Final Learning Portfolio Samia Rashed Arch 20 Paul Nowicki & Jerry Lum City College San Francisco 6 May 2015
Introduction
Excitement, eagerness, and anticipation were all the emotions I was feeling on the first day class. I had an idea of what the semester entailed but I never knew that it would push my creativity this far. I’ve had experience hand drafting in high school and I loved it. Just being able to do that once again was pure nostalgia. Once I began to learn Sketch Up, I took off almost instantly. I’m quite the fast learner and having a background in AutoCAD really helped me in the second half of the semester. Sketch Up helped me in various ways by assisting my in designing models much faster than I would have by hand. Sketch Up also assisted me in stumbling upon methods and new designs I never knew where possible. There is one thing about Sketch Up that I do not enjoy, as with any other computer program, if I don’t know what I want to be done my work process becomes mindless clicking of the mouse. But all in all, I'm so happy to have learned how to use Sketch Up and I plan to use it for anything and everything in the future.
Table of Content Week 1: 3 Dog Houses
Week 2: Array Exercise
Week 3: Dog House 2.0
Week 4: Circular Stairs
Week 5: Malevich Inspired Construction
Week 6: Paper Airplanes
o. Paper Airplane Flotilla o. Paper Airplane Flotilla over landscape
Week 7: Rotate and Sandbox Exercise o. My personal design o. Class design
Week 8: Interior Studies o. Iteration 1 o. Iteration 2
Week 9: Photo match Rin’s Pic Final Project
Week 1: 3 Dog Houses “Learning success essentials & icebreaker: ‘Dog House 1’- We start from the familiar and simple.”
Reflections on 3 Dog Houses Strengths: • The amount of time it took me to complete it. • The use of shadows to create a realistic look and feel to my model. • The use of Lucy the Giant Dog and Steve for proportion of my model. Weaknesses: • The colors I chose aren't exactly harmonious. • The lack of design creativity in this first attempt. Discoveries: • How Sketch Up interprets your model, for example, it doesn’t create solids but rather planes that can be connected to make solids. • Certain lines cannot be deleted because they will also delete a plane. • Getting a dramatic view to portray exactly how you feel about your model. I feel like the images of my model do not have that “wow” factor I was looking for, and I tried various times to achieve that “wow” factor.
Week 2: Array Exercises “Copy, components, layers, 3D Warehouse, move, scale, rotate, and follow me tool.�
Back View
Front View
Bottom View
Right View
Left View
Top View
Reflections on 3 Dog Houses This assignment was fun. I was able to figure out how to create something fairly simple and turn it into something fairly complex. I was able to play around with shadows and find cool patterns my model created when I applied shadows. I was having a hard time with this model because for some reason par ts of my model would disappear as I would orbit, pan, and zoom. I later figured out that it was the “viewing mode� I had it in. I thought I was in perspective view but I was actually in parallel view!
Week 3: Dog House 2.0
Reflections on Dog House 2.0 I was really able to experiment with this model. I initially began to follow the directions but then I began to question my choices in my model. I made a few rectangular platforms and rotated them at approximately 30 degrees to create more of a dynamic affect and to make my model more visually appealing. As for the colors, I think this was my most successful in harmonizing exterior finishes. I'm not exactly the person who can pair things together and make it work, but when I do, I can make some pretty neat things.
Week 4: Circular Stairs
Reflections on Circular Stairs This model was slightly mind numbing to create. There was a lot of “copying and pasting� going on. After a while I realized this was an efficient and effective way to create the simplest of things, like this set of stairs! I really did learn to appreciate the repetition in design a little more when creating this model.
Week 5: Malevich Inspired Construction
Reflections on Malevich Inspired Construction This was on of my favorite models to create. Although it doesn't’t follow Russian constructivist styles, I was able to recreate a model I had created in Arch 101. This time I was able to achieve almost exactly what I was trying to achieve before and I was able to add color. My favorite part of this model was using the push/pull tool because that’s how I was able to achieve those angles. I simple selected a line and moved it until I was happy with its placement.
