Design Workshop - Final Submission - Thai Bui - 842574

DESIGN WORKSHOP THAI BUI

A

FRAMING, DESIGNING & GENERATING IDEAS

A1. DESIGN THINKING A2. DESIGN SPRINT A3. COMMUNICATING IDEAS

A1.

DESIGN AGENDA Designing Environments - ENVS10004

FRAME OF REFERENCES Designing Environments - ENVS10004

REFLECTION In Greg Missingham’s A1 Lecture, about Designerly Thinking, he showed a model/ formula that explains the definition of Design Agenda and he wanted students who have taken Designing Environment subject to create their own models of their projects.

Questions about these issues: Site, Forms and Narrative will occur and as students, we have to give our responses to these. He was right, we did not immediately design straight away, we had to translate these issues into our own responses, the process is design agenda. He emphasised on the fact that design is not about problems and solutions because each designer will have different design agendas and respond differently to the brief. In order to answer the brief, each designer will bring their own thing to the task and that is Designer’s Agenda: their own interests on their frame of references. In ‘Revealing Architectural Design: Methods, Frameworks and Tools’, Plowright believed that there are three big frameworks that

dominates the architecture profession, and surprisingly, I found them very similar to my Designing Environment frameworks:

1. Resolution of Forces: resulting in wind forces, traffic flow, people flow…

2. Pattern: geometry and shapes 3. Concepts: the idea behind

concept might originate with observation or a prejudice, ‘these ideas alone rarely motivate a production’. Maybe this is one of the reason why ‘concepts’ is not as developed as ‘patterns’ and ‘resolution of forces’ in Architecture frameworks.

However, since we were not yet designers but students, we only get to determine our own methods that we choose, and how we see the problem. How to work and How to tell if we were successful or not is decided by tutors, which can be considered as ‘real designers’.

We only got to write our own reflection.

Plowright also pointed out that the third framework, ‘Concept’, has not been as popular as the other two. In ‘The language of Architecture’, concepts can be defined as ‘something often at the nuclear of the design’, ‘rooted in simple abstractions’, but ‘initiates a process that usually ends with a complex design’. It is also said that while a

“...design is not about problems and solutions...”

What are your DEFINITIONS of... #ARCHITECTURE? Architecture is the process of capturing different images, arranging different images, and then create assemblages in our mind about the relationship between human and space.

#COMPOSITION?

Tutorial: Defining

In this very first tutorial, the main exercise for the studio is trying to get students to think of our own definitions of technical terms, which helps us as young designers to have better comprehensions, a strong and unique basis of the fundamentals.

Composition is how we compose your frame for models, layouts, renders, the way we present our design project, or how you arrange physical spaces and transform it in the framework...

#DESIGN PRINCIPLES (3 keywords)?

1) Experience 2) Arrangement 3) Symbol

1

2

CREATIONAL SPACE

The space we think, imagine and design in our mind, reflects how we think about space.

PHYSICAL SPACE

The actual space and actual reflection of our interpretation about space after constructed in reality.

3 SPECTATONAL SPACE

How we use and experience the physical space, how our design comes from our experience and how our experience influences our design.

As an architecture student, I find myself working only from stage 1 to stage 2, which is moving from creational space to physical space. In between these two spaces, I need to provide different kinds of architectural representation such and drawings, diagrams or models to learn how to be able to reflect on my own interpretation of space and then to be able to communicate thoughts and ideas to other people.

The physical space can only be built after every related party has successfully communicated with each other and agreed to transform the creational space into physical space in actual scale in real life.

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Every project is unique: a site and a circumstance, a culture, a climate, a program.

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There is no such thing as phenomenology, there are only phenomenological questions.

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I don’t really see the need to be nationalistic about architecture.

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The beginning of any project, getting an idea and trying to find form for that idea is one of the most exciting things. Moving-on to new projects allowed me to have more ideas and more potential concepts for architecture.

REFLECTION It is undeniable that Steven Holl & other prominent architects such as Daniel Libeskind & Peter Zumthor are greatly influenced by Juhani Pallasmaa and the practition of phenomenology in architecture. However, in the interview, Steven made a very interesting statement that on my first thought, seems to be denying the existence of phenomenology in architecture, that “There is no such thing as phenomenology, there are only phenomenological questions.”

In my tutorial, the term phenomenology was mentioned quite a lot and every student has to read about it and try to find the definition. As I read more about it, specifically in architecture, I found that Juhani Pallasmaa is one of the architects that has done the most research about phenomenological orientation in architectural thinking. One of his most famous book, The Eyes of The Skin is a classic of architecture theory, that helps me to find

the definition that I need. Architecture is only an aspect of phenomenology philosophy that research on architectural space and historical movements. It focuses on analysing the human experience of architecture and the world, and how it has changed characteristically throughout history, in order to almost predict the movement for the future.

Steven Holl was trying to find an American 21st century way of thinking, but he felt like he reached the dead end. He said he realised the experiential dimension of existence as being the most profound aspect in architecture.

He agreed with Juhani Pallasmaa in The Eyes of The Skin on how architecture has mainly considered the master sense of human: SIGHT, and ignore the other four senses, which results in impoverishment. Steven showed that he agreed with Pallasmaa’s concept of t by expressing his excitement about the way technology has helped human to experience the world and architecture specifically. This explained his statement

of how there is only phenomenological questions. As architects, we need to try to answer these questions to create the effect of multi-sensory architecure, the architecture that put the whole five senses of human into consideration. It is also said in the book that Steven Holl has experienced Juhani Pallasmaa’s architecture, from his museum additions at Rovaniemi to his wooden summerhouse on an island in the Turku Archipelago and he was really impressed by the way he could experienced architecture by not only sighting but also hearing and smelling.

Steven Holl

Not a ‘Signature Architect’

TED TALK by Tim Brown

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C which are generative/exploring mode and serious mode. The goal of each mode is different, because the thinking modes are different. In exploration mode, we focus on quantity while the other is quality. When generating ideas, we want to be divergent.

When getting out of playfulness, we want to be convergent. This is one kind of Designerly Thinking that was mentioned in the lecture.

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front of our peers. Far of judgement results in conservative in thinking.

So he told us to switch from our Normal Mode, to our Kid Mode, and think of the process as we’re playing so that Freedom can lead to creativity. So, we’re all adults, but let’s be serious and playful adults. Let’s cilmb up the slide of playfulness and not worry about being an adult means doing adult things. Let’s take a slide and break through the fear of embarassment to be open to new possibilities.

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However, every game has its rules, and rules are what makes playing become productive. Tim suggested two modes of operations

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“Freedom can lead to Creativity”

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Reflection

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After watching the TEDTALK about Creativity and Play by Tim Brown, in which he suggested on how designers should think, I was very happy. I’m happy because I used to worry a lot about how uncertain being a designer is, but now I feel more comfortable. When he introduced the importance of playfulness in design, and how we need to think of the design process more like playing to relax and make ourselves comfortable, tim showed an image of a slide, that represents playfulness.

Immediately, this image came into my mind. As we are all designers, we always want to be creative. But at the same time, we do not want to feel stupid in

SUMMARY: A1 A1 is really about how to properly translate issues into our own responses (design agenda), and understanding the definition of the frame of references and its function. Each person has his/her own interest in his/her own frame of references (designers’ agendas), so therefore, it can be concluded that Design is definitely not about Problems and Solutions. I really like that A1 has a lot of exercises and activities that require students to keep on defining different architectural terms. I find them very useful because I often start my designs with definitions of relevant terms. They also taught me the skill to break down complicated aspects into smaller and more simple key-words or phrases, which I believe to be one of very important skills to possess in the profession.

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A2.

5 Minutes

30 Circles

by Bob McKin turn as many of the blank circles as possible into recognizable objects

design a space w enclosing wall

The Crazy 9

by Linus Tan 3 Minutes

Pen and Paper

with 3 ls

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“...if we are doing something that makes us feel nervous and exciting at the same time, we are on track.”

Pen and Paper

Bob McKin

The crazy nine exercises where all of the student in the lecture had to come up with nine ideas responding to a brief in less than 5 minutes really made me feel interested. I never knew I could come up with enough ideas when restrained by such a short amount of time (approx 30s/idea). It made me feel nervous and exciting at the same time, and as Bob McKin said in week 1, in a similar exercise called ‘30 Circles’, in which everyone was asked to turn as many of the blank circles as possible into recognizable objects within only 3 minutes, that if we are doing something that makes us feel that way, we are definitely on track. Personally, I think that the ultimate purpose of these kind of exercises is to help us young designers, being on track and keeping us criticising non-stop. The reason is because these sprints are repeated until every problem has an appropriate response, and it proves to me that: Design is really not a LINEAR process but rather a FUZZY process that non-stop REPEAT ITSELFS.

THE 1

2

UNDERSTAND

DIVERGE

•Brief:

needs, problems, priorities

•Time

pressure, productive

•Precedents:

•Visualisation

•Site:

•Quantity

fail/success, evidences access, circulation, context

•Users:

alternative perspective

•Maps:

observation, analysis

variation limitless

SPRINTI

3

DEC •Potential

comparison, d

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PROCESS

3

CIDE

distinguishing

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5

PROTOTYPE

VALIDATE

•Representation

•Test

•Usage

•Improvements

simplicity, persuasion interaction

workability, efficiency judgements

Brief Interpretation LOBBY: - Reception - Waiting Area

Tutorial: Hotel for the artists

STUDIO: LIBRARY: - Visual Arts - Reading Tables - Music - Book cases - Meditation - Digital Library - Literature - Computers - Dance - Booking / Renting

Design a space for artistic­-spiritual retreat, where artists and hobbyists can spend some days developing their creativity in any focus area: write a book, carry out a dance workshop, a music program, paint, sculpt or simply meditate...

GROUP ROOMS - Dance - Theater - Performance - Multi-functional

LIVING ROOM: - Leisure Area - Coffee Bar - Kitchen - Toilets

ROOM OF SILENCE: - Sound proof - Meditation - Contemplation - Relaxation GALLERY: - Display - Sell artworks - Public open space

#ARRANGEMENT

by Amenity Team

#SPATIALQUALITIES

by Amenity Team + Technology Team

#STORYBOARDS

by Poetry Team

I was introduced and practiced with ‘storyboards’ to communicate ideas in the process of Design Sprints, through this exercise.

The Amenity Group is the starting point, where we had to address all the problems & issues listed in the brief and then analyse them carefully. Each space has its own requirements about function. Then, we made a rough arrangement through plans to roughly visualise the arrangement of the rooms.

The spatial qualities of each room was taken intoconsideration in order to help Technology & Poetry group further develop the project. Users’ experience is always put on top and the function of the space really determine this.

I think that in modern architecture nowadays, we no longer design users’ experience based on how they move in the space, but the movements are researched, studied carefully and then directed / manipulated so that architects have full control of the scenes and their orders of appearance so that architecture is provocative in the way that architects want.

Reflection

The homework of creating an ‘Architectural Design’ canvas template to address design brief and designers’ intent is based on ‘ The product canvas’ by Roman Pichler that the Amenity group has to read.

