My Journal

Design
Approaches & Methods Peien Zhang 375568
Lecture1 Introduction
STRUCTURE OF THE SEMESTER - - - - - Three Topics have returned after long absences In lectures for Topics, generally, fewer examples are provided but they are analyzed in greater depth Lectures will be more active + complemented by Readings Assessment tasks, Studio / Workshop exercises and Homework Exercises more closely align with the subject objectives What is required in Reflective Journals / Workbooks as for all Assessment tasks should be clearer (there are explicit rubrics) ASSESSMENT - A Journal (tracking your thoughts, reading and reflection on the subject matter of the Seminar, including reflections on favourite designers work and/or favourite or particularly puzzling or fascinating projects) (no larger than A3). - Additionally, the Journal will include a portfolio of worked examples both from Seminar/Workshops and from home = Workbook (again, no larger than A3). INTERIM SUBMISSIONS Topic A: 10% (Due 04/04) Topic B: 5% (Due 18/04) REFLECTIONS ON YOUR OWN WORK (Do one of them) - - - ANALYSES OF PAST PROJECTS (AT LEAST 3), CONSIDERED TOGETHER, or A DECISION DIARY FOR YOUR CURRENT PROJECT, or A PROVISIONAL MANIFESTO FOR YOUR FUTURE DESIGNING, BASED ON EVIDENCE TOPICS in 2011 Semester I Week 1: INTRODUCTION Topics A: Fundamentals + Mastering Design Thinking Structural Systems x Materials Number Crunching* Design + Diagrams People + Their Environment Design + Drama
Topics B: Designing for People: Nature + Culture
Topics C: More Difficult: Simplicity + Complexity Minimalism [Alex Selenitsch]

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Design + Narrative* Chinese Scholar Gardens* Many Ideas + Arguing a Case for Your Design
Week 11: CONCLUSION
Design Approaches & Methods Peien Zhang 375568
Lecture EXERCISE: DESIGN A HOUSE,DESIGN THE GARDEN OR FARM CONTAINING IT, or DESIGN THE CITY OF 300,000 THE GARDEN OR FARM RELATES TO...
House for Insects
House for Insects Garden for Insets Urban for Insects
A building has different insects in different layers for different insects. So, they can have some kind of communication. Sounds horrible, isnt it? Garden for Insects Try to divide the garden (an open space) into different parts for the insects. It also shows the respect to the separated territory. Garden for Insects Try to divide the garden (an open space) into different parts for the insects. It also shows the respect to the separated territory. Urban for Insects Inspired by the typology of insect, this urban planning is suit for both insects and human beings. It generally consists of private space and public space. What I feel about this exercise? Although it is a simple exercise, it reminds me something about unlimited design. A design with restriction is hard for designer to get started. Indeed, sometimes the limitation from exterior seems to be wicked, but it also inspires us the ideas or concepts at that moment.
No Budget No Context No Clients No Code
No Climate No Location No When No Preference

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To be honest, I feel hard to design with absolute freedom. Although no limitation makes designers hard to start designing at the very beginning, we all have some ideas or concepts towards any task based on our intuition and knowledge. In the architectural practice, our intuition has been twisted or influenced by the other factors.
NIGEL CROSS DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN THREE CULTURES The phenomenon of study The appropriate methods in each culture The values of each culture Culture Science phenomena the natural worlds methods values controlled experiment, objectivity, classification, analysis rationality, neutrality, and a concern for truth Humanities human experience analogy, evaluation metaphor, subjectivity, imagination, commitment, and a concern for justice Design artificial world modeling, pattern-formation, synthesis practicality, ingenuity, empathy, and a concern for appropriateness
HERBERT L DREYFUS LEVELS OF DESIGN EXPERTISE - - - - - - - VISIONARY MASTER EXPERT COMPETENT ADVANCED BEGINNER BEGINNER ------------------------------I AM HERE! NOVICE
Mastery entails: development and experience of control it leads to designing ones designing. CONTEXT: defining the field of possibility
Site
reference
ideas
Task
Designer
educanon
(What are you asking the design to do with the ideas? E.g. what do you want the building to be?) INFORMATION FLOW IN DESIGNING
DESIGNERS FRAMES OF REFERENCE Apollonian Dionysian THREE LEVELS OF DESIGN THINKING - - - - - - - - 1 Your own thinking How to design, design ideas, tactics, proposals The task What three new things did you learn today? What three things did you think you would learn that you didnt? What three things are you going to try out later? What do you now need to investigate? What will you ask your Studio Leader? List all your past design studio projects including Studio Leaders, how well you thought you did, what was worst, what was best about the experience, what you were trying to do in your designing, your design approaches & processes 2 3 Make a diagram so that you can present this in your Studio Make a list of the questions you would like answers for concerning your own work, your own designing that come from the Studio discussion Head 1 9 5 Eye 2 10 6 Hand 3 11 7 Heart 4 12 8 The everyday
DELIBERATIONS
Homework
Week 1 Reading Summaries, Homework and Reflection Readings Summaries

1. Design Strategies by Lawson, Bryan & Kees Dorst
- Design process Design strategies = design process
start : Problem
end : solunon
Designer is more on reaching a solution rather than on understanding the problem. But how you can solve a problem before you know what it is? Problem seeking is always the 1st step to engage, then you will not do something meaningless in the further design development. How designers begin and what sort of strategies do they employ to proceed?
Prepare by the client however client may not good at wrirng a good brief Brief (brief of problemsand understanding of problems) some of designer like simple brief so they can get a grasp on the whole project and gradually add with denal later heurisnc strategies : methods go straight to the solunon
Start
Find solunon (some designer like to nd solunons rst rahter than nd problems )
theorencal method: calculanon rst
- - - -

The primary generator ( Before design process start) The Primary generator Primary generator involves issues likely to be central (common sense) or critical to the problem. The primary generator always starts the design process with a main central idea/ concept/ parti. Although the main idea may appear simple as it is, it can be extend intensively. Source of primary generators
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- programme - external constraints - guiding principles Example of Design approaches (3 groups design a office building) Main process of 3 groups: sub-elements of the overall problem + solution of building form
focus internal constraints: user, employee, local taxpayer 1st and 2nd groups However , 1st group: focus radical constraints 2nd group: focus symbolic constraints dierneces between 3 groups
focus external constraints
3rd group try to achieve good social working environment
2 Understanding Design Cognition by Cross, Nigel

Outline
Design is not normal 'problem solving'
We therefore need to analysis and discussion of design cogninon rather than merely accepnng the 'problem as given'
1 How designer formulate problems. 2 How designers generate solunons. 3 Process strategies .

- How designer formulate problems?
Goal analysis
- Problem Formulation
Solunon focusing
Problem framing

In a design project it is often not all clear what the problem is. Sometimes, through the design research, designers have been trying to formulate design problems as resolve ill-defined problems.
Goal Analysis It is quite complex to define the formulation of appropriate and relevant problem structures from the ill-defined problem. So designers do not fully formulate the problem and jump to ideas directly, which resulting in ignoring the point of the task itself and focus on the inappropriate perspective. The evaluation of the solution seems to be more important for designers, rather than the analysis of the problem.
- -
Solution focusing
Designers are solution-focused, unlike problem-focused scientists. Co-evolution of problem and solution Designer use solution to develop the understanding of the problem. Proposed solutions often directly remind designers of issues to consider. The problem and solution co-evolve. Designer is to create a matching problem-solution pair. - - Problem Framing Designer is not limited to given problems, but find and formulate problems within the broad context of the design brief. Methods of faming
select features of the problem space to which they choose to avend
set boundaries and solunon goals
Problem framing
idennfy areas of the solunon space in which they choose to explore
Problem framing
select parncular things and relanons for avennon
- - 1 How designer generate solutions? Design solutions generate according to the existing examples Disadvantages : Fixation/fikseishen/ effect: designer produces solutions that contained many more features from the example design. Fixation could hinder conceptual design if it prevents the designer from considering all of the relevant knowledge and experience that should be brought to bear on a problem. It may: Stop designer to explore the problem and generate new design features. However, fixation is not that bad in design. Designer can learn from previous example of their principles and skills to make sure not making same mistakes.
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2 Attachment to Concepts = another form of fixation, initial solution ideas and concepts of designer. A dominant influence is exerted by initial design ideas on subsequent problem-solving directions, even when several problems are encountered, a considerable effort is made the initial idea work rather than to stand back and adopt a fresh point of departure. - Generation of Alternatives Having more than one solution concept in play should promote a more comprehensive assessment and understanding of the problem. However, this may not be true. Either choose generating few alternative concepts and generating a large number of alternatives were leading to poor design solution. (no unreasonable restriction of search space) So a relatively limited amount of generation of alternatives may be the most appropriate strategy. - Process Strategies (learning a systematic process helps student designers) Opportunism Creativity : design thinking Sketching: sketching helps to promote creativity in design thinking which keep designer to explore new ideas.
Designers deviate from a structured plan or methodical process into the opportunistic pursuit of issues or partial solutions to explore new ideas. However, it produces the ill-structuredness of problems in the early stages of design. Therefore, we should not equate opportunistic with unprincipled behavior in design but rather that we should regard opportunism as characteristic of expert design behavior. Modal Shifts Designers alternate their ideas rapidly in design. It may be related to the need to make explorations of problem and solution in tandem.
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Novices and Experts
Homework
List all your past design studio projects - - - - - 1. Bachelor 3rd Year Project
Project Community Centre
Including Studio Leaders? How well you thought you did, what was worst/best about the experience? What you were trying to do in your designing? Your design approaches & processes? Make a diagram so that you can present this in your Studio?
Tutor Aim of Design Dan Tang, Shenzhen University, China
1. Try to design a connection media between different residential areas at this district 2. Design a public stage at this building, make the building has both interior public space and exterior public space. Best / Worst Experience Best: 1. The folded plate create a very good hemisphere of interaction between residents. 2. The low-ground plaza has been presented as a terrific stage for public activities. Worst: 1. Due to the lack of construction and material knowledge, I did not figure out exactly what material should be used in this design.
Approaches & Process
1. Analyze the site and the surrounding environment 2. Do some research of the residents living in this area. Explore what they need. 3. Do experiments of different volume, shape and area models to have an idea of the building quantity. 4. Develop the interior and underground space with the faade design at the same time. 5. Focus on keep the balance of interior and exterior space, pay attention to the interaction of the building and the residents. Have some small modify.
2. Bachelor 4th Year Project

