Community service initiative (UCM60102U)
Community Service Initiative module (CSI) is a compulsory MPU4 subject, in which students are required to pass in order to graduate. In School of Architecture, Building and Design, CSI will continue the traditional teaching and learning method in Architectures, that is learning by integrating theories with design practice. Students are required to incorporate the theory they have learned at school into real life environment and problems. The intention is to reveal the students to the real community and work together as a team for architectural, culture and environmental enhancing activities in the communities of different social economic status and social groups
28 March 2018 - Project briefing
28 March 2018 - Project briefing
During the briefing, Ms Ann See Peng introduced us the module and the project details (objectives, subject, timeline) of the PPR project. I feel happy as this is the first time i am exposed to the real community living in the real life situation. Me and my friends formed a group of 8 ( Tan Yang, Jiamin, Chin Werng, Wen Han, Zhi Chang, Jyia Whey, Jordan and me). Im glad that we have the chance to work together as a team for architectural, culture and environmental enhancing activities in the communities of different socio-economic status and social groups.
29 March 2018 - Group discussion
We are to chose one category from urban farming, murals, playground and way-finding to carry out our project. After a group discussion,we decided that we will chose to do plays cape since a few weeks ago all of us had design a plays cape for our studio 4 project 1 submission. Everyone in the group presented their design studio submissions, after discussion, we decided to take one of our teammate's design project by giving some modification as it is more possible to build up within such a short time frame.
31 March 2018 - Site visit at Sri Tioman
The journey from our campus to Sri Tioman takes around one hour. We reached there around 10 am in the morning and the place is quite quiet. There are some children playing at the playground and at one of the blocks, there are residents having a feast for the ladies. The apartment is way better than what i have expected as apartments at my hometown are at very bad conditions. But there are a lot of things need to be improved. Since the site is very big, we divided among ourselves into groups to do our site observation. The following are my site observations.
We interviewed a few ladies and children to wish to know more about them and also what they need. Overall, they feel satisfied with everything except they say that there are not enough playground for the kids as there are more kids who didnt come down to play as the playground is fully occupied.
07 April 2018 - Setting up peg board
A pegboard is being set up to let the kids to write down what they want in this apartment. We also prepared some majong paper and colour pens for them to write more easily . I'm so overwhelmed by the kinds as they are so adventurous. Some wanted a swimming pool, mini zoo and even airplanes, which is impossible for us to do. We enjoy the day interacting with them. It also reminds me of how much i love to play when i was young. However, through this activity, we are more confirmed that the decision of wanting to make a plays cape is clearer as there is really a lack of play area for the kids to play. One playground is not enough to cater the kids for 3 blocks.
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Children's ideas
Painting pegboard
Kids sketching
Drafting plan
08 April 2018 - Interview and data collection
We interviewed residents from different age group. Some residents gave us helpful suggestions such as repainting and renovating the playground and also to customize the traffic sign boards to improve the legibility of the site.
10 April 2018 - Meeting for proposal
We had a meeting among the group members to modify the design proposal to suit the site better. We discussed the practicality is the idea practical at the site, do the kids really need it), durability ( testing the strength of the crate) and materials( since the residents living in the apartments are malay is it appropriate to use beer crates).
Mock up models
Testing durability
11 April 2018 - First tutorial
We are glad to see Ms. Sze Ee is happy with our progress and also the design. The good response makes us to be more confident with our playscape and hoping that the design can really improve the social sustainability at PPR.
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This is the first time we are showing our proposal to Ms. Sze Ee and we are happy that she likes it. She is such a friendly person, she said that she likes it and she will tell the committees about it. This makes us more confident and eager to create a better design so that we can use this chance to serve the community well.
Design Proposal
15 April 2018 - Idea sharing with Datin
Part of our group members went to Tommy Le Baker with some main members of PPR, ZLG Design and Datin to have a discussion. We told them that our focus is mainly to the childrens as the residents also wish their children will be happy and also playing is an essential part in a child's growth. As a result, our proposal is being approved however, we still need to refine our proposal.
