Architecture Design Studio IV
Project 1
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At the beginning of Semester 4, students were afforded the opportunity to explore and learn about the various alternative education programmes available for a range of age groups. Amongst the programmes explored were Montessory, Waldorf, Reggio Emilia and others, to name a few. The purpose of this initial exploration was to expose students with the intricacies of factoring in programs into architectural design consideration. Prior to this point, our design process would only involve mainly cues from site context and user requirements.
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Project 1 of Semester 4 was the first time a specific program, in this case an alternative education scheme, was to be included in the design process. The project calls for students, in a group of 3 to 4 to design a private space for a client based on an alternative education of choice, on top of the usual site response and user requirements.
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We started the design process by visiting the proposed site, which in itself is a kindergarden based on alternative education. Once the site has been analysed, we were then asked to choose a client around the age of 7 to 12. Our alternative education of choice was Montessory, which focuses on cultivating a lifelong love of knowledge by allowing the children to shape their own learning and taking into account the individual's own learning pace.
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Our client of choice was 10-year-old Tara, an ironically talkative introvert who loves to read. Based on our exploration, Tara is generally shy, but talkative when somebody manages to "connect" with her either via books or other interests. We noticed that she presents herself as a simple, normal girl, but as we get to know her more, she gradually opens up on her personal interests and projects she does at home. We used this, and the Montessory education as the main driving force behind our design scheme.
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Our design was an interlocking set of walls around a tree that mimics the personality of our client, whereby the design itself looks simple, but the spatial organisation gradually opens up to more functional spaces defined by different privacy zones. Ultimately, the function of the structure was to provide the client with a private reading area that would hopefully help her with developing her personality and cultivate her social skills with people around her.
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Project 2a
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The first part of Project 2 was a group project that requires students to come up with a detailed site analysis following our site visit in Minden Heights, Penang. We were to produce a board summarising the genius loci, site history, activities, climatic conditions, demographics and other salient contextual information, to be processed together with examples of alternative education and precedent studies that we explored. The goal of this project was to explore design possibilities for the upcoming project, in which students were to design an alternative education school on the site.
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Project 2b
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The final project of the semester is the culmination of the skills and knowledge gained from previous projects in Semester 4 and earlier semesters. The project calls for the design of an alternative education school in Minden Heights, Penang, by implementing the alternative education scheme to suit the site context and the clients, in this case 100 students aged between 7 - 12. The school was to have a built up of 800sqm and be of the clustered typology.
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The design process begins with the formulation of a strong concept. A strong concept can be derived from various means, including via observations on site, responding to an impending issue, proposing a design manifesto, programmatic implementations and other methods that will form an anchor for the design process. My design concept was derived from an observation on site, which was then connected to the demographics of the social context and the programmatic requirements of the alternative education programme of choice. The formulated concept was referred to time and again as the design was developed until the very end.
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For the school, the concept was "Sculpting the Habitat" which was inspired by a colony of termites on site, their lifestyle, habits and how they impact the surrounding environment. From the simple observation of the termites, a connection can be made with the social context in which the community of Minden Heights affect their environment similarly in a larger scale. The "termite story" can also be connected to the Montessory education program whereby the programme allows students to "shape" their own learning, all with the aim of arriving at the same goal, which is to cultivate a lifelong love of knowledge. This can be philosophically connected back to how the termites shape their mounds and alter their environment to arrive to a much larger objective in mind.
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The big idea that follows the initial concept was to give back to the surrounding environment, by allowing the foliage to now "sculpt the habitat" instead. Hence, the form of the structures in plan view is a direct response to the negative spaces in between the trees that form a group of organic spaces that were naturally clustered due to the nature of the surrounding. The site was then scrutinised further to formulate the public and private spaces based on various factors, including the shading, proximity to neighbouring houses and amount of noise and greenery around, to name a few.
Following the spatial organisation, the elevation was then designed with varying levels and volumes in response to the functions of the individual spaces. This stage runs hand in hand with the circulation around the school, climatic response to wind and sun direction, as well as the experiential considerations of each space.
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In the end, the final design became a sprawling network of organicly-shaped structures that intends to invoke a sense of exploration and activity, with a seamless circulatory system that is meant to achieve the goal of invoking a lifelong love for knowledge, all whilst allowing them the freedom to play and socialise to prepare them for the challenges of the 21st century.
Reflections
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Perhaps the most important question after the wrap-up of each studio module is "what new things have I gained from this semester?". And the answer to that is always "A Lot." So to begin summarising it is not an easy task. But from all of the topics covered in Studio 4, the programmatic inclusion into the design process, the structural implementation of a much larger building, practicality considerations, etc., perhaps the most important lesson learnt during the semester is the translation of a strong concept into a workable final design which requires rigorous design consideration and sacrifices.
A design must be an inclusive process that calls for tackling a myriad of issues with an ingenious solution. The design process should never be done with a tunnel vision whereby one issue is tackled at a time, but a wholesome process that takes everything into consideration. For example, when one is planning the spaces, the materiality, elevation, openings, programmatic implementations and other factors must be consistent and thoughtfully designed together along the way.
The biggest challenge I faced during the semester was reconciling the spatial organisation and spatial experiences back to the physical structure of the building. This, to me is the biggest room for improvement in anticipation of the final year of my architectural studies as I step into Semester 5.
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All in all, I was mostly satisfied with the quality and amount of work produced towards the final submission, although I believe there is much room for improvement.
As for the tutors who have guided me along the way, no words could describe the amount of gratitude I owe to them, as they tirelessly guide me along the way and have never failed to believe in me. I would like to convey my special thanks to Ms. Shahira, for putting up with our tutorial group's antics and being the firm but approachable mentor we need. I would also like to extend my gratitude to Ms. Alina for guiding my group during the first project, Ms. See for carefully designing the module in a way that has benefited us tremendously, as well as other lecturers who have critted my work and inspired me to be better every step of the way.
Thank you very much.
Taylor's Graduate Capabilities​