I find it very similar to the Pro-In-Ass-Test evaluation model, which was introduced in Linus’s lecture, where designers identify problems, note down intentions, generate assumption and then test it. It is because of the models like Pro-In-Ass-Test and The product canvas that makes the Design Sprint process become more likely to succeed, as it helps designers to truly dig deep into the brief and keeping their designs relevant.

SUMMARY: A2 A2 taught me the Sprinting Process, which could be considered to be one of the very helpful first step of Preliminary Design, as if used effectively, could provide designers with various possible designs within a very short amount of time. It reflects the importance of being divergent in the profession, and not letting yourself being restrained but being open to millions of possibilities, by taking advantage of the carefully-analysed-brief and time pressure. Tutorial exercise proved me that in bigger projects, where it is necessary to work in groups, if everyone can take advantage of the Sprint to the fullest, the ideation process could really be one of the most entertaining and efficient steps in design generally.

A3.

- Diagrams are tools for thinking with, and tools for representation.

- Models, drawings & texts are ALL diagrams.

- Diagrams are based on information flow.

- Plans are 2D diagrams, but diagrams can be 3D. - When to use diagrams: when you want to capture ideas and give them forms.

- It’s all about representing the experience.

- Model is actually the 3D version of Parti Diagram

IMPORTANT NOTES

Tutorial Exercise Design Brief:

Determine three possible locations for the new train station of The University of Melbourne. Support your three ideas with appropriate pictures and diagrams.

I believe the purpose of this exercise is to test out the ability to communicate design ideas and representing them properly using different kinds of diagrams. As been proved in the lecture, the question for students for these kind of exercise is always about how to explain your design, and what kinds of diagram could help you explain your design, because each type of diagram has its own strength and weakness. In this particular exercise, I’ve chosen 2D diagrams in the form of maps to represent information about possible locations. Buildings are represented in simple shapes such as squares and rectangles, while arrows are used to indicate movement directions. I believe these diagrams is the best option for locations because of clear communication. In sectional diagram, in which the purpose is to represent the spatial experience, my diagram seemed to be too

simple and ineffective. However, inspired from the diagram of Peter Eisenman House, I attemped to create a simple explosive diagram to show the relationship and connection between levels, which I think was quite successful for such a quick exercise.

Furthermore, the pictures my group took were not so successful, because even though the spatial experience was demonstrated to some extend through the lighting and shadows, our ‘shots’ did not quite showcase the relation of the site to human movement. The reason is because we rarely took pictures in human perspective and showed human activities.

David McCandless

The beauty of Data Visualisation

“Information is beautiful” “Data is the new soil” In the TEDTALK, David McCandless reveals the beauty of data communication. His graphic style was very simple which makes his communication becomes very effective. Information was transformed into referable images and pictures, so that his communication becomes clear and easy to catch. He also proved that information can be put into perspective which, in some situations, can simplify things and make it really easy to understand. These are the six main notes that I found to be helpful to myself in communicating ideas.

1) Information is beautiful.

2) Data is the new soil.

3) Emphasis only on the important information.

4) Simple graphic is one of the best graphic.

5) Let yourself be exposed to media.

6) Data can be visualised by putting information Personally, I really understand the perspectively. effectiveness of visual communicating or communicating through images and pictures, because I used to

present information under words a lot in my presentation. When stepping into Architecture, I’ve got the opportunities to practice this method a lot and I’ve definitely improved myself.

However, after watching this TEDTALK, I found out that it was fairly easy to communicate through images but what really difficult is to communicate effectively. Sometimes it is better to present information under pictures but sometimes a simple word or phrase can communicate more effective than any images, because in some situations, ‘Less is More’. E.g: ‘Information is beautiful’. I think it takes a lot of practice and experience to be able to find myself comfortable whenever I need to communicate ideas. I believe Architecture is one of the profession that is gonna develop this skill very quickly.

Diagrams are very powerful tools to communicate the importance and the existence of Amenity in Space. As Pai Hyungmin concluded in ‘Scientific Management & The discourse of the diagrams’, in ‘The Portfolio and the Diagram’, diagrams & diagramatic plans can regularised movements of the materials and the physical environment could be transcripted as functions, which represent Amenity.

Therefore, when my Amenity team was trying to design an exercise to help Poetry and Technology teams to have a better understanding of Amenity and its definition, we decided to design the whole exercise through making small different diagrammaking exercises in the tutorial. Eventually, as I have stated previously, the purpose of diagrams is to visually communicate ideas.

Sometimes it is better to go with 2D and sometimes 3D representation, especially

for images. Images can be classified into visual alphabet and combinations of glyphs to create scenes from different perspective, as explained on the ‘Visual Thinking’ article.

Furthermore, this also means that eventually, computers can create diagrams. In the lecture, Missingham stated that “a diagram that can be created by computers is a dumb diagram’, which sounds very controversy to me. Personally I think what he actually meant is that computer is a very powerful tool to help us create diagrams, especially diagrams that are complicated and tricky to communicate effectively. We can visualise & talk about ‘function of a space’ by effectively create complex diagrams that carry information that varies in depth through drawing & combining simple and (sometimes) silly diagrams.

Combined Reflection Homework, Reading & Lecture

SUMMARY: A3 A3 deepened my understanding of visual communication by representing information properly and effectively under the forms of diagrams (images, drawings and texts could all be considered as diagrams). The most powerful advantage of using diagrams is that they reveal the experience very quickly and clearly, and the experience allow people to immediately imagine or put themselves into the situation. Therefore, they are communicated in the most profound way. Different diagrams have their own strengths and weaknesses, and it is the designers responsibility to choose the types of diagrams so that the information/ideas are communicated with high efficiency.

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EXPLORING DESIGN IDEAS

B1. CINEMA & ARCHITECTURE B2. DESIGN DECISIONS B3. WHAT TO DO WHEN STUCK

B1.

