Design activity starts with words

In the forthcoming mixed use, retail-cum-residential design project, someone asked me what does "Sky House" mean? Is it another new project? Before I try to explain, let's explore one simple but important concept. "You can design whatever it is, only after you have described whatever it is....." As suggested, language and design are heavily related, and you will need your verbal description to come up with the physical design of form and function. If I ask you to design a house, obviously you know what to do, because everyone has one's idea of a house. If I ask you to design an apartment, you will probably know what to do. So what about a single residential unit on top of a retail premise? Should I call it an apartment? No, of course. It is only one unit. Therefore I need to invent a name for the residential. As discussed during studio, it needs to be a house, with garden, entrance foyer, grand stairwell, library and study rooms, formal dinning room, entertainment room as well as servant quarter and kitchen, plus bedrooms and ensuites. So how should I call this. A house on top of retail? As a result, let's invent something to describe it. "Sky House" becomes the idea of your design. In this case, words precede forms; and designing with words become part of the design process. Therefore, you can be as creative to words as to design. By adding "Sky" in front of the "House", I am describing some specific characteristics which are not just a house landing on the ground, but something more. Please use your imagination in design as well as in words. Soon you will realize writers on art and design are in fact, word designers.   T

How many ideas can you put into your project?

By now, everyone should realize that your project is the formal narration your ideas; and very often, we describe your main idea as the "intention" of your project. However, what if you have more than one idea, such as an idea about urban setting, another idea about lifestyle, a third idea about beauty and aesthetics, in addition to the programmatic requirement like retail or service, then what is your intention? Therefore I want to introduce you to another term "hierarchy" (you need to google a bit this round). Hierarchy in design is about the ranking of the most important function or purpose to the lesser ones. And this can be shown or realized in the design itself.

T

Story telling from city scale to building scale

Much has been said about the city and how immediate urban conditions can affect the form of a building. The second half of this studio is to design the building that echoes the parameter you have discovered or established.

In order to capture the right sensation, I need you to prepare a few sketches by next Tuesday that describe:
1. Retail entrance;
2. Retail interior;
3. Residential living or dinning area;
4. Residential foyer or entrance;
5. A special or feature space of your choice; in ways that similar to your first project.

With these sketches, we shall be able to envision the inner workings of your building, such that plans and sections can be designed. You should be quite familiar with this approach as you have been designing interiors in this manner. Although you do not need to start with any literal concepts, you are expected to create interesting and meaningful interior space. We shall devote the coming three sessions to explore your vision of these spaces that will make up the design of your building.

T

What is your point?

While you will not be presenting your entire project with all the necessary drawings during the interim review, your audience will not be able to understand your intention unless you point it out directly. So please be precise about your most important idea, demonstrate it through the model, and perhaps support such possibility with sketches and plans.

To make this process more effective, you shall be presenting in groups of four to five, all designing for the same site. Hopefully we should be able to vote for the most effective and convincing "parti". In this way, you will learn and realize where our priorities are.

T

Great if you do and great if you don't

Someone asked me after class what you should read to supplement your design skill for the studio project. For our purpose of this session, I still recommend "Collage City" by Rowe and Koetter as your first inroad to understand urbanity and architecture. However, after almost a month of discussions and presentations, you shall find what you have learnt and acquired in your next project again. So at least read this book before commencement of your next project.

Honestly speaking, I am quite happy with some of the solutions presented in the rough models. They offer possibilities for new and creative inventions, that have not been seen before. By Tuesday, you should realize how this point echoes with my previous request for a new "de"+"sign". But for someone who is still struggling, do not be afraid. You are just a bit too ambitious to create something original without resorting to the problem. You see, solving a problem is quite different from creating something out of the blue. So do it a step at a time.

After mid-term, we shall focus on the use of plans, sections and elevations, and how elements in architecture present your intention through space, form and material. Therefore it is important for you to have your idea ready in model and plan by Tuesday. Good luck!

T

Design through models

Within my group of students, I start to see a few that try to use the site model as a tool to visualize and realize what can be applied on the site of their choice. After today's session, I hope everyone will play with the model, and the key word is "play".

While most of you think the model is a 3D representation of your idea, just like any other 3D softwares, instead the model should be the beginning of your idea, the beginning of a form or forms that interact with the other elements on the site.

