Exhibition Night

In preparation.
If you turn up tonight,  also check out the Architecture students' work on Level 6.
...another league entirely.
Here are some quick picks from our studio.

Thankyou

To all whom I had the pleasure to work with this year, a big thank you for your efforts.
Here is a link to the design videos, in case you ever want to see your work, or show it off to friends and family.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGLrmJpJQlPecSr19wOdtjX8KFz_PPrtI
embedded below:

Project Office Admin

Apologies for the rush of the last presentation.
So they are both included here.
More to follow, as I refine the content for version 2.0
Any feedback welcome.


and

WD

Wet Area Details.

WD - Amendments and Transmittals

This text relates to the document transmittal form/ amendments to drawings.

All WD printouts that I now request should include the area that has been amended, (revision cloud), the updated titleblock, and an accompanying document transmittal form.

This is a transmittal form you can use. [LINK]

Office Admin [Complete Mindmap]

Once complete I will replace this image.
This is where it stands prior to the week 7 Lecture.
Remember this sheet was blank 10 weeks ago.

I'm also trying to make this interactive so all the additional text appears as mouse rollover. stay tuned (if I get it to work).

WD Notes.

Might be at home looking after a sick kiddie, but I'm working.
Here's a quick note on window and door tagging.

Design Studio

Today's discussion was all about architectural tectonics.
Here is an elaboration of the points I was making in class.
The emphasis we have placed this year has been on design as form making. The sculptural aspects of the 3D object.
After last week's preliminary presentations, many of the submissions have now reached a point where the form of the building has moved from nebulous arrangement of spaces to nearly realised object.
Design now needs to take a more nuanced approach.

MATERIALS:
Consider carefully now, the materials palette which the group is proposing for the building.
If it is brick consider whether the building dimensions are to brick module. What colour, and manufacturing process has been used, is it wire cut, pressed? How are they to be laid, traditional or robotic.
As I said the analogy is like a painter intuitively understanding the media. How the oils can be mixed, on the palette, with what variety and combination of tools they can be applied to the canvas, (if indeed it is that media),  and how they can be blended once applied. Then there is the composition of the image etc.
ELEMENTS:
Do not ignore structure. Students informing me, that all the walls are loadbearing, have forgotten about flexibility of internal spaces, (open narratives) or appropriate material selections, or typical construction types. Load bearing pre-cast concrete is not suitable for the scale or budget of this project.

the way in which particular architectural elements are used is one of the chief means by which a building can be made to convey meaning. Consequently, the articulation of these elements, such as in the rendering of a wall, the spacing and particular style of windows or choice of roof cladding material, can vary dramatically. Reading Architecture - a visual lexicon

Please revisit the work of Sam Mockbee and Rural Studio. Watch again the documentary 'Citizen Architect' (available via RMIT Library). I am not trying to create clones of that aesthetic, but the pragmatic approach to form and use of material is exemplified in the design process.

Suggestion Box

I'm trying to improve my teaching practice, so feel free to drop an anonymous suggestion in the course suggestion box. The link to the page is located in the top right hand corner of this blog page. Even if critical, please keep it constructive and civil.

Addenda:
A big thank you to the first suggestion post. 
I have been working on a series of mini history lectures with the thought of rolling them out into design studios for quite some time. It may be difficult to implement some form of grading to them, as it would be inequitable across all groups; but that does not mean the content can't be made available.
Perhaps a focus on individual architects, rather than just time periods, may be a starting point.
Have thought of video recording some for upload also.
Food for thought.

Design Studio

Firstly, thanks for coping with the surprise A1 exercise.
Those sort of little exercises, and the resulting anxiety of getting something deliverable in a short space of time, with no notice, is common place in an office. There's always something that may come up, where you are dropped into the deep end.

For the most part.
The submissions were at a wide range of completion stages.

There were some basic disappointing aspects.

