturing process.

16

WEEK 3 17

WORKSHOP 2 Summary & Reflections of Workshop Exercises One of the most interesting concepts I got out of the workshop was on a video that was showed in class. It was a video with 2 scenes, and each of them has 2 parts. The first part of each scene was exactly the same, but the second part of each scene was different.

Because of the difference in the second part, the first part in each scene is viewed and interpreted differently. I found this really interesting and eye-opening. This could be used in architectural language and space, whereby moving through a certain space can evoke a different emotion depending on which path the visitor is taking.

Kinaesthetism Another major topic we discussed was kinaesthetism. Communication of design through kinaesthetism could change the future of design and its processes. Kinaesthetic design communication will allow the client or user to experience the design in 3D space and time.

This means that the client can virtually live and move in the design, using all the senses, and this therefore enables the client or user to give very accurate feedbacks. This method ensures that the client or user is fully satisfied with the design before it is actually built. This ensures efficiency and lowers the chances of an unsatisfied customer, especially after the construction process - it would be very costly to change the design after it is built.

The current process of design communication relies mainly on drawings and models made either by hand or using CAD software. These form of communication is not as effective as communication through virtual reality because the client or user cannot experience the design of the space, but can only merely visualise what it would feel like to live and walk through that space.

18

SUBWAY EXERCISE The last exercise was for us to design a subway that connects two points in Parkville campus. We documented the 3 potential sites for the entrance of the subway to be located at. We used different camera shots to document these sites, and then using these shots, as well as the information we took while we were at the sites, to draw a diagram showing the flow of people at the sites. We use these as our form of communication to justify why we think our chosen site is good for a subway entrance.

Close-up shot

Medium Shot

Far Shot

Different camera shots can show different informations as well as evoke different feelings and emotions when looking at the photograph.

19

LECTURE 3 - DESIGN SPRINTS Reflection on the lecture: The lecture summaries the design sprint in 5 main stages - understand, diverge, decide, prototype and validate. In the first stage, one thing I learnt is to start looking for priorities in the design brief. Not every element is equally weighted and some are more important than others. Why is this important? Looking back at my past projects, I never really thought about which aspects of the brief are more important than the other - I just dive straight into listing out the ideas and ensuring that I fulfil them. I should definitely start listing out the most important aspects first before I respond to the others. This ensures the in-depth analysis of the most important parts, and hence I would more likely design a better idea. During my Earth design studio, I realised that I focused too much during the later stages of my design to incorporate some rooms needed (which where stated in the brief), but I focused on that too much instead of improving the more important aspects first (such as the form of the pavilion), and I end up with a mediocre design with some additional rooms.

On a small note, I also realise I should start understanding my precedents before using them as references. I tried to forced ideas I took from precedents which didn’t really work during my project in the subject Digital Design & Fabrication, and that led no where.

Crazy nines can also be useful for me. I always tend to not jot down or draw out enough initial ideas to begin with which definitely limits my creative ability. Using this method I am forced to draw out lots of ideas in a very short time period, and then I can pick a few which I see are developable. One thing I realise I never do is ask others for opinions (in the lecture there is a small section on critique and feedback). Other’s opinions and criticism matters, because they see your design from a different perspective, and hence they will have different ideas and these ideas are worth looking into and developing because they could definitely influence my idea in a positive way.

Finally, the stage that I usually lack in is the testing stage. I usually either don’t leave myself enough time to test and experiment with my idea, or I just don’t do it because I assume that my idea is already good enough. In my design project from Digital Design & Fabrication, we (my group) did some materials testing, but we never did any testing on the final design, to see if it worked the way we intended it to. The main reason is that we did not really have much time. However, if we were to have time in hindsight, we should have tested it out in public to see if the model performed the way we intended it to, and to see if the other members of the public understood it or not. From then we can retrieve important information, and if needed, we can then further improve on our design.

To summarise, the design sprint aims to force us to go through the entire design process in a very short amount of time. The methods mentioned are designed for efficiency so that we do not lose quality while really shrinking the time period in which we design. It is definitely an effective way of design. In hindsight, if I used this method on some of my previous projects, I would have had left myself a lot of time after the design process to keep testing and re-developing my design, which will definitely elevate my final design.

20

READING

Summary & Reflection on ‘The Product Design Sprint’ reading This reading crosses path with this week’s lecture in certain areas, but it also gave me some additional insight about the design sprint.

The part about the design thinking of empathy, creativity and rationality is quite useful, especially the part about empathy - to see the world through the customer’s eyes. In this reading, the stages are named slightly differently, but are essentially the same understand, diverge, converge, prototype and test & learn. Phase 1 (understand) can be classed under empathy. This is because to understand our client’s or user’s needs, we need to first see and understand the world through their eyes, and from this, we can learn what needs to be met in the design. The next few phases pretty much covers the same topics as in the lecture, but one notable feature is how Phase 3 (converge) is classed under rationality. When eliminating ideas (and choosing ideas to develop), we must be rational with our decisions because our design must still be suitable for the problem context.

The phases in the Design Sprint are concise and clear, each with their aims & objectives.

This makes the process simple and efficient for a design team to build a creative as well as feasible idea that conforms to the brief, hence fitting for the potential customer.

21

VIDEO

Reflection on ‘Google Venture’s Design Sprints Prep Portfolios for Future Builds’ video This video basically sums up the above reading and shows how the design sprint is applicable in real life. It suggests that any sort of team can do the design sprint, and they will usually come up with interesting and feasible ideas. The design is a very quick process, where each individual in the team is only allowed seconds to produce a drawing or sketch of a design idea. This method will definitely force out many and random ideas and quickly, making the ‘diverge’ phase very efficient.

Also seen in the video are a lot of sticky notes stuck onto walls and windows. This is a very effective method because this keeps the team immersed in their ideas, and if needed, they can easily be accessed. It also allows the ‘converge’ phase to be easily executed as well, as any ideas that are not feasible can be easily identified and scrapped.

I should definitely try out the design sprint method as this could definitely not only make my design process more efficient, but also more rich. Quantity and quality!

