FMP | Week 1 | Day 3

I finally began my book and in doing so I decided to start it off with something very important, a mind-map. For me a mind-map is very important because it allows you to flood all of your ideas onto a page and then pick and choose what it is you want to focus on much clearer than trying to filter out everything in your head. It also shows your thinking in your book which is very important for the examiner to see. 

My mind map consisted of everything that I could think of around culture. It included places of culture that already exist in the world such as museums, theatres, churches etc. It also included how we as humans express our culture which can be through human behaviour and artistic and ritualistic expression. I tried to keep the mind-map quite vague as I didn't want to step into deep water on the first few pages of my book and also because I wanted to become more familiar with certain cultures other than my own first. 

In order to get some visual inspiration I created a very sparse moodboard. It includes current buildings of culture from around the world. As I was designing a contemporary space i decided to include some whacky looking buildings. 

FMP | Week 1 | Day 2

The first official day back from our Easter break prompted a quick catch-up lesson in order to all get back on the same page. We began with a short task to get back into things. We were tasked with discussing our work experience week with our classmates and simultaneously drawing the people seated opposite us. 

These were the drawings I produced as a result of this task.

FMP | Week 1 | Day 1

Our first day back from half term landed on a self directed study day. As our FMP was underway I spent this day researching as it was the only way at this stage that I thought could help me.

I had just finished drafting up my proposal and decided to further research problems in and around our world. This included reading up on recent news articles on BBC news and the Independent. My proposal for this project was to create a space that removes the barriers between cultures. I want to design a building that welcomes all races, faiths and religions to become united and harmonious.

3DD Final Evaluation

This project really excited me because I love working with 3D and I love designing things with precision and accuracy. The brief outlined that we were going to be working first with objects and then working with spatial. The things I had to consider were the key starting points such as what objects to bring in for Product design and the space that I live in for the architecture part. I had to put a lot of thought into what objects I wanted to bring in because I threw a lot of my junk away a couple of months ago and so the things I owned were very limited to the bare essentials. Eventually I settled on the most unexpected of items but it was great.

The research part was very fun because we could spend our time looking at very cool, interesting and innovative design and discovering ways it could fit into our work. I looked at many product designers for the first stage including Droog Design, Phillipe Starck, Vitra, Richard Hutton and many more. They were all very interesting, even from just the way they work. I also went to the Design Museum to see the exhibitions and found Phillipe Starck's Lemon Squeezer on display. However for my product my main inspiration came from SMEG Fridges and existing refrigerators that are already on the market. Whereas my research for Architecture extended as far as Will Alsop, Tadao Ando, Santiago Calatrava and even Frank Gehry. My main inspiration came from Tadao Ando and his use of light manipulation. I also went to the Design Museum to have a look at the architecture which was incredible.

There were a lot of different steps included in the process of getting from an already existing thing to a very new, innovative and original creation. It was the same for the two projects, it consisted of research and creating models and developing those models based on your research. I definitely made more models for the Product design weeks as I felt it was essential in visualising the details of the proposed product. I was designing something that was going to be used with your hands so it made absolute sense to get hands on with it. However if we are talking about a space, such as the one I designed for my architecture project, I could use software and my imagination to visualise the space as it would be far to large to create something I could consider a 'space'. The closest I could get was a small model created from a floor plan, it certainly wasn't something I could get inside of myself. Also an important thing to add is that the product was meant to be more functional and achievable whereas the space we were creating could be more free, whacky and imaginative.

I used my making abilities to create various models of my product from both paper and cardboard. My second model of my product was much better than my first and showed direct improvement and development from my first creation. However when it came to making a model of my building the first and only model I made was of my existing space and then once my design became too complex I chose to design it and create in digitally in Google Sketch-up. That allowed me to cut down on time and materials as well as use very accurate measurements and shapes to create my vision. I felt like using software was the most effective way of creating a 3D model of whatever it was I was designing and I half wish i used it to create my product so that at least I had that in my work instead of just using cardboard.

I think the strengths in my work resided in the making and the designing instead of the research and analysis. It was really fun creating the models with both my hands and the use of a computer. I feel that If we had been given more time to explore the project it would give us, as a class, more of an opportunity to explore and create something very unconventional and exciting. Despite having a finished idea and a digitally rendered model I don't feel like I was adventurous enough. In essence I only changed the window and the basic shape of the walls. It was only the shape of the space that received any noticeable change. It is very close to being the same space with just curvier walls. I think if I was to be more adventurous and find more ways to change or add to my design it would have stronger legs to stand on.

Week 23 | 3DD - Architecture

The final week of Architecture was upon us. Once again at the end of this week we were required to produce a presentation sheet with our ideas, research and development on it.

The last thing I did last week was conducting research into some architects and upon finding and loving Tadao Ando's work I felt it was very necessary to try and create something in his style. It was perfect for me, especially with his way of playing with light. I came up with a few sketches and developed them into a final sketch.

This is my final sketch idea for my new space, the idea was that the light would enter the Tadao Ando styled window and use the walls as transport to illuminate the walls. I decided to make the walls curved so that without any corners the light couldn't be stopped and would therefore allow it to travel as far as it would naturally reflect.

A diagram of how the light would enter the window. 

I decided to use my Google Sketch-up skills to my advantage and create a 3D model of my space. It took me a couple of days to perfect it as I first created a model of my existing space and then a model in between this and the first which essentially shows how I managed to get to this point.

This is the model of my existing space and as you can see the walls are very boring and the narrow hallway wouldn't allow any of the natural sunlight to enter, especially with the adjacent building looking over my window. 