• most projects are heavily reliant upon revit to generate much of the work.
• it is horrible how the program throttles the life out of a drawing.
• photoshop was only used as a layout device.
• no group considered post image filters
• no group hand drew on their print out after it was printed
• context is still sadly lacking.
• AXIAL lines people!!! look at viewing lines and circulation paths through buildings.  No labyrinthine corridors please. No dead ends. 
• Commercial toilet spaces rarely need  windows or external walls.
• no submissions were remotely graphically connected to the lightness and whimsy of the earlier conceptual art work.
• 2 people @2.5 hours each is 5 hours worth of work. Did the submission reflect that? I think there are still some equity of task issues within some groups that need resolution.
• typography is still a BIG issue. be careful in your choice of font style and size. Please consider graphical hierarchy, balance and placement. If in doubt go a the library and look at some magazines or google architectural images/ layout.
• Grammar and spelling, in one word; atrocious. Spelling errors are almost impossible with software, so why am I seeing them? Read any text OUT LOUD, paying close attention to punctuation. Each sentence has a subject and a verb, otherwise it is incomplete.

This project needs to be completed by the end of term 3. I will elaborate on what that means during the next studio session.

Office Admin Lecture #6

I have just finished ploughing through 1,400 pages of the Australian Competition and Consumer Act.
for the sum total of 9 slides.
-oh joy.

followup:
1. Will definitely embed these 3 lectures into 2 next year. and/or
2. Looking for a lawyer with knowledge of building law to perhaps do a guest spot. If anyone knows one, give me a holler.

Please keep in mind this is iteration one of this lecture series for me, and 'I'm flying on instruments only' at the moment.

Office Admin Lecture #5

This is the agenda for lecture #5 Office Admin scheduled for 27.08.
(work in progress)

WD [group A]

Have to admit I'm getting a little disappointed at the pace in which the WD Project is progressing. I'm not going to keep bleating about wanting to see details and drawings printed out, as the cajoling is becoming tiresome/ tedious.
This project needs to move at a quicker pace, the usual last minute flurry to the finish line will only generate more errors and leave gaps in your knowledge. This project has a significant weighting attached to it, and therefore needs more attention given to it.
[#foodforthought]

Office Admin. Lecture #4

Here is the map outline of lecture #4

WD details details details

Notes from today's class.

Process to get a detail.

more to follow on this.

• Elements
• Dimensions
• Fixing methods
• Constructed off-site
• Welded on site (rare or not encouraged)
• Mechanically Fixed
• Bolted
• Nailed
• Glued

• Finishes
• 
  

Design Floor Plans & Other stuff

Apologies to 2A for the truncated class. There may be one or two more small hiccups along the way, but I will give you more notice if anything more disruptive comes along....

Floor Plans.

Once again, revit has a tendency to suck the life out of a scheme.

1. If your group has more than one scheme, it is now time to hybridise and get the best of both worlds onto one page. Don't rely on the class room popular vote. Your decisions should be based on the functional, logical and efficient layout of spaces.

Be respectful.

2, Zoom out, squint a little bit and look at the plan form as a series of sculptured volumes. Does the internal arrangements, have an impact on the forms and solids of the building as a whole. Imagine the view from google earth, is the scheme coherent and of a consistent design language? Should it be?

3. Relate it back to the conceptual design posters/ images of the last few weeks. Has the floor plan reflected the group polemic. You should be able to trace some lineage of the plan scheme as presented with the underlying conceptual design position. They should not be seen as distinctly different exercises.

4. TEST: Get the furniture/ joinery into the plan, not for rendering purposes, but to validate storage spaces and the proportions of rooms. Does the community meeting room actually work with 10,18, 24 seat arrangements? 

5. Get the plan developed, but don't over commit.

print out ELEVATIONS

6. Start looking at the material selections and planar compositions of the elevations. Changes in height can reflect the differing intimacy of rooms or the importance of others.

The elevations will have an impact on the plan. They should. Elevations are not an afterthought or merely dictated by revit default elements.

Elevation studies capture light/ shadow, material/ texture. and form.

For next week.
Parts 1-4

Office Admin #4

Had to Postpone the lecture as Reading the Acts is a protracted and tedious affair.
Here is a glimpse of what is to come.

It may not look like much...

Design #4

Office Admin Lecture #3 Project Sequencing.

Mindmap of this morning's lecture.

WD Assessment Feedback

OMG!
My turn to panic.
I have started grading the precast project, was it a revit thing? Most of the work is very incomplete.
If it was me, not checking your work more I apologise.
All I can say is, it is now time to GET BUSY!

