Month: April 2019

Man made environment and the natural environment has affected each other to the extent that a new environment is created and it is one that we have to rethink our idea of architecture and how it plays a part in this new environment. It is interesting how scales affects what we see as the main form of architecture in an environment by making us forgo one for the other. But I think the ability to change the scale of environments can make one re-evaluate what is a space in a world that is undefined and maybe produce something unique when boundaries are crossed. 

As architecture is a temporal and spatial art, everything needs to be taken into consideration from the exterior to interior. It is a form of art that triggers all senses. The perception of atmosphere has 9 different qualities that is used while appreciating the beauty of architecture. When all 9 qualities work together harmoniously, only then can one experience the beauty or desired experience of the architecture. It really makes one rethink what spaces are and how they are so much more meaningful than we know. Every single detail that goes into a space has a purpose and we should take more time and effort to fully immerse ourselves in the experience.

I was watching Netflix’s The Assassination of Gianni Versace and Gianni was telling Donatella, who was then afraid of sketching for fear of being mocked at, that it was not the quality of the sketch that matters but the idea behind it. Takram stated a similar thing too that “beautiful sketches are not necessarily essential”. I relate to these quotes as sometimes I struggle with sketching because I don’t have the confidence of drawing something nice and tend to give up which is bad. I feel like this fear prevents me from exploring design concepts and prevents innovation and creativity from happening.

Sketching is important to play a part in visualising the concept but to prove the effectiveness, prototyping is important as takram stated. We have to prototype to see if the concept visualised is possible to recreate and while using it, we have to question if it produces the experience wanted. This allows for fine-tuning and details that we may have previously missed to be added in to improve the experience when using it.

We always say design is form and function and as designers we tend to focus on form more than the latter. I think we tend to forget to design based on the people’s need as we tend to try to outshine each other to gain recognition for this “new” or “cool” form. Being able to design a form the triggers all senses is an impressive feat as it becomes more memorable and increases engagement with the user. It may be difficult to do but it is an important skill in my opinion as everything we come into contact with has an experience and this affects how users utilise products.

The Infra-Ordinary talks about misplaced priority with “What is scandalous isn’t the pit explosion, it’s working in coalmines. ‘Social problems’ aren’t ‘a matter of concern’ when there’s a strike, they are intolerable twenty-four hours out of twenty-four, three hundred and sixty-five days a year.” As a society, we do not prioritise critical issues until something disastrous has occurred. Maybe because we do not question the issues and simply accept information given to us by ‘trustworthy’ providers of information — newspapers. There is a need to re-examine things, to invoke curiosity in us and perhaps we might see things in a different perspective and react differently to issues that needs to be changed.