Project High-rise Office Building
Tutor Aim of Design Ning Li, Shenzhen University, China
Chegongmiao district will be developed from an industrial area to central CBD within 15 years. This building will play a role of the leader of the office building in this area, another connection point. A building with various functional space, like cocktail drink. Experience Best: project and carefully organize the circulation. 2. A mixture of regular and irregular space. 3. Engagement of eco-design. (garden in the building) Worst: 1. The faade has not been fully developed, lack of detail design. Approaches & Process 1. Check the reference of future urban plan in this area, try to figure what type of building we should design. Figure how many types of functional space. 2. Do volume models to calculate the area and FAR, ect. 3. Use a media to create a linkage between the general public and the active space of the building. 4. Design the twisted transportation space into detail, how the floor area will be separated. Best / Worst 1. Successful in presenting various functional space for different groups of people in this

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3. Bachelor 5th year Graduation Design

Project Redevelopment of Shenzhen Citizen Centre
Tutor Aim of Design Ning Li, Shenzhen University, China
Revitalize the Shenzhen Citizen Centre. Attract the citizen to have activities at here and rearrange the huge functional space inside. Experience Best: 2. Provide an efficient way of using interior in this huge building. Separate the circulation of residents and officials strictly. Worst: 1. As being an experimental project, the current construction technology and material can not support this huge roof with hotel, museum and swimming pool. Although I tried to design new attached core as mass columns to support, it is still quite hard to make into reality. This fantasy thing kept making me suffering in that 14 weeks. Best / Worst 1. Add the functional space into the worlds biggest roof, such as museum, hotel, restaurants.
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Approaches & Process
1. We do a lot of research on the urban central axis and try to make it clear how to activate the citizens intensive activities. 2. I choose to redevelop the citizen centre to optimize the citizen activities and attracting public attention. 3. Explore the two approaches for revitalization: one is re-arrange the functional space, the other is to redesign the roof. 4. Arrange the numerous CAD files from government and do research of the history of citizen centres design. Seek for the reasonable redevelopment plan. 5. Do research of the texture of urban area density of the future roof, in order to see what will happen on it. 6. Design the structural components for supporting the new roof, although it is a fantasy, just do something for explanation. 7. Re-arrange the functional space at the lower part of citizen centre. Start to create the platform to connect the roof. 8. Design the roof plan into details. 9. Defeat the committee in the graduation defense, impressed everyone.
My Design Process:
1. Analyze and Observe 2. Problem Seeking 3. Set Priorities 4. Experiments of Possibilities 5. Pick up the way for further development 6. Keep the balance between different Elements

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Reflection of week 1
I like the contents of the 1st week, because it reminds me something of the past. How I grow up in design area from a rookie to a beginner. When I tried to analyzed my past design, I can clearly tell the improvements of design thinking from each project. 3 things I learned this week: - design follows designers intuition - the way other factors affect designers decision - different types of designers 3 things I would learn that I did not: - - - Need to investigate: -The exploration of rational and logical design thinking should never stop. I will try to pay more attention to those reference of design thinking and design management, like <Problem Seeking>. Ask my studio leader Annemarie: - -
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accurate arrangement of design investment - skills of seeking for balance between different perspectives in a design project ???
how to keep the balance between different problems when tackling a design project? what is your experience? What is most worthwhile for us to invest to explore in this studio (Light, Shadow & Time)?
Lecture2 A1 STRUCTURAL SYSTEMS x MATERIALS

- - Diagram structure of the theatre room The function of this topic To see how apparently simple choices of structural systems have consequences for numerous other kinds of design choices, and To see how numerous other technical, material and geometric design choices have impacts on relationships between designs and possible structural approaches the Issue for the Week The issues of picture 1 - - - - - - The issues of picture 2 - - What make the structure successes? Cable bending and transfer the load to footings. The issues of picture 3 -
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Foundation is not strong enough (column, footings etc) Issues of materials (Wall is made of cardboard which is not weatherproof ) Fixing issues No load transfer Thermal performance, No water proofing Permissible span (joints and geometry length between joints)
Lateral resistance / wind resistance Foundation / footings
Cables
Central column of tree fall off which is not strong enough to support the whole structure.
How this structure success? (both sides are not fixed) Cables transferred load here
Structure supports by the cables that cable transfer the load to two sides.
How this structure success? - - - Top : thinner Aside: thicker Dome/arch: compression It change the aggregate of stone from aside to central - - - - - - - - -

SOME DESIGN VARIABLES THAT CORRELATE WITH STRUCTURAL SYSTEMS Shape & Scale of spaces - Lighting Geometry of planning - Materials Wall surface areas & Planning flexibility Lighting possibilities Thermal performance Acoustic performance Ease of construction Embodied energy Costs capital, running & life-cycle READING: STRUCTURAL SYSTEMS: SUPPORT & MATERIALS HOMEWORK EXERCISE
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- - - - - -
Footing, foundation Ventilation Load transfer Geometry Thermal performance Water proof
Week 2 Reading summaries, homework and reflections

Readings Summaries : Structural System X Materials + Design The table introduced in this reading provides the different possibilities for building structures in design. It does not only help us to understand architecture structure but also help us to find more options for our design. - - - Mass material / Area-supported construction (1) - Is equivalent to taking a bare field and pilling up material to form a mound or pyramid. - - - Mass material / line-supported construction (2) - System based on load-bearing wall. - Commonest form in which we encounter mass materials is in the form of modular units: bricks of fired-clay and blocks made of concrete or other more exotic materials such as glass, metal, terra cotta, and cinder breeze blocks and so on. - Linear supported, mass material construction has a tendency to standardize widths of spaces where the material is itself the spanning material-as in barrel vaults. Furthermore, the length of the vaults and its orientation to the sun determines both the quality of light and the quality of ventilation afforded. Mass material/ Point supported construction (3) - - Gothic structure relied on point supported construction. Mass material point-supported architectures allow exterior walls to be as light or as
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Definitions of types of support: Area-supported structural systems with mounds, pyramids and underground structures. (flat of hand) Line-supported structural systems with load-bearing concrete or brick partitions. (edge of hand) Point-supported structural systems are encountered with frame construction. (point of finger)
Installed mass of material such as a rock cliff or a field of earth and burrow. Cannot achieve good interior natural lighting. Advantages of thermal inertia and of longevity.
transparent as desired. Sheet material / area-supported construction (4) - Constructions based on skin materials supported over the entire area of their under surfaces by a marginal increase in the pressure of the contained air volume. - - - - Sheet material / line-supported construction (5) - The classical form in which sheet materials appear in line support construction is prefabricated reinforced concrete construction and concrete slab floors on reinforced, load bearing brickwork in high-rise and walk-up housing construction. - - Tilt slab construction is another form of sheet material line-supported construction. Because of the factory production of prefabricated elements, finish standards and precision of location can be controlled very closely. However, that means that on-site decisions about moving openings and changing finishes are constructionally difficult and time-consuming and therefore expensive. Sheet materials / point-supported construction (6) - Tents - - - - - - - - - Linear materials / area-supported construction (7) - Any column, linear materials are being treated as area-supports. The bundles of reeds are frequently sufficiently long to be bent over to form complete arches. Dwelling becomes large, barrel-vaulted structures. - Ideas of basket. Baskets are area-supported structures formed from linear elements.
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Inflated frame / fluid-pressurized frames/ inflatable, pneumatic structures Lack of rigidity and from the vulnerability to puncture and therefore questionable durability of the skins. Do not have thermal or acoustic mass. Used principally for temporary purposes.
It is hybrid between category 6 and 9. Advantages: Protected free space Lower transport costs High speed of construction
Disadvantages: Lack of rigidity Difficulties associated with sealing interior spaces Poor thermal and acoustic performance
Linear materials / line-supported construction (8) - Linear materials supported on lines do it in 2 ways: - - - - - - - Linear elements standing on their ends closely side by side Linear elements lying on their sides Achieve flexibility of positioning openings Supporting hand construction Use of smaller structural section for components of the frame Cheaper and more practicable Easy to construct and lightweight Linear materials / point-supported construction (9) - Structural system comprised of stick materials supported on points and cross connected at other levels exemplify what we call a frame. Post-beam structures and bamboo scaffolding are exemplar cases. - - - or tension but never both. - - - - Steel frame structure, tensegrity frames Large free span structure Expensive structure Advantages: flexibility of design, reduction in materials particularly in member size, enormous increase in effective spans, and they are not restricted to vertical and horizontal members only. There are two types of frame construction: Frames in which members are both in compression and tension Frames in which members are constantly wither in compression
- - - - -
HOMEWORK EXERCISE
Consider your favorite building or your previous design. Where does it generally belong on the 3 x 3 Structural Systems diagram in the Reading for this Topic? Does it belong in more than one square? Now, move one square in each direction on the diagram & redesign it to suit. What do you learn? How many consequences of the change can you list and describe? Do it again (steps 2 & 3) until youve had enough.