#FILMS ABOUT ARCHITECTURE AND CITIES

- Villa Malaparte/ Contempt - Bradbury / Blade Runner - Schleissheim Palace/Last year at Marienbad - Casa D’amumzio / Deep Red

#ARCHITECTS OF FILMS

- Peter Greenaway - Yasujiro Ozu - Jean-Luc Godard - Michelangelo Antonioni

#MOVEMENTS DIAGRAM

- by Nigel Coates

#STORYBOARDS

- by Jean-Luc Godard

#COMMONALITIES

- Movement - Time - Spatial Articulation - Scale - Peripheral Vision - Sound

#MONTAGE THEORY

- by Sergei Eisenstein

SE N CH O

Design an artist residence for two people, includes 2 bathrooms, 2 bedrooms, 1 communal kitchen and 1 shared studio space.

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Design Brief:

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Tutorial Exercise

After having drafted 7 different plans, my Amenity team realised that the symetry in terms of planning really brings efficiency to the circulation and movement throughout the space. Afterwards, the chosen plan was delivered to the Technology and Poetry teams to work out the arrangement of the rooms and the placement of furnitures. However, the real difficulty happened when all the teams were asked to make a completed model to scale. The discrepancies between the sizes/dimensions of the space and the furnitures resulted in the incompletence of the final model.

Personally, I think that dividing different tasks to teams is the most challenging part that requires much attention, as every single task of the design process seems to be interrelated that always needed to be reviewed throughout the whole design process. I realised that this difficulty was mentioned by Alex Selenitsch in Drawing Together. He clearly emphasised on the importance of sharing multidisclipinary work and frame of reference in group work.

Alfred Hitchcock 1899 - 1980

KIND

DIRTY

REAR WINDOW - 1954

From the lecture, I can conclude that the influence of films on architecture is represented through moving images, revealing the articulation of space. However, not until reading about Alfred Hitchcock’s movie Rear Window, had I deepened my understanding of the commonalites. Rear Window directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1954 has always been famous for being culturally, historically and aesthetically significant. It explores the limited perspective of the protagonist L. B. Jefferies. The viewers are taken on a journey of suspense from the confinement of Jefferies’s apartment. Hitchcock depicts the theme of Rear Window through cinematography and set design. His skillful uses of identification processes and liberal use of subjective camera applies from the view of the male protagonist, draw the spectators into the position

of Jefferies and trapped them inside this perspective. This clearly reveals the connection between principles of cinema and the gratification of observation. The architectural planning of the Manhattan block was opened in terms of scale through the control in shots and camera movement, dipping in and out. Furthermore, Hitchcock emphasised on the sense of experiencing reality by taking into consideration the time and spatial articulation. He had photographers to take photos of New York from all angles in all weather, all lighting from dawn until midnight, to fully demonstrate the social context in architecture.

Cinematographic montage is a means to ‘link’ in one point - the screen - various elements (fragments) of a phenomenon filmed in diverse dimensions, from diverse points of view and sides. If the spectator cannot move, he has to gather in one unique point the elements of that, unseizable to a single gaze.

By taking in all these elements, the spectator will obtain an impression of the object.

Cinema helps to understand arts. Eisenstein proposed a critical loop: the new methods of film can help to explain art. Example of this loop can be found as a postscript for a book about Japanese cinema. No such thing as cinema without cinematography.

Japanese cinema does exist but absolutely unaware of cinematography (criticised).

“Cinema is: so many corporations, such and such turnovers of capital, so and so many stars, such and such dramas. Cinematog-

raphy is, first and foremost, montage.” This distinction clarifies Eisenstein’s avant-gardist stance. He likes to use pictogram (signs & icons) and pictogrammatic structures in cinema.

His search for cinematography outside cinema represents the nineteenth century’s interest about “correspondence between the art”.

The eye must ‘graze’ over the surface, sharply grasping portion after portion, to convey them to the brain to create impressions.

In architecture, Eisenstein concerns about the real movement of a beholder in space. He wants to find answers to the problem of how to film a building from a passive setting of the action, into the plot. → Answer: the change of position of a body, hence with its perception, due to a change of position of the observer.

Introduction by Yve-Alain Bois

Sergei M. Eisenstein Montage and Architecture

Perspectival Storyboa Perspectival storyboards of Choisy represents axonometry: explicate his discovery that the non-symmetry of the Acropolis of Athens by varying the point of view of the spectator. Axonometry replaces the abstract figuration of plan, section, and elevation. Axonometry is a mode of enunciating virtual movement. Architecture considered as the pure art of construction - Choisy.

To understand works of art/architecture: “In them-

selves, the pictures, the phases, the elements of the whole are indecipherable. Only understand when the elements are juxtaposed into a sequential image.

It is hard to imagine a montage sequence for an architectural ensemble more subtly composed, shot by shot, than the one that our legs create by walking among the buildings of the Acropolis. At first sight, nothing could be more

ards of Auguste Choisy uneven than this plan, but in fact it constitutes a completely balanced whole in which the general symmetry of the masses is accompanied by a subtle diversity in the detail.

Oblique views: they are more picturesque, whereas a frontal view of the facade is more majestic.

The calculation of a (film-) shot effect is obvious.

Shots a and b are equal in symmetry and, at the same

time, the opposites of each other in spatial extent.

Shots c and d are in mirror symmetry, and function.

A short film about an architectural element, conveying the spatial experience of the architectural element by the film.