22

WEEK 4 23

WORKSHOP 3 In the workshop session, the poetry, amenity and technology groups work together to design a hotel. The amenity group first read the brief and wrote down keywords and elaborated on them, as well as asking questions about what some of the key points mean. The poetry group then looks at the key points and questions and designs the space and layout of the hotel. The technology group then made storyboards to illustrate and communicate the design idea.

Image on the left shows key points jotted down by the amenity group. Image on the right shows the plan of the hotel sketched out on the whiteboard, while storyboards are linked to a path within the plan to show experience.

Reflection It was a great experience trying this style of design process. The way the words were written out - short, simple, large, ordered - as well as the questions asked really helped the next stage of the design process i.e designing the hotel space. This kept the poetry group on track while keeping the key points in mind at all times. This ensures that they do not stray away from the brief, while also being creative in their design. The storyboards are essential in communicating our ideas to the potential customer. This would ensure that we would get constructive feedback, which we can use to further develop or to alter our design before finalisation and construction.

Also, doing a design sprint for the first time is a great experience for me. I start to learn and apply the aspects and features I read about in the lectures and readings. It was definitely though for me, especially the early stages when we have to quickly answer the brief and brainstorm plausible ideas. This method, however, does prove very effective, because not only did we design according to a brief, we also had many ideas to choose from (which we then developed), communicated these ideas in a form of a storyboard, and most importantly we did it in a short time. This is definitely a rather efficient design technique.

24

LECTURE 4 - COMMUNICATING DESIGN IDEAS “Designers are people who externalise what they’re thinking about and wrestle with the representations: models, drawings, diagrams + texts”. After reading this on the lecture slide, it started to dawn on me how important it is to have the skill to communicate our design ideas to others. Everyone who has a degree of creativity will be able to think of and develop their ideas, but it is only they themselves who will understand their design concept. However, it is important for the client to understand what the design is, and therefore it is vital that the designer communicates his ideas to the clients and users. No matter how great an idea is, if it can’t be visually represented or communicated, they can’t actually acknowledge that it is in fact a great idea.

Furthermore, it is not just about communicating quality information, but also doing it efficiently.

Different ideas are best represented in different ways. For example, analysis of a certain subject (e.g site context) can be represented with an analysis diagram such as site mapping. Communication of overall design is best communicated when the entirety (or most) of the design concept can be seen within a single diagram. Communication of design details are best represented with 2D drawings or axonometric/isometric drawings. Communication of design experience is best done with either storyboards or eye level views.

Reflecting these ideas upon my current design project in the design studio, ‘Earth’, I realise that I still can improve on the communication and representation of my design ideas. Firstly, for my site analysis, I should have only included the most relevant analytical information. This includes information like crowd density, noise pollution and site topography. Other should not have been included. The aspect I need to improve the most on is the way of representing and communicating the experience the visitor would have on the site. I included a couple eye-level perspective renders which did not explain my concept well, and I also did not order the visuals in a way where the client can visualise an experience of journey through the site (like a storyboard). I also should have made a physical model (I didn’t because I didn’t have enough time). This would allow the client to look at the overall form and any important details and features from all angles, and this will definitely help them understand my digital renderings better.

25

These images are taken from my current design project from Architecture Design Studio: Earth. The eye-level perspective view above does show and communicate some experiential qualities of the site, but it did not communicate my design intent to the client, which therefore does not justify in explaining the experiential qualities of my design concept.

In hindsight, I should have showed a view from a different angle, and altered the lighting to suit the desired experience, and hence my client will finally understand my concept through that image.

26

The bottom image is a section of my pavilion. It shows important information about the layout of the spaces and other detail, but it could have been done better to show more than just that. I could have elaborated in that diagram the relationship between the spaces.

My concept is from a bright and open space, to a dark and claustrophobic space. I could have shown that idea by incorporating appropriate light & dark shading in the section drawing. The light part would be the area above the ground, which then follows on into the pavilion, and finally the darkest part would be the space underneath. This would definitely have conveyed my concept much better and more efficient way. In hindsight, efficiency is also important because we not only have quite a small amount of space (paper size) to work with, but also ensuring that during the presentation that we do not give useless information to the client, because this would only confuse them more instead of helping them understand the concept.

Reflection on ‘Communicating Design Ideas’ reading This reading goes through a lot of different types communicating design ideas. The first part is about sketching. Free hand sketching is good to quickly design and communicate initial ideas. This type of sketching is quick and is therefore well suited for quickly generating ideas onto a piece of paper. This is great for us designers because it allows us to start to visualise our idea even though the sketch maybe be very basic and lacking in detail. Isometric, perspective and orthographic drawings would be the next stage in drawing designs. Isometric and orthographic drawings are great for in terms of accuracy and detail. Orthographic drawings are used to show even more detail from different angles.

Perspective drawing is great for visualising the final product because it is how we see through our eyes in real life. When communicating drawings to contractors/ constructors, it is essential that they understand all the details in order for a successful construction process.

Contemporary technology like CAD makes design communication much quicker, easier and more accurate. CAD allows use to accurately draw 2D plans, and more important it allows us to model 3D designs, which then can be rendered to show the finishing details. This allows us to visually represent our drawings in 3D, which then can be easily edited if need. These programs can also allow us to experience the site virtually by using animation - as if we were walking through the space. However, the limitation is that these are all still on screen, which inhibits true ‘experience’. 3D printers can print accurate models to help communicate the design in 3D space. However, there is still the problem of scale, whereby 3D printers can only print up to a certain size, therefore the models will usually be to scale. Nevertheless, CAD and 3D printing technology is great in the design and communication process.

READING

Image above shows rendered Rhino 3D model of my current design project. This shows the client a virtual exterior view of my final design. Image below shows a floor plan of this design.

Floor plans are easier to draw using CAD software, as well as are more accurate.

However, I think that the ability to free-hand sketch is the most important in design, as this is the platform on which designers get most of their ideas from. These ideas are then developed and refined into the final idea. So the lack of free-hand sketching would limit the outcome of the design drastically.

27

READING Reflection on ‘Design Visuals to Communicate Ideas’ reading This reading summarises some reasons as to why infographics can be better than writing (i.e why we should represent information graphically instead of writing them out). We perceive visuals as more attractive, and we can also understand them much better and more easily with a brief glance, compared to if we were reading a paragraph about analytical information. Visuals are also a universal language. Everybody understands them, whereas with writing there are language barriers.