This is the development shown through my models. I created three, one of my original and then the second was the idea I had for my new space. I had the idea to use curved walls because I imagined the light could travel better. The third model was an improved version that was more fluid and dynamic than the first and second. 

A few more shots of the model from different angles. 

These are a couple of screenshots showing how the sunlight would be able to travel around the walls of the room. Also bearing in mind the sun would move across the sky during the day so there would be periods of the day that allow more sunlight than others. 

My Presentation Sheet:

This was my presentation sheet. It includes information on my existing space with photographs and a basic floor plan as well as a 3D model of my space created with Google Sketch-up. I have also included my research into Tadao Ando and how it has influenced my work, there is a sketch of my proposed space next to it as well as the floor plan and an explanation of why I wanted curved walls. I have also included the 3D models from Sketchup as they are the most important, they are a representation of my idea and also show my skill with computer software. 

Week 22 | 3DD - Architecture

The next couple of weeks were focused around the Architecture side of 3D design. It was based around where we live and so we had to take pictures and note down measurements of our house. If we couldn't access the outside of our house then we had to simply measure the inside. These are the images of my home.

After we photographed the place in which we live we we then had to draw it. This however was straight from memory and didn't have to be entirely accurate.

This was my drawing, as I said before it didn't have to be entirely accurate and mine certainly wasn't. It was simply a representation of a place where I lived.

After we had drawn our place our next step was to turn it into a 3D model. These are a few images of what I created. 

My model was very successful because my floor plan was pretty simple, as there weren't many rooms I could focus more on the quality of my model instead of fighting time trying to get it to resemble my plan. The material we used was cardboard which was simply good enough, there was also Balsa wood and dowels available but I didn't find a purpose for them because my measurements were too large for the pieces provided. My scale was 1:100 which was a fairly decent scale to work from, a few people were working at scales from 1:200 to 1:500 which were very small but that was because they had a whole house to do. 

The hardest part of my making process was finding a stable way to attach the walls to the base of the model. I was being absent minded whilst cutting them and forgot to add small tabs that I could use to glue them together and instead just cut panels. I then had to make individual tabs out of scrap cardboard to use to attach the two panels together. That took a huge chunk of my time and made me really regret my decision. 

We did some research into some designers and one of the ones I came across was a fella named Tadao Ando. Tadao Ando is a Japanese self taught architect. 

I found his piece of work called the Church of Light

I liked this piece of his work because the whole idea of the building was to allow natural light to create new spatial dimensions within the space. There are gaps in the wall in the shape of a crucifix that allow the suns natural light to travel around the interior of the church throughout the day, forever carrying the shape of a crucifix from dusk till dawn. I thought that was a wonderful creation.

This was something I really wanted to incorporate into my space. The natural lighting in my space wasn't the greatest as there is a block of flats looking onto my building and that completely removes any sight of the sun. The window coupled with the very square room almost stops any natural light in its tracks. The sunlight doesn't travel any further than the corners in my room. This was the perfect thing to stumble upon.

Week 21 | 3DD - Product Design

Our final week of 3D..

For this week the end goal was to create a presentation sheet about a product of our choice. However it couldn't be about just any old product, it had to be one inspired by our original object and anything that changed with the design along the way. You see, a lot of people were finding that certain aspects of their object changed and developed as they made and remade models and as their research heightened.

These were my design ideas. They weren't visually amazing because the exercise was simply about getting ideas down onto the paper so that we can begin as soon as possible on developing that idea into something greater. My ideas consisted of turning the product into a coffin because the shape was very similar to one and when I was making it the lid came off and really reminded me of a coffin. Another idea was to turn it into a shower head and using the holes in the front of the product that would be where the water would come through. Thankfully our ideas didn't have to be totally achievable since we weren't going to actually make them.

The idea I settled for was the idea to turn it into a fridge. The idea came about whilst I was thinking about turning it into a coffin. Bacially, I realised that If i stood it up it would resemble either a cupboard or a fridge. It would be a weird fridge though. I started to look at existing fridge designs and draw comparisons between the two. I looked at a certain type of fridge called a SMEG fridge. 

SMEG fridges are Italian made and created in a very retro, 1950's style with curved corners and bold chrome handles. They are very popular over most of North America and some parts of Britain. I chose this to research because it is usually what my mind would wander to if I was to think of a refrigerator. I found this really useful in understanding what types of materials conventional fridges use and applying that to my work. 

As I mentioned before our aim was to create a presentation sheet that broke down each and every aspect of our object from inspiration, our original object to things like our target audience and the materials it would be made out of. 

I started to Photoshop my object on top of existing fridges so that I could grasp an idea of what It should look like and it would also help with determining what steps were next and which details needed to be covered in my sheet. 

To create this I simply took the pictures on the left of my object and placed it on top of the open fridge, making sure to take off the front panel to give us a view inside.

I then decided to create a sketch of what it would look like in context. In my case, the context would see my product placed into a kitchen environment. 

I thought this looked very good and explained the use and context of my proposed object very well. It was a very vital piece of information that I needed to create otherwise my audience would find it harder to grasp the scale and use of the product, also they would see it stranger than it already is if it weren't in its desired environment. 

This is my final presentation sheet design. It includes all of the details it most probably needs. It also shows the development from my original product, the air freshener, to my final design which is of course the refrigerator. I felt like the amount of information I included was sufficient enough to describe what I wanted to do. The feedback I received said that I didn't have to include so much writing, especially If the visuals spoke for themselves.