To demonstrate design ideas through models, you need to be brave enough to leave your pencil and notebook aside, and explore possibilities through adding and subtracting, as if you were the little kid playing with 'Lego'. So free yourselves from the constraints of the mind, and let your eyes and hands do the job.

Because you are designing with the site model, you will inevitably design with urban considerations. Hopefully by the end of next Tuesday, you will all realize that you have spent a month learning about urban design issues in architecture, starting with the very ambitious site analysis and design through models.

T

What is "de"+"sign" in this design project?

We had some heated discussions on what to expect in the upcoming mixed-use. At the end, I need to clarify my view on what constitute design, and the direction to take in order to achieve this design.

A literal interpretation of "design", which made up of "de" and "sign" can mean the deconstruction of a known sign. Therefore, if we simply apply the established typology of the Wanchai mixed-use by having retail on the ground or lower floors, and residential on upper floors, this is not much of a design as far as dealing with the contemporary relationship between retail / residential and their corresponding usages.

To explore its contemporary application, we invented the notion "retail maximum": what will be the maximum deployment of the retail elements in terms of sight-lines, accommodation, accessibility, etc to achieve the maximum retail attraction? This view of retail is being supported by the emerging usage of upper floors in most CBDs, such as Times Square, Causeway Bay, whereby signboards, sight-lines, accessibility, etc are important considerations for retail viability.

As the process goes, a different set of considerations will emerge for residential viability that may run into conflict with the retail counterparts, such as the need for light, air, green and open space, circulation as well as accessibility and privacy. As a result, your design is to show the balance or synthesis between "retail maximum" and "residential maximum" based on your own findings.

The resolution of this conflict may result in a "de"+"sign" that fits my expectation of a design and at the same time, new.

T

Imagine if you were the developer.....

I think playing the role of the developer will help you think through the programmatic requirements of your project.

But you may ask, who is the developer and what role does a developer play?
Assessing the opportunity at hand is the key job description for a developer. The opportunity can mean land use opportunity, market or demand opportunity, financial opportunity, design or development opportunity, etc.

Assume you have completed your site analysis and you are considering your position relating to the site. Please consider the following questions that will determine the development opportunity:
1. According to your opinion, what will be the best use of the site? Such as the functions you will consider.
2. What is the relationship between the site and the city? Such as how they are related/connected.
3. What do you think the future neighborhood will become? And the role the site will play within this neighborhood.
4. From a practical point of view, what can you develop under the current zoning and building regulation?

T

It has been a long afternoon.....

Today we covered the urban approach to architecture, through the use of various site analysis tools. In fact, a great number of architectural landmarks are a result of resolving urban conflicts. We talked about figure and ground, but we did not talk about hybrid nor about reversing ground into figure. Hopefully we will cover this in the future.

Please do not take the branding of architectural styles too seriously. This knowledge will come along as you see and read more about architecture. In case you are in doubt, Google it. As mentioned, Google and Wiki are excellent tools for you to learn. Ask while you are in the mood.

I have discussed with Hubert, and he is going to amend the site and the programme to reflect what you have learnt. He will announce online by Friday.

BTW, The Architecture of The City by Aldo Rossi is also a good reading material for architect to understand the city.

T

The language of the figure ground

Hopefully we are going to talk about the white / ground and the black / figure tomorrow. Why is this white and black drawwing such a big issue? Because it is your first lesson to relate three dimensional space onto a two dimensional surface, your first "word" to describe space and object-in-space. T

Collage City

On the topic of figure ground drawing, I suppose every architect who claims to have understood urban design, should have read Collage City. I think designing through figure ground is a lost art, a language which was forsaken nowadays.

Collage City by Colin Rowe is an easy reading. Look it up online!

T

To be or not to be? Theoretical vs Practical designs

This was a question raised by a talented student, but unfortunately I was not around to respond.

By the end of this year, I hope the studio experience will have an answer to this question. But before patience runs out, please let me illustrate a direction by using a few pairs of comparative vocabulary that may highlight the subtle differences concerning theoretical vs. practical designs:

Cuisine vs. Meal
Fashion vs. Clothing
Calligraphy vs. Writing
Architecture vs. Building
Art : Craft

T

PS wiki it up!