This is often applied in signage. Information are usually represented graphically (symbols) especially with items which are shipped all over the world such as clothing, or items which require step by step instructions such the world famous furniture company IKEA. This ensures that not only does everyone understand the information that the company wants to communicate, but that they can easily and quickly understand them.

Reflection of this idea with respect to my current design project from the subject ‘Digital Design & Fabrication’.

I successfully represented certain ideas visually in the design project.

For example, the image on the right shows how the pieces join together with the help of notches. No writing required. The use of visuals is sufficient in communicating the idea.

This image is taken from one of my current projects. This visual shows how the pieces are assembled together without the need for written instructions.

28

WEEK 5 29

WORKSHOP 4 What is it used for?

Who will use it?

In what environment is it going to be used in?

WHAT WHO

WHERE

DESIGN IDEA

HOW

How is it going to be used?

30

WHEN

HOW DO THESE FACTORS INFLUENCE THE FINAL DESIGN?

When (what situation) is it going to be used in?

We were asked to design a task lasting an hour for another group to complete. The aim of the exercise is to allow others to understand our group’s theme (amenity) through our perspective - how we understand and perceive the word ‘amenity’. When I look at the word amenity, I think function, ergonomics, comfort and convenience. Like what makes this object great at it’s designated function? How has the designer thought about this in terms of its function?

We first asked the other group to brainstorm out words and ideas about amenity. This will get their brains wired to think in terms of the theme. We then gave them objects and asked them to list out the features that were considered when designing that particular object. They then had to design a space according to a simple brief.

I hope that after this exercise, the students have a better understanding about this theme, and that they will start thinking in this way when designing for a brief - who, what, where, when and how. This all ultimately relates to the theme of function.

The final design, no matter how creative and unique it is, is just as bad as a simple design if the design’s purpose does not meet the requirements of the customer, and because of this, thinking in terms of function is a very important ability one must withhold.

31

LECTURE 5 - CINEMA & ARCHITECTURE Reflection The part about using montage in film was very striking to me. It featured a video about how different several cuts in film were arranged together in two different ways, and even though two out of the three cuts were the same in both instances, the difference in the third cut changed the entire meaning of each combination. This suggests how much impact a short cut can have on an entire scene. This can be translated to architecture, especially when applying it to the theme of phenomenology. If I were to design an experience for the visitor’s journey through an architectural element, and there was only one way to walk through it, everyone would have the same or similar emotions and experiences during their journey. If I were to open up the journey options, the experience one feels may be different to others. This is a very effective way to incorporate experience in architecture.

In film, different types of shots forces the viewer to focus on a specific subject. This can be done in architecture as well. This can be done using size and scale of the space with respect to our peripheral vision. If I were to design a space which is supposed to make the viewer feel in awe, or if there is nothing specific for the viewer to focus on, it would be a large space so the viewer can absorb everything at once. If I want the viewer to focus on something specific, it would be in a smaller space, with the subject within clear view of the viewer.

Sound is also another way of inducing experience. We experience a space with all our senses, and I would say that vision and hearing are the two most important and sensitive senses through which we experience a space.

Looking back at a current project, I am actually applying some of these aspects in the design.

My design is meant to induce an uncanny experience, or rather a ‘Deja Vu’ moment. To do this, I would have to use the aspect of focus - force the viewer to focus on a certain subject in order to induce an experience within them. I am also using sound (by using recordings). This will not be the focus subject, but it is still a vital part of the experience, as the sound would enter the visitor’s subconscious. This along with the focus subject will hopefully trigger a sense of ‘Deja Vu’ if I arrange the spaces in just the right way - this can relate slightly to montage in architecture as well.

32

READING + VIDEO Montage and Architecture: Reflection on ‘Sergei Eisenstein the Father of Montage’ and ‘Stairs to Suspense: An Alfred Hitchcock Montage’ In film, this involves a method of cutting up video shots and putting them together in a different way.

An example is in Sergei Eisenstein’s film ‘Battleship Potemkin’, he used this method to make scenes which would otherwise be very short, seem to last a long time. Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Stairs to suspense’ is also very influential. The way he cuts, and montages together different angled shots, makes the entire scene feel as if it lasts a long time, creating suspense. He also explained another use for montage, whereby the meaning of the scene and be altered by montaging different cuts together, even though some cuts are the same.

This can also be used in architecture. The experience that the user feels while moving through the space can be altered depending on the arrangement of that space.

An easy idea would be the use of relativity - how a space is relative to another space in terms of some of its characteristics.

For example, if you were to move from a loud room, or let’s say, from outdoors in a busy city centre, into a cafe. The cafe would seem very peaceful and calming.

But let’s say you move from a library and into the exact same cafe (let’s say the library is connected with the cafe), the cafe would feel rather noisy. This idea can be used in architectural arrangement to fully utilise the experience someone can feel through movement.

33

Applying ‘montage’ to my current design project in Design Studio: Earth.

I am actually applying the theme of phenomenology in my design project. And from this, I can also apply the technique of montage in architecture. The main idea of my design is to travel from a light and open space to a dark and enclosed space. To amplify this effect, I could make a few spaces with varying levels of light, noise and size. Arranging these spaces in a certain order will emphasise the transitional effect to the visitor.

Bright & open

Dark & enclosed

34

I watched the videos ‘Real time and immersive architecture with virtual reality’, ‘Virtual Reality in Architecture Design & Review’, and ‘The dawn of the virtual reality in architecture’ by Gunita Kulikovska.

Virtual reality and architecture Why is virtual reality technology starting to be used in the architecture industry?

It provides a realistic experience for the user, perceiving with perspective from different angles as well as at a real scale. What’s also important is that it is low in cost, efficient and quick. These integration of these qualities make virtual reality on of the best, if not the best way to communicate design at this moment in time. Because virtual reality is based of a digital software, the design can be easily changed and customised so the client and easily perceive and experience different designs. These can range from custom finishes, colour, or even completely different arrangement and designs.