No more other subjects or (soundboard) distractions. Some of you NEED to show me evidence on this current and LAST project that you know what you're doing...
for next class.
1. PRINT OUT AN A2 SET OF ALL SHEETS. BEFORE CLASS
2. WE WILL BE GOING OVER TO THE PERIODICALS SECTION OF THE LIBRARY TO RESEARCH DETAILS, MAKE SURE YOUR PHOTOCOPY CARD IS PRIMED.
3. WE WILL BE SPENDING MOST OF THE CLASS WITH THE COMPUTERS OFF! I NEED TO SEE PEOPLE RESOLVING DETAILS. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE SOME PENS PENCILS AND TRACE.

Everyone be there!

WD Project Tasks

Print them.

Just to keep momentum in this project going....
From last weeks class you should have by today.

Created a series of 1:100 scale drawings, derived from the design drawings.
As discussed, these have been stripped of entourage, and walls that were black or grey now have some basic underlying materials pattern. Grey and black are now only being used for existing walls.

The 1:100 drawing set should have the basic working drawings checklist applied to them. Exclude annotation and dimensioning elements at this point. At the very least, room names, room numbers, floor finishes. Reduced levels, near changes of level, Structural grids (dimensioned). Titleblocks, general notes.

Once you have completed 2. That is generic 1:100 plans, elevations, sections...print them out, then close revit, and open your browser software...

Again as mentioned last week; review your drawing set, (colour code if necessary with some pencils), the basic materials being used by your building. HINT: if it appears to be all concrete and glass, it is quite likely wrong.

After determining basic materials go to some websites to search materials.

Look for technical data, not just pretty pictures. Find where possible standard details of the basic materials, that you may be able to use on your own projects.

I keep mentioning Detail Magazine, and other equivalent technical magazines and resources, these are crucial in helping you to understand both the construction method and the graphical style used to clearly set out how modern contemporary details are presented.

Look through your 1:100 set. When I start to look at what sections you should be drawing I first look for...

Some structural overhang, or interesting exterior wall, that either connects to the existing building or adjoins an exterior space, balcony, deck etc... Structure and water control are points of interest.

I also look for any corner or connection in section that may have multiple materials being connected together. The relationship of disparate materials is always worth consideration for detailing.

Look for window/door head and sill details, particularly if set back from the wall and if there is a deep reveal or louvre system being used.

Design

Here are this weeks class screen grabs.

 

History

A shout out to all last year's students that did not see out the History lectures.
They are currently running in Building 94 Level 1 6:00pm on Tuesday Nights. If you missed last year's through indifference, here is a chance to catch them now.
They are insightful, thought provoking and a welcome reminder how important it is for design to understand its past.

WD02 Wk.4

Basic Screen grab from class notes.

Take out message: RESEARCH

materials: colour code or synthesise base materials, list suppliers and manufacturers.

construction method: determine spans, sizes, construction sequence.

standard details -detail magazine, Swanston Street Library, built examples in Melbourne

Comm Design Review Week 1

Week 1

Is all about forming groups and getting the logistics sorted as to:

• who is doing what?
• where that information is stored,
• and how it is shared.
• Pre-Design Research
• Physical
• Materials
• Building Types
• Building Forms
• Topology
• Planning
• Regulatory Constraints 
• Planning Overlays
• History Recent and Past
• BAL
• BCA: Basic Classification check and routine planning considerations for a public building
• Australian Standards relating to:
• Extension and geometry of the off-street carparking
• Disabled Access Code
• Design
• Kinder and Child Care Regs
• Men's Shed Movement

Probably best if the information is tabulated or in a spreadsheet, and I recommend the google apps suite, as it is collaborative and easy to distribute.

Have the data ready week 1 so the designing/ brainstorming can be good to go start of week 2.

I don't see any value in a group presentation of the pre-design data, but I do want to review the groups individually to see what has been collated. So have it stored/ formatted in a meaningful manner.

Arch 5192 Manage Office Admin

Please note.
The start date for this course has been postponed to July 23rd 8:30am.
I will be sending an email to everyone to confirm this also.

:-(

Apologies groups A and C.
I'm feeling unwell and will not be in today.
Sorry for the late notice.

Simple Images Convey clear information

Plan Geometry Breakdown

Concept/ Design Process

Remember: Design is about the idea. Don't let the tools limit your creativity.

The final image is an amalgam of software.

Preliminary Design Submission.