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1. Raymond priestley building, University of Melbourne The category of Raymond priestley building is 3 that structural system comprised of mass materials supported on points (columns).
Mass materials: bricks
Supports: Concrete columns
Plan - - Experiment : transform 3 to 2 & 6
Category 2: It required structural system comprised of mass materials supported on line which often referring to constructions based primarily on system of load-bearing walls. So instead of using large columns for support, I choose to use load-bearing brick walls for support to achieve category 2. I guess the new structure of Raymond priestley building works well. However, we may spend more money on in-situ concrete walls than concrete columns as it may spend more materials. Furthermore, the new concrete walls close the walkway for students.
Plan: before
Plan: after
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Brick wall
Category 6: It required structural system comprised of sheet materials supported on points which remind me the idea of tents. So I transformed brick wall to glass sheets on the top of concrete columns. The new structure became more freedom which provided free spaces. Moreover, its easier and cheaper to construct the new tent structure. However, the new structure is not suitable to use here. Because new tents structure lacks of rigidity. It has Poor thermal and acoustic performance. Its better to use in temporary project.
Metal sheets
Concrete columns 2. Southern Cross Station, Melbourne The category of Southern Cross Station is hybrid both 6 and 9 that roof steel frame structural system comprised of sheet materials supported on points.
Plan
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Metal sheet
Point support: columns Steel frame structure - - Experiment : transform category to 5 Category 5: It required structural system comprised of sheet materials supported on line which remind me the structure of concrete slab floors on reinforced, load bearing brickwork. In this case, I remained the metal sheets and changed columns to reinforced, load bearing brickwork. After the transformation, the new structure for Southern Cross Station becomes more enclosed. Compared with original design, its not as open and freedom as original one. It may improve the thermal and acoustic performance. However, it increases the cost of materials, transport and construction time. Plan: Before Plan: After
3. Church of light, Osaka, 1988, Tadao Ando

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The category of church of light is 2 that structural system comprised of mass materials supported on line.
- - Experiment : transform category to 3 and 5 Category 3: It required structural system comprised of mass materials supported on points. I transformed concrete wall to concrete columns with glass window. The interior space became brighter. However, it destroyed the sense of sacrosanctity. I guess the space need to be closed therefore people can see the cross with natural light which is the main concept of architect.
Category 5: It required structural system comprised of sheet materials supported on line. I think the
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structure has already had the condition to be category 5 structure. I enlarged the roof to a concrete sheet roof.
Reflection of week 2
From lecture
We did a lot of small exercises in week2 lecture. Generally, we analyzed issues of example projects and estimated if they work. Lecture really helped me to understand building structure and understand why the system works relate to both structure and materials. From the lecture, I have learned how to evaluate a building or what to focus when I looked at a building. Furthermore, I got idea of design variables that correlate with structural systems. So for my future design, I have to consider both design and structure since they are co-evolve. - From reading This weeks reading mainly introduced different structure system of different materials by using a table. The definition is really clear that not only talk about what it is, what looks like but also it introduced both advantages and disadvantages of structure. The table is really useful for us to test our idea in design. So I will have more possibility for me to choose. I think it is a very clever way to find the best answer for design which I did not only considers the form but also think about its stability, rigidity, thermal performance, construction time, cost etc. Therefore, the design will be more integrated. - From homework This weeks homework related a lot with reading. Its a practice for us to test our idea using table. First I analyzed the original structure system. Then I used the table as a reference to test my new structure idea. Finally, I compared both original and new structure system to evaluate which one is the best for this project. I think this method is quite helpful and easy for us to try new structure form, it help us to explore more ideas. After weve got so many choices, we can choose the best one for project. - From tutorial Weve discussed reading and did the homework exercise in the tutorial. I really like the way that people discuss and share ideas of reading together which I think its really helpful for me to understand reading. Because people have different ideas for the reading and topics, so it leads us to think more rather than reading itself. From tutorial, Ive got idea of reading and this weeks topic and understand the methods of using table to explore more idea for design.
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Lecture 5 B1 People + Their Environment

Issue How does your designing and/or your designs accommodate and/or acknowledge people? How does your designing and/or your designs accommodate and/or acknowledge peoples innate (socio-biological), social and cultural behaviours in built environments? What is missing? It is all about everydays life: - - - - Baby - - It is a human, a person; the image showed that it relates to the society that someone may pay for enjoying this picture. Those issues we need to take into consideration when we are doing design are: comforts, emotions, spirits, physical aspects, concentrate groups or single. Astronaut - - Where we are - -
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people color food texture
Old people; Exploer. Think it as a design problem: environments, comforts, senses, ect.
Use your memory to remind where we are and share your feeling. How memory is constructed?
Rear Garden Area - - Wayfinding & Orientation: The way of knowing the surrounding environment. Especially in Campus and Hospital design, how to find the way around?
Excerise Draw the intersection of Flinders and Swanston Street, labelling all the buildings.
Actually, different people can have totally different image towards this intersection. The image in peoples mind origins from peoples impression towards this place. The impression comes from the their different social behavior at this area. Like me, I am living in southbank. So when I need to go to Uni Melb, I prefer to choose to go to flinders tram station to catch the tram to go. Plus, I sometimes go to the St Pauls cathedral. And I purchased my iMac at that Mac shop. The Macdonald restaurant is the one I will pick when I return from the studio work and feel too exhausted to cook. Why I remember Long Bar? Because there is always a long queue at the front door at Friday night, which filled with those men and women who are ready for a real break. Comparing to my studio life, it hurts. That is why it is on my list. Finally, the federation square is a territory you can never ignore. Not due to its big volume, from my perspective, because it is so disgraceful.
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PROSPECT + REFUGE The Archetype of the Defensive Cave: At the top of a valley; Being able to see all comers; Under shelter; Out of the elements; At the hearth.
Table Manners When is a table full? At the time of meal or meeting. Filled by 8 people (meeting) or 6 people (Meal). What size should a table be? Depends to different relationship around the people using this table, hard to say. Where do you sit to? Being as a leader or captain of the group, sitting here would be easier to communicate with other people. Even you are competing with your opponents, these are great places for observation. Compete? Enough space for different people. Cooperate? Closer to stick to each other. Successfully ignore each other? Treat this design as a workshop table, every got its individual space. We can add partition if we ask for more privacy.
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Personal Spaces for Social Interaction - - - - Smell; Accoustics; Views; Distance.
Table Manners Start: Normal Process: What is happening? End: What is left in the end?
- People reveal different behaviors at front and back stages, which constitution the complex social behaviors. Everything has its meaning - How can we read the purpose and function from the shape and behavior?
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Front and back stages
Spatial Behavior
Environmental Behavior

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SYSTEMS IDEAS - For a non-contact species of primate that is nevertheless extremely social + - That without emotions cannot make decisions - Affordances - Settings - Collective Frames of Reference - Inherently ecological, systems ideas
Homework Excerise - Considering your local or favourite coffee shop - Who has control where? What is the extent of each persons territory? - Are there any areas of jurisdiction? - Consider the distribution of where public, social, personal and intimate proxemic behaviours occur. Map them and see what you learn. - Can you point to any prospect-and-refuge sets? - How did you find your way there? What landmarks & other Elements identified by Lynch did you make use of? - What cues to appropriate behaviour and attitude are provided in the coffee shop? - How many settings are afforded? Identify them.
Lecture 5 Reading Summaries, Homework and Reflection Readings Summaries

- This essay discusses the relationship between architecture and everyday life. The ordering of space in building is really about the ordering of relations between people. Architects are responsible to change the human environment by designing buildings. Greg described five features of everyday life which may influence architecture. first, he thought about the phenomena of different scales influence each other. Plus, the ideas, beliefs and behaviors of everyday life are always changing therefore it affects architecture which continue change as well. Again, he thought everyday life should regarded as temporal mosaic nature which is a fabric consisting of pieces that have originated at different time. Further more, there are a lot of meanings in everyday life thus too meaning in architecture as well. At last he thought there should be active, negotiating participation during the design as the same as our daily life. Missingham Greg, Architecture & Everyday Life, 1999
Tutorial Excerise
- Considering your local or favourite coffee shop My favourite coffee shop is located at Sea World, Shenzhen, China. This is a starbuck coffee shop at my hometown. I usually go to this place for relax at the nightfall of weekend.
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Most of the area is seized by customer. The working staff area and serving area are high concentrated to the one side of the floor plan. What is the extent of each persons territory?
The seats are quite close to each other at the main hall. The distance between groups is around 0.5-0.6
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meters. Hence, interpersonal distances are intimate to personal space. However, at the northwestern corner, there is an area placed by sofa and end tables. The distance between these two sofa groups is 1.5 meters, which belongs to social group. - Consider the distribution of where public, social, personal and intimate proxemic behaviours occur. Map them and see what you learn.
- Can you point to any prospect-and-refuge sets? Prospect-and-refuge means a space where we have the best view, but do not expose to the public totally or unprotected. - 1. People sitting here is protected by the service area, but to some extent expose to the public. - 2. People sitting here is surround by 2 walls, still exposed to the main hall, not safe enouth. - 3. A great place to be protected, have both good view of the whole interior space and enouth privacy. - 4. Separated by a shelf, people can enjoy its private space, but the view
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is blocked by the shelf.
- 5. The best place at this coffee shop. You can enjoy the most comfortable sofa, get the attentation of the serving staff so easily, get the entire view of interior space, and have your own privacy at the same time. This is my personal favourite corner, I have tried to find a seat at here everytime. - How did you find your way there? What landmarks & other Elements identified by Lynch did you make use of? When the first time I went into this shop, my eyes are focused on the serving table, because I want a coffee. Once I got the coffee, I knew I could easily get a seat at the main hall because it is so straight to any customer. As most of the people prefer to take some refugee seat, I hesitated if I can pick a seat at the corner of the main hall. However, at that moment, my attention was captured by the shelf and the sofa behind it. The boundary between this private area and the main hall is a 100mm height tatami. Finally, I took a seat at the position 5. Thus, the landmark and elements used at this coffee are corner location, tatami and shelf. - What cues to appropriate behaviour and attitude are provided in the coffee shop? 1. Chatting (happy, excited, relax) 2. Drinking (happy, excited, relax) 3. Reading (Quiet, relax) 4. Internet-surfing (Quiet, relax) How many settings are afforded? Identify them. 1. Table & Seats: take a seat 2. Sofa: a more comfortable seat 3. Shelf: Space partition and product selling 4. self-serve table: serve yourself
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Lecture 5 Reflection
From Lecture & Reading This weeks lecture introduced the relationship between people, environment and our design. After I finished the reading wrote by Greg, I understand different distance tells different stories, such as peoples relationship, behaviors and activities. Based on these small details and relationships, we could design something follow its rule, rather than follow architectural books and our senses. People are more focused on how the building works. Is it a good environment for them to stay? Is it functional? Is it beautiful enouth? For our design, we should analysis the environment and peoples behaviour. What people think and what surround environment tells us could really influence our design. Every good design should take these issues into consideration. From Homework I did a research of the coffee close to my home in China. Although the sketch is draw according to my memory, it can greatly illustrate the prospect-and-refugee effect among the general public. Like I mentioned, the position 5, is obvious the most popular place in this shop. In fact, I almost went to that coffee twice a month within 3 years, but only can had my seat at that corner by chance. For one reason, sea world is a very popular place. For the other, the prospect-and-refugee effect has a great influence on peoples behaviour. However, a space can not only have this single character space, some for personal, other for public activities. To have different proportion of these two space in different situation to keep the balance is the issue we should pay attention to. Plus, I think we could also discover more approaches to create refugee space, not only shelf and corner. This could be related to the implication of various material.