Virtual reality not only allows the user to perceive in 3D space, but also has the quality of spatial movement. This allows the user to experience movement and the senses that arises with movement. This gives almost the ‘full-package’ when it comes to experience reality - not just experience the space with the eyes but also with the other four human senses. Essentially, it allows the user to experience something before it’s even built.

The aspects mentioned above allows the client to truly understand what the designer is communicating. Hence, if necessary, it will be easy, quick and cheap to make design changes and development, as everything will be done digitally on a software. No demolition, no waste.

Reflection If I am able to use virtual reality in my design projects, it would definitely make it easier for my tutor to experience my design, and hence I can gain critical feedback. Also, this means that when I present my final design concept, I would only need some detail drawings. The remainder of my idea communication can be done through virtual reality, where I would let the client live within the virtual reality that is my design. This would allow my client to truly understand my design, and therefore my client will be able to determine if he or she is satisfied with the design, or if more changes are needed to be made.

35

WEEK 6 36

WORKSHOP 5 Summary of what we did in the workshop: In the workshop class, we were asked to quickly design the layout of a building according to a brief, and then quickly communicate our design idea by representing it as a quick sketch model.

The entire process was really quick, from deciding the layout of the entire space, the size of each room, how they interconnect with each other, as well as making a very quick paper model representing the design of our space.

Toilet

Studio

Transition area

Bedroom This is plan view of the overall paper model. The paper model was made to show the size and scale of each room with respective to each other, the height of the walls as well as the overall layout of the space.

Entrance

Living room

Toilet Kitchen Laundry

37

View of the stairs at the entrance.

38

View of the bedroom (without studio above)

View of the kitchen

Reflection from the exercise: What did I learn from this?

I learnt that the design process can be a very quick process, from a quick idea to communication of that idea. Making paper models really help quickly visualise the space and then from that we can develop the design further in terms of size, height, connectivity and arrangement. Making paper furniture, or by photoshopping images of them onto the photographs really accentuates the scale of the space, making it easier for us to visualise and communicate our design.

Applying this to my current design projects: Digital Design & Fabrication I actually did make quick paper model for my design, but it was more of an initial idea, instead of using it to communicate my idea.

In the future, I would make another quick paper model, but make it in slightly more detail, and to a better scale, to quickly represent what might look like my final idea.

Architecture Design Studio: Earth I did not make a quick paper model for this design project. If I did, I would have been able to get quick feedback from my tutor, from which I could have gained some critical informations and some valuable and interesting ideas from him. I could have then used these ideas to further develop my idea.

I did, however, make a rather simple and rough sketch model, but it still did take me some time to make it. I showed it to my tutor and gained some valuable feedback from this. However, there were some draw backs. It took me a quite a long time to make this sketch model. Because it took me a long time, I was more reluctant to deviate from this design because of the amount of time I had spent on it. Furthermore, the time I used to make this sketch model could have been used instead to further develop my design, considering the short time frame in which we had to complete my design idea.

This was the sketch model I made to represent my final design idea. This could have been done in a much shorter time if I did a quick paper model. The paper model would not lose any qualities this model has in terms of communicating briefly about my design idea.

39

LECTURE 6 - DESIGN REFLECTIONS AND DECISIONS My decision making biases: I am usually excessively optimistic in terms of expecting to be able to create a successful design. This actually slows down my design process, as I keep thinking I will somehow come up with an interesting design. I would therefore explore and experiment less, which would narrow down the scope of my design outcome.

‘Groupthink’ - In a group, I find that I usually strive to reach for a consensus and due to this it costs us a realistic appraisal of alternative ideas. We usually do this because we want to be on the same page as others in the same group before we start developing. But this drastically decreases the amount of opportunity to think of creative and unique ideas, because multiple minds are thinking rather in a similar way.

Egocentrism - This happens sometimes when I think my idea has a lot of potential or that I think that my idea is just simply better than ideas from others. Other people usually give ideas that can drastically influence our design. If we absorb others’ perspectives and apply them appropriately, our designs can really develop into something we won’t be able to visualise ourselves, and this usually results in a more unique final concept.

Loss aversion: I am usually reluctant to take risks. There goes the saying ‘high risk, high reward’. Yes there is a high reward, IF THE RISK ENDS UP BEING SUCCESSFUL. If not, a lot will usually be lost. And because we feel losses more acutely than gains, we usually think about the great possibility of losing something, and hence we do not take that risk. By not taking the risk, we are limiting ourselves and therefore we cannot push as far as we can as if we did take the risk.

Escalation of commitment - This is probably one of the most common biases that I come across, in almost every design project infact. When struggling to develop a particular idea into a more interesting and feasible one, I usually keep trying different ways of developing and changing the idea, instead of going back and starting anew. This is because it feels like I have wasted a lot of time develop my previous idea, so therefore starting with a new idea makes it feel like all the progress I have made will have been lost.

Instead of feeling this way, I should be more open to spend more time to test out different ideas as this will open up more opportunities for achieving creative ideas.

Controllability bias - I usually have a vision for my design quite early in the developmental process, and I usually try to stick with that idea, think that I can somehow control my entire design process towards achieving my vision. This isn’t usually the case due to technological difficulties as well as feasibility. I hence have to try to stray away from this ‘vision’ and try to follow through with my design development and testing findings and using these findings to develop my design.

40

I looked through the second part of the lecture and followed through with it while reflecting it back to myself 1. Attack the context: I find that I usually struggle a little bit during this part especially because I usually go into it with a particular way of thinking. I usually do not alter the way I think when attacking the context, which usually would result in the lack of different ways that I can use to approach the design afterwards.

2. Suspend the judgement: This is probably the part where I need to work on the most. When I usually first have an idea of what to do, or what comes to mind after assessing the situation, I will usually go with that idea, thinking that it is the best idea that I can think of. I really should delay my response, Go and take a nap or maybe think about it another time. This would usually open up opportunities and create new perspectives, resulting in different ideas. This definitely opens up opportunities for a better design, and can completely change the final outcome, so this is definitely a very important part of design decisions.

3. Embrace the complexity I usually do this part well to a certain extent. But I usually reduce my scope slightly too early. I will sometimes recognise it, but by the time I do, I usually am reluctant to widen my scope again but it just makes the process more complicated again, which I liked to stray away from. This again definitely will hinder my creativity. Advice from others usually really helps, because this opens up another opinion, another perspective which can definitely help my thinking process.

