Ritchey, T. 2005. Wicked Problems: Structuring Social Messes with Morphological Analysis. Swedish Morphological Society.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Reading 4: Wicked Problems
This reading addresses the issue of 'wicked problems' which involve those messy, complicated and seemingly impossible problems that plague designers. Wicked problems unlike tame problems include problems that are hard to define, hard to state when they're finished and are associated with strong moral, political and professional issues. These problems can have arisen throughout the solution to another problem and are constantly arising, disappearing and changing. Wicked problems can have multiple solutions and these solutions are never fully complete or correct. The solution this reading gives to the readers is to use a computer program which analyses the problem and gives the person inputting the problem a number of possible solutions. However I don't feel that this is the best way to solve the issue of wicked problems, I feel that to solve a wicked problem, a strong understanding of the issue must be gained and then discussion with fellow professionals in the field could be informative. I feel that issue's as complex as wicked problems should not be solved with a computer program due to their being no right and wrong, only various options with varying levels of success in solving the issue.
Final Panels
We all contributed our parts to the panel, and put the drawings and information into three panels in what we thought was an easy to understand, simple yet effective format.
I feel that as a group we worked really well and that our final design was quite effective, however I feel that if we were more efficient with our time and everyone contributed a bit more that we could have pulled of a slightly improved and more thought through design. Something which I feel need more conveying within the panels is how the viewer experiences the design. Some emotive sketches could have helped with this, or even diagrams of users moving the folie to create different spaces. In future assignments I would be happy to be put in this same group again as I feel that we worked quite well together as a group.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Reading 3: What is home?
This reading is all about what constitutes home. Mary Douglas suggests that home is rootless as it consists of a set of modern appliances and services, whereas Martin Heidegger looks at 'dwelling' and 'home' as being part of the one phenomenon. The way I've interpreted this is that Heidegger believes that a building supplies space which can become a dwelling. He also discusses how American architects don't necessarily build to the climate, instead they artificially heat and cool their houses. Whereas the Europeans for example are less dependent on these mechanical services by making the most of architecture and building to fit into the context. He also talks about going to a beach in American which was chlorinated and everything seeming clean, cleanliness supposedly being an initial excuse for air conditioning, and talks about, if they can get rid of everything which is unclean then what need do they have for buildings. Why would they need to escape nature if they can clean and control it. He investigates new technology and the concept of needing buildings as compared to the freedom and flexibility of just having appliances but living in nature. He questions the very concept of what makes a dwelling home and begs the question of are we just locked into the same thinking patterns of what a home must supply to successfully fulfill its name of a home.
Lane, B.M. ed., 2007. Housing and dwelling:perspectives on modern domestic architecture, London ; New York: Routledge. pp50-60.
Furthering the Folie
My part in the group assignment was the tectonics of the design and I also had a go at putting our rendered Revit drawing into the site as well as looking at possible site locations.
This picture was my go at demonstrating our site, however we later decided to located it closer to the air raid shelter buildings on the left.
These are my initial sketches of the tectonics.
I then coloured these in photoshop and added an artistic filter to improve them.
Fig 1
Fig 2
Fig 3
Fig 4
I then discussed the tectonics of my drawings:
"There are a number of tectonics incorporated within the folie’s design. During the design of the folie, it was decided that the folie would be able to move and be attached together as a larger piece or serve as individual smaller pieces. To achieve this, a simple wheel and track system with brakes was introduced. In this way the users can simply slide the pieces together or apart and lock them into place. The track and wheel system is demonstrated together in fig.2 and in the section fig.4 . How the wheel is attached to the folie is demonstrated in fig.1 with the upper plate attaching to a pod base, there are four of these per pod. On the right of fig.2 and at the front of fig.1 you will notice a pad. This is the break, and the pole attached to it goes underneath the pod and appears out the side of each pod so the users of the pod can simply twist the lever to lock the pods wheel and keep the folie from sliding out of place.
The pods are assembled together with a powder coated steel frame, timber studs are then attached to this frame, before silvered timber cladding is attached. This is demonstrated in fig.3. The cladding consists of short weathered timber panels. One of the pods simply has the timber frame, and steel wire going through drilled holes within the frame, vines then use this as a support to grow over, this helps tie the folie with the cliffs behind which are covered with vegetation. The use of weathered timber enables the folies to better merge into the site, as the whole site has an old, historic, unfinished look to it all."
I also looked into materials in my section and found some pictures of the materials we chose.
This is the cladding we decided to use.
This is the frame we decided to use.
This picture is my attempt at putting our rendered revit folie into the site. I have tried to put grass in front of the folie in an attempt to make it seem more realistic.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Group Progress on the Folie
The group met up today to further our idea and try to come up with a final concept.
As can be seen, we kept slightly altering the initial idea each time to try and come up with our final design.
As we have decided the wheels need a locking system, I found these locking systems on the wheels in J Block and will use these to help me further develop the tectonics of our folie.
Individual Folie Development and Exploration
I started having a look at possible site locations for the folie and different shapes for the pods. I tried to design these to make the most of the river view.
These sketches were looking at site location:
These sketches were focused on trying to come up with shapes for the pod which successfully made the most of the view while also expressing a connection to the site.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Reading 2: An Urban Park for the 21st Century
This reading is once again about Tschumi's design for La Villette. In this reading he talks about the shift in how people view parks in the 20th century. He discusses how in the 20th century they became seen as an important city component. He discusses how the park aimed to not fit into any park stereotypes, rather create its own style. They also tried to fit the park around the pre-existing historic buildings, and the folies use building elements to tie the park in with the pre-existing buildings.