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Lecture 6 B2 Design + Drama

Issue How does your designing and/or your designs accommodate and/or acknowledge the performative, theatrical and ritual features of everyday life? Two active devices we can use in design 1) Architectural dare: Physical peril, Social peril; 2) Enticement: appeal the public curiosity.
Architectural dare is always a challenge for the public. You will not know what will happen unless you step on that stone. Sometimes, it results in a loss of face, sometimes it causes a injury or sometimes it is no more than a joke. By comparison, the enticement is to play with curiosity and encourage people to discover. You will never know what it is around that corner unless you reach there by yourself. Excerise: How many different ways are there that designers might design to allow for or encourage drama in everyday life? - Color, shape, prototype - Scale - Program - Interactive transformation - Behavior objects
There are 2 situations for you to show yourself on this platform, one is accident, the other is to show off.
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A japanese garden in London Provide different experience for people. Make a change of your current sense, create a atmosphere that you are in another country, another culture. Circulation Arrangement
People are activated by the circulation of space. The narrative circulation not only provides a route for people to pass, but raise up the desire of people to enjoy travelling the site or building and stay exciting. For example, the museum images on the top right, once people in different rooms want to go to another space, they have to go back to the central corridor which is a dark space. Everytime people change the space, they experience the difference. Excerise: What differences are there between performances and rituals?
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EXAMPLES OF DRAMATIC EQUIVALENCE IN DESIGN
Homework Excerise: - What five activities do you regularly carry out when you arrive home? - Can you design sets for them that help frame those activities as small dramatic performances? - Could they be organized so that a solemn ritual is to be performed through those five activities? - What would an appropriate design be to make that ritual both enjoyable to perform regularly and yet would mark it off as very important to you? - At what scales did you think about these exercises?
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Lecture 6 Reading Notes, Homework and Reflection Readings Summaries

Missingham, Greg, 2007, Dramaturgical Analogies, 21 pp. Architecture is responsible of suggesting or offering a stage for events to happen.Missingham raised up 4 tactics of dramaturgical architecture. All of these tactics could help induce events between people and space. 1) Presenting activities as performances Architecture can be designed as a stage to present the activities to the public. It provides the frames for the events within to be seen as performances. (e.g. Curtain Wall House) 2) Virtual Experience Virtual experience focuses on the virtual observationtowards the building. According to the Ivan Rijavecs drawing, architectural space can present different ambiance when observer stand at a different point in the space and pay attention to the different aspects in the space. In his drawing, some of the items can be ignored and some of items can be distorted deliberately, which can implies the start of any event. Furthermore, with the intensive use of rendering images in modern architectural industry, clients and users can foresee the drama or events may happen in the coming space. However, another issue should also be put on debated: how to control the difference between these imaginative images and real practice. The rendering images can always be fantastic, but who is responsible to give a promise that the narratives can be presented like this in these building in 5 or 10 years? Design with narratives is indeed wonderful, but only by relying on the beautiful images to wait it to come into reality is naive. 3) Cues to virtual events The virtual experience is suggesting the architects to design narratives and to make the public to understand through diagrams. By contrast, cues to virtual events concentrate more on the spiritual way. No matter it is using abstract drawings or actural architectural approaches, it tries to evoke peoples social experience. Make people to feel the space through their own way. Whereas, those people who are lack of related experience may not feel impressive at the same space. 4) Virtual participation Arranging the space is to enact a particular kind of event and to invoke a particular narrative. Firstly, it illustrates some approaches as they are made clear in various form of drawing. Secondly, architects should focus on the built form and architectural space. Lastly, architects must pay more attention to where to make events to happen than on building fabric.
Tschumi, Bernard, 1994 book, Architecture and Disjunction, Cambridge, Mass: The MIT Press, pp. 153-168.
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In the reading Sequence, Bernard clarifies the architectural sequence into three types: 1) Transformational sequence, which mainly tackles the method of work. 2) Spatial sequence, which deals with the juxtaposition and arrangement of actual architectural space. 3) Programmatic sequence, which is characterize by the social and symbolic connotations. Sequences with different relationships offer people various space experiences. Special sequences relate events which incorporate with people. Plus, meaning of space can be showed by different sequences of space. For example, Le Corbusuersvilla stein. The building showed a flat rendering (2D from of elevation). Its easy for people to read this 2dspace layer by layer and it is easy for them to understand the space as well. The sequence in this design is clear and simple.
Homework
- What five activities do you regularly carry out when you arrive home?
1. Open the door 2. Read the newspaper 3. Go surfing
4. Cooking and eating 5. Watch a movie 1. Open the door: I have to open the door or I can not enter my apartment. 2. Read the newspaper: I order the whole year's AGE. Usually I can not finish reading it on tram, so I pick up another 10-20 minutes to read it after I arrive at home. 3. Go surfing: Turn on my iMac and check emails. 4. Cooking and eating: I will cook something if there is no assignment to be handed in the next day. 5. Watch a movie: actually, this activity usually takes place at vocation, not for those days going to school. Enjoy a wonderful movie and a delicious meal in the evening is one of my favourite activities.
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My apartment was shared by 5 people, including me. 3 weeks before, I was sharing the living room with my friend, Jay.
All our study and working space is located at dinning room, dinning table. The table is big enough, but after it has been separated for 3 people's use (Jay, Bonnie and I), dinning room is not for dinning anymore. Plus, because both of Jay and I am sleeping in the living room, the living room is very crowded. Fortunately, as Bonnie will be leaving for China soon and Jay is moving to Caufield, I have a great opportunity to organize my narratives in the living room. - Can you design sets for them that help frame those activities as small dramatic performances? Could they be organized so that a solemn ritual is to be performed through those five activities?
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1. Open the door: The set I designed for this activity is to buy a name panel to stick to the front door, which indicating my stage at here. However, there are 3 people in this apartment. I only found Emma's name panel on Swanston Street, Eric (me) and Michael's name panel still to be searched at somewhere else.
2. Read the newspaper:
Before the arrangement, the solo sofa in the living is for laying my changing clothes. When I start to move all my clothes to the wardrobe moved out from Michael's bedroom, the solo sofa is free. It is a place for reading to happen.
3. Go surfing:
I have 2 computers, one is iMac, the other is a dell laptop. Both of them have big volume. When I used it at dinning table, sharing the space with Jay and Bonnie, I can not even stretch my arms. Plus, I also have a printer and a scanner. So, I decided to create a big stage for my workstation.

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4. Cooking and eating: Because the dinning room has been released, so all the cooking and eating activities will be revitalized at dinning room again.
5. Watch a movie: As I rearrange the space, I decide to have clear boundaries between them. That is, work at workstation, eat at dinning area. Watching a movie? Why not take sofa as an ideal platform for this event to happen?

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In my opinion, the solemn ritual has already been formed when I connect the above activities within such a space. In fact, some of the behaviors can be flexible changed according to my need. If I want, I can make all these 5 activities to happen at my own space. They can take place according to any order. Redeveloped Plan
My Living Area

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New Route
- What would an appropriate design be to make that ritual both enjoyable to perform regularly and yet would mark it off as very important to you? In my opinion, the cupboard is very essential to my space. It not only separates my private space from the public one, but also offers an extra platform for my scanner and other common-used stuff. Without this cupboard, my workstation is incompleted. Everytime I want to use scanner or grab the pen boxes, I have to move lots of things. It can be very inconvinent.

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Lecture 6 Reflection
From Lecture& Reading This weeks lecture raised up the conscious of space narrative, drama. Indeed, story-telling is very important in architecture, or all the buildings are no more than living or working machines. Space follows people's need and desire. So, being as architects, focus on the events and relations between people and space is a fundamental requirement. However, I feel the sequence of space and events can be very flexible. That means, architects define the sequence of space (juxtaposition), but the order of activities are left by the space users to decide. Designers can imagine or suggest a sequence to express their ideas, but activities have its randomness character. From Homework Homework is a real practice of arrange my living space to be a big stage for space narrative. After I checked those readings and take the ideas into this practice I grab something from it. Firstly, the normal living activities should be highlighted to be active for normal life. Everything can be a drama, a narrative, it depends on how you deal with it, how to arrange a stage for it; Secondly, the space order can be fixed, but the narrative order can be flexible. Sometimes, narratives have its own order, but among numerous activities, how the stories happen is depend on the users' habits of using the space. Life has its randomness, so does the sequence and space. To sum up, people behaviour related to the space is essential. Space arrangement should always follow people's need and desire.
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Lecture 7 Minimalism
This lecture, minimalism, is the one lecture I have been expected through the whole semester. I am the one who is firmly agreed with the famous saying by Mies van der Rohe, 'Less is more'. For such a long time, I thought I am a man of minimalism. But finally, I realize I did not understand minimalism after I had this lecture. Issue How does your designing and/or your designs accommodate and/or acknowledge the context of a design? John Cage's 4'33" as an introduction to Minimalism ("The Emperors New Clothes" or a great masterpiece)
At the lecture, Alex asked us to turn on and off the mobile phone according to the change of the colour. At first I was very confused by these activities and can not get the point. When I came back home and checked those videos on the Youtube.com, I figured it out how it makes sense.
John Cage - 4'33" by David Tudor (source from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HypmW4Yd7SY) At the moment I opened the first video, I suspected if this video was properly uploaded, because it is completely silent. After I checked a few similar videos of John Cage's 4'33" I began to know what he wanted to express. The material of music is sound and silence. Integrating both of these factors, there is composing. 'I have nothing to say and I am saying it'(by John Cage). Here are some screencut images from the video "Concert dedicated to John Cage ". I found it very interesting for two aspects. First, the way that the musicians express silence; Secondly, audience's reaction towards this silence performance.
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Video: Concert dedicated to John Cage (source from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUJagb7hL0E) The tacit duration could be separated into three parts with the audience's reaction. The first part is like an introduction. The second one as a kind of reflection or repetition and the third as concluding argument and confirmation of the silent hemisphere that comes with it. In the middle of the performance, the conductor took out his handkerchief to wipe his sweat from his face and the audience burst into laugh. I think that is the way that people think towards minimalism. Not objection or from a sarcastic point, but realize its character and enjoy it. Just exactly as the three sessions of John Cage's 4'33", introduction, reflection and confirmation are the standard process that people meet minimalism. At first, engaging with a minimalism work, people observe it very carefully and feel curious if this work is unfinished. With the existence of the work, the public start to response to this work and look through the surface to feel something deep inside. Finally, people get the point and accept it. But because of the minimalism's rough and origin character, sometimes it really confuses people whether it is a great master piece or another " Emperors New Clothes". And I am not sure that Alex expressed John Cage's 4'33"through an appropriate way. It should be a completed process of silence and leave something for us to explore and feel by ourselves, instead of telling us everything. Exercise: How should we be interested in Minimalism? Give us three reasons, purposes, methods, ways. 1. The expression of infinity through finity. 2. Make clear what already exist. 3. Tease out anything redundant. From my perspective, these three points are the meaning of minimalism. When thinking about this question, it reminds me about my current studio theme, Light & Shadow. Indeed, minimalism works do not have to be reduced, simple objects. But they have one thing in common, they are all using the finite object to express infinite
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possibilities. I am not totally agreed with Alex's statement in his "Towards the Minimalist Work", which presents "must one thing", or maybe I understand it from another way.
Kunsthaus bregenz by Peter Zumthor (source from: http://innovling.blogspot.com/2010/09/veils-of-glass.html) For example, these images are a building designed by Peter Zumthor. It is an exhibition space, the main function of which is to exhibit art works to the public. You can say that the function and the role of this space is really one thing, but I also see endless possibilities of displaying the art works at here. Moreover, not only exhibition activities can be happen at here. People can have parties or other possible events at here if it is necessary. So is this space is minimalism at this moment and suddenly lost its unique character at the next second? It is hard to define. Minimalism may have a clear definition of a group of works or artists in the same genre. But the 'minimalism' I pursuit maybe different to the standard definition accepted by the public. What I think towards minimalism is it should not and can not have a very clear boundary. The situation of light and shadow is very similar to this relationship. They are present and exist through each other's performance and existence. Plus, the users' experience and participation should also be taken into consideration.
Fascinating Apple Products (source from: http://www.apple.com/au)