4. Expand and concentrate I usually find myself lacking here if I am struggling for time - if I’m not in a rush, I will do just fine expanding on my ideas in different ways before judging which are the best ones and therefore which one I should choose to develop further. However, when lacking time, I usually skip this part (but not entirely). I will create only a few alterations and try to see which one is the most interesting and the most developable. I will then choose that particular one and try to develop it into a final idea.

41

So what can I try to solve these problems?

First of all, I will have to identify any patterns in my design thinking and decisions. I will then assess the patterns to see what the good and bad points are. I will then try to stray away from these bad habits.

Another way is to better time manage and to give myself more time for the development process. If I do, I can truly explore ideas and develop them into a well though-out final design.

Finally, I would have to reflect on my design process to determine if what I did was logical and correct. If not, I can learn from it and therefore I can improve from my mistakes for the next design process.

42

taken from lecture slide

To better understand, I will now reflect on a specific project of my own from the past.

In A-level Design & Technology class, my task was to design and manufacture a seating element according to a brief.

The brief explicitly stated that the seating element should be multi-functional.

When I first started my design process, I had a few clear ideas in mind. But the main thing was that I wanted something that can transform. I never really thought about another idea. I think it was okay at the time because there weren’t that many options to choose from, but if I could do it again I would evaluate other base ideas first before I firmly stick with an idea.

The development process was definitely under par, but it’s understandable because it was one of my first design projects. My design development was quite a linear process and even though I had a lot of time to think, I never really changed my vision on the design and never really embraced the potential for different designs. I remember once first decided on the idea, I never really had another vision for my seating element. It was more of how I can improve my design by making slight alterations here and there.

I can see a pattern in my design process that I’ve taken forward since then. I can be too linear minded sometimes and I need to continuously reassess my ideas before I come to a conclusion.

This is a piece of furniture I made for my design project during A-level Design & Technology class.

In hindsight, I’ve discovered some amateur mistakes that I’ve made in the past and I will reflect on these mistakes with the help of the tips above. I will then apply them to my future design projects. I will then repeat the process and hopefully I will see improvement.

43

WEEK 7 44

WORKSHOP 6 How does the design fit the functional requirements?

Is the design concept suitable?

How does the design fit the How can the designer’s agenda be implemented? Functional requirements?

How does the design fit on the site?

How does design affect function?

How does the function affect the design?

How does the design relate to the surrounding context?

Is the design suitable for the target user/ audience?

Does this design inflict an experience upon the user?

How are the materials suited for the design?

How does the design affect the structure?

How does the structure affect the design?

How are the materials suited for the function?

How does the choice of material have an impact on the design?

How can the design be manufactured?

Will the design be safe for the users?

Are there environmental issues that must be addressed in the design?

How much will it cost to manufacture?

Are there any conflicts between the different aspects or the requirements of the brief?

Are there additional features that should be included to improve the overall design?

In the workshop, our task was to create a list of 20 questions that we can ask ourselves during the design development stage to determine whether the design needs any further changes or improvement.

45

keeping track of criteria

Design Goal

Design Process

Starting Point

without keeping track of criteria

Unsuccessful Design Outcome

Applying the questions to one of my current design projects I applied this to one of my past design projects. I found that through asking myself these questions, I could quickly see the improvements and changes that I would’ve made to the design if I have asked myself these questions. Not all of these questions are related to the previous design project, as what I designed was an object and no a space, but regardless, a lot of these questions were useful. I found that through working on these questions, that a lot of these questions have answers that relate to each other, so this allows me to go back and rethink what I have to do given a certain circumstance. For example, a certain material was chosen to attract a certain target audience, but then later on I realise that this material can’t be manufactured with what I’ve got, and is also too expensive. I also found out that some materials are unsafe for the user and are not environmental friendly. I have to think all of the problems that arise between all these questions and problems and reach a compromise. This will not necessary result in the best solution for one of the problems, but will definitely be the best overall.

Reflection After applying it to one of my design projects, I realise how important writing down these questions can be. It acts as a check for my design to make sure that it meets all the requirements, and if there are some clashing ideas, they can be compromised accordingly for optimal result. I realise that by doing this, I am less likely to go off-track of what I am supposed to be designing, as it can be quite easy and natural to start straying off the required design criteria during the design process without realising.

46

LECTURE 7 - WHAT TO DO WHEN STUCK

The first exercise was to quickly think of and design a ‘Perfect room’ or the ‘most beautiful space’ I can imagine. These were obviously very difficult due to the vague adjectives used to describe what needs to be designed.

‘Perfect’ is such a vague idea because the idea of perfect is subjective either to human preference or to human needs (brief). What ‘room’ is it? What is it used for? What needs to be in the room? Who is going to use the room? All of these questions need to be answered into order to create a great design for the room. Nothing is ‘perfect’. There is always the room for improvement.

Again, the ‘most beautiful’ design is subjective as well as contextual and is a vague adjective. What space is it? What is it used for?

Again these questions have to be answered in order for us to merely imagine what the space will look like.

To a certain target group, this could be the ‘perfect room’ for them.

But for another target group, this would be their version of a ‘perfect room’. These two rooms are very different, but both can be described as perfect from difference perspectives.

Due to these reasons, it overloads our minds and pressures us to quickly think of ONLY THE BEST ideas, which is very difficult to do without any starting point. Because of this, we will get stuck thinking about these ideas and we will therefore never get anywhere in the design process.

Lesson is, always start from the bottom. Think of what’s possible and start from there; develop those ideas into what we think is ‘perfect’ and ‘most beautiful’.

However, the design process is never really that simple. In almost every design project that I’ve done, I always seem to get stuck and run out of ideas during the developmental stage. Now why is this?

47

When reading about the types of blocks, I reflect them onto myself and try to identify what blocks I usually encounter and how can I help avoid them.

There are several types of design blocks that I find I go through quite often in my design projects.

