Winnie Ou_Arch 101 spring 2016 learning portfolio

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LEARNING PORTFOLIO Architecture 101 Spring 2016

Winnie Ou Instructor: Jerry Lum


TABLE OF CONTENTS –What’s Your Sign? – Phase 1: Concept Generation + Collages – Phase 2: Build it! – Iteration 1 – Iteration 2

–A Journey Of Discovery –Make a Wall, Make a Window, Evoke Wonder – Iteration 1 – Iteration 2 – Iteration 3

– Quick Reductive Study Models


What’s Your sign?

↑ Collage 1

↓ Collage 2

Our first assignment was to create at least three collages that best represent ourselves. Since this was the first course in the Architecture field, this assignment was very difficult for me to start with. I did not even know what collages were. Before I began putting up my three collages, I had to brainstorm first. To start, I wrote down a list a adjectives that I thought best describe me. In collage 1, I purposely put the words in a shape of a ladder to show my ambition to move up the ladder. I also arranged the adjectives from largest to smallest to differentiate my emphasis. After collage 1 was created, I thought I might want to interpret my personal qualities into pictures. Since I value my adventurous personality the most, and my ambitious dream of traveling around the world, I put a hot air balloon on top of a world map. As the hot air balloon is a symbol of adventure and instead of a basket, I used a cupcake to represent my creative, inventive, and foodie quality. Moving onto my third collage, I thought I might want to include what really matters me in my life, so I started putting up photo collages that sum up my activities. After I put the photos together, I took the photo at the lower left corner and saw the display boards as a great way to display my photos collections. Iteration 2 was meant to add a gallery feeling to my photo collage.

↓ Collage 3 – Iteration 1

Collage 3 – Iteration 2 →


Sign Generation Iteration 1 This project was assigned at the beginning on week 2 and the due date was two days after. Since this project was unexpected, and needed to be done in a tight time frame, I have to find whatever I have at home and start working on it right away. Objective:  Refer back to my collages and pick significant elements that best describe me and make a 2sided sign.  This sign must not exceed a volume of 24”x24”x6”.

Insight and Approach: The overall feeling I was trying to create was a child’s playful and pure mind with adventurous dreams. From the design point of view, I have included different elements and materials to make this project more eye appealing. Such as the warm color of the yarn a string with a high contrast wood stick and cardboard. I tried to hang the different items on the mobile at different level to make it more interesting and to represent different meanings. Reflections and Goals: The overall feeling I was trying to create was a child’s playful and pure mind with adventurous dreams. From the design point of view, I have included different elements and materials to make this project more attractive. Such as the high contrast of color and different layering. I tried to hang the different items on the mobile to make it more interesting and to add complexities to the overall project. However, I have not considered the weight of each item and the mobile was not well balanced.

Material List: Cardboard Card stocks String Yarn

Plastic bottle Mini Photos Paper clips A button Wood stick

Glue Scissor Embroidery hoop


Sign Generation Iteration 2 After presenting my first sign to the class, I was glad that most people were able to understand the meaning behind my design. For my second iteration I was planning to build upon my first design and to make it more complex. Objective:  Refer back to my first design and pick significant elements that are meaningful to me and elevate my crafts.  This sign must not exceed a volume of 24”x24”x6”.

Material List: Cardboard Card stocks Foam boards Postcards Plastic bottle Mini Photos Stickers Push pins

Wood stick An oyster shell Glue Double sided tape Scissor

Insight and Approach: For this project, I wanted to keep the rotating quality of a mobile, so I decided to make a sign that could be rotated. I have included a suitcase as an element for my first iteration and I thought it was a good idea to keep that for the second iteration. During the presentation, people asked me if the suitcase could be open, so I came up with the idea that showing what could be inside the suitcase. From the design point of view, I have included similar elements from my first design, such as the mini photos that I took. I added new elements to highlight my adventurous quality, such as the train and flight tickets that I keep through the years, as well as the postcards from the places I visited.


Reflections and Goals: For the second iteration of my sign, I have used a lot foam boards to construct my project. Since I have never used foam boards before, it took my a fairly long time trying to cut the pieces and glue them. It was difficult to cut straight edges at first, however, with more practices, I was able to make the project the way I wanted it to look like. For my future projects, I have to make sure I have all the materials I need before I begin working on my project in order to save some time and trips to go get the materials. Even if I am short of materials, I need to think of ways to complete the project with whatever I have in hand without altering the design.


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A Journey of discovery: in search of lost wonder

For this project, we were supposed to take a journey to discover the local places that were unfamiliar to us. Since I have only moved to the San Francisco area for a few weeks, any places in town met the requirement. I have decided to go to Ocean Beach, Sutro Bath, and Seal Rocks State Beach. I also ended up going to Golden Gate Park as my last stop. This assignment was very interesting to me since I love taking photographs during my leisure time. I took over a hundred pictures for my journey of discovery. I also adjusted different lighting effects to make the photos better represent my feelings at the time stamp. The most challenging part of this assignment was to only pick five photos that could evoke the strongest feelings.