The lesson from de stijl

How do we create three dimensional space on a two dimensional plain? This was the question I raised on Tuesday, and it took me a few days to figure this out.

We have been trained throughout our education to find the right answer when presented with the question, and I was caught in the same situation myself.

Thanks to art, we can look at this situation from a different angle. What about creating a two dimensional plain within a three dimensional space? Easy right! You can even add a few coloured squares on the plain, like Mondrian did. As demonstrated in class, you can travel back and forth on this two dimensional plain. We have been looking at the Rietveld Chair as an object for too long. Imagine if you have to view it as if it is a painting, just like Mondrian did, then seat a person in it, and there you go. You have the answer to our question on Tuesday.

As a designer, or should I say a good designer, you need to be able to ask questions to the question itself. Do not satisfy yourselves with the search for just the answer. You need to know why do we have this question in the first place.

One very interesting aspects of art is its relationship with life. As you can see, without Mondrian and Rietveld, I cannot think outside of box, and visualize the problem itself.

Your second assignment calls for a mixed use, retail and residential putting together. But before jumping into the design, please bother yourselves with the right questions, "why"?

T

Why are we so critical?

Perhaps you see us as critical because there is always a criticism for every project.

Can there be a perfect design where there is no more outstanding issue in conflict?

The answer is no; there cannot be silence in architecture. For there is a will behind every project, and an individual, an architect behind every will.

In this regard, the will in architecture is like the will in art, that provokes an emotion deep rooted in our subconscious mind. The viewer has a choice to accept or reject this will. Therefore any serious reading in architecture needs to be critical by nature.

Use Studio Talks blog as a learning tool.

Apart from the design application software that helps you work on your design, we want you to use blogging as your class-based learning platform. Hopefully we will have some time to talk about how to use this blog to enhance your learning with technology, and your understanding of design in particular.

How your tools affect production.

During the studio, I use the term production very often. Finally someone asks me, what do I mean by production. I consider production as a summation of one's design work, including the vision, design strategy, design execution and presentation all together.

As a result, the tools that you use for production, greatly affect the way your design strategy and execution.

For example, take a look at the software for designing and rendering your last project.
What kind of form and space do you think it will fit within the comfort of your use? Curve walls or intersecting plains?

I am not promoting style if you think I am driving at. But at the end, a certain style of design will emerge as a result of the tools you have used during the design process.

Let's talk more about the nature of production in the future.

Why go SOLO?

Here is something you may need to know.....

How are critics going to grade your design work?
For the longest time, grading for design work has been subject to individual variation and taste preference. With the emergence of open ended questions in academic assessment, the SOLO Taxonomy (Structure of Observed Learning Outcome) has been adopted as one of the foundation for both formative and summative assessments.

The Five SOLO Levels
Missing the point - E/F
Single point - D
Multiple unrelated points - C
Logically related answer or solution -B
Unanticipated extension - A

With SOLO as a basis for transformation, assessment on design work can be applied accordingly.

If you are interested in SOLO, check out www.johnbiggs.com.au/solo_taxonomy.html
Compliment of Professor B Fox / HKU.

After the first crit.....

The first crit is always confusing. Did the critics like my project? Should I agree with their comment? Which side should I take? These are the common questions after a long and tedious debate about your design. But relax and be patient. Let's the comment and words from your classmates sink in for a few days. But in case you do not realize, both Hubert and I are quite pleased with the production outcome and the graphic quality of today's presentation. What do I care most? As I have said during the three hours crit, I tried to be as rational as possible, and commented on each design according to the intention of your project. I hope you can realize by today, what do I mean by rational. At least, I seldom start with "like" without explaining why. Yet the most valuable aspect of this first assignment is that you have designed with the software tools at hand. As you have witnessed, we have spent some time talking about projects that were not as "sweet". The not yet refined projects, but with interesting architectural potential, are the ones I prefer to see and enjoy the most.

Why do we need intentions in architecture?

The first few sessions of the studio are all about intentions. But where can we find our design intention? As demonstrated during our previous crit, a critic cannot comment on the design objectively without knowing or understanding the intention behind the design. As a result, one can almost read your design intention out loud by reading your plans, sections and elevation. As such, this is a forum to ask questions, raise concerns and hopefully to get some answers.
So see you around.....