Emotional block - this is one of the most common ones. I usually have lots of ideas and visions in my mind, but I am usually too afraid to start working towards them. This is because I am afraid that my designs won’t live up to my vision’s expectations. Therefore, in a sense, I start procrastinating and start thinking of many other ideas. Because of this, there will be an overload of information in my mind and that’s when I get stuck.

Perceptual block - I sometimes can’t identify the problem in my design. I therefore do not know how to approach the design development process because I don’t know what the problem is and I therefore do not know what aspect of the design can be improved on.

Environmental block - this is also one of the most common blocks I experience, mainly distractions. In actual fact, the most common time when I get ‘blocked’ by getting distracted by almost anything is when I’m trying think creatively, especially when I’m trying to design something during the design process.

Creative blocks can be extremely frustrating and because of this, we tend to stray away from creative work for this period of time.

48

Reflection on a current design project.

Current project: Digital Design & Fabrication I am infact currently experience a block in my design developmental process in this subject. After reading and listening to this weeks lecture, I hopefully can identify the types of blocks I currently am experiencing, and then I can hopefully resolve them by thinking with a different mindset.

I am designing an object that’s supposed to sit on the human body and it’s supposed to reflect on the boundary of our personal space. During the design development process, my group has been working very inefficiently, mostly because we ran out of feasible ideas - essentially, we are stuck.

The main block we are experience is ‘creative block’. We struggle to come up with a creative design because of our conflicting mindset and way of thinking. In hindsight, what we have to do is really let go of logical thinking and our ego. This way we can really create a form that is very interesting and then from there on, we can start to use our other mindset to start to develop the idea on. This way, we should encounter less creative blocks.

Another block I encountered would classify under the ‘Intellectual’ category. This is mainly due to the difficulties we face when using the 3D modelling software Rhino, and because of this, we struggle to output ideas, as well as develop them. To solve this problem, I should quickly ask a tech tutor for help if I can’t find the resources needed online.

Emotional block would also be another one. Because of the fear of risk, it stops me from generating lots of ideas, and instead I want to see what others have done and develop their idea instead, because that’s a safer way (in terms of losing time). I should identify this block quickly next time. I should be bold and generate many different ideas don’t fear the risk of losing time. I think to really help with this block, I have to better manage my time, and give myself more hours in the developmental process.

49

This (the image on the left) was our group’s design concept before we made the change in our design. It consists of two distinctly different parts, and this concept was supported by our design context. We, however, found it difficult to integrate the two parts together in a clever way, as well as figure out a way to assemble them together once we have physically fabricated it. We then decided to simplify our idea into a more singular idea (image on the right). This still provided the effect we wanted to achieve with our initial idea (to a certain extent) but it definitely allowed us to continue with our design development, and from then on we were able to fabricate the final design.

50

To summarise, we had to change our idea during our design process, essentially changing our design direction. This change is influenced both by my peers and my tutor. This change had to be done. This is because during our design process, we could not further develop our design (which we were still unhappy with at the time).

This meant that our design was heading in the wrong direction, and even though we knew this, we didn’t want to change it. With the help of others as well as some additional insight from my tutor, we were able to stray away from our initial design concept and focus on another direction, and eventually this direction allowed us to focus and develop on another design concept which resulted in a more successful outcome than if we were to continue with our initial idea.

Summary of ‘29 Ways to Stay Creative’ notebook/ write down ideas - ideas can come suddenly and can disappear quickly, so it is important to draw out ideas when they come to you get away from computer - computers limit our creativity take a break - thinking creatively really takes a toll on our brains, so give them time to rest and re-coup. We think better when we feel refreshed be open - to new ideas which we can incorporate within our own surround myself with creative people - they can influence our thinking and hence our creativity. We can also gain critical feedback from them which is very important in realising our design flaws make mistakes - learn from our mistakes, and we will improve from them take risks - not taking risks limits our creativity. There goes the saying, ‘high risk, high reward’ break the rules - sometimes we can’t just listen to others, we have to believe in our own ways. This will definitely help us stand out from the crowd dont force an idea - when an idea doesn’t work, don’t force it to work. Start anew. We will most likely develop a better concept when don’t force something that doesn’t work clean workspace - clean space, clear mind, creative mind.

VIDEO Summary of ‘Creativity in Education: Creative Block and the Surrender of the Ego’ Why are distractions so potent during the creative thinking process?

It is said that ‘creative blocks’ occur a lot due to how our brain works. Psychologists agree that creativity comes through when we surrender our cognitive control - this stops us from over thinking.

Problem is our sense of self is based in part on our thinking, so in a sense, letting go of our cognitive control takes us in the opposite direction of what we need for a sense of self control and comfort.

Reflection After watching these two videos, I started to understand a lot more why I get stuck a lot during my design process (due to creative blocks). I have to understand that some of the steps I take are actually steps that don’t help me move forward. I realise that I always try to force an idea too often, and this never works. Ideas should flow naturally, and if it doesn’t work, it should be abandoned. I also should take some risks. During my DDF design project, I realise that I always want to stray away from taking risks because I am afraid that my design would fail if the risk was unsuccessful. These risks, however, if they worked, would have produced some interesting and better designs. In hindsight, I should have taken a few risks, and it could have potentially improved my overall design.

I also realise I get distracted a lot during my design thinking and creativity phase. This is because I usually think too much about my design, especially when I try to be creative, but this only contradicts our brain’s way of thinking creatively. So because of this, I usually give up or take a break from thinking - this is when I procrastinate (by doing anything other than designing). Instead of feeing guilty, I should embrace the fact that I should take breaks when I need to, because this allows our brain to relax, which then in turn allows me to think more creatively.

51

52

WEEK 8 53

WORKSHOP 7 During the workshop, we were asked to design a small boutique that is to be located somewhere in Melbourne Central shopping centre.

We were meant to design it to a brief which we can vary ourselves, and then make our own criteria and rubric which we used to assess our design.

Our focus was on the design of the furniture, but we were also asked to briefly design the overall store.

Reflection I found that assessing my design is a very important part of the design process, because this is when I realised that I could have improved my design a lot more.

My design criteria assessed my design development process; how well I met the requirements of the brief, and creativity. I cross referenced my design process against these assessment criteria and found out that my design development process was lacking slightly.

This gave me the intention to go back and develop my design further.

