ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN IV (ARC60508)
TUTOR: Ar Alina Choong
In Semester 4, projects revolve around the theme of “engaging environment and community”. Therefore, the studio explores design by harnessing environmental qualities and conditions for human and environmental sustainability through a project with a specific community of users within a given context. The projects involve studies of precedents on design projects that are responsive to environmental conditions and sustainable issues. Using the precedent studies, we are to explore the environmental poetics of the building enclosure that responds to the basic natural context such as the sun, wind, heat, cold, energy issues and existing building context with clustered built forms such as community centre, nature appreciative centre, research centre, just to name a few. Considerations should be given to the complexity of the program, site topography and vegetation, socio-cultural events, and a variety of passive strategies for sustainable design. The design work should contribute to and merge harmoniously with the environment and the site to provide the best of experiences for the community of users. Students are required to demonstrate applications of knowledge gained from the Architecture and Environment module from prior semesters and integrate research from the Asian Architecture module. The environmental elements and poetics of the context within a complex spatial typology create a design narrative that aims to foster a sense of community.
Project 01: Design Esquisse –
Disabilities Experience Pavilion
Project 1 is a group project which comprises of 3 students per group. This project deals with the understanding of material poetics in relation to user experience. Its objective is to showcase architectural design informed by material use, environmental sustainability awareness in relation to user needs and the activities involved. It is also to inculcate the understanding of basic building construction; from how structural design is a construct of architectural spatial design, to the tactile quality of materials and how they are put together to achieve spatial and formal quality.
The duration of the task is kept to a minimum which is to train and develop our ability to synthesize simple and quick design solutions as a result of our research and analysis on precedents. The task is a general term to refer to a simple structure such as pavilion, folly, playscape, relief, or an architectural installation. For this semester, a Disabilities Experience Pavilion that is meant to serve as a small recreational space in a hypothetical park for people with disabilities is the subject of exploration. The exploration of themes centred around the notion of addressing universal accessibility as well as the spatial experiences of disabled groups in this project will then relate to the programmatic requirements in Project 2. Each student group are to choose a specific type of disability (physical, intellectual, or sensorial) and to design a structure that would allow this user group to participate in a set of recreational activities. To the public, this structure will serve to highlight the importance disability awareness in the design of spaces.
PRESENTATION BOARD
Workshop 01
REFLECTION
In a group of 3, we have fixated on a specially designed playscape for the intellectual disability of autism spectrum disorder among children of the age of five to ten, namely 'Safescape'. Through a series of rudimentary and in-depth research, we've identify the difficulty of our targets in balancing and coordination. This has allowed us to think critically and put into careful considerations of the needs of our users in order that we may create a safe and well-suited space to cater their needs while developing their motor skills, engaging and stimulating their sensory development. Through observation of conventional playground designs that trigger the different sensory processing issues depending on the different autism spectrum levels, ranging from hypo-sensitivity to hyper-sensitivity, the idea of a reimagined playscape emerged where its design intends to offer three carrying sensory processing zones where users are able to transition and familiarise themselves from one space to another to suit their sensory processing needs.
I am grateful for my teammates who cooperated well and are responsible in each of our assigned tasks. I've learnt to work together as a team and to delegate task according to our specialties which enables us to work with efficiency and effectiveness. This project has also developed my Revit modelling skills as I managed to learnt new techniques and familiarise myself with the software. Overall, I find it a really fun and enjoyable project that has allowed me to step into the shoes of the disabled and to understand and experience space from their point of view as I approach my design process.
Site Analysis & Design Response
Site Analysis & Design Response aims to establish an understanding of the context for Project 2. In assigned groups, students have conducted a site visit where they record, observe, and gather data informing the physical and social dimensions of the context. The method used in data collection may include sketches, diagrams, photography, videography, audio recordings, secondary site data from various local authorities, and simple interviews focusing on but not limited to these said dimensions, as listed. We then had to identify the intangible qualities together with the physical inventory that shape the character of the site. From the analysis, we have then developed individual design responses to initiate our second project, Wellness Center PLUS, situated in Kepong.
