Photography day:

I was looking forward to today as I wanted to get some professional photos of my model. However by the end I didn't have the best of experiences, I felt that I didn't have a lot of time to take pics with the photographer. This showed through the pictures, where the exposure was way too high and i didn't get the close ups i needed.

I ended up going homes and taking much better photos which i can now use for my photoshops

Action plan:

• Begin photoshops for fridays deadline
• finish off sheets that tutor criticised and begin new ones.

Today I got back on with my final model, I decided to coat the outsides of the triangles with balsa wood as it would look cleaner and the corners would look sharper. I struggled to begin with as the glue I was using was sticking the materials which made me very stressed out and some parts weren't looking neat as I wanted to be. Nevertheless I managed to complete the model successfully and I'm very pleased with the outcome. I still need to create a base for the model however that won't take long. I was going to get trees and artificial grass however my tutor said not to as it would distract the everyone as I want people to draw attention to the main structure. I need to get some 1:75 scale figures tomorrow as it will show more of a realistic scale. 

I then managed to have a tutorial with my tutor which was very useful. He had a look at my presentation sheets and felt that there were too many pictures on one sheet. He advised to me enlarge certain things and didn't like the fact that there's loads of photos on one presentation sheet so I need to tidy them up.

Today was our first day back after the Easter holidays, I felt both stressed and determined to get everything done this week as I’d had a busy holiday due to work. To start the day we did a reflective workshop, I didn’t really want to do this as I had the plan to go straight into the wood workshop and start making as we don’t have that long left. For 10 minutes we had to review and brainstorm the elements of our unit 7 project. A few things I wrote down is what I need to do next, I knew I needed to make a good quality model to a decent scale, I also feel like my architectural references are not strong enough so I need to do some more research into that to strengthen the reasons why I chose the Particular shape of triangles. So far I have 6 A2 sheets and I want to have at least 15 by next week, I need to do some more secondary research pages and also sheets with my development of the model and also a few visualisations. The positives I wrote down is that I feel that I have strengthen the purpose of my project I have been able to do more research into allotments, gardens, the topic of homelessness, but I have also visited places which have made me think about how to want people to feel in my structure. Skip garden was a very influential place as I was able to experience the use of sustainability on a practical and large scale.

Step 2 was to focus more on 4 particular aspects of a general project: Research, idea development, making and tutorial advice and scheduling.

Research:

As I said earlier I need to do more secondary research into architects who use mainly triangles and also places for the homeless, I also need to look at materials, I’m currently working at Homebase which means I can as the material experts about this as they’d be able to help me first hand. This is also the case for plants and gardening in a whole, I have a good idea on what I’d like to include but it would also be good to get the opinion of the experts in the garden centre. Overall I feel I have done a lot of research into this polecat, having the experience of working with the homeless has not only driven me to succeed in this project but it’s also allowed me to have conversations with some of the homeless which other people wouldn’t be able to do.

Idea development:

I started with the idea of creating accommodation for the homeless, creating a place which is sustainable using a low cost system. I felt that this was quite generic and would’ve been quite limiting. It was through one of the practical workshop where I was inspired to change my idea and create a space where the homeless and the local community can build friendships and celebrate this through different activities. I feel the idea has come a long way since then which I’m pleased about.

Making:

I need to complete a final model to a good standard, I also need to do a site model to show the overall site. I feel that my model making has been quite good, I've experimented with a range of materials to a confident level. One of the practical workshops inspired the change in idea, opening up an area using geometrical shapes was the main aim and I feel that I'm going to tackle it this week with my final model. The use of triangles was inspired by the surroundings where triangles are used quite a lot in the orbit and also the Olympic Stadium. The initial structures which were made out of completely triangles was spontaneous, I then developed it to make it more practical.

Tutor advice:

I feel that the feedback that I have been getting from my tutors have been extremely useful, they've been able to push my levels of thinking and imagination to create an idea which truly could be amazing if actually made in today's world. They were able to guide me down the correct pathway of my idea and didn't let me get off track. I've also been grateful for the amount of guidance of my presentation sheets, I've struggled sometimes with creating a presentable layout and they have now helped me to understand that.

Scheduling: 

By Tuesday I want to complete my final model, I feel that I've made good progress during the Easter holidays but I know I could have done more A2 sheets and maybe completed my site model.

This was pretty good reflective workshop in the end as it was quite useful, it's made me think more ahead as I do have work on the weekend so I want to get as much done as possible during the week.