The other thing I learnt is how the design development process can be done. During this exercise, we split the development process into 3 stages. The first stage would cover the basics, and then the following stages would focus increasingly more in the detail of the design.

54

This briefly shows the design process. I first layout the space within the boutique. Then we played around with basic geometric shapes, which would then be used for the shape and design of the furniture. We also then designed the materiality and texture of these furnitures.

LECTURE 8 - DEVELOPING DESIGN IDEAS Technology

Amenity

Poetry

Largest Scale

Feasibility

Function with re- Literature in a spect to context bigger picture (hidden meaning)

Middle Scale

Representability

Integration of functions

Literature with respect to context

Smallest Scale

Communication Specific funcof Ideas tions

Literature the designer wants to convey

In relation to my design projects: Under the theme of technology, the smallest scale (communication of ideas) is quite self explanatory. I have to be able to communicate my design ideas and proposals to others to either gain critical feedback, or to convince my client that my design is the best and the most suitable. The representability of my projects is also important . A good ability to be able to model my design and all it’s intricate details will make it easier to communicate my design ideas to the client as well as others. And finally, all this would mean nothing if it is not feasible. A great idea is not a great idea if it can’t be built.

Under the theme of amenity, the smallest scale requires me to respond to and meet the requirements of the brief. The next stage (middle scale) would require me to integrate these needs together in a way that makes the entire system more efficient and convenient for the end user. And the largest scale would require me to not only think about the internal functions, but also effects that it might have on the external environment.

Under poetry, the smallest scale would be the idea or story that the designer wants to tell within the architectural design, or maybe it could be a message that the designer wants to convey. The next stage could be the idea integrated together with the context, and then following from that, there could be a deeper meaning in the architectural design.

55

Theme of amenity in relation to my current design project from Architecture Design Studio: Earth, Under the smallest scale (specific functions from brief) - recording to be played to a family at a time - shelter for three families - internal store room - external store room - room to store recording equipment Middle scale - where should the internal/external store room be located at for best accessibility?

Largest Scale - where on the site should the pavilion be located at?

- why should it be located here?

- does it have external benefits to the surrounding site/context?

Largest scale

Smallest scale Middle scale

Reflection This method of developing my design ideas allows me to improve my design in a wide range of aspects. This ensures that I do not focus too much on a single aspect, which I have done too many times in my design projects. What usually ends up happening is that I tend to forget about the other design aspects, so I don’t develop those ideas, and hence I finish with an imbalanced design.

After applying this to my current design project, I realise that I have done the ‘smallest scale’ aspects the best. This is because they’re usually the most literal and explicit ones. With the middle and largest scales, there are some aspects that I did not think of while designing and developing my idea (such as the integrating of my concept with the surrounding site, or how the required spaces can be integrated together for ease of access).

By using the table, it will definitely help me check all the boxes in terms of designing a well thought out concept, and that there is no aspect left that can be easily improved on.

56

READING Reflection on the reading ‘On Designing with Many Ideas at Once’ This reading relates to me quite a lot, and I’m sure it related to most if not all other designers as well. When trying to develop ideas, I usually have many initial ideas to choose from. Many of these ideas have some great aspects to them, so I feel like I should not leave them out. But the problem is when I try to work with too many ideas, it starts to get confusing, and the development of my design starts to become a mess, with too many ideas compressed into one or a few development ideas.

This reading taught me several ways to deal with it. One way is to order and sequence out my ideas. This could be done in the form of a hierarchy, or it could just be done so that I can analyse them in a certain order so that I would not confuse myself.

There are also several outcomes, and depending on which one I desire, I will have to tackle the design development stage slightly differently. The first part of the reading talks about ‘multiplicity of ideas’, ‘simultaneity of ideas’, and ‘unity of ideas’. Depending on which idea my goal is classed under, I will have to integrate my ideas differently (e.g with unity of ideas, I have to unify my ideas together well so that the final design looks like a single design, rather than multiple designs that are put together).

This made me realise that sometimes, my goal can be varied. If I find that my vision will be difficult to achieve with the ideas I currently have, why not vary my vision instead of trying to forcefully integrate my ideas together in an unnatural way? If somehow my design ideas form a better ‘multiplicity of ideas’ rather than my initially desired ‘unity of ideas’, then I should definitely switch to that.

These are just a few of many design ideas our group had during the development process. I feel like we should have thought about what we wanted to push and develop before actually tackling it.

Reflection with respect to my current design I recently experience an overload of design ideas while doing my design project from the subject DDF. It made me feel really confused, and my designer’s sense of direction had in-fact no direction. I realised that combining my ideas were the most difficult part of the process, because I did not want to lose complexity in my final design due to wastage to certain design ideas.

In hindsight, I could have sorted out my ideas from best to worst and picked out all the ideas that were useless.

Even though no ideas are bad, there are useless ones, and these will provide no impact of improvement to my design. I could have then briefly thought about which class of ideas (i.e unity of ideas etc.) will suit best.

57

58

WEEK 9 59

LECTURE 9 - EVALUATION + ASSESSMENT

Reflection Assessing and evaluating my own ideas is vital. Without critically assessing our ideas, we will most likely miss out on flaws as well as miss the opportunity to further improve on them.

We infact do this in our everyday life. We make a schedule, we make a todo list, we make plans. We write things down which we can later check on to ensure that they have been accomplished. We proof read when we write essays because we usually don’t recognise our mistakes while we write our essays, and we only come to realise our mistakes afterwards.

This applies to design as well. We think we know what needs to be done and what aspects we need to have in our design - well we do - but we often forget it during certain periods of times and due to that we often miss out important aspects and ideas in our design. When we look back at the criteria (something to assess our design), we usually find a lot of flaws in our designs, and then we can use this to further improve our design.

60

Lecture Homework - a simple rubric

Tier

Design Intention 40%

Creativity 30%

Development 30%

High

Intention is clear with supporting reasons, as well as integrates well with the design

Creative and unique idea that is also suitable with the brief

Lots of ideas, and development process is rich with precedents used

Middle

Intention is clear with reasons supporting the idea

Interesting idea that has been well thought out

Several ideas with some sort of integration between the ideas

Low

Intention is unclear

Idea that is successful but rather simple and not very well thought out

Not much development has been done

61

Evaluating and assessing my current design project from ‘Design Studio: Earth’ against my rubric Design intentions - middle tier - I could have improve on my design intentions as it could have been communicated more clearly.