I also found it interesting to discover that the promenade was designed based on a film strip with the viewers following a repetitive sequence as they progress along it.
From this reading I have gained a better understanding on how Tschumi designed his folies. I really like how such a simple concept can have such a strong impact. By simply rearranging the same geometrical shapes in a whole range of ways, a feeling of repetition and unity was created despite the varying shapes and uses of the folies.
Tschumi, B. 1987. Cinegram Folie: Le Parc De La Villette, Princeton, N.J: Princeton Architctural Press. pp1-27.
Research after meeting with group
After meeting the group, we decided our folie would be an interactive installation and were thinking of our folie being three or four components which come together to create a component. Our initial thoughts were that our folie could join together by being pushed along rails similar to train tracks. We later decided that people would be less likely to stub their toes if our wheel and track system was recessed into the ground. I completed some research at the beginning of this blog and discovered that the wharf used to be used by a shipping company as well as hosting some air raid shelters. I looked into some existing wheel and track systems for examples to help us by giving us ideas and showing us how to demonstrate the system we used. I also had a look and found a good example of a shape for our components. I then emailed this onto my group members.
Fig 1
Fig 2
Fig 3
Fig 4
Fig 1,3 and 4 all demonstrate the same wheel and track system but as an explosion, section and 3D components. I think this is a very simple system which it would be wise to use. Also we could use these pictures to help us with how we should draw up our system. We could use this system and have it recessed into the ground. I also thought that figure 2 was a good example and idea for our separate components which come together. Separately they could be used as benches with shelter, and when pushed together they could create a meeting space for a number of people, as well as providing a lot more shelter.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Week 2 Walkshop
For this activity we proceeded to walk from the QUT campus to our site underneath the Storey Bridge on the Fortitude Valley Side. We started initially heading towards the Goodwill Bridge before heading back along the river past the gardens and on to the bridge. Our aim was to identify nodes, boundaries, districts, landmarks, monuments, limits, edges and memorials.
From this activity a further understanding of the components of a city was developed and the city of Brisbane was analysed down into it's basic components. From the findings it can be seen how in a city, the nodes, boundaries,landmarks, memorials, edges, paths and monuments are important elements and contributing factor in giving a city it's own unique feel.
Site Visit
I visited the site during the day and during the night to get a good understanding of the site. I also needed to visit at night as I am tending towards creating a folie which does something with lights. However, this could change depending on what my group wants to do. Also when I went at night it was also raining and a small 'waterfall' was cascading down the side of the cliffs,and I was thinking about using something such as water over the edge of the cliffs in my later designs in the Howard Smith Wharves area. Below are some of my pictures of the site.
These are my pictures of the site at night.
As can be seen it was hard to get any good pictures of the site at night, but the storey bridge stands out with all of its lights. This draws attention to the fact that to make the site more user friendly there needs to be an increase in the amount of lighting within the space, also the storey bridge could become another focal point within the space, due to it standing out so much. The following are some of my daytime pictures.
Reading 1: Bernard Tschumi and La Villette
This reading is all about Tschumi and how he turned a run down, unappealing site into a thriving park which attracts people for a whole range of activities. In his designs for La Villette he inserted 26 folies all throughout the space to add interest and allow a number of various activities to occur on or within them. The folies consisted of red cubes, which depending on their individual sites and how each one was assembled changed how the spaces around them were used, while some where lookouts, others offered stage spaces for performances, and others a place of rest while strolling through the gardens. It is said that the folies appeared as 'punctuation, animation and action' within the space. Tschumi also mentioned that he thought of his folies as 'activators of space'. When I design my folie I will try and design with this in mind as my philosophy and use my folie to activate the space. I also found it inspirational how something as simple as a cube could assembled in various different positions to allow a myriad of activities to occur within the spaces. I also enjoy the simple and almost minimalistic look to the folies.
Bure,G. 2008. Paris/La Villette. In. Bernard Tschumi. ed. G.Bure, 47-73. Birkhauser:Basel.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Folie Research
While researching I have come across a range of images through google images which serve as inspiration and give me and idea of where I'm headed with my ideas.
Fig1
Fig 2
Fig 3
Fig 4
Fig 5
Fig 6
Fig 7
Fig 8
Fig 9
Fig 10
Fig 11
Fig 12
Fig 13
Fig 14
Fig 15
Fig 15
While researching I came to the conclusion that sculptures that play strongly with texture and light seem to be alot more interesting to me, hence I will try and incorporate these design elements into my folie design. Fig 11 struck out to me as a good sculpture for the Howard Smith Wharves area as there are alot of cyclists, however my folie must be educational and therefore must be quite different to this sculpture. Research into Fig 3 allowed me to discover Tara Donovan created this sculpture and that her work was made completely of styrofoam cups, straws and fishing wire, while research into Fig 6 brought about the discovery that it is made of straws. From this I have come to the conclusion that I will have to research into all sorts of materials to create the required effect. Fig 7 gave me an idea as it looked like wires in a criss cross pattern, and I am currently considering something with light incorporated so that people can interact and use the space during the night and as well as that the lights could be used to create words informing users which are sensed within the space of some of the Howard Smith Wharves history.
Google Images. 'architectural installations'. Accessed 2nd March,2012. http://www.google.com.au/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1366&bih=653&q=architectural+installations&gbv=2&oq=arc
itectural+installations&aq=f&aqi=g1g-S1&aql=&gs_sm=3&gs_upl=1628l8552l0l9145l27l21l0l3l3l0l495l2337l3-4.2l6l0&gs_1=img.3..0j0i24.1628l8552l0l9160l27l21l0l3l3l0l495l2337l3-4j2l6l0
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