Design Studio 4
Project 1 : RE-Play
Initiating the exploration of ‘Leisure and Architecture’ Project 1 deals with the basic action of ‘play’ and leisure at the smallest scale through the understanding of repurposed materials and their relationship to the crafting of spaces for children experience. Students will be required to design RE-PLAY – CHILDREN’S OUTDOOR PLAYSCAPE, which is intended to showcase specific material(s) for a proposed set of activities. It is to develop awareness of environmental sustainability through the responsible and innovative use of reclaimable and repurposed materials in relation to user needs. The exploration of ‘play’ in this project will relate to the programmatic requirements in Project 2.
In this introductory exercise, students are to design within a given area of area of 5m (l) x 5m (w) x 3m (ht), an OUTDOOR PLAYSCAPE for children that is modular, lightweight as well as safe with all mechanisms being simple and easy to operate. The main materials for its construction are reclaimable/repurposed materials and reasonably weather proof. It must be able to accommodate/support a set of proposed activities designed to instill among children not only a sense of play or exploration but also the appreciation of sustainability through the application of reusable materials. Students must be able to demonstrate its ability to function in a real world situation.
Final Outcome
Presentation boards
Models
Project 2 : House of Leisure
Furthering the exploration of ‘Leisure and Architecture’, the project calls for the design of a HOUSE OF LEISURE – COMMUNITY RECREATION CENTER within an urban park environment. Students are required to provide full design proposals incorporating findings from precedent study and site analysis. Students will generate concepts that respond to context and leisurerelated programs and explore design solutions that reduce environmental impact utilizing clustered spatial typology and passive design strategies. The design should contribute to and merge harmoniously with the context and provide interesting spatial experience for the users through sensitive and thoughtful architectural intervention
Objectives of Project The objectives of this project are as follow: 1. To explore communal leisure and recreational programs and their relationship to architecture. 2. To develop a multi-layered understanding of contextual issues in order to inform design. 3. To develop the student’s ability to weave together sustainable environmental strategies and user and programmatic needs into poetic architectural spaces. 4. To emphasize on the planning of blocks together with in-between outdoor spaces that together form the building cluster. Learning Outcomes of this Project 1. Design and create architectural spaces with consideration of environmental poetics in relation to the basic natural context and existing built context which impact on users’ experiences 2. Combine the environmental needs, the site (site topography, history and socio-cultural events), and the users’ experiences within simple building design in the open landscape/suburban context. 3. Produce drawings (both 2D and 3D), modelling and verbal presentation to communicate and visualize architectural design and ideas based on clustered spatial typology.