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The success of apple products is a convincing case of the application of minimalism. What it reaches is to simplify all the essential elements and leave enough space and opportunities for users to experience its endless possibilities. The Shakers Millenial Laws of 1845 stated: 'Fancy articles of any kind, or articles which are superfluously finished, trimmed and ornamented, are not suitable for believers, and may not be used or purchased.' I may not go along with this saying as well. For me, everything happens for a reason. Once it exists, it makes sense. I do not agree those announcement or statement with an absolute tone to confirm or deny anything, so does those critics towards minimalism. Although minimalism is my personal preference, I do feel comfortable when I get along with architectural space with different style. Some of them are minimalism, some are over furnished and some are standing in the middle. Being as a designer, we should open our mind and keep open to different style of space and design approaches. It is not wise to stick to or be limited by any rules or theories. Exercise: What is and isn't minimalism about this? Calvin Klein Store, Seoul: not minimalism - No context, too many elements such as store, car park and blocked space. - Does respond to its environment site. However, the second reason given by tutor confused me again. How can you define the word 'respond'. To respond with 'one thing' to the surrounding environment, what kind of element should the building pick up to defense for itself. The environment can be quite complex, in such situation, how to point out the priority? I am not quite sure. Living Room from John Pawson's London house: Minimalism Few furnitures are provided in this living room. Architects designed contexts minimalism composition. Obumex Kitchen system by John Pawson: not minimalism - Design with too many materials. - The system can be translated by context depends on people's use. S-House by SANNA, Okayama, Japan: not minimalism This is a cube box with different sizes of windows and glazing doors located at different facades. Although the transparent surface is still
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'one thing', the windows reduce the minimalism of the building. Exercise: - Can you devise a minimalist project with Melbournes lanes, generally, as the context? - Would this be a different project for an architect, landscape architect or urban designer? - Why, exactly? Does it have something to do with dealing with self-embedded scales?
Lane Way Space

This exercise can be directly connected to my recent research towards light and shadow. My studio's topic is light, shadow and time. At the last several weeks, I designed several natural lighting fixtures. One of which is "Reflection Space". Actually, the problem of Melbourne's lane way is dark. This fixture's concept is focus on the reflection phenomenon in urban area. Especially in those areas between streets, which lack of natural light. Under the help of a group of reflection glazing panel, the lighting condition at those narrow street space can be improved.
Urban Scale
At the second phrase, I further develop my concept into a urban scale work. I notice there is a lot of public urban plaza which are attached shadow". "dead What is
"dead shadow"? That is, the light and shadow scenario stays the same for three to four hours with little changes. There is no lack of buildings with glazing wall in Melbourne CBD. What if we use these surfaces to create some exciting plaza space for the public? They are used and treated as reflection panel in the urban scale.
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A group of reflection panels with different angles respond to the sunlight can create different lighting patterns within one day. Just like Bach's composition, use the same theme in the variation. It is interesting because it is a changing 'one thing' system.
Architecture Scale
When I had the results of this concept in the former experiments and fixture design, I try to insert it into my final housing prototype design. With the application of this reflection system, the atrium space gets rid of the darkness. Besides, the workshop space at the bottom of atrium is able to have a comfortable lighting environment. With the calculation of the sunlight angle come from the north direction, most of the sunlight will be projected on the wall, rather than entering to the workshop space directly to cause glare effects. The lighting patterns will keep changing through the whole year.
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Three groups of the reflection panels locate on the southern, eastern and western sides of the interior walls. Because the east and west sides of the building are blocked by the surrounding buildings, the natural light come from the roof should be maximized to improve the lighting environment in the inner space. This is the change of one minimalism element in three scales and it is also a process to show how I develop one of my lighting systems from concept to a fixture system through this semester in three scenarios. When I rethink about this project, what attracted my attention are those subtle changes between these three works. The one thing really matters is self-embedded scale and its response to the context (or environment). Take my project as an example, in the former experiment and fixture design processes, I tried to concentrated on the amazing lighting pattern phenomenon generated by these reflection panels. Amazing experience is all I need at that moment. However, I started to notice the inevitable glare effect that comes with it. To stay simple and stick to the minimalism, I left it as fixed fixture that can not be changed, that means the angle of each reflection panel is fixed. Once it comes to the afternoon, this system will cause glare effect at the surrounding building. If this system is attached with another mechanical device with can control the angle of all the panels and has appropriate response to the sunlight from different angle. That will not be a problem anymore. But in that case, it is not 'one thing' any more, and minimalism disappears. Under the pressure of response to the context and appropriate use in the real situation, minimalism is hard to survive. The bigger scale it is embedded, the more difficult it can be. I think this reflection panel concept remains its minimalism in my last project as it comes to a balance of no glare and no extra elements. Minimalism is something pure and beautiful, I always pursuit it in my design work or normal life. But life and our living environment are complex, maybe the 'stick-to-one-thing' principle should not be the rule when we are tackling our design, but add fixtures where it is necessary. Generally speaking, design should be no fixed rules and no boundaries.
Three things I learn from the Lecture + Workshop

- I suppose there is no such thing like an empty space. There is always something going on and exists at there. It might appear empty at first sight, but if I really sense the space, I will realize that there is the humming of a distinct sound, the roughness of the surface I am standing on, the vague amount of
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light if I am standing in a pitch dark room. - I probably have to be very careful from now on, when considering using the word, Minimalist in my designs. Because my understanding of 'Minimalism' is quite different from what the standard definition is. But I will continue to tackle my design from my 'fake simplicity'. - Composition can be made to work with anything, as long as it is considered a composition, one can see that it belongs.
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Lecture 8 Design + Narratives

As Professor Missingham did not give a lecture towards this topic, most of the response of this lecture comes from the reference reading, tutorial debate and the contrast to the former lecture's contents.
About Narrative: response from the reference reading

At the beginning of the lecture, I was curious to find out the difference between this "Design + Narratives" and "B2 Design + Drama". In the two readings, 'On Cueing & Some Cueing Devices' and ' Structural Analysis of Narratives', narrative is described and analyzed in a broader perspective. In my opinion, the former 'drama' part is like describe different pieces of approaches to create narrative units in architecture space, and this part of the lecture is to observe narrative from various areas, including architecture. Simply speaking, cueing is to indicate to people how they should interact with what is before them. To summarize the two readings, I tried to divide the architecture narrative into 3 catalogues: 1. Openings as starting points and connections in narratives; 2. Framing with indication; 3. Interaction between people and space. 1. Openings To start narratives, designers should always set those openings for people to start their journey. I think it is very similar whether you are design a space for people to use or design a RPG computer game. The people is always the one to experience what is coming, then confirm 'what' and 'where' is what the designers should do. For example, if it is a museum, first of all, we should make the people entering this building with a conscious of what this building is and what they can get from here. The 'openings' can be thought from a tangible way, entrance, or an intangible way, the route of experience. Cues are the opening moves provided by a work's maker. Games may be described as sets of rules for carrying out various operations of interest to us. By abiding the rules inside, many fascinating events happen. 2. Framing with indication How to attract to the people in the architecture space to follow your script? Set the questions and frame the boundaries of moves. Some approaches maybe quite tangible and strong, like setting up some guidepost to promise all the people are 'on track'. Another way of keeping them in the scene you want seems quite hard to express through language, it is all about psychological. 3. Interaction between people and space In architecture narrative, the interaction between people and space is running as a organic system. It stays stable because of the fixed spatial distribution. It keeps changing, because the unpredicted
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people's behavior in certain space. People are not robots, their behaviors are mixed results from rational analysis and emotional senses. A difference from what might usually be expected and what really is must be noticed. Architects can design cues and indications in their space, but the route and specific performance of people are hard to control. That is, cues come from rational analysis of architects' foreseen, but we should also take those subtle psychological effects into consideration. When different people come to a same space, their experience can be differed from their life experience, memories towards certain features. I think there two ways for architects to choose: 1. Design with Minimalism, use finity to arise infinite response around people; 2. Show great control of both rational and emotional strategies. 1. Design with minimalism
Source from: http://www.google.com.hk/imghp?hl=zh-CN&tab=wi I think Tada Ando's work is a great example of using finite elements to arise the infinite response. Nothing redundant exists in his space. The space is like a mirror to reflect what is in people's mind. If you are happy, you see happiness. If you are sad, you see sadness. If you are feeling alone, you see loneliness.
My trip to Chapel on the Water, January, 2011. At the moment I went to his famous work, Chapel on the Water in Hokkaido. You know what I see from my eyes? I see hope and future. Because at that time I just ended up a long journey with my ex-girlfriend and feeling disappointing, hoping my next partner will be the one in my life. So when I entered this chapel of marriage, I saw the conviction of love. 2. Great Control The most impressive work which has strong narrative in my mind is the Jewish Museum in Berlin, designed by Daniel Libeskind. The building has different parts of exhibition space with different themes. The architect showed his powerful control of circulation to insert narrative into this building. Passing through the building is an experience of reminding the painful memories of Jew in World War II. This is a great example which using specific features to illustrate a specific narrative.
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Source from: http://www.daniel-libeskind.com/projects/show-all/jewish-museum-berlin/ One More Thing
Jew Museum My cube from studio work Federation Square I although notice the application of similar element in different architecture space for completely different narrative. The narrow openings in Jew museum represent pain and wound left for Jewish from the history. However, the last two space also tackling the similar language on their facades, but expressing joyful experience. Units stays the same, narratives are different. Elements express their characters through narratives.
The Tutorial Debate: Drama is Good/useful or not?