PRESENTATION BOARDs
Presentation with Group Mates
REFLECTION
Before we commence our Site Analysis and Design Response as a tutorial group, we had the opportunity to conduct a physical site visit to Kepong Botanic Garden as a preliminary step before our second project. Our tutorial group members were sparse as we were divided into the various task groups for data collection before we could come together and compile our gathered information as one.
During the site visit, we made the right decision to head to site early in the morning as we managed to steer clear from the traffic jam and was awed by the lush greenery and refreshing morning breeze on site. We had the freedom to roam about on our own accord which grants us the opportunity to experience the place in our own pace. I find that the site visit is helpful in enabling me to visualise and conceptualise my ideas as I had a clearer and more comprehensive understanding and depiction of site, coupling with a heighten awareness and sense of place as compared to the previous virtual site visits.
All in all, I find that communication is important within such a large group so that we may head towards a common goal. I've learnt the importance to listen to the opinions of my group members while voicing out my own without demanding my way. Though certain level of compromise is needed, I'm glad that in the end, we managed to reach a common ground where all 12 of us came in unanimous agreement in resolving on our theme and target user, Self-development for the Elderly, as a stepping stone as we proceed onwards with our individual projects.
Project 2: Wellness Center PLUS
Furthering the thematic exploration of “engaging environment and community”, Project 2 calls for the design of a Wellness Center PLUS within the Kepong Botanical Gardens, bordering the suburban neighbourhood of Taman Ehsan. Individually, we were required to provide full design proposals incorporating findings from precedent studies and site analysis. Afterwards, we will then generate narratives that respond to the environment and community as user groups within the given context and explore environmental poetics of building enclosure’s design solutions that reduce environmental impact utilizing various complex typologies of spatial organisations and a variety of passive strategies for sustainable design. The design should contribute to and merge harmoniously with environment and site and provide the best spatial experiences in fostering a sense of community and cultivating wellness among the occupants.
The class will be working within the Kepong Botanical Gardens which borders the neighbourhood of Taman Ehsan, Kepong. Located immediately opposite the entrance gate to Keong Botanical Gardens is Klinik Kesihatan Taman Ehsan, a health-care facility where we delve into the possibility of designing a Wellness Center in the Botanical Gardens as a sort of complimentary program to the health-care facility, which is more technical, and treatment based. While it will not be a treatment center, the wellness centre will explore the idea of well-being as something which is to be promoted among the community and as a concept which is linked to the experience of the natural environments of the Kepong Botanical Gardens.
Presentation Boards
Workshop Outcomes
Concept Presentation, Interim Presentation & Progress
REFLECTION
In Project 2, we were to designing a Wellness Center PLUS, a community health and recreational facility which in my case, a daycare for the elderly who are left at home as the working adults head to work and the youth to school, in order that they may bridge the time through self-development activities; the generation gap through communal and interactive spaces; their health through the assisted living spaces. Upon research and observation of the potential of the tendency of the elderly to be marginalised by the society due to their degenerative physical and mental health, I've included a community kitchen where the old can involve in volunteering work of cooking nutritious meals, utilising the site's existing herb garden as a means to contribute to the society and boosting their sense of purpose while keeping their heart, body, mind and soul nimble and enlivened.
This project has allowed me to explore the experience and quality of space from differing points of views. I was encouraged to delve more into the subject matter and to design with empathy in order to produce a design that does not merely draw the target user in but to ensure their sense of wellness and comfort is attained in each spaces as well. In order to reinforce the integration of design, programme and spatial qualities and experiences, I was also prompted to design spaces which are tailored to the target user's needs while adjoining architectural principles and justifications of its intended outcome. It was enlightening to witness the careful and cohesive meshing of concepts, architectural language, materiality, site context considerations and tectonics into designing an architecture that brings life and adds to its present locus. Overall, it was a fun and fruitful semester and I'm grateful for Ms, Alina who has patiently guided and assured me throughout the journey. With a newfound insight, I'm inspired to explore more interesting and infrequent ideas and themes for my future projects.
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