RICHARD MEADE Masters portfolio
Front cover. A 14 year drawing. Image 01. 2015 2
Richard Meade | Masters Portfolio
RICHARD MEADE Masters portfolio
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Deceleration
I, Richard Meade, hereby declare that the work in this Masters design portfolio submitted, apart from the help recognized, is my own work and has not previously been submitted to another university or institution of higher education for a degree.
Signature:
Date: 23.10.2016
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Acknowledgements
My wife Shardae, for your patience, understanding and encouragement My family for their endless support My professor and lectures for their passion, dedication and believe in myself.
EA07. Fluid landscapes. Image 1. 2016
EA06. Below site. Image 1. 2016
“There are three mistakes people commonly make when thinking about the future. The first is to assume that nothing will change, that everything will remain the same. The second is to assume that everything will change, that nothing will remain the same. The third, and most dangerous mistake is not to think about it at all“ Marshall Berman . All That is Solid Melts Into Air
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Prelude
Over the course of the past two years, I’ve been exploring the role of fiction within architecture, both in the guise of science fiction and speculative fiction. This portfolio is a record of my of workings, whether through drawing, modeling or filming. It is also stands a statement of my own position within the discipline.
“Architects aren’t really known for their fictional, storytelling or writing skills. Fairy tales are seen as outside of everyday concerns because they are seen to be unbelievable, disobeying the rules of time and space. In reality, however, fairy tales can be seen as a vehicle for addressing the most challenging issues that a society faces.” Scott Maskin
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CONTENTS
Chapter 1. A series of investigations 17. Introduction 19. Zombie 27. Occupied territories 33. Draw a building: Build a drawing 37. Documentation 45. Territories 49. Journey
Chapter 2. A fictional future (2015) 55. Introduction 57. A 14 year drawing 63. Site landing 69. A 100 year construct 75. Surface analysis 81. Model extraction 87. On site morphology 91. Confinements 97. Artifacts
Chapter 3. A fictional site (2016) 101. Introduction 103. Welcome to the Ilse of Catalysis 107. Artifact 113. Siting 129. Fluid Landscapes 137. Site extractions 155. Dispositional state 161. Fragmented Memories
Appendix A. Design Realization Portfolio 175. A Fragmented narrative
Appendix B. History and Theory dissertation 187. Representational Architecture
Appendix C. Professional practice 271. Business plan
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100 year construct. Image 01. 2015 16
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Chapter 1
A series of investigations The drawings and models in this chapter are investigations into multiple themes of speculation, of time, of place, of space and of travel. These short project helped develop and apply my own skills sets. They also stand as explorations of my own position within the discipline leading into the Major Design Projects. These representations were produced over the course of two years, 2015 & 2016.
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Project 1. Zombie. Image 01. 2015 18
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Zombie
A 24 hour project The gatekeeper looks at the space in which our minds occupy when we interact with technology, such as a mobile phone. The mobile phone becomes the ‘gatekeeper’ into a realm where we are neither ‘here’ nor ‘there’. A zombie-like state of alive but dead, dead but alive. The deconstruction and manipulation of the mobile phone can be seen as new form of landscape that is undecided nor has it a logic of distinction.
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Project 1. Zombie. Image 02. 2015 20
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Project 1. Zombie. Image 02. 2015
Project 1. Zombie. Image 03. 2015 22
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Project 1. Zombie. Image 04. 2015 24
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Project 2. Occupied territories. Image 01. 2015 26
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Occupied territories
A 6 day project It was decided that the description of our territories was a short summary of our lives as if we were being categorized. To be placed into a category is to be seen as a stereotype of your described territory. This allows the new occupant to visualize the inhabitant as a personal experience. Once the description of our territory was conveyed, a story about our discretion needed to be told. Territory of Richard Meade: a married man. Territory of Ayanda Mkize: an African woman influenced by Western culture.
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Project 2. Occupied territories. Image 02. 2015 28
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“A disrupted view of ones culture�, was my starting point to developing visual representation of my experience. This methodology transformed the images I had taken into unrecognisable images, which started out as images capturing my understanding of the territory I was occupying. The images where then adjusted to create what seemed as landscapes using three-dimensional manipulation. The process took certain colours in the images to create mountains, valleys and level surfaces. A grid was then superimposed onto the landscapes to give a sense of scale or that of non-scale.