This week's tutorial we had a very exciting debate towards the issue, drama is good or not? As I felt it is a unfair challenge for both sides, the people who argued drama's positive sides defeated the negative one easily. Nevertheless, rethinking about the advantage and disadvantages of drama (or narrative) is quite useful for us to have a deeper understanding of drama and narrative. What is architecture drama? From my standing point, it is people's interaction and response to the architecture space with certain sequences. With the existence of drama and narrative in the space, events happen through orders and come with the emotions to impress people. It awake people's memories to create different impressions around different groups of users. No matter how simple function a building has, it has a drama. That means drama is everywhere. Whereas, referring to randomness of people's behaviour, the sequence of events can be changed from script A to script B, but drama still exists.
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Exercise
For your current design project, set out what you hope to achieve in about 150 words, less than a single page. You should include a short description of the project, itself.
This unit is designed for sculptor and is composed of three separated parts: residence, studio and gallery. Being as a quite special occupation, sculptors have their own working style. Except the requirement of free and wide workshop space, in particular, what sculptors need are a working space supported by both natural light and artificial light at the same time. That is, this workshop should be composed of a space open to the natural light and another space quite closed for works relying on artificial light. Besides, this housing prototype should also cooperate with the former lighting experiments and designs. Before I chose to tackle specific approaches, I grab the multi-character concept as the soul of this housing prototype design. There are four systems serving my house to make multi-character into reality and promise a comfortable lighting environment at the same time.
Now, write a single sentence that encapsulates the intention of your endeavours in the project that covers what the paragraph said.
The pure and simple housing prototype inserted with different lighting fixture systems offer multi-character lighting experience to its habitants 24 hours a day. Choose a single phrase title for your current project, two to three or four words: Multi-character Enlighten House
How do the physical features of the proposal correlate with the elements of the story? For your present project, set out the embodied narratives in your design?
The story of this house is light's different character and people's interaction with the light. There will not be any stories without the fixtures in my housing design. The 'multi-character' is based on implementing 4 lighting systems: 1. Light Capsule system (for workshop); 2. North elevations Shading system (for gallery, living room and bedroom); 3. Multi-roof system at the roof (for bedroom & bathroom); 4. Skylight System.
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The space is distributed in the house in a rational way. From the ground floor to the second floor, the privacy is increasing. Gallery and workshop are located at the ground floor. Living room and kitchen seize the first floor. The most private space, bedroom, is designed at the top level of the house, which get rid of the interrupt of public activities. Furthermore, northern elevation is the best natural lighting source. But the intensive daylight is also a problem should be considered. At one side, we need to use it, at the other, we also need shading system. By contrast, there is almost no direct light on the southern elevation. Southern part of the house should have a quite open character. The narrative of this building is focus on balancing the living life and working life and try to seek for a junction between them. At the present time, sculptor can concentrate on his work in his workshop. His wife lead her normal life in the rest of the space. In order to mitigate the complete separation between working and living life, a transparent atrium space will help. Whatever the sculptor and his wife do, they are very possible to have a junction of activities. In fact, how to reach different lighting effects is the key point in this work. But the basic narrative is presented as above.
Now, trying VERY hard to disregard what you have already done with your current, start designing it, again, beginning only from your design motto / title. What do you learn about your design(ing), the approach youve previously taken or the possibilities in this approach?
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I think it is quite hard to rethink about my design. Because this house design is derives from my former lighting fixture design. That is, design a house for fitting my fixtures. This is the compulsory requirement from my tutor Annmarie Brennan, which I think, to be honest, absolutely ridiculous. Who is using the building? People. So how can we address those design from the fixture? Should we design a building for those dead fixture or people? People, of course. This is why it makes me feel so tough to get it through, I really tried to put narrative in front of those fixtures. If gave me another chance to redesign my project, I should forget my fixture first, but put narrative as priority. However, the requirement of light still exists in this building. As the east and west sides are blocked by the surrounding building, the natural light comes from the roof still plays an important part of the natural lighting resource. Furthermore, the way of communication between different spaces could be different.
In this 40-minute exercise, I redesign the space of this building. Instead of laying all the space at the same floor plate, I break the continuous connection at the same level. Most of the spaces are laid at different floor plate with different height. When people are going up stairs from the ground level to third floor, the space is flowing from one to the other. The media between these space is a net fixture made of steel and inserted with reflection panel, I called as a lighting capsule. It not only strongly grab the space together as one, but also maximize the use of natural light from the top of the building. What I learn from this exercise is very obvious, as I expected, there is always different narrative to present in the space. What we should do is to focus on the people's experience in the building, this is the nature of a space story, rather than paying all the attention to insert those meaningless fixtures. However, I will try my best to fight against it and protect the narrative in my house.

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Three things I learn from the Lecture + Workshop

- In the 40-minute exercise, I noticed the importance of quick hand drawing again. To be able to draw quickly and accurately on paper would be a great technique to have. Though I always know this, but I never thought about taking the step to improve it. - The narratives of architecture are fascinating. It is the narrative, the journey that captivates the user through the space. What the user would see, experience, touch, smell, hear is always part of the narrative. Have you been to that building, the experience is...? Did you see that...? When the user feels as if there is a narrative to tell as they progress through the architecture, then I believe would have been successful. - Putting narrative as a compulsory requirement could be hard. But I feel narrative is closely related to the design intent. It is the design intent, what I want the story to be for the user that drives the idea and transforms it into architecture.

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Lecture 9 C3 Chinese Scholar Garden

Response to the topic issue
How does your designing and/or your designs accommodate and/or acknowledge landscape design, the site and its context (in the widest sense)? Rethinking about my past design projects, landscape design is always the last process of the whole project, except those landscape projects. I always focus on and spend most of my time on the architecture design of the building, such as facade design, space distribution and circulation design. Although every project I tried to remind myself that I should also design the landscape as a whole, but leaving so few time to process it at the last second. As a result, the landscape design process does not have any progress until the last moment. What I usually do is try to have some good rendering images or concept drawing to cover the weak point. When it refers to the site, I am quite sure that my building is standing at there with reasons. Every site has its own requirement for a building. That means, the relation between building and site itself has no problem. But the existence of boundary of project (landscape) and the site, is not that harmonious. I would certainly look into the context around the site. This I believe is also very important. For example, when I start my design process, I would first look at the constraints and positive aspects of the site and then look at it in the greater context. However, the design should not be restricted by the site. Take my last's project 'Dookie' as an example, Dookie project is to design a group of dormitory houses in Dookie Campus of Melbourne University. The Site is quite isolated, but the future development is positive. Instead of obeying the rules of keep harmony with the surround environment, I want my building to play a more ambitious role to revitalize the whole area, rather than simply being a bunch of borning houses. The project consists of dormitories, libraries, Gym centre and academic buildings. Even the context problem has been arised by Alex Selentisch in the final presentation, I did not think that is really problem. In terms of context and site, I think the role of architecture can be divided into 2 different types: 1. a peace walker, keep harmony with the current environment or; 2. a savior, to revitalize the site and solve some kind of problems.
Reflection of Reference Readings

Ten Steps for Designing Gardens, On Classical Chinese Shcolar Garden Principles, Greg Missingham and Alex Selenitsch I felt the reading was interesting to read. Even though I am not truly fascinated in Chinese Gardens I felt the reading provided some appealing insight into looking at designing classical Chinese scholar gardens. It was attractive in a way because it looks at it as designing the garden as architects, from an initial concept to different scales of thinking in detail. Though designing the Chinese Garden is not a simple sequence, the Ten Steps that was set out made it feel as if it was. I suppose the main
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reason behind this, is for designers to understand easily how to go about designing a classical Chinese Garden and because as said in the reading, they acted as architects, and as teachers of architectural design. Though it should be noted that the design of a Chinese Garden is certainly one that is not of a straightforward sequence, instead it is one that travels continuously from one step to another caused by the design issues currently at hand. The classical Chinese scholar garden is arguably the most sophisticated architectural genre ever developed. Though I am not really interested in the design of Chinese Gardens, I do enjoy visiting one, the solitary aspect and its social contemplation of nature is one of its highlights. It feels like a spiritual haven for people to get away from their real social lives. I suppose one of the main reasons why I am not entirely fascinated by it, is that they all appear the same to me, because all the designs of the Chinese Garden follows a certain principle, everything appears to be in harmony, synchronized with the design of its confined location. I believe I am one, who is more captivated by unusual and unique forms of design, one in which the architecture is highly influenced by its surrounding environment. The Chinese Garden on the other hand is always boxed off, walled on four sides, providing no significant connection to its environment. Though this may not be true to some people, this is how I feel about Chinese Gardens. But this is also why so many people enjoy visiting one, because entering the Chinese Garden, you are immersed in a totally different environment Once you go through the entrance of the Chinese Garden, you are already absorbed within the landscape, the spiritual utopia, relaxed and in harmony, or trying to be. There are some aspects of the Chinese Garden I feel interesting. Its implementation of Feng Shui to choose the site and its range of sensory features that enhances it appeal. For example, the aroma of trees and flowers, the tactile use of pavings the desire to walk in bare feet. Though I am not an enthusiast of Chinese Gardens (even I am a chinese), I do admire its sense of simplicity, but at the same time complex. (By the way, I am not crazy for Chinese Garden because I always get lost in there.) One would have to really follow the rules, to truly design a successful garden. For example, how to create multiple layers of scenery so that it appears infinite, or how to borrow distant views to cleverly integrate it within the aesthetic whole. Brush with Design, Lessons in Architectural Design from Chinese Gardens, Greg Missingham This was a very long reading and I felt it was very nicely written and provided further insight on the subject matter through quotes that were mentioned by others, which proves to be significant and draws attention to different ideas that others may have. An idea that I found was attractive, was that Chinese gardens were not only primarily for the contemplative, but it is also a place of pleasure and contentment. A space only comes to life when a specific user uses the space, though it does feel that the Chinese Garden is a solitary sort of space, where it is a best to go alone, but as said in the reading, a retreat is hardly enjoyable without a few friends and a jar of wine. Different types of people that use the space will change the space, in regards to the way they behave in that space. But Chinese Gardens can certainly bring about happiness and enjoyment when people arrive with family and friends, because it easily transforms the user to feel this way. Though because Chinese Gardens give a calm and quiet ambiance, people that use the space would acknowledge this it wouldnt become a noisy festivity.
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The Chinese feel that unless a man has a garden he has scarcely grasped the reason for existence. I thought this was an interesting quote to note, because I didnt know about this. This would mean that you would need to be highly educated and prosperous to be able to own a garden first, then after that can you build a highly classical Chinese scholar garden. But I suppose it could mean, if one has a garden, then they should compose it as a beautifully structured Chinese scholar garden, if not, then why own a garden. Both ways, it is interesting to see how Chinese gardens have such a great impact on peoples status and to possibly own one, or know how it works is considered highly regarded. Before the reading I always felt Chinese Gardens were static and stationary, I never considered it as constantly changing. But now when I think about it, its true, its appearance changes with the season and time of day. The plants required constant attention and renovation of buildings were essential. In addition, maintenance relied on the continued prosperity of the owners and the well-being of the state. This gave me a different perspective to take note of next time I visit a Chinese Garden. Every time I visit one, I feel that the space is motionless, as if nothing is going to happen, but I suppose its because I never paid too much thought to the detail of the plants and flowers, or the slight decay of timber in the pavilion, or the wear of the concrete bridge. It could also be because, I dont spend a long time there, or possibly because I didnt understand it that well before. I didnt know Chinese Gardens were so sophisticated in its design.
Exercise: Following 10 steps to design a Chinese Scholar Garden

