DESIGN PROCESS - TALK

On Wednesday 3rd February, Tay Kheng Soon (Singaporean Architect) gave a talk at NAFA. 

Also known as TKS, Tay Kheng Soon is both a practicing architect and a lecturer at the National University of Singapore's school of architecture. He was chairman of the Task Force, founding chairman of the Substation, president of the Singapore Institute of Architects and a founding member and chairman of SPUR (Singapore Planning and Urban Research).

Through the talk, TKS not only gave us a unique insight into his thought process, but also helped us see architecture and design with a new perspective. 

DESIGN PROCESS - Proposal draft

After brain storming, our next task as a group, was to write a proposal. This proposal targets the following:
1)What we want to solve
2)What we hope to achieve as an outcome.

What my group and I did was section the proposal off into three main headings - Problems, Objectives and Outcomes. 
Accordingly, we listed points under each category. 

To summarise our proposal:

PROBLEM - Lack of social spaces in residential areas

OBJECTIVE - Prevent social problems, isolation, mental illnesses, promote communication

OUTCOME - Create a healthier and happier environment for people, especially the elderly. 

Initial work on Proposal - 

First Draft - 

(This is our first draft of the proposal, with the feedback from our lecturers) 

DESIGN PROCESS - Progress on Topic

Our class has been divided into different groups. Each group has been assigned a particular topic relating to the well-being of the people (mainly the elderly). My group has been given the topic "Limited social spaces in residential areas". What we have to do is, as a group, come up with the best solution to this problem. Each week, we will take on different tasks and steps to find this solution. The entire process involves mind-mapping, writing proposals, and drafting up reports. 

Our first step : 

Here we have jotted down our basic thought process in the form of a mind map. We have targeted two main topics - the basic and primary information about our topic, and all of the problems associated with it. 

DESIGN PROCESS - PRESENTATION SKILLS

Presenting information can be quite tough, especially if there is a large audience. Here are 10 key points to keep in mind!

1. Keep the presentation short and sweet. 
2. Use more images and less text. Instead of writing paragraphs of information, list out the information in points, highlighting the key words. 
3. Be LOUD and CLEAR.
4. Talk slowly. DO NOT rush. Pause every now and then for a few seconds to give the audience time to absorb. 
5. Be open. Body language is very important. Avoid standing stiff and keeping your hands crossed. Gesture with your hands.
6. Don't be afraid to smile and connect with your audience. No one likes sitting through a monotonous lecture, so keep it light. Try getting your points across with the help of funny personal stories. 
7. While presenting, maintain eye contact with the audience. Avoid looking at the screen. 
8. DO NOT read off of your presentation. It is for the audience to read, you are there to further explain your points, not read the same information you have already provided. 
9. Reiterate your main points.
10. And lastly, SMILE!

DESIGN PROCESS - EMPATHY

GROUP 13 TOPIC : LIMITED SOCIAL SPACES IN RESIDENT AREAS

GROUP 13 MEMBERS : IRENE, ATIKAH, SAMARA

Q1) Create a character and write their profile. 

Q2) Create a story.

Q3) Act it out. 

PROFILE:

Name   - Liu Ai Fen

Age      - 67

Gender - Female

Occupation - Food vendor

Family Condition - Happy family, middle class

Family Members - 4 daughters, 1 son, 6 grandchildren and a late husband

Address - Tampines, street 41, block 428, #12-104

STORY LINE:

Liu Ai Fen, a 67 year old woman, has been living with her son for the past few years, as her husband had passed away. The video shows us just a few minutes of Liu Ai Fen's day. Her son and daughter in-law have both gone to work, so she is alone at the apartment. She heads downstairs to the common social areas of the building for some company, only to find that she is surrounded by teenagers. Over the few years that she has lived here, Liu Ai Fen has developed a mental illness due to the loneliness and lack of companionship. In the video, you can see that she is deep in conversation with her late husband, stuck in a time that is long gone. 

Week 10

This week’s blog will solely be about this week’s creative thinking class. We were given a lecture on ‘forced connection’.  Forced connection is basically the combination of two or more separate objects to form a new, more efficient object, better suited for a particular situation.

For example – a spork. A spork is a combination of a spoon and fork. This was mainly designed for camping purposes. Instead of having to carry separate spoons and forks, designers just combined the two, thus simplifying things for a camping trip. This design not only reduces the number of items one has to carry, but also reduces the weight.

Our assignment was to choose 2 objects from a list given to us, and design that object according to six adjectives given in that list. The adjectives given were – passionate, sad, brave, creative, greedy and hardworking. The two objects that I chose were a cup and a candle. I roughly sketched out six design each based on the adjectives.

Given below are all 12 of my sketches:

CUP:

CANDLE:

Week 9

This week has been very relaxed. Why? We pretty much had only one class - 2D fundamentals, the others were either cancelled or missed due to public holidays. However the week has still been loaded with assignments. Our big assignments are due soon, so all I’ve been doing is slogging.

As I mentioned in last week’s post, in 2D we’ve been working on the assignment ‘home’. I’ve sketched up my basic idea –

Home to me is my little cave where I am the most comfortable, can be myself and am loved no matter what. That’s what the piece I’m working on represents. I’m still working on the main one, only about 30 percent is completed so far.

Sketch

Colour palette 

Progress

Moving on to visual arts, we’ve been working on our big movie powerpoint. My group’s movie is ‘Pirates of the Caribbean – On Stranger’s Tides’. The total presentation has to be 10 minutes long and we have to comment on the differences between 18^th/19^th century fashion, architecture, interiors, jewelry, cinematography, etc. and that of this era. We’re still working on it, but here’s a glimpse.

Now for drawing fundamentals – our week’s assignment was to make 8 sketches of human figures. This I quite enjoyed!  

That’s it for this week!