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Project 2. Occupied territories. Image 03. 2015
Project 3. Draw a building: build a drawing. Image 01. 2015
Draw a building: build a drawing
A 2 week drawing Each junction and grounding point of the structure was documented and turned into a three-dimensional model, each of the points was tagged with its GPS coordinate and given the height from sea level as its Z axis. The three-dimensional model allowed me to move through the space as if I was using the staircase as well as look at the structural points at a different angle, giving the drawing of a section a different meaning.
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Project 3. Draw a building: build a drawing. Image 02. 2015
Q1 reviews. Watching the projection. 2015
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Project 4. Word up - seeking asylum. Image 01. 2016 36
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Documentation
A point of departure The project seeks to explore the characteristics of travel, specifically the relationship our own personal travel documents have on entering other countries. The matter of refugees and seeking asylum is no longer and situation but now deemed a crises. More and more people are fleeing war torn county’s to seek a better life ells where then ever before. As a exploration into the creation of form through narration, the four forms represent different characters that are in a state of ‘statelessness’, a person who has no affiliation to a land by neither blood nor soil.
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Project 4. Word up - seeking asylum. Image 02. 2016 38
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Project 4. Word up - seeking asylum. Image 03. 2016 40
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Project 4. Word up - seeking asylum. Image 04. 2016 42
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Project 5. The Empty Terrain. Image 03. 2016 44
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Territories
The Empty Terrain The Empty Terrain, a drawing as process that seeks to describe the formation of landscapes, not as the familiar collection of human settlement or nature, but as an empty territory which will one day house architecture.
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Project 5. The Empty Terrain. Image 01. 2016 46
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Project 5. The Empty Terrain. Image 02. 2016 | Graduate School of Architecture | University of Johannesburg |
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Q1 Review. Photo of installation - Empty terrain. 2016 48
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Journey
The Fabricated Horizon, a kinetic drawing that describes the shifting horizon on journey from the known occupied city to the ‘empty’ and foreign landscape in search of a location. In our South African context, ‘location’ is a loaded word, a word that describes a specifically South African condition – a township. However, its historical context is ironic: ‘the location’ is both everywhere and nowhere.
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Project 6. Fabricated horizon. Image 01. 2016
Project 6. Empty terrain - detail. Image 02. 2016 52
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Project 6. Empty terrain. Image 02. 2016
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Chapter 2
Major Design Project - A fictional future (2015) About 15km east of Stone Town, near the village of Tunguu, lies the rusting remains of an American Satellite Tracking Station. STATION # 6 was built in 1960s to track and communicate the first American manned space missions. It first functioned during the early ‘Project Mercury’ launches, when astronauts were launched into space in a parabolic arc from Florida in the USA, to the other side of Africa. The station also sits along the ‘earth track’ of most of the later orbital missions and thus was a vital part of the tracking and telemetry network that helped communicate with these spacecraft. My Major Design Project is sited in the future, in 2050 and beyond. It supposes a new, mythical and futuristic dystopian landscape on which an architecture for observation has been designed and constructed. The project investigates different notions of time: past, present and future, as well as different speeds of time: fast, slow, immeasurable, the speed of light. The observation station is created today, made up of fragments of the past but built for the future. STATION # 6 allows researchers to continue their work of analyzing the skies above whilst at the same time surviving the ecological devastation of rising sea levels and a polluted landscape.
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Station # 6
Major Design Project - A fictional future (2015) The project tells the story of the political unrest that has re-surfaced on the island, following the floods and devastation. Zanzibar is extremely volatile to climatic changes, such as storms and the high rise of sea levels. Zanzibar historian Torrance Royer tells a story of the beach watchers near the American satellite station. He writes: ‘The high tech equipment and the “reach for the stars” attitude intrigued many young Zanzibaris. They learned about the schedules and I remember friends would lie on the beach, looking up waiting for the American spaceship to pass overhead. One friend, who had just heard about this phenomenon, joined the beach watchers . . . only to be disappointed by the small slow moving star-like object that he witnessed.’ Whilst this is very firmly an architectural proposition, containing many of the familiar elements of a design proposal – site, landscape, program, form and materiality – I’ve made a number of important shifts in my understanding of these conditions. What do I mean by this? Let me begin with ‘site’. The site of my project is both real and fictional. The first ‘site’ drawing, begun after everyone returned from Zanzibar, was the first important step in setting up the narrative for Station # 6. I never arrived. Neither has the future. The drawings and models build are representations of the project through different ‘series’, from models, which look at landscape, weathering, decay and regeneration, in both a physical and environmental sense, to drawings that speculate on the nature of enclosure.