Inspired by Nigel Coates’s Diagrams

Melbourne School of Design

SUMMARY: B1 After this week, I find cinema and its aspects have significant impacts on the way I think about architecture. After reading about a few #architectsoffilms, #themontagetheory and put into application the techniques and concerns of cinematography such as #commonalities and #movementdiagram, I started to really appriciate the time I spent on doing the homework and tutorial exercise. For me, the biggest impression that cinema bring to architecture is #perspective, because if we truly taken into consideration the perspectoral aspect of architecture, we could really manipulate the movement and the architectural experience, which I personally, think that it is the greatest aspect that everything else could be built around in an architecture project.

JAMES CAMERON

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B2.

1. WHAT

- Attack the context - Suspend the judgement - Embrace complexity

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2. HOW

- Search for patterns - Deepen the themes - Sharpen the frames - Be prepared

3. OUTCOME

- Create the moment - Follow through

P E R S O N A L K E Y W O R D S

A design decison happens when you need to choose the direction of the design, by resolving the questions/concerns of the projects, such as design methods, narratives and scale in an inherent manner, after following and responding to the matters of What, How and Outcome.

- perspectival and situational thinking - opportunitites, possibilities - recognition, realisation - repetition, tendency - diversity, interrelation, alternation - coherence, communication - justification - feedback, reflection - reconsideration, intergration

By analising and examining my design decision, I could understand myself as a designer so much more. As in other words, I need to know who I am because: “If you do not know where you come from, then you don’t know where you are, and if you don’t know where you are, then you don’t know where you’re going. And if you don’t know where you’re going, you’re probably going wrong.”

Terry Pratchett

Personally, I think that by coming up with my own keywords for the framework really helps me to understand the effectiveness of it at a new level, because each designer has his/her own framework/agenda, and our own understandings and interpretations are what distinguish one design to another.

TASKS

INSPIRATION

FORM

OUTCOMES

REGULATIONS

CULTURE

ARRANGEMENT

OBJECTIVES

SITE

PRECEDENT

MOVEMENT

BRIEF

CONTEXT

RESEARCH

COMPOSITION

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2

3

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How to build the Brief? . Clients needs/wants . Problems What is the big picture?

What needs to be done?

What is the brief?

Are there problems?

Where are the problem?

Which projects have similar problems?

What solutions were made?

How successful are the solutions?

What are the possible forms & layouts?

What are the pros/cons of each?

How do they affect movement & circulation?

STORYBOARDS DIAGRAMS

MATERIAL

STAKEHOLDERS

PRESENTATION

SKETCHES

DIGITAL/PHYSICAL

CLIENT

REFLECTION

VISUALISATION

MODELING

FEEDBACK

FINALISE

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How is the spatial experience?

How many ways can the design be represented?

What are the pros/cons of each representation?

What changes needed to be made?

Which direction should the project be headed

How successful is the design?

What are the improvements for future projects?

1 Who is the target, or who am I designing for?

2 What are the needs?

3 Are there problems? What are the problems and where are they?

4 What are the framework & limitations?

5 What is it going to be used for?

6 What are the precedents that have similarities?

7 Were those projects successful? If not, why?

8 What can be learned from them?

9 What are the possible forms and arrangement?

10 What tools can be used to explore these possibilities?

11 What is the spatial experience that I want to create?

12 How can I visualise the space?

13 How many ways can I represent my ideas?

14 What can be learned from these different representation?

15 What are the solutions for the issues/difficulties that come up?

16 Should there be any changes? If yes then how are they better than the originals?

17 Who should be asked to get feedback from?

18 Do I find these feedback helpful? If yes, then how?

19 How successful is my final design?

20 What can I learn from this project for future improvements?

Decisions & Reflection

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Design a museum in Melbourne suburbs Describe what kind of atmosphere you want to achieve In your design.

If the building only cover an area of 50m2. But is has to include toilets, art gallery and a small cafe. How you design your circulation.

Describe what kind of material you want to apply on the building surface and interior spaces.

Jinxia Wang

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ga lle m el r y, -5s ca 0umb fe u2r 50 b m

Design Brief:

to

Tutorial Exercise

m

In my mind, I imagine my museum to have a typical welcoming atmosphere that museums should always convey.

In terms of spatial experience, I want the movement and circulations to be free but at a slow/intermediate tempo, that is enough to relax and enjoy artworks. The walls should not be too much textured but rather smooth and simple, so that the artworks could stand out. While the gallery has a lighting system to highlight the artworks, I designed the cafe to have grand openings/windows as the contrast could possibly result in people can start comparing between the imaginery world of art and the real world, while they enjoy their drinks. The major difficulty for me is the requirement where the design can only consume 50m2. I tried to incorporate the transitional space between the gallery and the cafe and make the most of my space but the final outcome did not seem realistic in terms of scale/dimension.

The brief, for me, was quite simplistic and lack of depth as the main purpose of the exercise is to reveal aspects of the three teams: Amenity, Technology and Poetry. When I designed my exercise, I clearly highlighted the allocated tasks for each team, e.g: Poetry for the overall form and composition, Amenity for the movement and circulation , and Technology for materials and spatial experience. I also asked the assigned student to do his/her own reflection of the job allocation and the order of them, in order to reveal the fact that in design, the starting point can really vary to create various outcomes.

SUMMARY: B2 B2 revealed that the process of coming up with design decision is a very complicated process, in which the steps are interrelated to each others. Despite the fact that there are various types of decision making processes, they all have certain similarities that could be summarised into one simple linear process. It is also very helpful for designers to reflect on their decision making considerations for different projects to find commonalities, which allows them to avoid repetition and be able to come up with more variations in design. Truly understand myself as a designer, could give more space for improvements and allow me to distinguish myself from other designers.

B3.