This is an outline of what is required for this Thursday's presentation.
It is indicative only, and should not be considered a checklist.

• Bio/ front page
• (2A Dark Grey/ 2C Dark Red)
• Photo
• Your narrative +5 years
• Project Design Response, Architecture (Learning) Building
• Plans
• Sections 
• Elevations
• 3D views
• Location Drawing
• Site Analysis
• Materials Selection
• BCA checks
• Distance of paths of travel to exits.
• Presentation: A5 Portrait colour physical print.
• Bring blu-tac or magnets for pin up!
• PDF presentation in class. (Save the file as a "reduced pdf" )

Remember CONTEXT, design projects are always grounded by the existing conditions. Isolated projects/ graphics are less convincing. The presentation should not be like a WD and you need to balance the limits of the generating software, with some sense of ambiguity.

The project is about conveying a design concept. (also google architectural diagrams for style cues.)
Earlier student examples are on my issuu site

Note:

The design project makes manifest a range of other subjects, (courses) within the program.

• Construction: Structure
• Codes and Standards
• Materials
• ESD

While there is not explicit reference to these subjects, their information is inherent in the design process.

WD -the aftermath

Just like the hitch hikers guide.... the first rule is 'dont panic'.

To those students that received a 'NN' grade most were in the 4.5 to 4.8 range.
Students with NN results lower than that were essentially for incomplete submissions.
The highest mark was a 9 the average mark was a 5.6.
Without getting all techie/ mathematical statistical; the range looked only a little skewed toward the NN side, but this was also due to several non-submissions of the project.

(20% is a hill of...beans)

It is only weighted 20%, so it is not game over by a long shot.
Revit levels the playing field, and homogenises the output a little, so it is less likely to cause data errors (missing elements).

So complete the model in 3D as much as you can, then move into 2D line work. This project is not due in until 2nd semester, so there is oodles of time to learn the program.
(the focus of your time at the moment should be DESIGN!)

Design Week 3

1. Continue work on modifications of room space arrangements. (paper), as per feedback/ discussion from studio. (from some of the illogical positioning of spaces on plan, there appeared little evidence of bubble diagram combinations being tested).
2. Put plans into Revit. Excluding external walls.
1. Levels 7,8 and 9 to be added to your block/ building 94 model.
3. Print out the 4 elevation views of the model.
4. Print out 1 or 2 axonometric views of the model.
1. The axonometric view, is to get a sense of the massing of the building, to get a sense of the voids and circulation you are planning.
5. Overlay paper on print outs.
1. Draw / develop some elevational studies with a focus on massing, composition and materials. For presentation, next studio.

This is a famous image by the Swiss/ French Architect Le Corbusier; 'Dom-ino' (Domus Innovation) (1914) Imagine tracing an exterior shape, building, form over this image. That is what you will be doing with your Revit model.

Minor Delays Expected

Sorry WD 2A.
I have 3A going a little nuts at the moment, wondering about their grades... so I'm try to put them all out of their misery.
Your grief and/ or elation over the WD marks should be up on Bb, today or tomorrow at the latest.
Promise

Revit Starting out

WD General Feedback

I'm half way through grading the WD projects, and I am beginning to see how easy it would be to have a melt-down and lay waste.
So rather than repeat myself ad-nauseum on every feedback sheet I am going to post here some typical comments. (all without expletives).

• The titleblock is formatted incorrectly, missing revision/ issue number.
• General notes are not complete or missing entirely.
• Site Plan
• Remember
• CONTEXT
• SERVICES
• EXTERNAL WORKS
• The site plans are far from complete, which is always an issue, given they are the first sheet we do and see. It does not bode well for the rest of the set, if the first sheet assessed is incomplete.
• All the elements on the WD checklists need to be reviewed and incorporated into the drawings.
• Structural grids not set out.
• NO ADJOINING BUILDINGS indicated on ANY drawings.
• Floor Plan
• Missing dimensions for some windows and doors
• Saw cut joints and panel joints not shown. 
• A lack of notation
• Some walls not hatched
• Weird formatting on call outs
• Elevations
• Ground line not resolved.
• Backlining a mess.
• Discrepancies with the building form from front to side elevations.
• lack of dimensions
• lack of notation.
• Details.
• No structural grids shown
• lack of dimensions
• generic notation
• poor lineweight
• oddly scaled hatching
• Generally
• Incorrect labelling of drawings
• Poor formatting choices.
• Sheets submitted not landscape.
• No evidence of timesheets
• Only 6 people showed me mark up sets.
• Project not complete.
• Given the extraordinary time we had for this project, AND the time you had in construction to iron out any misunderstandings, or confusion, I am quite stunned at the cad speed many people displayed in class. (Glacial). I am also concerned that the hours of homework being done across all subjects is a fraction of what I think needs to be done to pass this year. (but this needs verifying with time sheets.)
• Sections
• Incomplete
• Additional
• Timesheets: I will be asking for these from now on weekly. for WD and Design.
• Mark up sets need to be produced earlier and used regularly each week.