This is an exercise through the tutorial. However, I was not that satisfied with the work in that one hour minute. So I redid it after class and cooperated with other classmate to finish this exercise. The site is located to the City Square, Melbourne. 1) Find a name: The Garden of Inner Sense 'Inner' refers to the inner self one would experience within the Chinese Gardens bounded within a large city block. You are surrounded by high-rise buildings. Within these tall buildings is a different space in which you can have a totally different experience. 2) Site Analysis - city square is around 2800 m2 with a relaxed, park-like feeling, inside a heavily used urban space and built on top of an underground car park. - Westin Hotel located at the east of city square introduces active functional space like shops, cafes and restaurants. - Swanston street in front of city square has an expanded micro-scale retail, such as flower and fruit shops. - Trees canopy on Swanston street have developed into an enclosed pedestrian area.
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- St Paul's Cathedral is a major landmark to the south of City Square. - Melbourne Town Hall celebrates its corner site with a tower. - City Square is surrounded by historical and contemporary buildings, creating a diverse architectural environment. 3) Set out the Allegories - As in such an area with historical and contemporary buildings, the Chinese Garden will borrow views from these landmarks, such as Melbourne Town Hall and the Westin Hotel. - Though City Square has undergone a significant change over the past decades, a number of buildings have been demolished to make way for City Square. - The square was opened on May 28th, 1980. But it has been seriously criticized by the public. "Many Melbournians have blasted their long awaited City Square for what they see as its boreness." - In the 1990s,, over half the square was sold for the development of the Westin Hotel. The remaining area of the square was totally redeveloped with a simple plan. - Thus the allegories here could be seen from the diverse architectural atmosphere at the site. The anger from the disappointing anticipation of the outcome of City Square, the bitterness of all the great buildings that have been demolished to make the fortunate and delight of all the great architecture that have survived.

St Paul's Cathedral as seen from City Square Melbourne Town Hall as seen from City Square
4) Compose the Halls Locate the principal hall in the best position on site. Subdivide rest of the site into two further concentric zones around the principal hall. Within each zone locate the subsidiary halls. - A hall consists of a building, a lake and a moutain in an enclosed area. - Position principal hall in the best location, then position other halls. - Principal hall is for family or public gatherings and entertainments. - Furthest pavilion from the hall should differ most. - Intermediate halls should be most plain. - Arrange successively open and closed spaces. - Open spaces should be concentrated toward the east and sunlight.
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- Entry should be from the sunward side, toward or from the east. 5) Compose the Scenes Design the scenes that are the foci of each hall arrangement. There may be up to four for each hall and ensure that the elements that comprise the foci include a variety of both their nature and Wu Xing contents.
6) Compose the Paths Design the path from the Entrance to the principal hall. Design the paths that interconnect the halls, ensuring that there are both built paths and natural paths.
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7) Design the Built Elements Principal Hall:

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8, 9, 10) Present
3 Things I learnt from the Lecture + Workshop

- Chinese Gardens are complex and they have their complexity for a lot of reasons. I always got lost in the Chinese Gardens when I traveled to Suzhou and Beijing in my childhood. I could not figure how they are composited. Even now, after the lecture I began to notice the various elements related to its design, I still feel quite lost in the process and not sure if I have done it properly. But the ten-step method is quite helpful to design a simple Chinese Garden. - The application of Feng Shui and Wu Xing. Actually, I think every chinese knows the existence of these things in traditional chinese garden. What we did not know is how to insert those things. In fact, the set of Wu Xing and Feng Shui is much more complex than what we have been told in the lecture. Furthermore, not only gardens, but most of the chinese buildings are implementing these concepts, no matter it is a historical or modern one. - The Daoist or Feng Shui experts Loshu diagram was very helpful in locating and designing the essential elements around the principal hall. For example to the east of the hall, there should be white flowers to accommodate the design.
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Lecture 10 Many Ideas At Once

Response to the topic issue
You want your designs to allow as many interpretations as possible OR you dont want to have to privilege some ideas over others as you design. How do your control both your designing and what others might read from the design that results. I.M. Pei is my favourite architect and he is the one who has a deep influence on my design thinking. He once claimed his design ideas in this way, 'I am not an architect who has a body of theories, I don't have that. I don't think that's the way my architecture should be looked at. But if you were true to yourself, you have a signature and the signature will come out. I like to make comparison with music of Bach, Constant variations of a simple theme.' I read IM Pei's biography and got to know his ideas and architecture at the first semester of my bachelor degree in the first year. I noticed something like eliminating and going straight to the heart of the problem. Although I was not totally understand what it is as it was a year of brainstorm at year one, I try to focus one thing at a time. Set up one theme of my design and try to repeat it to impress the people coming to my building. I suppose this is how I always felt architecture designing should be. It is the driving principle, the most important idea/concept that steers the architecture into a certain direction. In terms of constant variation, I think it can also be nicely presented through music. Bach's music has been set a great example from IM Pei. In my opinion, the Contradanza played by Vanessa Mae is the best example to show the charm of constant of variation. I heard this song when I was a child, I was deeply fascinated. I could believe what I heard through my ears, what I can express through two words are Simple and powerful. Refers to my design, I do not want to have too much interpretation of everything I have considered. Only those important things which really worked in my design are worthy to be presented. Thus, I felt it was important to make clear to myself, what is the theme and what is the most important factor that is driving my design, if I can solve that, then I can move forward much more easier. Finally, no matter by texts or images, it should be presented through a simple and clear style. However, the controlling the design could be difficult as sometimes you have too many ideas. Some of them are clear in your mind and you can see the results, others may stay unclear. What I am trying to do is to imagine the scenarios like narrative in my space. What should be there? For my Dookie dormitory project, I thought there should be intercommunication, recreation and academic stories. So I inserted the dormitory, Union House as the heart of the building groups and annex academic buildings. Then, how these stories should be illustrated? So the interaction in the dormitory area is made into reality through the application of the idea of residential schools and
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platform for connection. By asking myself one question after another, the design is developing into detail strategies. Under the context of a big story, the audience can follow these cue to enjoy the experience. This is how it works. Despite, the control of detail design of the space and the construction of my building are always the issues could be improved.

Reflection of Readings on the Subject Matter

'On Designing with Many Ideas at Once', by Greg Missingham Again, this was a very long reading with so many ideas. I really enjoyed the section about When is many ideas too many? And what is a good idea? At first, I thought that the answer would be quite arbitrary, or would not directly explain what the response might be - but it did, so I was very satisfied. There are NO bad ideas. But, there are presently relatively useless ones. I really liked this quote from the reading, and would certainly think about it when designing and illustrating my ideas in presentations. In my past design presentations, we were mostly given 20 minutes of presentation time 10 minutes to illustrate my ideas, and another 10 minutes for criticism. Even the 20 minutes seem to be much more than the standard final presentation for other studios, it still seems to be quite pushed. I have 3 natural lighting experiments, 3 natural lighting fixtures, 3 artificial lighting experiments, 3 artificial lighting fixtures and a final housing prototype to present. I took a note of the priorities of the contents and select those experiments and fixtures further developed into my final project to illustrate into details and only leaving other slides with a glance. In the end, I used overall 13 minutes for the whole projects, 7 minutes for the former processes and 6 minutes for the housing prototype. By highlighting the most important details, the critics saw a clear process of development of my housing details from the concept to specific fixture. Moving on, I thought the idea on Suggestive Ambiguity was quite interesting. I did not know that the Duck-Rabbit figure exists and is an example of Suggestive Ambiguity. It took me a while to realise that the drawing was also a rabbit as well. I just couldnt see it, what I saw first was a duck and that was it, until reading further in the reading, the duck-rabbit figure are both quite clear and mutually exclusive, that I began to question myself, is it clear? Yes, I see it now. I also enjoyed the Sesame Street idea, in which a small boy finds a simple 100 x 50mm timber and then used it successively as baseball bat, bridge over a small creek, rifle, and cock-horse. But, I have to question this idea, because the small boy must be really small, or could the scale be wrong? - Because, a 100x50mm timber is considered very small. In other words, the creek must be very small too. I thought the design on How is it possible to design deliberately for Suggestive Ambiguity? was particularly interesting. That with 2 different ideas, one at each end, gradually morph the two ideas
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together and choose the schemes in the middle of the series that best suggests features of both the 2 different ideas. This was intriguing, because why would you deliberately design for ambiguity. But when the how was explained, it seemed really interesting, as if I would be able to combine two ideas together seamlessly.