After the discussion, we exchange thoughts to further improve our design by analysing the site better and try out different possibilities.
After a few discussions, we came out with a concept - “Modular plays cape” which is to create a flexible and interesting plays-cape to emphasis the leisure can be everywhere.
18 April 2018 - Developed proposal
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We worked hard to refine our proposal as we need to present it to the PPR members at ZLG. We also try to find more possibilities within the site such as by utilising the area below the stairs and also football goal at the wall of TNB building. We are also afraid that if our design is too abstract, the kids do not know how to play, do they prefer the conventional playground?
25 April 2018 - Zlg meeting
For this meeting i have a chance to visit ZLG and have a meeting over there. In this meeting, i am glad that i can listen to the ideas from different groups as they are so interesting. It also shows each group have different considerations towards the site. From aesthetic to waste management. Through listening to the presentation from different groups, we also got more inspirations as we found more possibilities on the site also.
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During our presentation, we got approved and one of the committees said that he likes the idea of we taking recyclable materials as the material of our plays cape. We feel thankful for their comments and decided to improve our design even more.
02 May 2018 - Preparation
We started to find the materials for our playscape - the crates because currently the amount of crate we have is still very little, which is only 6. We alo try to get sponsorship to sponsor us. We feel very thankful to Datin also as she is willing to give us the sponsorship letter with her name to ease process of finding sponsorship.
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09 May 2018 - Proposal submission
We manage to submit our final proposal despite we are having a hectic week. We added the budget estimation of our project. We also continue with the process of searching for sponsorships.
Final design proposal
16 May 2018 - Task distribution
Out of so many groups, im glad that our design is bring selected as we can finally build our design out for the kids to use to make a change at their community! Also i am also glad that another team is helping us to finish this task which is Arina's group as at the moment we have so much assignments to do. As a big group we distribute all the task again. Im being assigned to design the arrangements of the crate. After searching for some inspiration photos online and also discuss with tanyang i decided to arrange them into a robot as it is more friendly to the children.
20 May 2018 - Survey, mock up model
We prepared some survey forms for the residents. Some of the residents are very friendly, they will help us to fill up the survey form ( mostly from floor 9-10) However some residents are so reluctant to help us as , they will try to ignore us or chase us away by slamming their doors. Maybe they think that we are salesman, or they are afraid to see strangers since usually not many strangers will go up to their units.
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Since we have some proposal which is related to landscaping, we conducted a workshop to teach the residents how to manage the plants. Dr. Susan leads the residents to plant the seedling in the pots.Everyone pocket garden of the flats is enjoying the workshop. This activity is really effective in bonding between the residents and at the same time increase and nurture their interest in gardening to beautify their neighborhood.
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For the mock up model, as we could not find sponsor, so we bought some crates and we tried 2 methods of constructing and combining the crates, which are using cable tie to tie it to minimize the work and using bot, nut and steel plate to join it. We decided to use bot, nut and steel plate to combine it because this is more stable.
03 June 2018 - Setting up plays-cape + presentation
The residents in PPR are mostly malays, so before we enter our site, we scrub off the beer logo on the crate. We use sand paper to scrub them off. It is pretty difficult to scrub off. Im wondering how are we going to do it when we have 60 of them.
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In this final visit, each group shows their mock up model, i'm so impressed by their designs and also i feel happy when the residents join us for our meetings. There are 2 groups of juniors who proposed 2 designs of pavilions, i like their design so much as they are so multi functional and the kids are really having a lot of fun with it. Their parents, standing at the sides observing their kids playing also feel happy that their kids are happy.
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In the beginning, i believe a lot of my classmates took this module and do this project just for the sake of getting marks to pass this module, and also because we have so many assignments at first, we are just doing for the sake of doing it. But as we know more about the residents and after the project when i see the facial expression on their face i can feel happiness. I am glad that we are given this chance to serve them. I feel all the effort is worth. i hope i can have another chance to involve in this kind f project again. Using what we have learnt in the school to serve the community.
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Beer crate
