DAB510 - Week 4 Reflection

Above are the submitted panels which were created to emphasize easy understanding of the concept and welcoming graphic design.

During the lecture we were introduced to the theme groups and there were interesting themes along with a few airy fairy themes. My interest lies in the Inter-cultural designing as this is one of the major concerns for designing in the real world at the moment. At the moment we have architects who do address these issues but just scratch on the surface. Gregory Burgess addresses aboriginal culture quite well and develops the understanding that architecture can communicate there dedication to their land. An example of one of there better known projects would be the Uluru Kata-tjuta Cultural Centre.

The other interests were 1:1 architecture and the Library one. 1:1 is quite interesting due to the knowledge the PHD student posess' and what he could share in regards to the standardization of Archicad/Revit and how design is limited or way too complex due to the programs we use. We need to find a balance between technologies.

DAB510 - Week 3 Reflection

Through this week we resolved the concept behind the design and were struggling with locating the Folie. Why? The context is there but the uses of the space and how people transit the site is rather an unknown territory and we can only assume that the site is going to be reinstated as it was previously pre-2011 floods.

By assuming this we had identified the edge of the site where it links all three districts, Fortitude Valley, City & Newstead together. This would be a great position due to the proximity of the city and demand.

By proposing the Folie where it is situated it will create a defined area where "learning" folies can be created in unison. This Folie will be the first of several installations. In the not too distant future we will install other sensory experimental Folies.

As this is only a concept we agreed to keep it very minimal and open to suggestions. Renders are kept to a minimal but enough to have a sense of scale and the materials installed. This is to develop the users understanding of the concept proposed. This is our constructivist stab at it trying to tie it to the story bridge whilst maintaining geometric shapes both aesthetically and functionally.

DAB510 - Week 2 Reflection

Through week two's lecture, certain questions were raised, along with a more defined brief. What is learning? how can we engage with it? How can space be developed enough to be self learning? is this the future for space? I understand that as architects we can create spaces that function towards teaching from students to teachers but how can space be be learnt?

What does learning mean?

• to gain knowledge or skill by studying, from experience, from being taught etc.

Architects can create spaces for the definition above, but in a "folie" context, i believe learning is achieved through "experience" rather than studying or being taught. In short, a space that can be learnt from. This space can further adapt and individuals can be apart of the folie in how they occupy the space.

Typical design ideologies are to be considered such as context, district, time, season, even, cultural & social factors and is to be displayed in a graphical method of diagrams. The main underlying issues presented in class which we are to identify in depth are as follows

• Tension/Compression
• Heavy/Light
• Solid/Void
• Bright/Dark
• Natural/Artificial
• Soft/Hard
• Comfortable/Disturbing

1. Abstraction - Impression/filter/perception (interaction).
2. Metaphor - Narratives/analogy/comparison.
3. Scale - Point of view/perspective/relationship.

 In the tutorial there was a single tutor with a theoretical background providing more questions rather than answers. Rather than defining the brief and the issue he created more invalid points. The important aspects he provided were that we have to create a problem and resolve it through our folie.

Our group had a few concepts which created a bit of confusion as to what is right. Obviously there was no right answer, though agreed upon my general concept and problem. My problem i set out was, "How do we become more aware of people with disabilities with the general context of Brisbane's culture?" I understand that there are building codes out there to comply with, but this is rather ignorant to understanding the real issue. There is no code to understand there situation or what they're feeling, yet we are to design based on codes that are written in books. Buildings with PWD accessibility is a must in this society so we must change the thinking process behind our designs for the future. For the benefit of the social & cultural issues of Brisbane as an entirety.

PWD is a very broad term in which it classifies all disabilities in one. PWD stands for "People With Disabilities". This can refer to the blind, the partially blind, elderly, paraplegic etc. What they all have in common is due to the fact that they are missing one of there essential senses the other 8 are heightened to compensate.

The 9 senses:

1. Sight
2. Touch
3. Smell
4. Taste
5. Sound
6. Heat
7. Kinisthetic
8. Balance
9. Physiological pain

 Through architecture we learn through experience. My concept revolves around a journey through losing sight partially and become more aware of how essential it is. Initially its a juxtaposed design concept where the exterior is solid geometrically a cube but internally it consists of organic lines. This is the first stage of being blinded by your vision, deceived by your sight. Through the journey you will have to use your sense of touch to guide you to the limited light penetration. Whilst touching your hearing sense will be more in tuned with the sense of kinisthetic being applied to the internal space. You will reach the middle and feel tactile which identify danger to the blind. Through the hump you will use your sense of balance, considering that there is limited light, this will be a difficult task. The moment you exit you’ll be glad to be out. Have an epiphany and re-connect with the world with your heightened senses and acceptance of the blind? 

I found the hardest problem with my design was just situating it on site since its large scale and tying it to the context. My raw concrete is to be tied into the existing debris there from "history". This folie is to create a space where we can understand their situation and how we can relate and communicate with people with disabilities so that "understanding disability is of the past".

DAB525 - Week 2 Reflection

Through this lecture the main aspects Mirko covered were some theories in the perception of the environment such as.