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A 14 year drawing. Image 01 - 04. 2015 58
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A 14 year drawing
Found. Mapped. Documented. Destroyed. Re-found. Re-mapped. Re-documented My 14-Year Site Drawing is set in the future. The future becomes the site – real and imagined – of the project and from this decision, the narrative of Station # 6 was born. It’s a drawing that takes place over 14 years, composed of satellite images of Zanzibar, taken from Google Earth, showing a series of ecological changes that have resulted in real land- and seascape changes. The drawing begins in 2001, and ends in 2014, but 2014 is only the beginning of project. Station # 6 ‘takes place’ over 49 years, from 2001 to 2050.
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A 14 year drawing. Image 05. 2015 60
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Photographs of original satellite station in Zanzibar 62
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Site landing
The station was forced to close just after the 1964 Zanzibar Revolution. The new revolutionary government claiming that the Telemetry towers would be used to direct missiles towards Zanzibar. The Station personnel were hurriedly evacuated while a US Navy Destroyer stood off Stone Town ensuring that all the American technicians and their families were allowed to leave unharmed.
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Orbital path of project Mercury.
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Photograph. Detail of 3D printed model. 2015 68
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100 year construct
An exploration into the future terrain of Zanzibar that reveals the old, the new and the future landscapes that exist in the year 2050. The exploration develops into a physical narrative that reveals the surfaces characteristics. The models represent the samples of taken from the landscape during the exploration.
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Surface analysis
The expedition reveals a changed environment. One that is foreign to the island. The images show a contaminated landscape. The landscape is in a state of regeneration.
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Photograph & drawing. 100 year construct. 2015 76
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Photograph of model. Model extraction. 2015 80
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Model extraction
The models derived from a process of exploring the programs that may form on the old remains of the satellite station. The models imitate the research into how the spaces would perhaps be constructed, using the old to construct the new.
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Photograph of model. Model extraction. 2015 82
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Model extraction - Landscape recorder. 2015
Photograph of model. Model extraction. 2015
Model extraction - Data cloud generator. 2015
On site morphology 01. 2015 86
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On site morphology
This process explores the possibilities of the programs found and the new landscape clashing on site. The conflict reveals a series of on site constructs.
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On site morphology 02. 2015
On site morphology 03. 2015
shelter
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Confinements
The confinements represent the tectonic feel of the spaces in-which scientists and researches will use. The spaces are contained within the station.
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quarantine
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green house
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solar farm
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Communication tower
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artifacts
The artifacts are all that is re-found from station 6 a diary , a piece of metal and a piece of fabric...
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Chapter 3
Major Design Project - A fictional site (2016) About 250 meters off the bay of Santiago sits the isle of Santa Maria, also known as Leper Island. Until about 4,000 to 2,000 BC, the area was part of Santiago Island until it became an islet as the sea levels rose after the Late Ice Age. Surrounded by the waters of the Atlantic, it can only be accessed by boat or by foot during low tide. In the mid-1850s, six houses were built in 30 hours and housed individuals who had leprosy; today, the buildings located in the north of the islet have been left in ruins. I am interested in using the site to bring together two distinct and different ideas: science fiction and créolisation. ‘Catalysis’ and ‘créolisation’ are key concepts in postcolonial studies. Catalysis in a biological sense refers to the experience of several ethnic groups interacting and mixing with each other, often in a contentious environment that gives way to new forms of identity and experience. In scientific parlance, catalysis is a chemical reaction: a ‘catalyst’ accelerates a chemical reaction by forming bonds with reactive molecules, allowing them to react to a product that then detaches itself, leaving it unaltered and available for the next reaction.