For example, with the form of my pavilion, it is supposed to mirror an organic ‘cave-like’ structure. However, the intention can be developed more, firstly with the windows being curved into the earth as well (instead of being a flat window). This would elevate my design intention.

The main idea is that I should not design in a random matter, every detail in my design should have an intention that comes with it, and this will definitely elevate my design outcome.

Creativity - middle tier - Again, my level of creativity is quite mediocre. My main form is meant to be organic, and it does have an element of it in the design, but the mirror is symmetrical. Why is it symmetrical? Can the form be developed further? And the answer is yes, it could still be developed. Perhaps, I should not make it symmetrical and introduce another design idea and integrate that idea with this one, and this will create an even more unique form.

Development - low tier - My design development is definitely below par, as I did not have many ideas to develop from. And even then, I committed to one idea and stuck with it. A lot of potential for a creative and unique final design was lost here due to the lack of design development. I also could have researched some relevant precedents to draw some ideas from.

Reflection Upon assessing one of my design projects against my own rubric, I start to realise how incomplete my design is and how much more I could have done in my design process. If I were to meet the high tier in each of the criteria in the rubric, my final design outcome would be a lot better. If I were to incorporate this assessment into every design project I do, I am more likely to do better in each of them, because evaluating and assessing my own design project will allow me to pick out on missing aspects, hence I will know what I need to improve on.

This is my take on an organic form in my current design studio. I soon realise that it may be too symmetrical, and I could have designed something less ‘regular’ to make it more interesting and unique.

62

READING Reflection on the reading by Attoe, ‘Criticism’ As stated in the reading, criticism can be biased in a lot of situations. However, criticism is still important, as long as it is constructive criticism. It can help people understand. It can also act as valuable feedback. However, the biases still have to be identified in order to gain actual valuable constructive feedback.

It is therefore important to not just gain feedback from one person, but from a wide range of people. This can include discussions about the topic.

When reflecting to my design studio, as well as my other design-based subject, I realise that I have been receiving feedback from mainly only from my tutor - the only times that I have received feedback from someone else (either another tutor or a guest critic) was during the final few weeks of my design studio. Because of this, even though I receive valuable feedback of my work, I did not receive feedback from others. This limits the level of insight I can receive about my work because if I could get feedback from more people, I could have obtained more opinions - different opinions - as well as hear to different levels of insight and different interpretations of my design. This way, I can also eliminate any biased feedback from more influential individuals (such as my tutor). This is almost bound to happen because everyone is biased towards something they favour, and in design, every individual has a style or concept that they will favour the most.

I realised this when I presented my design to my tutor plus a guest critic during the final week of my design studio. The critic brought up many different ideas (from which none have been said by my tutor when giving me feedback during the previous weeks) and I could have used these ideas to formulate a better design concept. If I were to have consult the critic, or just simply asked around for more constructive feedback (from qualified individuals), my design would have been more well thought out, because I can integrate the many different ideas I would have obtained from these individuals.

63

64

WEEK 10 65

LECTURE 10 - DESIGN COMMUNICATION

MAIN FOCUS

This lecture talks about how I can improve and refine my design communication, especially through presentations.

One of the main ideas I drew from the lecture is that I should make a hierarchy of which information is the most important and which is the least important. This is because I should give it more space on the presentation board to draw the client’s attention towards it. I also should layout the rest of my page in a way so that I would be able to easily communicate my idea, in the order I want to. This ensures that my presentation will be well thought out and ordered. I should think about the first impression, the focus, what types of drawings will best communicate my idea, and so forth.

Any form of speech during the presentation is supposed to highlight and support any important information on the page, and the information that are explained must also be done is an ordered manner.

MAIN FOCUS

66

After reading the lecture, I decided to do a mock up of my presentation board for my final presentation for my current design studio, while keeping the things I learnt from this lecture in mind.

Mock-up of my presentation board for my final presentation in ‘Design Studio: Earth’

67

Explanation of & Reflection on my presentation board The overall presentation is ordered in a way so I would present in a natural way, from left to right - the information I would like to present first would start on the top left of the page.

I colour coded my mock-up so that the most important information is stored in the more heavily shaded (orange) areas. I gave the most space for my aerial perspective view because I want to draw attention to this image as it shows important information the critic would need to see in order to understand briefly what my project is about before I dive into the details. The next would be the section views and the interior perspective views. This is important because they try to convey a sense of experience (while visiting the space). This experience of visiting the space is the core of my design concept, so it must be explained and conveyed to the critic clearly, hence it high in the information hierarchy.

The site plan, floor plans and the exterior perspective views are needed, but are not as important. And finally, the concept and the site context will be visually represented and briefly explained at the start of the presentation.

Reflection After reading the lecture, and applying what I learnt from it to my own mockup presentation board, I start to understand the importance of having a good structure to my presentation, as well as prioritising the more important information. This will result in a clear presentation, and hence the critic or client will more likely understand my final design concept.

In-fact, I looked at a few other student’s presentation boards, and I couldn’t understand what information these boards are trying to convey. I realised that these specific ones tend to have messier and more cluttered layouts, while not clearing addressing which drawings and representations I should focus on.

68

WEEK 11 69

LECTURE 11 - MASTERING YOUR DESIGN PROCESS

Reflection This lecture talks about the entire design process and how we can improve our methods. It talks about a wide range of topics from video/cinematography to narratives to exploration of technology.

There is a lot to take in, but the main lesson I learnt from this lecture is that I have a lot to learn about the design process. And through this learning process, I can continuously improve the way I approach a design project. Reflecting back to the design projects that I am currently undertaking this semester, there are a lot of aspects that have been underlined in the lecture which I have no done, and in hindsight, following some of these guidelines will definitely help me improve in my overall design process, from the start to finish - from the initial designing phase, to the development phase, and onwards to the communication and presentation phase.

70

Narrative - architectural storyboards

Artistic Media/Diagramming - digital model

Photography 71

END

72