I then got started in the workshop, I knew I wanted to make my final model at 1:75 which is not too big so it's easy to transport, I began with the triangles and was able to complete them all which I was pleased about. I then began to cut the insides out with a jigsaw to create the windows, I struggled as it was hard to cut, I then sanded each side to get a perfect straight line.

Overall today was very productive, I managed to get the main triangles done for the model, and they all seem to fit into position. 

Action Plan: 

• By the end of tuesday I want to have completed all of my model 
• Wednesday I want to complete my site model 
• Thursday we have our photography day so i want to start on my final visualisations
• Friday I want to finish off my photoshop and then start doing my presentation sheets again as my tutor re worked my sheets 

Today was the final day before the Easter holidays and I wanted to somehow create a final design so that I could show my tutor and get his opinion. 

I produced a model once again using balsa wood but I also included triangles with the the big triangles and covered them in coloured acetate so that a colour would project on the floor creating a playful and joyful aspect. I liked the way in which I developed the idea of the use of only triangles. Keeping it simple but effective was my main aim and I felt that I succeeded in this. I then placed my model into my site using photoshop, I've been getting more confident with using this software now as I have watch a few tutorials and do ask for aid when needed from tutors and peers.

I spoke to my tutor and he like the shape of my structure, he also liked my photoshop and felt that it was very realistic. He suggested that I should begin doing presentation sheets and I agree with that as I know the easter holidays will get very busy.

Today was the make it in a day workshop where we were given the task of completing our project within a day which we could then use to kickstart the making side of our project. To begin with I was really stressing out about this as I had no idea on what to do. I've been thinking for a few days about creating my main structure primarily out of triangles. This was inspired by the surrounding structures where both the orbit and the Olympic stadium have large amounts of various triangles making up the main structure. I began by using foam board and slotting each triangle together, I thought about different ways I could join the triangles rather than just sticking them with glue as I had that problem before where my tutor didn't want me to use glue by I did. I created a structure which I was quite pleased about, it was both stable and also a structure which could be used in the real world as a shelter or something outdoors.

I then decided to create another structure however with a different materials to see if there any other qualities which could be produced. I used balsa wood which was suggested to me by my peers, it was quite easy to cut using a scalpel but was also quite fragile. I created a similar shaped structure which I tried to mould around activities which could go on within my structure. I attempted to create a playful aspect however that wasn't very successful.

Overall today was very successful, I feel that I've definitely kickstarted the form of my structure, amd have decided that it'll be made out of just triangles.

Action Plan:

• Tomorrow create a development model further exploring form and structure and also colours
• I also need to start on presentation sheets
• Go to Skip Garden and curve garden Dalston

HATS Workshop

Today consisted of a workshop which I felt helped me develop my project quite a lot. We were given a set of titles which prompted us to reflect on our projects so far. Some of the groups included the positive attitude group ( Benefits, how does it answer your project, and strengths), negative attitude ( Why won't it work, weak points), Creativity group ( alternative variations), planning and control ( Identify what is needed next for your project, identify points made earlier put into project). We also had the opportunity to explore other ideas which we could have developed instead of the current one, which I felt was a bit pointless as at the time I really wanted to just concentrate on my one idea.

White: Factual

The main aspects of my project I knew would work was the site and the end user. I felt that I've done a lot of research into these two pathways, exploring the Olympic Park in Stratford was extremely helpful as I was able to explore the architectural structures and also observes other aspects such as people and activities. I always knew I wanted to do something for the homeless as I have had that past experience working with them, I was able to do a lot research into that as well, not only through volunteering but also interviewing homeless people. The main gaps which I identified in my project so far is the final shape of my design, materials, scale. So far I have a very strong idea for every other aspect except for what it looks like which I feel is holding me back extremely. I need to start looking at the shapes used in the structure around the Olympic Park, I liked the idea of triangles but I still need to do some more shape experiments.

Red: Emotional

I feel that people would be understanding towards my design, the issue of homelessness is very big, they would like the fact that I'm attempting to tackle the problem. I feel that they'd be grateful but also emotional as my structure would allow people to converse with the rough sleepers allowing them to listen to each others past history. I fear that the community wouldn't want to socialise with the homeless as they look down at them. They'd be scared of them, the homeless may be scared or nervous to speak to others. In a whole anti-social behaviour is a fear for me.