Reflection of Ideas in the Workshop

This week's tutorial is a display of different projects found by different students. By observing the same object, we discussed the ideas we noticed. - Eureka Tower
Form is very important in the design of architecture. 99.5% of people look at the form first. It is what first grabs the audiences attention. It is what will be shown in magazines, photographs, on the web. Eureka is a piece of work which has much fascination on its form. At the first sight of this building when I just came to Melbourne, I thought it has nothing special. But when I observe it through all the angles, from the analysis images, it shows its ambiguity and complexity of forms. In some of the angle it stays as one piece, at another it splits up. At this point it is straight, at another it twists. Pure (simplicity) and change (complexity) are two aspects of form never fail to fascinate human beings.
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- 1010 Latrobe St
In addition, except simply divide the style of forms into two categories. There is something to be developed in it. Like this office building in Latrobe street, the elements on the facade create vision illusion of perspective. In this case, the elements can be stable or twisted by people's eyes. But the building stands at there as usual. - Melbourne Recital Centre
Last semester our studio tutor invented the designer of RMIT Design Hub, Sean Godsell, to give a lecture to us. In the lecture of introducing his works, he mentioned 'fake simplicity'. He explained that he wanted his work to be simple and clear from the outside, but be complex with detail design inside. I think it is very reasonable to meet architecture's simple outlook and various functional requirements from this point. I think the Retical Centre in Melbourne is one such building. It is composed of several volume surrounded by the linear steel stick to show its existence. The facade of this building composes a constant variation. Inside, the most of the functional space are wrapped by interior walls and ceiling to have its own character and added with decorations. The interior space distribution is indeed complex.
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Exercise
There will be a building/landscape/urban space that you find particularly fascinating because of its apparent complexity, because of the number of ways in which it can be thought about or understood or because you would have been proud to have your name associated with it. Steven Holl's MoMA Hybrid Building, Beijing
I choose this MoMA project as it directly relates to the topic I am doing research, vertical urban planning. As the intensive development of the CBD area in those metropolitan districts, the buildings have to be developed horizontally to engaging the requirements and challenges. From my opinion, Steve Holl's project is set as an experiment of vertical urban design. Maybe he did not think his design in this way, but the tendency of planning our cities in vertical matrix is inevitable.

Vertical urban design might be regarded as designing within a three-dimensional matrix.
(from Page 74, "Reinventing the Skyscraper: A Vertical Theory of Urban Design")
Setting a matrix of the current city context, many of the buildings can be connected to form another layer of the urban area. The connections between new buildings and old buildings are mostly relying on bridges. The space-in-the-sky are set as floating public space. However, implementing this idea need the strong support from the public and authority.
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- Treating buildings as Urban Planning
- Consideration of entrance and views
- Hybrid Building: Residential, Working & Public Space
3 Things I learnt from the Lecture + Workshop

- Constant variation in architecture and music and maybe other media. The theme remains the same, but the variation can play different performance in each different space. People may gaining different experience, but also feel something in common from the 'same theme'.
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- An object may be interpreted differently by different people, with multiple meanings, but it still remains the one form, the one object. - House is a term for a particular suite of functional spaces. For example we know a suite of furniture is made up of a group of different items that together function as a whole, a purpose. A bed, two side tables, a chair and a full-length mirror are a set of ideas looking for purposeful cohesion.
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Lecture 11 Arguing a Case for Your Design

Response to the Lecture
Although this lecture is a short one, it activating us how to arrange our thoughts towards our design, especially in the last period of our studio process at this moment. The one I felt most helpful is the modes of exposition, which provides a group of cues for us to grab every thoughts forming our design. It also has a great many useful suggestions of presenting our work through logical and convincing sequence. Unintended reading arise the problem always makes me feeling struggling. The real situation is usually like this, you do have done a lot of work and you have to present all of them in front of several critics within 10 minutes. When you are concentrating on trying your best to illustrate your works and you may feel nervous. However, those critics just sit at there like they are enjoying a vacation and do not pay enough attention to the essence of your design. Moreover, some of them may read your design from a completely opposed perspective, it can be misunderstanding or their insistence on their understanding from their experience towards your work. This part of the lecture has suggested us to get through it by applying some of the approaches, such as giving a history of the designing process or providing an exegesis of a finished design and so on. From my standing point, the way of arguing one's design may not be considered at the end of the studio work to embrace the final presentation, but start to think about the above issues from the development of your design's concept. That is, reining the control of your design thinking and its development from the beginning to the end. You know what you want in this project, you know what you want to present and how to present. So there is always a link and response between the thinking and the results.
Exercise
- Take your last design project. List what you thought were the in-forming ideas for it. My last project is Dookie Project from Studio C. The concept of the project is "Community Revitalization". The project itself is a dormitory design to feed the requirement of Dookie campus' further development. In order to reach my concept, some of the ideas are inserted into the project, like creating building groups with different service space to form a community, application of platform language as connection media and the residential school system to distribute dormitory space.
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- Now examine the final presentation. What do you now think was a good way to explain the design? When rethinking about the final presentation of this project, there are a lot of things I feel regret. First, the necessary drawings and models have not been fully finished to be present. Because of the lack of these convincing works, critics felt hard to understand my work within such a short time. Secondly, the ppt and A3 hard copy pdf were not carefully organized to give clear cues to demonstrate the narrative in my space. Even before taking this course, I take architecture narrative as a very important part in the studio
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presentation. A successful presentation should be like an exciting performance to tell a story with the support of the drawings and models. In short, for me, timing is everything.
- What explanatory ideas were thereby suggested that were NOT in-forming ideas?
In the process of developing my design in the studio C, tutors were of little help. Most of the design progresses were put through from the discussion with my classmates. Through the whole process, the boundaries design between each group of buildings are a difficult problem in my project, which relates to the landscape design. As the scale of my project is too large, I did not find an effective approach to figure it out clearly. And to be honest, my project is weak in landscape design. Not the landscape in my project, but the landscape as a media to connect different groups, including residential, recreation and academic parts.
- Did anyone see ideas in the design proposal that completely surprised you? What were they? Alex Selentisch is the critic to criticize my project in the final presentation. Although he thought my project is 'very convincing' from the project itself, he also suspected if this architecture is more fit for urban context, rather than in an isolated area. This question really embarrassed me at that moment. It sounds like I had been spending the past 11 weeks to design something not reasonable. I was totally shocked as he could not read my ambition of changing the current context. My building is playing a role of pioneer to change the atmosphere at Dookie, instead of orienting to the existing borning environment. There is a famous saying by Zaha Hadid, 'if there is a crap, why you need to keep harmonious with it?' This was exactly what I thought.
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- In retrospect, do you now think their reading was reasonable? What in the design suggested the
idea(s) to them, do you think? Even though, I think Alex's critic is reasonable to think and criticize an architecture work from a standard point of view, orientation. He suggested me to design more vegetation to surround my buildings to orientate the site, which I think is acceptable. Actually, the lack of detail landscape design results in these doubt of harmony.
3 Things I learnt from the Lecture and Exercise

- Architecture needs ambitions. David Chipperfield once said, 'there are two ways to judge a building, how it looks like and what is its ambition.' From my standing point, I always create changes in the environment. If the environment stays the same after inserting your building into it, what is the point of your work? What I tackled and will keep going is the faith of my architecture, think big and do specific. - Timing is everything of presenting your idea. The planning of your concept and its presentation should be set, modified and improved from the beginning to the end. Arrange your thoughts clearly for getting ready to present your work in front of any audience. - Vicarious experiences in a presentation can interest the audience. Guide the audience through your physical models, as you rotate it around with your hand, what do people feel like in the space, where do the natural light enter etc. If I present it the right way, the possibility of critics thinking on the same level of my own design will be more in common They believe what I say is true and not misinterpret it into something else.

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Design

Approaches & Methods Peien Zhang 375568

Topics B: Designing for People: Nature + Culture

Topics C: More Difficult: Simplicity + Complexity Minimalism [Alex Selenitsch]

Week 11: CONCLUSION

Design Approaches & Methods Peien Zhang 375568

House for Insects

House for Insects Garden for Insets Urban for Insects

No Budget No Context No Clients No Code

No Climate No Location No When No Preference

Design Approaches & Methods Peien Zhang 375568

Design Approaches & Methods Peien Zhang 375568

Design Approaches & Methods Peien Zhang 375568

Week 1 Reading Summaries, Homework and Reflection Readings Summaries

theorencal method: calculanon rst

Design Approaches & Methods Peien Zhang 375568

focus external constraints

3rd group try to achieve good social working environment

2 Understanding Design Cognition by Cross, Nigel

Design is not normal 'problem solving'

- How designer formulate problems?

Design Approaches & Methods Peien Zhang 375568

set boundaries and solunon goals

Design Approaches & Methods Peien Zhang 375568

Novices and Experts

Design Approaches & Methods Peien Zhang 375568

Tutor Aim of Design Dan Tang, Shenzhen University, China

Approaches & Process

Design Approaches & Methods Peien Zhang 375568

2. Bachelor 4th Year Project

Tutor Aim of Design Ning Li, Shenzhen University, China

Design Approaches & Methods Peien Zhang 375568

3. Bachelor 5th year Graduation Design

Tutor Aim of Design Ning Li, Shenzhen University, China

Design Approaches & Methods Peien Zhang 375568

Approaches & Process

Design Approaches & Methods Peien Zhang 375568

Design Approaches & Methods Peien Zhang 375568

Lecture2 A1 STRUCTURAL SYSTEMS x MATERIALS

Lateral resistance / wind resistance Foundation / footings

Design Approaches & Methods Peien Zhang 375568

Design Approaches & Methods Peien Zhang 375568

Week 2 Reading summaries, homework and reflections

Design Approaches & Methods Peien Zhang 375568

Design Approaches & Methods Peien Zhang 375568

Design Approaches & Methods Peien Zhang 375568

Mass materials: bricks

Supports: Concrete columns

Plan - - Experiment : transform 3 to 2 & 6

Design Approaches & Methods Peien Zhang 375568

Design Approaches & Methods Peien Zhang 375568

3. Church of light, Osaka, 1988, Tadao Ando

Design Approaches & Methods Peien Zhang 375568

Design Approaches & Methods Peien Zhang 375568

Design Approaches & Methods Peien Zhang 375568

Lecture 5 B1 People + Their Environment

people color food texture

Design Approaches & Methods Peien Zhang 375568

Design Approaches & Methods Peien Zhang 375568

Design Approaches & Methods Peien Zhang 375568

Personal Spaces for Social Interaction - - - - Smell; Accoustics; Views; Distance.

Front and back stages

Design Approaches & Methods Peien Zhang 375568