Model from my Arch 101 class
Week 6: Paper Air Planes
Reflections on Paper Air Planes This model was interesting to construct because I actually had to construct a paper air plane by hand before I jumped into Sketch Up to model it. Before I would just open up Sketch Up and begin to model something before actually thinking about what I was going to do. Folding played a big part in creating this model. It was almost like mark your fold, orient your rotation tool correctly, then fold your “paper� into an air plane.
Video: https://youtu.be/LJqRyNnn3f8
Week 7: Rotate and Sandbox Exercise
Reflections on Rotate and Sandbox Exercise At this point in the semester, I’ve noticed that there is plenty of repetition in design. Making a few simple elements can result in a complex compound of a structure. By now I’ve become a pro at the push/pull tool, the rotate tool, and the line tool. I’ve just begun to experiment with sandbox and at first I could not get the hang of it. After a few failed attempts I finally understood how sandbox works and I successfully made a landscape that my model can inhabit.
Week 8: Interior Studies
Reflections on Interior Studies In this week, we created 2 different models exploring 2 different things. In the first set of photos, we used repetition again but this time we enclosed a space. We also used the push/pull tool to create vaulted arches ina cube. The second set of images was used to study the different feelings of a space if it has more or less furniture and or windows. I felt like the structure with only 2 windows was far more “comfy� that that of the structure with 4 windows. The one with 4 windows felt more like a public space; less personal.
Week 9: Photo Match Rin’s Pic
Front View
Top View
Reflections on Photo Match Rin’s Pic When I first began this model, I thought it was going to be extremely difficult to use “photo match”. Also because I had no idea as to what this location really looks like. All I had were images of the location but even then there were missing pieces. After sitting and absorbing this assignment, I was able to move the uncertainty and I began to experiment once again. I really like the freedom that Sketch Up gives its user to experiment with.
Final Project
Reflections on Final Project This project was extremely fun to model. I was given parameters but then I was allowed to do whatever I wanted to do with my cabin. I kept the design of the cabin extremely similar to the handout but I did switch up a few things as pictured in the images. I went for a more modern feel in this cabin, I tried to keep things simple inside and out. The feelings (I feel) that this cabin give off are calm, cool, and serene.
-Reflections- This class was extremely fun!!! I loved being taken out of my comfort zone in hand drafting and in computer modeling. After a while I became extremely comfortable with Sketch Up and I learned that many design elements come from simple elements and with a little repetition and maybe some rotation here and there you could really get something that is interesting in both architecture and supports. I'm glad I learned Sketch Up this semester because I now will use it for everything I do!
SLO Progress Report
scale: 5 (highest) - 0 (least)
SLO 1: Create accurate drawings that
communicate simple architectural design intentions. Apply graphic conventions and standards appropriately
4
Relate each drawing within a set to each other to fully describe significant aspects of a design from the general to the specific
3
Demonstrate a correspondence between the design intentions to be communicated and the graphic representations produced to communicate them
3
Produce drawing that are readable and meaningful to others
4
SLO 2: Analyze the specific intentions
communicated by analog and digital modes of graphic communication. Identify the intended message(s) behind the graphic communication, whether produced by analog or digital means
3
Assess the integrity of the message(s) – identify the strengths and weaknesses of the represented intentions
4
Assess the efficacy of the related graphic representation(s)
4
Propose enhancements to what is being graphically communicated
5
SLO Progress Report – continued SLO 3: Apply use of scales, line quality, graphic
conventions, and drawing systems and techniques. Create clear and appropriately ordered hierarchies of visual information
4
Compose elements of a drawing in a clear organized manner that relates visual information on each drawing and between sets of related drawings
3
SLO 4: Demonstrate an understanding of the purposes of various architectural graphic techniques. Identify the similarities and differences between: Orthographic projections: plan, section, elevations, and details Paraline drawing: isometric and oblique Perspective drawing: 1-, 2- and 3-point
5 5 5
Compare and contrast the graphic systems describe directly above
4
Demonstrate an integrated use of analog and digital tools in the process of developing a set of design intentions
4