#PERCEPTUAL:

Cannot see problem or useful information – eg through stereotyping #EMOTIONAL:

fear of risk, prefer to judge but not gener#CULTURAL:

taboos, traditions > changes #ENVIRONMENTAL:

C R E AT I V E

distractions, lack of cooperation, trust, and belief in reality #INTELLECTUAL:

insufficient/incorrect information, wrong way of approaching #EXPRESSIVE:

inappropriate mode of approaching, expressing, recording ideas

BLOCKS

UN-STUCK

GETTING Take a break Changing frame of reference Changing medium of working Changing when you work Arbitrary exercises Arbitrary time periods -

Staying CREATIVE

1. Make lists ✓ 2. Carry notebooks 3. Try free writing ✓ 4. Get away from the computer 5. Quit beating up yourself ✓ 6. Take breaks: I have too many ✓ 7. Sing in the shower ✓ ✓ ✓ 8. Drink coffee ✓ 9. Listen to music ✓ ✓ ✓ 10. Be open ✓ 11. Surround yourself with creative people 12. Get feedback ✓ 13. Collaborate 14. Don’t give up: give up quite often haha 15. Practice ✓ 16. Allow yourself to make mistakes ✓ 17. Go somewhere new 18. Count your blessings ✓ 19. Get lots of rest 20. Take risks ✓ 21. Break the rules ✓ 22. Don’t force it 23. Read a page in the dictionary 24. Create a framework 25. Stop trying to be someone else’s perfect 26. Got an idea? Write it down ✓ 27. Clean your workspace 28. Have funnnnn ✓ 29. Finish something: I’m trying!

I N

Creativity simply does NOT come naturally and it cannot be staged. When we are designing, creativity only comes when we are NOT overthinking. A state of psychology comfort is necessary to be creative, but it also does not mean that we can let go of thinking, which will probably lead to the death of creativity. We only consider things as ‘new’ when it has some features that does not perform correctly to expectations, and expectations are created from nature/natural rules. Therefore, in other words, we need to work against nature to be creative, and that requires a lot of patience and courage from our cognitive central.

Personally, whenever I can get rid of creative block, I get a lot of motivation and excitement that can bring my mind to the comfort zone, that is needed to be creative. When doing my subject DDF, I started form-finding physically because I’ve always been scared (emotional block) of the digital creation process. I find them too complicated for me (cultural block), and we designers all have different intelligence (Theory of Multiple Intelligence). However, when my process got stuck, I took risk to start everything again patiently but from the digital model, and it paid me off with a lot of possibilities. I quickly got comfortable andthe whole process suddenly seemed to be like a playing process to me. It brought me joy.

E D U C A T I O N

DDF

SUMMARY: B3 B3 pretty much showed what it takes to be creative, by pointing out creative blocks and how to avoid these obstacles. Personally, i think that in most of the time, creativity does not come naturally at all and all designers need to figure out their own methods of staying creative. However, I think that the best way is to not overthink and put too much pressure on yourself, because eventually, being creative is a state of mind that happens when our minds are feeling comfortable enough to be open to possibilities rather than feeling pressured enough to choose the safe way again. Therefore, I always try to comfort myself when designing and non-stop encouraging myself to try new things.

C

EVALUATING DESIGN IDEAS

C1. DEVELOPING DESIGN IDEAS C2. SELECTING DESIGN IDEAS C3. DESIGN COMMUNICATION

C1.

1. Cloning

3. Form of counterbalance (scores)

2. Recomposing (fractals)

4. Elaborating Ideas

Developing Design Ideas Classes of Strategies 5. Grafting

6. Sequential Enrichment

TACTICS:

STRATEGIES:

• Subtitute something • Combine with something else • Adapt something to it • Modify & Magnify it • Put it to other use • Eliminate something • Reverse/Rearrange

1) Cloning ideas: repeating sets/series/

variations of a theme.

2) Recompose: increasing complexity.

3) Forms of counterbalance: develop an idea as part of a complementary element.

4) Elaborating ideas: building on hints in the ideas or mutate/morph an idea.

5) Grafting ideas: adding different ideas to the original idea or and work with them at the same time.

6) Sequential enrichment: unfolding the process, good for demonstration

“One way of developing design idea is to deal with additional scales ”

Technology

Amenity

Poetry

Largest Scale

Construction Organisation

Operation

Culture

Middle Scale

Structure Material

Systems

Ambition

Smallest Scale

Tools

Function

Interest

ARCHITECTS

HOMEWORK • Revisit the Scales of Consideration slide and its diagram.

• Replace the column headings with Technology, Amenity and Poetry.

• Replace the original entries at each scale with approproiate ones.

• Discuss in relation to your own design project.

REFLECTION

STUDENTS

In this version of the Scales of Consideration, the columns of Context, Participants & You have been replaced by Technology, Amenity & Poetry, which means that the within the process of developing ideas itselfs, the method of working on different scales might be applicable for different kinds of development aspects. The more design aspects are put into the Scales of Consideration, the more complex and specific the ideas bxecome. In this particular version, the purpose of this homework exercise is to ask students to define and reflect on their understanding of Technology, Amenity and Poetry that they have been working on throughout the whole semester, and then find appropriate technical terminologies to narrow down the characteristics of these three aspects into key words at different scales of design. In other words, student are asked to show how the three architectural terms: Technology, Amenity and Poetry changes by the definition from the Smallest to the Largest scale. The changes of the key words determine the student’s own interpretations of the three aspects in different scales. Furthermore, I agree with Greg Missingham on his opinion about how in University generally and Design Workshop specifically, students are only taking the Small and Middle Scale into consideration, while the Large scale is for the big names in the architectural profession.

S.o.C Shuffles

Digital Design & Fabrication

Second Skin Project - Ideas Developments “The brief calls for innovative design of a second skin; a volume or surface that uses the body as it’s site/ landscape.

