Design Studio 1
Project 1: Self-Expression through Object
In this assignment, I am assigned to design a mask to represent myself in terms of personality and character. I have to dig deep inside myself and try to reflect myself wearing a mask representing myself. In my first thought, I personally feel that mask is just a face protection and it usually gives a sense of "keep away from me" for me. A mask gives us an ability to hide and cover ourselves from the real world. In this project, I feel that I have explore the elements and principles of art and able to apply aforementioned principles to communicate subjective ideas through objects. Moreover, I am able to understand the basic methods of generating ideas and abstracting narratives for my design.
In this project, I designed a mask which is made of rigid and cubical form and shapes. This represents my personality which is straight forward. On the other hand, the sharp thorns on the mask shows sign of "keep distance away from me" which indicates that I am an anti-social person and I doesn't like to be involve in much communication with others.
Project 2: Life Capsule
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The slideshow above shows the model as well as the presentation boards we made for our Project 2: Life Capsule. In this project, we are assigned into group of 3, but due to some internal changes, we ended up with a group of 2. However, both of us worked together well and co-operated as a team to complete this assignment. I am very pleased with my partner work rate. It gives me a sense of secure and harmony when we were working together. Back to the project, we designed this project based on the personality and hobby of my partner, which is reading. We tried to design the best and most comfortable as well as convenient life capsule for him to study. The name of our life capsule is "The Cocoon". In this project, we are required to ensure that all the elements and components in the life capsule is well-scaled, which is 1:10. Moreover, we have to meet the basic user's need and fulfill his behaviour in the life capsule. We need to explore how the user anthropometry and ergonomics related to the space created. In the end, we created a space which provides maximum comforts and secure enclosure to ensure that the user can fully concentrate on his reading at the same time able to stay in the life capsule for at least 24 hours.
Below is the photos on our model-making process:
Project 3: Designing a Dream Space for a Dream Client
Exercise 1
In this exercise, we are required to identify the most dominant element in a space. We are given a few choices, for example vertical plane, horizontal plane as well as overhead plane. As a result, our group chose vertical plane. We searched through internet and books to find the dominant vertical plane in a space. The slideshow on the left shows the end result of our research. We decided to choose these space as our reference due to its unique vertical plane orientation as well as its extraordinary materials used.
Exercise 2
In this exercise, we are required to create a space that consists of three elements, which are entrance, pathway and focal point. These three elements are indicated by the difference in level, size, proportion as well as orientation. Firstly, the entrance is big and it has quite a distant from the focal point. It gives a welcome feeling to the user due to the size of the entrance. It also makes the user feels curious about the end-point of the space, by distanting the entrance from the focal point. The entrance is followed by the pathway, the pathway is surrounded side-by-side by the repetition of overhead planes. These overhead planes create shade for the user and guide the user towards the focal point. Lastly, the focal point is located at the end-point of the space. It is the largest among all these three elements as it acts a space for gathering where everyone can stay in the space for quite some time. In this space, the focal point is a fountain surrounded by diamond-shaped stairs where users can sit on the stairs and have discussion with their friends or have some passive activities.
Final Project
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In this project, we are required to design a space for our dream client. In my case, I was planned to design a space for my favourite manga writer, Eiichiro Oda who is the write of the world best selling manga "One Piece". The space I designed is a pavilion for my client. My client will be able to work on his manga, have gathering with his friends or colleagues as well as fulfill his hobby in this space which consists of 2-3 spaces. For my space, the space is interconnected to a tree in the site. This is due to the user's love towards nature and the tree can act as a support for the my design. My design consists of 2 personal spaces (1 enclose & 1 partially enclose) and 1 social space where he can have gathering with his fellow colleagues. The design concept is based on the user's passion towards Japanese Buddhism, which believes in the five elements. The five elements are sky, earth, water, fire and wind. The slideshow above shows my design for my dream client, Eiichiro Oda and my presentation boards.
By going through this assignment, I am able to understand and apply the basic design principles and terminologies into my space. I also able to develop design skills through analysis on my research and the existing buildings. Moreover, I able to create and develop a conceptual narrative which slowly developed into a dream space from client and the space is practical yet poectic. Through the process of this assignment, I have acquired the ability to make various study models and presentation board through sketch, concept, diagram, section and development models.
Below is the design process of my model:
Below is the site model for my final model:
