Design Studio 1

Here are a collective of images from my first Design Studio module from my first year.

This module required students to initially work in groups to "develop an architectural intervention" that is site-specific to promote an interaction between humans and nature. This device was given strict site restrictions by being placed in a busy pubic setting of Broad Street in Reading, this meant choosing the site location ourselves and understanding what it meant to carefully pick a site and learn how to build around its context.

This module was fairly short and taught as a integration from secondary education and academic work to something new in terms of curriculum teaching in architecture. With no experience with architecture prior, due to there being no subject in school leading up to a university degree we students were tasked with a merging project to link basic architecture skills into a project.

This module ran for 11 weeks, including 1 enhancement or reading week. View the design report using the link below.

*Note drawings may not be to scale digitally although physical versions are available*

Design Studio 2

Here are a collective of images from my second Design Sttudio module from my first year.

This module required students to design a furniture workshop for a chair restorer who needs residential accommodation not only for them, but also for an elderly parent. This was to be built at Cemetery Junction Arch in East Reading, the idea being to create this new structure as an extension for the proposed design had to connect to the existing arch which was being retrofitted into a public café space in real life. We students had to work with this in mind to create our space, a large part being influenced by a appointed case study of a chair. The chair I was given was the Rio Chaise by Oscar Niemeyer.

This module felt like a complete turn around from Design Studio 1, we were now given a site specifically and were designing spaces for humans to inhabit. It felt more restricted with site and what could be built in terms of land area but more freedom within how to express my creativity in designing spaces. Working by extended off an existing building helped me explore the importance of context within the design process. Having to build a minimum 3 floor building whilst having to maintain strict land area restrictions was challenging but engaging as to how to maximise spaces and create unique environments.

This module ran for 19 weeks, including 1 enhancement or reading week and a 3 week easter break. View the design report using the link below.

*Note drawings may not be to scale digitally although physical versions are available*

Visualisation and Communication

Here are a collective of images from my Visualisation and Communication module from my first year.

This module helped students learn different techniques required for our design studio modules throughout the year. They carved a stepping stone pathway to learn different types of skills and techniques to apply to our work for other modules, the final outcome required students to produce a short report of 5 tasks. Task 1 required students had to produce a sketchbook of notes from lectures. Task 2 included an introduction to site analysis and research methodologies and producing such to a chosen site that was familiar to them. Task 3 was about drawing skills and learning to draw in elevation. Task 4 was a combination of model making and production through photography and editing. Task 5 was learning to use photoshop to create inhabited images using the model and photography fine tuning skills learnt from task 4. Task 6 was an introduction into AutoCAD and convert a set of drawings from a previous module, DS1, onto AutoCAD.

This module was really useful and was provided as assistance towards our progression and transition from secondary school education and into the undergraduate course and towards the end into year 2. This project provided a foundation for our more exhausting modules with design studio 1 and 2. This could be treated as an experimentation module and helped in giving a platform to test out ideas to feel more comfortable in our design choices and iterations.

This module ran for 26 weeks, including 2 enhancement or reading weeks and a 4 week winter break. View the design report using the link below.

*Note drawings may not be to scale digitally *