Grades and Grading

Okay, so everyone just needs to chill a little.

Nobody likes getting a bad grade.

But it is important that all sides remain calm and objective.

Design is graded by using a rubric, which I, Nick and Nadine have all agreed to. The work has also been moderated, prior to the release of the grades.

I have posted feedback onto the blackboard site. If you require any additional explanation on it, feel free to ask.

WD is also graded to a rubric.

Rubrics are good as they maintain a level of consistency and transparency.

I have started grading WD this evening and will formerly release those grades AFTER moderation with the other WD teachers.

Only initial concern, I have 11 submissions on Bb, and there are 15 students in the class.

For next week

1. Complete the 3D Precinct model. Simple block massing.
2. Write a reflective paragraph on your sense of what RMIT building design is like. Spaces, conditions, the atmosphere of studying in building 94.
1. After experiencing RMIT, Building 8,16,80,94, 100; the pixel building and Melbourne Design School, what atmosphere do you hope to achieve with your building design proposal.
3. As I type this my legs still have not forgiven me for the 4hours+ of walking that I led yesterday. 

WD Confusion. Salvator vs Epping

Apologies over the confusion surrounding the tilt panel project.
The assessment task is as stated on Blackboard.

WD Uploads

For the WD Submissions.
Post 1 copy to Blackboard
Post copy 2 into 'T' Drive located at T:/Student/secure...

Thanks

DESIGN: MP:02

Apologies for the garbled way the class started.
Results from the previous project are being worked on now.
Again it is really important to get started on this one as quickly as possible.

In groups, start modelling the Site.
For the next class, bring a camera so we can start looking for typological elements that can be used as a feeder to the design concept.
Also take a look online at the references mentioned above.

WD Project Task

This is what is needed for WD.

Notes for above:
The mark up set should be printed @1:1, not reduced.
There should be evidence that a correct 'workflow' has been used.
printout->markup->correction.

Time Sheets are beneficial for ma AND you. Get into the habit of doing them.

Job files are not digital padding, they are used to give the builder a precise understanding of your design intent. A material or element selected by you may have a specific method or sequence required to be used correctly in your project.
Don't just give generic abbreviations, research the elements you intend to use.

Today's notes

A bit of a yak about grading method, and a quick look at Alex Hogrefe.
Some previous student work focusing on a limited colour palette and clean cad line work, referencing the publishing house birkhauser,

Elevations

This is the screen grab from today's class.
It is more generic, and not project specific.

Week 5

Image Manipulation of Model Photographs

This is a process to avoid only one software fixated outcome.

Dimensions & End Column Notes

Resolving the office column EWR beam connection.

General Idea.

1. Minimise on site welding, so consider a end plate/ bolted connection to flange of PFC beams.

2. Try not to rotate column out of wall, to reduce space impact to both rooms.

If you have to have the wall off centre to the column, so one side of the wall runs plasterboard flush past the flange.

3. The M1 does not have to sit directly under the ridge for the EWR to be considered continuously supported. +_ a few hundred mm over the entire span is within tolerance for the loads.

Remember: dimensional tolerance is determined by the scale of the drawing, the basic sizes of the key building elements and the constructional tolerance that can be achieved.

Notes from WD

First Post

Introduction:

This blog will contain running commentary for Design, and WD, and any other 2nd year subjects that I teach. It will be embedded into all relevant Blackboard Course Folders. Comments will be tagged by course.
I welcome any feedback.
This site is primarily for students that I teach with, in that it augments discussions generated from class, but anyone is more than welcome to browse.