The second skin will explore, measure, and/or negotiate the boundary of personal space. The body will form the site of investigation, measurement and intervention. You are asked to define individual/group responses to the idea of personal space and address this idea through the design of the second skin.You will then make the second skin and wear it in week 12 for a video filming of the performance.”

Brief Summary

D e vel opment Ref l e c ti on

SUMMARY: C1 C1 introduced me to many useful design tactics and strategies, and taught me on how to determine which strategy is effective on my case, by examining various works of many big names. As I went through my reflection on previous projects, I’ve improved my understanding of how to tackle problems, especially where to tackle them and how far should I tackle (limiting scales and boundaries). My reflection proved me that sometimes it is most efficient to simply changing the scales of different design consideration, and the more aspects are being considered at different scales, the more complex and diverse our designs could become.

C2. 1

3

3

1

“The café’s design, which was taken away from Gehry to save a few pennies, is dreary.

In the hall itself, Gehry included room for a never-built orchestra pit, which would have offered the L.A. Phil greater flexibility for staging opera. The knock-off Gehry elements — such as the loudspeakers sometimes trotted out on the stage and the Champagne bar in the lobby — have got to go.”

Dan Glaister, 2004 on The Age

2

“... The abruptness of that entry — and the way the wide outdoor stairs leading up from the corner of Grand and 1st Street have always been underutilized, even orphaned — still leaves many visitors to the building disappointed...”

Christopher Hawthorne, 2013 on L.A Times

3

“The shiny surface of the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, designed by Frank Gehry and opened last year at a cost of $US274 million is, it appears, too shiny.

Following complaints from neighbours and an investigation by the city government, the gleaming surface of the hall is to be sandblasted to remove some of its sheen.”

Mark Swed, 2013 on L.A Times

These are three critiques on Frank Gehry’s famous Walt Disney Concert Hall. They are all based on public reception and the impacts on public when the building has been operating for a few years (after work critics). While the first is written from the author’s own experience, the second and third critiques are based on collected statistics and information, which make the judgements become more persuasive. Furthermore, they sound like they are serving the interest of most visitors and affected parties instead of single perspective, which prove that the critiques have been evaluated in a greater context. The range of issues is mainly around operating efficiency and material function (Amenity and Technology).

Thai

Lester

Xiaojin

Thai

Lester

Xiaojin

Thai

Lester

Xiaojin

Visual Interest

17

22

18

17

21

16

22

19

23

Functionality

40

45

38

43

40

40

48

50

49

Buildability

16

17

14

16

13

16

13

14

17

Results

73

84

70

76

74

72

83

83

89

Final Score

76

74

85

DECISION

MATRIX

Assessing Own Works - Criterias 15% Intellectual Ambition

What has been learned from pragmatics precedents, philosophy and researches?

15% Execution/Presentation

How ideas were successfully developed, translated and communicated through different modes of architectural representation?

30% Issue Addressed

How many issues of the brief does the design answer and how convincing were the answers?

10% Stretching Capacities

How hard have you tried to push yourself to your limits?

15% Acknowledgement

What has been learned throughout the whole project?

15% Design Skills

What improvements were made on your design skills?

N

GRADE (%)

SELF ASSESSMENT 40%

PROJECT ASSESSMENT 60%

CRITERIA (marks)

0

P

H3

49 50

64 65

Intellectual Ambition 15 marks Execution / Presentation 15 marks

12.45 11.7 27

Issue Addressed / Result 30 marks Stretching Capacities 10 marks Acknowledgement 15 marks Design Skills 15 marks

FINAL MARK

69 70

7.5 10.95 12.3

82

H2

H1

79 80

100

83% 78%

90% 75%

73% 82%

82%

The Weaving Skin

Tutorial Exercise NYC Aquarium

Propose implementations of an intertwined public aquarium and experiment with conventional interpretations of the program and investigate how it can create a more appropriated relationship to itscontext.

#WHAT: An Aquarium in NYC #WHY: many of these waterfronts could be absorbed by private developers and, #WHO: public/community with the constant return of people to the #WHERE: The egde of Queens urban core, the need to create public

along East River

#HOW: Programs:

_ Main Lobby Space _ Exhibit Areas _ Marine Research _ Service Spaces _ Integrated Waterfront Park

and cultural infrastructure becomes more prevalent.

Objectives:

_ Investigate new programmatic interpretations of an aquarium. _ Create useful public space. _ Create a dialogue between the program and the urban context. _ Provide opportunity for education on sustainable marine practices. _ Create a cultural destination for the community and city.

Brief analysis

Generative Design Method Keywords:

- (Function) Maximise openess - (Form): Simple geometry - (Spatial Experience): Interactive & friendly atmosphere - (Materials): Glass & metals allow transparency and sense of modern/new interpretation - (Colours): natural, blend into nature Ground Level

In studio, Toni and I were first asked to come up with our own logo represeting the firm’s identity when participating the competion. We tried to reflect our architecture language on our Sprinting Process: Generative Designing because it is always more efficient to choose design method before actually trying to design, which is something we both learned from previous topics. Our graphic style and designing theme is reflected from the way we designed our logo. However, we did not quite fully finish our three representation pages, but only finalised our proposed design, which was demonstrated under a perspestive diagram. The design could be very quickly interpreted to fit in the site image as the overall form is very similar to site boundary. Horizontal lines showcased the two depth levels of the design. It could be read that the

proposal is a composition of up-down circulation paths wrapping around the marine space, which was divided into 4 different exhibit spaces as required in the program.

Despite the fact that our design was not completed because we were stucked, we looked up the competition to see the winners’ proposals so that we could have a better idea of how people in the profession could interpret their ideas according to a quite narrow brief. Trying to figure out how these proposals had successfully addressed the issue, and how they stand out from other designs helped us to understand what it takes for a design to be selected from thousands of them.