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Welcome to the Isle of Catalysis
Platform X sits on the fictional island of Catalysis, anchored just off the coast of Santa Maria, itself an islet off the coast of the mainland. My project ‘tells’ the story of a group of explorers returning to Cape Verde in the year 2050 with reports of a pristine, empty landscape that has drifted close to the island. No one knows where it originated, or how it arrived in Cape Verde. The islanders are both afraid of, and fascinated by the platform. The explorers are sent to investigate it further. The group is made up of an anthropologist; a surveyor; a psychologist, and a biologist. Their mission is to map the terrain, record all observations of their surroundings and, above all, avoid being contaminated by Platform X itself. Whilst this is very firmly an architectural proposition, containing many of the familiar elements of a design proposal – site, landscape, program, form, materiality and so on – I’ve made a number of important shifts in my understanding of these conditions. The site of my project is both real and fictional. The first ‘site’ drawing, begun after returning from Cape Verde, and was the first important step in setting up the narrative for Platform X. The drawings and models build – again, quite literally – the project through different ‘series’, drawings that speculate on the nature of enclosure
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Fragmented Memories. Image No:3. 2016 104
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‘Fairy tales seem to be removed from society because they are fanciful, and they disobey the limits of space and time. In reality, however, the fairy tale format is simply a vehicle for addressing the most challenging issues that we face, not just as architects, but as a society. Architecture isn’t about a single building, it’s our environment and our future. It’s easy enough to design a building or a new piece of technology and call it revolutionary. Exploring visions of the future is much more difficult, and potentially more troubling, but ultimately could be much more fruitful.’ Matthew Hoffman and Francesca Giuliani
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Photograph of ruins - depiction of character with leprosy. 2016 106
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Artefact
The remains of the buildings are left alone because it does not impact the people living on the main land. Area X has been cut off from the rest of the continent for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape. We now join the latest expedition on their discovery, 50 years on.
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Photograph of ruins - on Leper island looking back to Praia. 2016 108
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Photograph of ruins - names of visitors and survivors engraved into the walls. 2016 110
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Sighting conceptual exploration. Image 01. 2016 112
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Siting
Parts of the whole start shifting, some merge to become new identities, others drift off into isolation. The strands they tie them all together become tangled, the only thing reconnecting them is there GPS location. They are now seen as sites. They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers they discover a massive topographic anomaly and forms that surpass understanding.
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Sighting. Conceptual exploration. Image 02. 2016 114
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Sighting Map No:1. 1/2. 2016 116
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Sighting Map No:1. 2/2. 2016 118
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Sighting. Map No:2. 1/2. 2016 120
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Sighting. Map No:2. 2/2. 2016 122
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Sighting photograph of site extraction No:1. 2016
Sighting photograph of site extraction No:2. 2016
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Fluid landscapes
The landscape starts to shift and eruptions start to happen. Small volcanic eruptions scatter the earth, revealing the underlying make up of the terrain. They cannot agree about what they are seeing (a scar, a lake or the ocean) and all of them are all the while half-aware of being hypnotically manipulated by this terrain.
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Fluid Landscapes. Image No:2. 2016 130
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Fluid Landscapes. Image No:3. 2016 132
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Fluid Landscapes. Image No:4. 2016 134
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Fluid Landscapes. Image No:5. 2016 | Graduate School of Architecture | University of Johannesburg |
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Site extractions. Site No:6. 2016 136
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Site extractions
The merging of different materials reveals autonomic materials that have yet to be understood. Their instruments are useless, their methodology broken, their motivations selfish. This is anything but an expression of doubt.
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Site extractions. Site No:2. 2016 138
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Site extractions. Site No:4. 2016 140
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Site extractions. Site No:3. 2016 142
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Site extractions. Site No:5. 2016
Site extractions. Site No:1. 2016 146
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Site extractions. Site No:9. 2016 148
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Site extractions. Site No:8. 2016 150
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Site extractions. Site No:10. 2016 152
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Screen shots of ambient film. 2016 154
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Dispositional state
The platform is connected to both, The land and sea. It exists within, above and below this mysterious terrain. That is all that is known About the platform. The unknown is what eludes the scientists. These are not questions but propositions. The fungus growing on the walls are evolving at a rapid pace and it’s taking over the entire structure. Discovered upon this island is a site titled PLATFORM X. Its sited within the realm of real and fiction. What is its existence? Was it abandoned, evacuated, decommissioned or left alone? Know body knows.