Black: Negative attitude 

This was very similar to the Red group, it may not work as the community may feel reluctant to integrate with the homeless. The Olympic Park can get very busy at times so the homeless may feel intimidated to go to that particular area.

Yellow: Positive attitude 

Green: Creativity 

Blue: Planning and control

Today we had an interim crit which included everyone from 3D Design, to begin with I was very nervous about this, I hadn't experienced anything on a large scale like this before. We were told to bring in an A2 sheet which mainly represented our work, showing various process and maybe a model or a set of experiments. I managed to complete an urban analysis sheet on the Olympic Park, Stratford but felt that I still hadn't prepared enough for this big Crit. 

Having the privelage to see everyone else's work from other pathways was exciting, but also an eye opener, the work in both JFFA and PDC was to a high quality and ranged from a low quantity to high. It was nice to see what kinds of research they had been doing as I knew with my project I was lacking that 

User workshop:

Today was a really important day for me as I felt that my project was mainly about the different users so I really needed to put all my effort into today to get the best out of it and I felt that I did. I had an idea of who I wanted to use my for instance the homeless and other people such as families however I hadn't looked into it in any depth as we did today.

Users:

• Homeless
• Charity workers
• Families 
• Children

This was very easy to choose as I already had it set in my head, however we then had to visualise these in drawings or renderings that's when I struggled slightly. I've never been able to draw people and have avoided drawing them for a very long time so I need to start practicing as soon as possible. By the end I created a photoshop showing the structure with various different people such as a homeless person, a child playing and then a gentleman observing the structure.

I felt like today wasn't as important as I thought, this was mainly due to the fact that I already had an idea of all the main users of my site and knew what they would be doing as my project is mainly moulded around the end users.

Action Plan:

• Improve the photoshops I've done to make them seem more realistic.

Today was all about form and structure and we investigated this through a sketch design workshop. I knew that I wanted to begin using more geometrical shapes rather than curves as it'd get difficult once I get to the development stages of using sketchup and photoshop etc. We started by drawing shapes in our sketchbook which were then transformed into 3D structures. This was pretty hard to begin with as I had created very delicate shapes to start bending and moulding to create a 3D structure. I really enjoyed this workshop as I've recently been able to create sketch models quite quickly which has been effective.

The second aspect of today was to start thinking about the program which could happen within this structure. This is where my idea changed slightly. I liked the idea of opening up a space just like the threshold project. I liked the idea of creating a space for the homeless to relax and enjoy themselves rather than having blocks of accommodation which I felt was very limiting.

I decided to make a few visualisations to evoke this idea, to begin with I attempted to draw the structure and also a few people in there but it was too difficult as the structure was so complicated. However I then used photoshop and created an image which showed both the users of the structure and also where it would be in the world.

Today was a successful day, I was able to develop my idea further and to a confident level to which I can now say that I'm happy with pursuing.

Action Plan:

• Create some more visualisations using structure
• Have an idea about other users which could use my structure

Today was mainly about looking through our proposals, as I had already done my material experiments I was able to primarily concentrate on my proposal.

SITE CHOICE:

I have also decided on a site which is the Olympic Park in Stratford. I chose this site as recently there was a great problem where a group of homeless were kicked out of the Stratford Centre without warning at 4am and were left in the rain to find other sources of warmth and shelter. I would want to create accommodation  for these people within this site.

We were able to read proposals from previous years, this was very helpful as it was good to see who wrote successful ones and who didn't. I also wanted to have a look at how they reference their research which was also very helpful.

Action Plan:

• Begin to do more research into homeless accommodation
• have an idea of shapes for the sketch design workshop 

Today consisted mainly of a research workshop where we were told to bring in 10 research images associated with our project. We had to group our images into various theme which we thought suited our research which was all about communities. I felt this task was quite useful as I'd never done something like this before and it was also good to see the certain themes that we all need more research for, for example there wasn't much research into culture but there was a lot of architectural references. Our tutor suggested to group the architectural references into different groups as there were so many and felt like we took a shortcut and didn't think enough. We then had to group the images on a scale, the x axis was positive impact and negative impact, and the y axis was the scale of impact on the people effected. We struggled to come up with the scales as we had to somehow associate it with the theme community. The tutor like the way in which we laid it out however she wanted us to put everything together as the pictures were spread out.

