Design Studio 3

Here are a collective of images from Design Studio 3: my first Design Studio module of my second year.

This module required students to create an apartment block in a suburban area in West Reading. The idea was to create a set of apartments for dwellings ranging from 1 to 3 bedroom. The brief was based around housing and being a relatively quick turn around for the module. It was a bridge into more complex projects and work as students transitioned from first to second year but also transitioning into digital software for producing drawings. This brief still gave students a fair bit of freedom by giving us the opportunity to follow our own precedent studies and also chose our own clientele. More information regarding the brief can be found within the design portfolio.

I personally found this very engaging and allowed me to expressed my creativity in a more traditional architectural project. Learning and adapting to digital software was enjoyable and having a tight deadline having a more orthodox brief aided me in zoning in on a complex design but effective response through my work.

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

*Note drawings on this page may not be to scale*

Design Studio 4

Here are a collective of images from Design Studio 4: my second Design Studio module of my second year.

This module engaged students in a retrofitting project brief. The idea was to create a fashion design hub that could double as a social space. Each student was assigned a designated garment and function to analyse and base their proposal on, in my case I was given a sombrero and the function of shade/cooling. On top of this we were retrofitting an out-dated and mostly abanddoned steel warehouse and mould our garment inspired proposal with. The site of the project was Jupps Warehouse located in Brentford, West London. The warehouse was a part of an ex-industrial zone and is part of a redevelopment of the local area called the Brentford Project. For our brief we were designing with the surrounding context to go ahead with the proposal but the redevelopment of thee warehouse was being designer by the student and was being retrofitted rather than re-constructed. This was to shine light on the importance of maintaining structure of existing building and rather building with or around them to reduce carbon emission. More information regarding the brief can be found within the design portfolio.

This module was pleasant experience and learning about the challenges facing retrofitting and the importance in maintaining as much of the existing structure or fabric of a building in these projects. Building on further with digital software for producing work has strengthened my skills and techniques in produced higher quality work at a more efficient pace. Building more with models also gave me a different aspect within a design process to help see different ways to develop a complex proposal and one that had an abnormal initial precedent or inspiration in a sombrero.

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 on this page may not be to scale*

Visualisation and Communication 2

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

This module once again helped students learn different techniques required for our design studio modules throughout the year. This module was shorter than the first year and had a different module brief. This time students were assigned a 'case study' building from which they were given a set of plans, section and elevations and general building photographs. We were required to derive a set of 5 tasks from the provided information and further information available online. The aim was to use digital software on a deeper level to engage in creating more sophisticated and higher quality outcomes for a project's visual and communication within its architectural design. These tasks are listed below in the cover image. The module exposed students to important outcomes to a design proposal that could be created to help lift the meaning behind designs that could be hidden or underappreciated through more two-dimensional or 'simple' drawings and images.

Being given a produced, success in my case, project and almost reconstructing layers behind a design project and re-constructing them in our hands and style was certainly helpful and key in aiding me to explore more advanced and intricate visual response for a project to help communicate or portray ideas in a greater style. Furthering foundations in some skills made from the first year visual and communication module also aided me in being more efficient in my design process and refined some rough edges in my process. Further, learning about how to create work that engage a design proposal and help knit different drawing together from a client's perspective in a way helped to give me another perspective to look at my own work to help reinforce what I needed my drawings and work to see what would portray my design intentions in the most positive and effective light.

This module ran for 15 weeks, including 1 enhancement or reading week and a 4 week winter break. View the design report using the link below.

*Note drawings on this page may not be to scale digitally *