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Screen shot of ambient film. 2016 156
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Screen shots of ambient film. 2016 158
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Push play
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Assembly of confinements. 2016 160
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Fragmented memories
The mechanical parts that exist within the platform enable the structure to drag itself along the ocean floor. Leaving its original territory and entering new terrains, collecting natural elements as it moves along. The platform is entirely autonomous; the movement of the sea below and the wakes that come from ships that pass by drives gives life to mechanical parts. Which in turn, enables its existence. It houses a viewing post that is also a statue, a guard house and a pillory, a laboratory, lighthouse and flagpost. No one lives permanently on the island, yet those who visit are unable to forget it. It is both memorable and elusive. Trying to remember the island is like catching the wind.
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Fragmented Memories. Image No:1. 2016 162
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Fragmented Memories. Image No:2. 2016 164
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Fragmented Memories. Image No:3. 2016 166
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Fragmented Memories. Image No:4. 2016 168
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Fragmented Memories. Image No:5. 2016 170
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Fragmented Memories. Image No:6. 2016 172
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Appendix a
Design Realisation Portfolio - A Fragmented Narrative (2016) The series of images represented in the DRP are photographs taken while on a site visit of the recently completed extension of the Wits Origins Centre Museum. The Images and text to follow is my interpretation of detailing as my design realisation portfolio. Hill (2003, 109) states that experiencing a space is rather than a montage of fragments, it is a montage of gaps, which requires the interplay of three elements – site, fragments and gaps – each as important as the other. A gap is an opening, maybe for just a moment, between seemingly more substantial conditions. Indicating that something is either unnoticed or missing, a gap is especially open to varied interpretation. We experience whole spaces as a series of moments or fragments. The importance of non-space is to allow the viewer their own interpretation of function. A fragment or gap is more than just opening that allows light into a space is also signifies incomplete, a gap invites the user to imagine what is there and, thus, to complete the image. But as no interpretation is correct, each user can make the image anew.
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The sensual gap occurs when either a number of senses contradict each other or one is depleted. The semantic gap occurs when, for example, certain characteristics expected of a building or building fragment are absent or undermined. It is especially appropriate to user creativity because buildings are experienced not all at once and as a whole, but piece by piece in moments separated by gaps in climate, use, space and time, to mention but a few examples. The aim of the montage of gaps is not to grab attention and then sink to acceptability. But to have a more gradual influence, remaining unresolved so that it is available for endless revisions and appropriations, to be remade anew by each user. Even more than in the montage of fragments, in the montage of gaps authority is shared between the producer and the user. Hill, J (2006,
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Appendix B
History and Theory Dissertation
Representational Architecture (2015)
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Appendix C
Professional Practice Module (2015)
Business plan assignment
Architectural professional practice 5 Assignment
Richard Meade | 201134632
Part A | 1. Vision and Mission statements | What is vision statement? | A carefully crafted vision statement can help you communicate your company's goals to employees and management in a single sentence or a few concise paragraphs. While a well-thought-out statement may take a few days or weeks to craft, the result will be a tool that helps inspire strategic decision making and product development for your business for years to come. (Arline, 2014) Vision statements are aspirational; they lay out the most important primary goals for a company. Unlike business plans, vision statements generally don't outline a plan to achieve those goals. But by outlining the key objectives for a company, they enable the company's employees to develop business strategies to achieve the stated goals. With a single unifying vision statement, employees are all on the same page and can be more productive. | What is mission statement? | A written declaration of an organization's core purpose and focus that normally remains unchanged over time. Properly crafted mission statements (1) serve as filters to separate what is important from what is not, (2) clearly state which markets will be served and how, and (3) communicate a sense of intended direction to the entire organization. A mission is different from a vision in that the former is the cause and the latter is the effect; a mission is something to be accomplished whereas a vision is something to be pursued for that accomplishment. Also called company mission, corporate mission, or corporate purpose. (BusinessDictionary.com, 2015)