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PATH

“If the path before you is clear, you’re probably on someone else’s.” ― Joseph Campbell

- Risk Sutro Baths, San Francisco


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INTERSECTION “Paths cross all the time in this world of our, sometimes in the strangest places.” ― Stephen King

- Determination Seal Rocks Sate Beach, San Francisco

LIGHT & DARKNESS “There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in.” ― Leonard Cohen

- Hope Seal Rocks Sate Beach, San Francisco


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- Power

RAGE “hark, now hear the sailors cry, smell the sea, and feel the sky let your soul & spirit fly, into the mystic...” ― Van Morrison

Lakeshore, San Francisco

- Peace

HARMONY “Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.” ― Mahatma Gandhi

Lakeshore, San Francisco


Make a Wall, Make a Window, Evoke Wonder Iteration 1 Going into the fourth week of the semester, we started to build more meaningful models from our discoveries. For the first iteration, we can either build actual models of walls or we could use Google SketchUp to express our designs. Though I have some experiences in using SketUp, I have not use it for a long time, so I decided to revisit the software. I have created three simple set of walls shown below. The first set of wall (left) was a simple wall with a arch top. I used brick exterior to create a sense of nostalgic with a contemporary glass window to get a source of sunlight. The second set of walls (below) were created by translucent glass. These walls provide shelter to the audiences without interfering the views around them.

The third set of walls (below) was a semi-enclose area used for resting purposes.


Iteration 2 After my SketUp models, I decided to pick the most essential element – light, to create my next set of models. For the second iteration of walls, we were assigned to make two sets of asymmetry walls that could be put together as parallel walls. It was challenging for me to create something asymmetric, because we were so used to see symmetries in our daily life. My approach for the first set of walls was to create something that would allow the sunlight to penetrate but keep the traditional wall concepts. Bamboo was the first thing that came to my mind due to its high reflective surfaces. It would be nice to have no only the direct sunlight penetrating through the slits, but also have the sunlight reflect onto the ground or the area surrounded. The fence also gave partial privacy to the people that walks behind.

Putting up a wooden fence by weaving the wooden sticks together and painted green to create a bamboo looking fence.

In order to relate two sets of walls, I included an image of a panda on one of the columns for my second set of walls. The audiences would be able to see the image from the window of the bamboo fence. The panda on the other side seem to fit in as a whole picture.


My approach for the second set of walls was to create something that would evoke playfulness by using different colors. I wanted to create a wall with rainbow colors on it. Since one single flat walls seem boring and would not create enough spaces that I wanted to, I decided to put the colors on different columns, yet still able to see it as a flat wall from afar. However, I was not aware of the spacing between the columns when I was putting the columns on the ground. The product was not looking like the way I wanted it to look. On the back of the columns, I used images of bamboo and panda to connect the two sets of walls.

After I finished working on my two sets of walls, I have put them side by side to see if they were able to fit together. Overall they served my purpose. However, since the bamboo fence was twisted at an angle, the upper corner of the fence was touching one of the columns for the second set of walls. Even tough it was not meant to do that, it created an interesting space under the “roof�. These two sets of walls were meant to be placed in parks or playgrounds. The spaces between the columns and walls were great for the kids to play hide-and-seek. The shadow patterns that the walls were making would change through different time of a day.


Iteration 3 For the third iteration of the walls, we were suppose to write a narrative accompany with our design. A series of events were created to simulate the thoughts of the first time viewers of the structure. Through these series of events, we have to answer the questions of what will the first time viewers and think about the walls, and what feelings do they evoke. By putting ourselves in their shoes, we were able to better incorporate our ideas in the designs. From my second iteration of the walls, I wanted to keep the ideas of sunlight penetrating the walls providing slits of rays. My third iteration of walls was inspired by a xylophone. This kid instrument was able to trigger my childhood memories and wonderment. I have also added a sense of tension in the back of this structure to represent the transition between childhood and adulthood.

Excerpt from my narrative On my way jogging to the park in a sunny day, I saw a colorful structure in the middle of a playground nearby. I was wondering what that xylophone shape structure was for so I slowly approached it from afar. The eight rainbow windows facing in front of me really reminded me my first time playing with a toy instrument when I was a little girl. I would use the wooden hammers to hit they keys and I would appreciate the pure and bell-like sound that it makes. As I got close enough, I started to realize the panels were actually different color translucent windows enclosed by the white frames and topped by a roof. Between the frames, the light was able to get through the slits and made beautiful rays on the ground. So I walked around the structure and see eight cantilever beams sticking out from the walls. I carefully and gently stand on one of the dangling planks. I started to jump between the planks back and forth just like the kids around me. As I jumped off the last and highest beam, I said goodbye to the passageway. It dug out my child side and reminded me of the importance of having a child’s heart and purpose whenever I was confused. However, the fact of growing up was inevitable. Danger and risks were always involved in adulthood, I have to learn to overcome my fear and step up for my life. As people would say, after every storm comes a rainbow.


Quick reductive study models Quick reductive study models shown in the next page were created to study the different forms of one or more important aspects of my last iteration of walls. I have selected the windows and planks from the xylophone shaped structure as the study model. By answering the following questions and studying the reductive models, I was able to generate new ideas for my next sets of walls.

Critical Questions framing your model exploration: 1. How to incorporate my thoughts into the model? 2. How to clearly express my idea without using obvious design elements? 3. How to guide the audiences to think? Goals and objectives: including event related qualities and experiences to be imbed and evoke. Event 1 – translucent windows were used to evoke wonder Event 2 – Cantilever planks evoke a sense of danger Event 3 – The overall shape brings out childhood memories Event 4 – The transition from childhood to adulthood Conclusions that will guide your composite model for the next iteration. 1. Create more spaces to emphasize the different events and evoke experiences



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