DESA1002 'Nine Quarter City' - Ji, Phillip My project is based on a residential building for which I°Øm designing in the city of Dubrovnik, Croatia. The city is known as a popular tourist destination, and commonly described as the °∞pearl°± of the Adriatic. Within the defensive walls, buildings of the city closely stand next to each other and leave out very limited public spaces and narrow streets in most parts of Dubrovnik. The concept of my design is heavily focused on the importance of space. Certain features such as the °∞leaning°± posture was used for my building, to symbolise the °Æsearch for space°Ø and °Æescaping the ordinary°Ø, etc. Furthermore - I wanted the outcome to be a building to not only challenge the Dubrovnik lifestyle and building style, but also add a new sense of community to its residents. At the same time I was looking for something that would stand out, not as an alien, but as a building that belongs to Dubrovnik. The building (of my design) itself consists of four floors of residential split into two individual units per level. Inside each unit, the setups of rooms are all similar to attract people alike. Other than the residential floors there is also a ground floor which accommodates a lobby and community room which act as a buffer zone for the transition from fully public areas into the residential. A roof garden is situated at the top of the building. Together with the ground level landscaping, the greeneries relate and reflect upon the nature of Dubrovnik°Øs city planning and tradition.

DESA1002 'Nine Quarter City' -

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

DESA1002 'Nine Quarter City' - Xing, Gao I worked on a boutique street in the city of Bern, capital of Switzerland. The street locates near the main road and that provides sufficient people flow. Street presents shoes, clothes, jewelry shops, florist and cafe normal types of stores. The drinks retail is the interesting part in the design. It leads to a hidden courtyard and operates as a bar at night as an attraction. Researched on similar project of Herzog & de Meuron’s Five Courts, I was inspired by the unique windows and openings designs then I started to focus on the environment contrasts. Materials in used are mainly bricks which respond to the top buildings but painted in bright colors to make highly contrast with the surrounding traditional architecture overlook. Variations in stores levels are the visual interests and change the uniform look of traditional street appearance. An open staircase at the corner to the street provides a good connection of the building and street. One of the edges of the street is in curve while it has a sharp end at the opposite side. That is designed for catching the pedestrian’s attention to the street and walks beside the curve and finally attracted to explorer the boutique. There is also consideration about stores locations. Café is located to the quite street for a better environment and the Jewelry shop is placed just to the main road. In the model presentations, there are different colors ceilings and also small symbols on the interior walls. They both to quickly understand the functions of different stores i.e. foot prints for shoe shops, flower bunch for florist. Basic concept of the design is to create a different style with the ancient city. The street cooperates with the medieval atmosphere also presents the energetic aspect in modern time.

DESA1002 'Nine Quarter City' -

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

DESA1002 'Nine Quarter City' - Heo, Jaeyun In the second semester of Design Studio, there were a lot of interesting and helpful exercises for each week. Especially, it was good to have real site for my project and I’m pleased that I successfully finished whole exercises eventually including two presentations. Because of the language barrier, it was difficult for me to understand what I needed to do and express what I’ve done so far in English. I did ask Penny about them and she clearly explained to me every time. However, the two presentations were completely different. I needed to think about what I’m going to say about my project in front of my group and also I got to speak English fluently. I presented my work with explaining why I made this model, what’s in the model, why I chose this material for façade, what the function of this model is and etc. Unfortunately, I was shaking when I present them. I’m trying not to shy when I present in front of people, but it is still hard for me. I should overcome it for next year, but I think I’m getting better little by little. But other than that, everything was fine. I made massing models with grey cardboard and my model with balsa and enveloped them with different materials. Unfortunately, sometimes I hurt my self when I cut cardboards or balsa and get annoyed with them. However, I like making models even if it usually takes a long time to finish. Because when I saw my finished model and took photos of them, I could feel great achievement and forget that I was tired. I drew many drawings such as plan, section, elevation and axonometric as well. This semester, I started to draw plans using Auto CAD. Additionally, now I’m able to use Photoshop with complete control. They certainly helped me a lot when I was making presentation sheet clearly. Even if I was not good at presentation, it was good opportunity to listen other student’s presentation as well. Throughout the second semester of design studio, I learned a lot and realised what I need to develop for next year. Therefore, I will be working on studying how to present well and definitely English as well, so that I can say everything I want to explain and describe in English.