| My vision statement | At Arch-Lab Studio we strive to become a sucsessful and dynamic creative firm that does things differently. | My mission statement | Arch-Lab Studio - To be awsome at doing awsome things. Part A | 2. Goals and objectives | What are goals? | Definition: Establishing short- or long-term objectives, usually incorporating deadlines and quantifiable measures If you really want to make a success of your business, it's important to define your business goals, especially before you get started. For some people, the goal is the freedom to do what they want when they want, without anyone telling them otherwise. For others, the goal is financial security. Setting goals is an integral part of choosing the
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business that's right for you. After all, if your business doesn't meet your personal goals, you probably won't be happy waking up each morning and trying to make the business a success. Sooner or later, you'll stop putting forth the effort needed to make the concept work. At its simplest, a goal is just something you aim for. But goals are powerful contributors to successful business growth in several ways. To begin with, the process of setting goals forces you to think through what you want from your business and how growth may--or may not--provide that. This process helps suggest directions for pursuing that growth, which can greatly improve your chances of achieving your goals in the first place. (Staff, 2015) | What are objectives? | Business objectives are the results you hope to achieve and maintain as you run and grow your business. As an entrepreneur, you are concerned with every aspect of your business and need to have clear goals in mind for your company. Having a comprehensive list of business objectives creates the guidelines that become the foundation for your business planning. (Goerge, 2015) | A list of my goals and objectives | - | Profitability | SCALE 1:1
Maintaining profitability means making sure that revenue stays ahead of the costs of doing business, according to James Stephenson, writing for the "Entrepreneur" website. Focusing on controlling costs in both production and operations while maintaining the profit margin on services sold. (Staff, 2015)
- | Productivity | SCALE 1:5
Employee training, equipment maintenance and new equipment purchases all go into company productivity. The objective is to provide all of the resources the employees need to remain as productive as possible. This includes a productive enviroment.
- | Customer Service | SCALE 1:10
Good customer service helps retain clients and generate repeat revenue. Keeping the customers happy is a primary objective of the company.
- | Growth | SCALE 1:100
Growth is planned based on historical data and future projections. Growth requires the careful use of company resources such as finances and personnel, according to Tim Berry, (Staff, 2015) Growing the company’s versatiltiy by adding multipal services such as Interior design, graphic design, event design and marketing material.
- | Maintain Financing | SCALE 1:500
Even a company with good cash flow needs financing contacts in the event that capital is needed to expand the organization. Maintaining the ability to finance operations means that we can prepare for long-term projects and address short-term needs such as payroll and accounts payable.
- | Marketing | SCALE 1:1000
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Marketing is more than creating advertising and getting customer input on product changes. It is understanding consumer trends, being able to anticipate needs and developing business partnerships that help organization to improve our status in the market.
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Part B | Business plan A | Executive summary At Arch-Lab studio’s we strive to provide a high quality level of professional architectural services. The key focus of the studio is the client’s needs and requirements, in order to execute a project in a professional manner. We are a young and dynamic firm that specializes in new and traditional methods of architectural conception and completion. We are looking for clients that our willing to invest into the process of putting a project together and to built a long lasting relationship.
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B | Table of contents
| Description of business |
pg.07
| Style of practice |
pg.07
| Business model |
pg.08
| Marketing |
pg.08
| Competition |
pg.09
| Operating procedures |
pg.10
| Accommodation requirements |
pg.11
| Personnel |
pg.11
| Business insurance |
pg.11
| Capital equipment required |
pg.12
C | Sources consulted |
pg.14
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| Description of business | | Name of business Arch-Lab Studio
| Date registered 2015.08.12
| Location registered Johannesburg
| Practice no: 01234.15
| Domain name
www.archlab_studio.co.za
| Location
250 Fox steet. Maboneng. Johannesburg
| Style of practice | | Business structure
A 2 – 3 person partnership. With 2 – 3 full time/ intern saff.
| Product and services
To supply a full range of architectural services, from inception to close out. Value added services include interior design, project management, graphic design and product design. At Arch-Lab studio our core business is about creating creative ideas. The core quality of the studio is to be inovative and generate creative solutions. A charactoristic in the way of working is also about improvising. Distinctive to our stduio is about its strong leaders, who leave a distinctive signiture on each and every project. Part of the development of the firm is to create a strong ‘brand’ identity in the work we do. Projects are taken care of throughout the process and are used as tools to create innovative ideas. The studio is primarily valued for its skill set in architectual solutions. The commercial activities are focussed on ‘brand awaerness’. An established distinctive signiture is important for building relationships.