• Thick places - Deep lived experience
• Thin places - erased of any locality
• engaging community --> safe environment

Gordon Cullen, The concise townscape (1961)

• Serial vision approach
• Place (Here & There)
• Content (This & that)

 Kevin Lynch, The image of the city

• Mental image (interviews)
• Visual Quality. Legibility of the city scape
• Identity / structure / meaning
• "image-ability" Quality of physical object which evokes memory and place.

Paths --> Edges --> Districts --> Nodes (points of interest) --> Landmarks.

Mapping & Photo's

• Boundary - Conventional subdivision
• Limit - Physical element
• Edge - an interface between two conditions

• Memorial - Tells who i am (our culture)
• Landmark - element to orient oneself. Tells where i am.
• Monument - Tells why the city has it layout (urban environment)

Venturi - Learning from existing landscape is a way of being a revolutionary for an architect.

An example of a study in class of what Mirko defined not a city was Las Vegas, due to the fact that it is a collection of objects (monuments) which does not make a city because a city requires relationship. This is due to the high demand in tourism which creates a thought pattern of demolishing old buildings and building new. So the city in total is full of exceptions so its hard to understand the rules.

Another example displayed in class was LA which is a mono-nuclear city. Designed for the motor vehicles as the main source of transportation.

K. Banhem. theory is the four ecologies.

• Surfurbia - Coastal area's which separate the water and the city (sand)
• Foothills - Middle/Upper class (Beverly hills etc)
• The plains of ID - Majority of people live
• Autopia - Motorways - main landmarks and its characteristics.

All in all the theories represented are only applicable to certain cities which limits these theories. Though these theories have opened up my understanding of how to analyze a city. My question lies between whether these theories can be utilized together to understand a city in more depth.

Walkshop.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the weather did not permit the walkshop. This didn't stop us from going and doing it on the day due to the hours available. Below is the route that we took.

With the theories that i learned in class i tried applying it to the walkshop and the results are below.

Elizabeth street looking south.

Elizabeth street looking north.

Edward street looking towards central station.

Rivers edge walking towards the Storey bridge.

Under the Storey bridge.

On the city cat observing kangaroo points new landmark.

 The experience of exploring the city to look for the ideologies in the "perception of the environment" was quite interesting. Observing people and the built context to see how people understood/interacted/perceived it.

DAB510 - Week 1 Reflection

Creation of Blog.

As the new semester starts we were introduced to our lecturer Yasu Santo. He shows depth in his theoretical body of work with the content and method of his teaching, though sometimes the pronunciation of his English is somewhat hard to comprehend.

The first assignment was assigned and there were heaps of confusion of the requirements and the content. After class i went to the Q&A's and clarified. The assignment is a "folie" which requires 3-4 people in a group participation. (I understand that you can research in more depth though the chances of showing more depth on 3 x A1's let alone come to a design conclusion that all the group members agree to is a relatively hard task). To be broken down the design is to consist of:

1. Concept (design)
2. Context (environment)
3. Function (purpose)
4. Tectonic (structural solution)
5. Experience (learn/teach)

 The design is limited to a spatial constraint of 5x5x5m though it does not include the "link" to the design. This is relatively silly because not being able to access the site let alone get a "feel" for it, to design a space which will enable users to learn is not realistic. We can only assume what it feels like to be under the story bridge, the feeling against the sheer scale of the rock facade or on the rivers edge separating Kangaroo point with New farm. We will not know how people originally used the space. With the large scale of the site and the limited access the design is constrained to be functional.

DAB525 - Week 1 Reflection

The first thing introduced in this class was the acknowledgement of the traditional owners of QUT. How does this relate to this subject?

The lecturer for this course is Mirko and compared to past lecturers he displays lots of depth in the theories he is teaching. 

The following pictures below were displayed and we were to come up with three comments.

  

The three comments I came up for the pictures are.

• ·         Organic Layout
• ·         Rivers Edge
• ·         Landscape

Why? As my eyes scan the picture to locate place and setting, I understand that the city was designed organically as there are no straight lines or attempts of “Master Planning”. The Rivers edge define the city’s layout and the landmark is somewhat centralized to the city and form a landmark due to the scale and context.

In my own terms and opinions I believe that architecture is the unity of space, form, context and history to create a built form which enhances the current context. 

I totally agree with the neighbors diagram, though I believe that sometimes they may be mutually exclusive. Why can’t you love your neighbor and love yourself? Many of these examples are shown in residential and commercial terrace architectural designs. 

As the lecture developed on Mirko displayed different functional cities. Some examples are military, capital, market, university, harbour, religious, factory, palace, bath cities. Most of these are situated and expanded due to the functionality of the city. Due to the era these were essential but as the times are advancing with the introduction of modernization of technology and evolving culture it would be interesting how new cities are developed. In the end he also showed how cities can be mono-nucleated or poli-nucleated through observing earth from space.

 

We soon had to describe the displayed cities organic or designed and i found myself looking for specific elements to understand both. For the more organic layout i found that it expanded out from a central area with minimal links and an erratic formation where "organized" is thrown out the door. I found designed cities were designed more around larger roads to allow for high amounts of traffic between areas. Even though there were some organically layed out with a city design they proved both useful for planning landscaping to separate districts.