We then had a narrative workshop which was extremely useful and something which I have never done before. It consisted of us receiving an image of a design and the analysing using the 5 W's, who, what, where, when and why. The workshop was extremely beneficial as I can now use this task for my own project which hopefully develop it further, we were also given cue cards which had notes about each of the 5 W's and hints on how to analyse the projects.

To Do for monday:

• Continue doing further research using narrative workshop idea
• Finalise proposal- refining my main idea
• Choose a site and analyse it

Today consisted of a lot of making through quick sketch modelling and also visiting the workshop. We began the day with a speed dating process where we were able to present our work which we did over research week and hopefully get some feedback and also some more references. This process was very helpful as I was able to get quite a lot research references which will help me in the future. I didn't have a lot of historical or product based references so it was good to receive some of these from my peers.

We then started the sketch model workshop where we had to think of three key words which were associated with our projects, mine were safety, warmth and dignity. I struggled to think of these words as I hadn't thought that much about it in a way in which I could describe the project in three words. I thought about how the rough sleepers would feel if they had somewhere to sleep which I designed. I want them to feel all three of these adjectives. We then had the task to create three quick sketch models using paper according to the words we chose. Reasons why I made these models:

• Safety- in the world now sharps objects such as spikes on top of railings are used as security for housing and other buildings, therefore I cut shapes out and protruded them to create a sense of security so that the people inside felt safe.
• Dignity- I wanted to create something which was unusual and bold but also meant that the people would be proud of it. No matter what it looks like the homeless would be proud to be in there safe, warm and have a sense of dignity.
• Warmth- I struggled with this one however I created a model using primarily curves and a free flowing shape as, having the curves instead of straight edges makes it feel more subtle.

We then developed these models using various materials, I wanted to go to the metal workshop as I'd never been there before, for a first time I think I did quite well with using the different machines. I then went into the wood workshop, I used glue to stick all the wood pieces together which is what we wasn't supposed to do so I have to do it again using a method which can lock the individual pieces together. We also needed to create a model using three different materials which I didn't have time to do so I'll have to do that another day.

Monday - our group decided to visit the library as we wanted to do some more research into communities within London and also collect some references which could be useful for us. The library process was successful and also useful as I was able to get some historical references and also work of other architects which are sustainable. I'm currently reading a book about the history of architecture and communities and have gained historical knowledge.

Thursday - We visited Hackney Wick and explored the architecture which was developing in the area, it was intriguing to see how everything is under a change. We went to Fish Island Village where we saw the dramatic change in development where on one side of the river there are old buildings that are covered in graffiti which are used as studios for artists and then on the island are new under construction high end apartments which are being built. The council are set to develop the area due to the recent olympic park which consisted of a new village and a very expensive shopping centre. We walked from Hackney Wick to the Stratford Centre which was a valuable experiment as we captured effective pictures and also got a sense of the atmosphere around the area.

Overall I felt that research was really useful, I liked the fact that we were in groups as it meant that we had to actually do some work whereas in the past having time off meant that I wouldn't do that much work.  I was able to gather useful information, primary and secondary research which will help me kickstart the final project.

Today was the first day of our unit 7 project, we began with a quick writing task where we had to write down a summary of our initial project idea. "Integrating the homeless back into the local community but in a subtle way" was mine, I struggled to begin with as I had no idea on how to word the project idea, also I couldn't come up with an effective name. I felt that the summary I gave was most probably the best way I could've explained my idea but in a brief way.

Once this was done we then were put into groups according to our theme, I chose community as I  felt that this was the theme that most appealed to my overall idea. I have a passion in working with people and different communities as I volunteer on a regular basis with the Salvation Army, accommodating the local homeless at the cold weather shelter. Once we were put into groups we had to present our ideas to our group, gathering an understanding of each project so that we could help each other as much as possible during research week. Everyone was pretty much on the same page as we all had an idea but we hadn't done a lot of research prior to today so we were able to begin researching into different places and events which could help develop our idea a bit more. I liked the fact that we were put into groups so that we all had to help each other during research week, not only so we don't slack off during our week off, but also due to the fact that everyone has different knowledge and experiences, some of the students were able to give their own knowledge into sustainability and development which helped me quite a lot. Unfortunately we weren't able to find any talks or presentations about communities and sustainability during research week, but we did decide to explore Fish Island Village in Hackney, we plan to go there next Monday. This is a prime location where development has been very fast and there has been a drastic change which has had its consequences.