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| Business model |
Business model graphic (Author)
An expertise and know how based firms sell their name or their knowledge of a specialized design issue. Expertise based firms may be able to bill for higher fees because of their expertise in technical areas such as acoustics or historic preservation. “Star� architects use an expertise based business model as well; they can charge higher fees for their name and reputation. Expertise based firms are top heavy with principals and high levels of experience and few interns on staff. | Marketing | | Positioning the firm WHO WE ARE | we are a design studio. Therefore we embrace design as process driver. Creating good and beautiful crafted designs is our main focus WHAT WE DO | we consult, invest, guide, analyze and problem solve. As architects we do many things that go into making up a building. Understanding the client brief is the first thing needed, before any design is taken place. We apply our skills into creating architecture that manufactures the client’s objectives. FOR WHOM | we provide a professional architecture service for small to medium projects within residential, educational and commercial sectors.
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| Tools The starting point for marketing the firm would be to develop a website that is easily accessible on all types of platforms. The resources library would contain: ¥ Case studies ¥ New creative solutions that relate to prospective clients ¥ Recent news about the firm ¥ Referrals from past clients and other professionals ¥ A portfolio of past and current projects ¥ Contact details Anotherr usefull tool is using social media to expand the studios identity. Social media is a great way to expose the studio and its free. Marketing the social media platforms towards not only potential clients but also the younger genertation of architects at varsitys. This is a great way to get the word out there about the studio.
Every one of us is telling a story, whether we intend to or not. Our story is being told through our work, through our websites, social media, brochures and advertising. We tell our story through every point of contact our firms have with the world, both online and off. We are telling our story at networking events, at project interviews, by the way we answer our telephone, respond to email and interact with people on social media. (LePage, 2013) Every potential client starts their search for an architect with a very specific list of expectations and assumptions. They have created their own story for what they’re looking for and for whom they are searching. Our job is to replace that story with our story. | Competition | Identifying your competitors and evaluating their strategies to determine their strengths and weaknesses relative to those of your own product or service. | Competitor eveluation | BOOM architects Who are your competitors? BOOM architects is a collaborative architectural studio established by Claudia Morgado & Eric Charles Wright in late 2009. As young professionals actively working in the field, we wish to learn as much as we can and to challenge ourselves through doing so. What products or services do they sell? The combination of varying expertise allows BOOM Architects to offer design and consultation services on a broad spectrum of projects. What are their current strategies? The partnership of BOOM Architects was cultivated by a common passion for Johannesburg and the relationship of the city’s users to the urban fabric (housing and public space). These city themes are investigated and analyzed through the engagement of the practice with The University of Johannesburg (UJ) (Department of Architecture).
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What type of media is used to market their services? Internet wesite What potential opportunities do they make available for you?
Past work with BOOM may open up opertunities to collaborate or become a reffrance for future work.
| Operating procedures | A list of standard procedures will need to be completed before the companie is established and then to be revised when the first step pf procedures is completed. | Intitial procedures - Accomodation To find and rent out office space that is situated in Braamfontein, Johannesburg. The office must be able to accommodate a minimum of 5 staff members with desks and storge. The rent should cost no more that R7000 per month. Establishing a constructive office space will enchourage a good work ethic amoung the staff. - Office equipment To buy office equipment and software that enables staff to complete taks, the office equipment includes computers, printer, office furniture, coffee machine, fridge and a mircowave. - Staff
Principle partners : Richard Meade | Stepahie Smith | Sharne Van der Walt The task set for the partners would be to hire full time/ part time support staff to help complete tasks during projects as well as office management.
| Secondary - Marketing once the studio is up and running the task would fall onto the partners to expand the companies brand via well put together website, well placed adverticments and using network connections to get the word out about the company. - Procuring projects Exuction of landing projects is key to the succes of the studio. A lot of work needs to go into aquiring projects. Key focus on client brief and the communication of ideas and methods is an important part of succesfully landing projects. The costing of projects is also an important part of procurment. Transparency of costs and tasks intailed on the project shows the client not only teaches the cleint about the stages of the project but also gives a sence of trust that there is no hidden surprises along the way.