SUMMARY: C2 I think the main purpose / learning objective of C2 is to provide students with the ability to properly analyse the assessing criterias, because a good understanding of the rubrics and what is needed in different situations allows our designs to not just be able to successfully resolve the issue, but also allow them to profoundly reflect our uniqueness in design. Furthermore, by being asked to examine critiques and point out unpersuasive aspects of famous projects, I could go through the mind of critics when I need my design to be as convincing as possible. Lastly, I also learned that the assessment process really varies, depending on whether the criterias are being project-based, authoritybased or student-based.

C3.

‘SELLING’ DESIGN IDEAS through

Presentation & Communication

0. what is your design position?

#WHO are you presenting to?

1. narrative: a form of story telling

#WHY did you do these drawings?

C R E AT I V E

The lecturer opening slides on the topic of ‘Selling Ideas’ seems to really ‘sold the idea’ to me, because his graphic style was very simple, straight forward and extremely bold. Some slides literally contains only two words, but he proved that they are two very important keywords.

It reminded me of the TEDTALK about how beautiful data visualisation is if we can communicate effectively in topic A, where McCandless pointed out that we should only emphasis on important words.

2. knowing your concept

3. use of precedent

4. three levels of communication

UN-STUCK

#WHAT is the studio agendas?

5. presentation techniques _ 2d, 3d + graphics 6. the observer - how the EYE works 7. laying out the page 8. talking to your pages

1. FRAMING YOUR DESIGN:

as a solution to your interpretation of semester agenda Grab audiences attention by terms

‘Im really intrigued by… . .’

‘Through my exploration of…I discovered .. .’ ‘wow! This studio makes me think about the possibilities for…. . .’

2. NARRATIVE:

a form of story telling to g and verbal communicat

- Know your big idea and your small - Layout reflects a predetermined sto - Communicates DESIGN CONCEP LOGICAL SEQUENCE. - Narrative shares INSIGHTS into th may not detect from design solution.

structure

Response to

- Clients or users agenda - Your agenda as a designer - The context

Strategies for your:

- Stru - Massing - Pro - Skin/materials - Atmosphere/experience - Flo

graphic questions

- Where does idea come from?

- What influences helped create it?

- What does the design look like?

-

guide images, layout tion.

ler supporting ideas. oryline PT and discloses information in a

he creative process that the audience .

ucture ogramme/functions/brief ows/circulation

- How does it relate to the setting?

- From what is it made?

- How is it built?

3. CONCEPTS

know your insights and concepts use your graphics to illustrate. support with insightful title, annotation, repetitive colour coding and use familiar symbols using diagrams advances the process of an idea. complex ideas need to be made explicit

4. PRECEDENTS:

research to support your outcomes - Illustrates the composition of innovations and past experiences.

- Illustrates the model followed / adapted - Observe life around you - Movie for spatial experience or qualities

7. PRESENTATION TEC

explore your options, e diagram purpose: clari analytical diagrams - s.w.o.t - existing conditions of site

justapose

- factu - reaso

- text – explanation - diagram of idea - actual plan of outcome

5. LEVELS OF COMMUNICATION:

overall impression: entire composition) main images supporting details

6. THE OBSERVER:

eyes detect movemen

seeks greatest visual in

- graphics dominate the text

contrast in info

- colour dominates grayscale

counter balance

- large dominates small

visual novelty

CHNIQUES

expand your skills ifying big ideas

ual supporting research ons to act

nt & changes

nterest

8. LAYING OUT THE PAGE:

- What is your first impression you are creating?

- What is the focus of each page?

- What is your big idea that you are testing with this design/concept?

- What presentation skills do you have/want to develop?

- What drawings will best communicate your design?

mock-up your layout and programme your time drawings to include: - concept + context - plan + sections + render + model - construction diagrams

9. TALKING TO YOUR PAGE:

- focus on things that can not be visually scanned by audience - set the scene (first 3 sentences critical) - focus on relationships between - use your VOICE and GESTURES to highlight - engage your audience (face them!)

- sound passionate about your project - don’t start with an apology or highlight a problem

think of your voice as a highlighter

REFLECTION: STUDIO EARTH In studio, I’ve been given time to prepare my presentation boards and drawings schedule for final presentation for my current studio, which was Studio Earth. This was really helpful to me because I could raise my discussion on aspects that I found concerning. After having explained the narrative, the concept of my proposal and my presentation intention to my tutor and peers, I received many valuable feedbacks. I was considered to have a very strong ambition that could really stand out, but only when I can present my idea convincingly. I was informed with many useful sources and materials such as relevant authors, precedents and study websites, that could possibly help me to produce drawings and diagrams that represent my concept profoundly. In terms of layout, even though we had different thoughts on the arrangement of the contents, we agreed on the importance, the strength and weaknesses of each type of drawings / diagrams so that I could position and resize them in a proportion that communicate ideas effectively. If only I had raised more questions about how I should talk and go through my design, because despite the fact that I had practice my speech carefully, I did not quite use the most proper words and terminologies to make my presentation become more persuasive. However, my Earth tutor and guess still gave positive feedback on my graphic representation and commendation on visual communication, despite my verbal clumsiness.

SUMMARY: C3 Despite receiving some comments about how C3 is considered to be a minor topic generally, I personally think that the importance of Design Communication through Presentation is absolutely undeniable. Eventually, as someone who fell in love with the architectural profession, I think that C3 is the part when I could finally be able to reveal how hard have I worked and how passionate I have been with the project. A convincing and well planned-out presentation could really leave strong impressions on the observers and truly tell them who we are as designers. I believe this is definitely one of the most essential skills to master in order to become successful in the profession.

DESIGN WORKSHOP THAI BUI 842574