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- Office and staff management This proceedure is very important to sustain a sucsessful business. The up keep and management of the office and staff will also provide a better work flow throughout projects. A project bassed task allocation mehtod will be adopted to provide a clear indication to eash staff member there taks and responsiblities.
| Accommodation requirements | | Address: Office 345 4th floor Heerengracht building 87 De Korte Street Braamfontein Johannesburg | Office size: 52m2 | Description: Open plan with North facing views. | Personnel | | Partners Richard B Meade (M.Arch) 2 years experinace Salary R15 000.00 per month Sharne Van der Walt (M.Arch) 2 years experience Salaly R15 000.00 per month Stephanie Smith (M.Arch) 2 years experience Salary R15 000.00 per moth
| Part time staff
Intern no:1 Nill experience Salary R50 per hour Intern no:2 1 year experience Salary R100 per hour
| Business insurance | | General Liability Insurance General Liability Insurance for architects, engineers, and design professionals protects against two types of claims: those alleging property damage and those alleging bodily harm to third parties. These claims come from people — clients, subcontractors,
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employees — who say that you or someone who works for you harmed them in the aforementioned ways. For uninsured firms, these claims could result in dire financial consequences. (insureon, 2015) | Insuranced business value of R1 000 000.00 | Key details - Client contracts. Many client contracts will require us to carry General Liability Insurance. Because we'll be spending time at your clients' offices — and possibly construction sites or manufacturing facilities, depending on our line of work — your client will want to know you're covered so that they won't have to pay for us, should an accident happen. - Contractors. If we hire contractors, it's generally a good idea to require them to carry a policy of their own. If we state or client mandates that our coverage extend to them as well, we will be responsible for making sure the contractors get into our policy. - Unfounded claims. Sometimes, people will try to sue, even if their claim is unmerited. In this case, an uninsured business would still have to pay for expenses related to legal defense, which can become quite steep. If our firm is insured, our General Liability policy would kick in at this point. - What your policy covers. In addition to legal defense, our General Liability Insurance may cover (up to its limits) bond premiums, settlements, and lawsuit-related judgments, such as the medical expenses of a client suing over an injury. In certain cases, our policy may also cover business interruption costs, including the income we lose from having to defend ourself in court. | Capital equipment required | Monthly rent R 7 000.00 Furniture: Desks, chairs, boardroom facilities R 27 000.00 Computer Software: 5x HP EliteBook 8770w laptops R 150 000.00 Autodesk Building Design Suite 2015 R 65 000.00 Adobe Photoshop CC for Windows R 12 000.00 HP M430 LaserJet Printer and scanner - A3 R 6 000.00 Electricity and water R 3000.00 Telkom ADSL Landline R 1 500.00 Business Insurances R 3 000.00 Printing / Stationary R 10 000.00 Petty Cash:
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Tea, coffee, miscellaneous R 2 000.00 Maintenance R 2 000.00
Total Amount: R 288 500.
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C | Sources consulted | Arline, K. (2014). What Is a Vision Statement?. [online] Business News Daily. Available at: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/3882-vision-statement.html [Accessed 11 Aug. 2015]. BusinessDictionary.com, (2015). What is a mission statement? definition and meaning. [online] Available at: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/mission-statement.html [Accessed 11 Aug. 2015]. Chron.com. Available at: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/10-important-businessobjectives-23686.html [Accessed 11 Aug. 2015]. Morgan, J. (1998). Management for the small design firm. New York: Whitney Library of Design. Forlati, S. (2012). Manual for emerging architects. Wien: Springer. Goerge, N. (2015). 10 Most Important Business Objectives. [online] Small Business – Insureon, (2015). General Liability Insurance for Architects, Engineers, & Design Professionals. [online] Available at: https://design.insureon.com/small-businessinsurance/general-liability/71 [Accessed 20 Aug. 2015]. Staff, E. (2015). Goal Setting. [online] Entrepreneur. Available at: http://www.entrepreneur.com/encyclopedia/goal-setting [Accessed 11 Aug. 2015].
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