YIREN FAN

CHELSEA COLLEGE OF ARTS / BAISD / YEAR2 / EXPANDED PRACTICE

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Session8: Evaluative Report

After 8 sessions of expanded practice talking about sustainable design, it covers and effects everywhere in our daily life from textile to architecture. Personally I find this lecture very useful for me doing my studio projects and learn more about other fields of design. I believe sustainability is a major concept of designers all over the world, it is all about how to save energy and nature resources in the middle of design something great. It is about remake products by reuse materials and reduce unnecessary manpower. I find this really relevant to the work I did in my studio. My studio is focus on working out solutions towards various disasters; the first thing we need is taking most advantage of sustainability in architecture. From the previous lectures, firstly we learned about THE TEN strategies, how to minimize the waste and cyclability, how to reduce chemical impacts or energy usage. Then, we also learned stuff by looking at nature and history, and how to design something reduces the needs of consume. It covers the areas in textile and architecture; I find it interesting since I basically know nothing about textile design. It expanded my insight about fashion design and just restricted in architecture area. Every week I did some research about the theme after lecture, and I searched about relevant architectures online and also looking into books. It makes me think about every material I touched during the day and try to make it better for me to use in my mind. Every time I look at my belongings I will wonder about it’s own story, where is it from, who made it, what materials it is, how to maintain it, how dose people use it, what do I do after using it, and also how to improve it in a sustainable way. What’s important is sustainability is a trend towards future, it will cover every filed of design. For us, a future designer, we should learn about it before we actually do something for real. It consider a complete cycle in relation to spatial and architecture design, from the choice of materials to manufacturing process, to packaging the product, to the finished product, transporting the product and finally become waste energy. I have looked into some readings and it shows me there is bigger impact on nature than I thought, the situation is much more server than I imagined. I believe all designers should learn how to design products in sustainable way before we destroy the planet. This lecture helps me get a better idea of what kind of designer I want to be, and provide a better opportunity to get to know about these technology and methods on precedent designs. Also, the lecture has workshop period for me to observe and study something outside of my area, a chance to take a good look of the products we often use in daily life. To discover the story of the product, learn about materials, the process of production, and the recovery when finishing using it.

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Session7: Material culture

From the guest lecture, Nick showed us how dose his company works and the main concept of making furnitures on our own. He divided the furnitures into pieces of shapes which can be downloaded from his website, and you can get the file for free then make your furniture on you own. You can enjoy the process of making and reduce the consume of human production in the middle. Personally I think it is a great concept as a designer, because it doesn’t need unnecessary waster of materials and extra money. I believe it fits the idea of  reduce consumptions in TEN strategies. 

Also, I pay lots attention about the video of made in china on the lecture that day. Nowadays, we all feel extremely normal about the logo on the back of everything said “made in china”. Even we get disappointed when we find out it was made in china, because it represents mass production and maybe low quality of the products. It becomes a prejudice even for us to look at it, we didn’t pay much respect to the workers who work so hard behind it. We can’t deny that china has become a major production country all over the world just because we got so many manpower so that we offer a lower price on the production than other countries. It might shows that we didn’t value our manpower as well as the others, I think this needs to be correct in everyone’s perspective.

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Session4: my own speculative proposal

From my studio, which is all about how to solve the problems in various disasters. This is why I came up with this speculative idea about how people gonna survive durning a flood. I did lots of research about flooding situations around the world, especially in Venice, the whole island is sinking by now. The situation is effecting daily life of people everywhere, and they never stop fighting and try to improving it. So I am thinking about people might be try to make peace with the water instead of resist it. In the future, we could live on the water, such as floating cities and houses. In a way, people change their lifestyle from ground to the water, and never have to worry about flooding anymore. I believe it will save many lives from the disaster like flooding, it may also help people get more job opportunities. Meanwhile, we may come to some major problems such as food supply and security problems etc. However, I think building a city on the water is potentially feasible, and it might suits the trend of architecture in the future. 

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Session 4: Speculative design2

#2

Waterfront aquarium in New York

Piero Lissoni, the Italian architect has won a speculative competition for New York’s East river. He proposed a submerged circular aquarium. The Aquarium and Marine Center would be started from a submerged two-level island that extends into the river.

A ramp modelled on the stripes of seashells would begin at the entrance of lobby and lead visitors to a pathway down below the water level. "Having the water level define the starting point of the project, the site is excavated to become a spacious and innovative water basin," said Lissoni's team.

Along the pathway, there are eight bubble-like "biomes" would contain sealife from four different oceans, which is Atlantic, Pacific, Indian and Southern, and four seas, Caribbean, Mediterranean, Tasman and Red. In the centre of the aquarium, an iceberg represents the North and South Poles. "The main idea is to generate an environment whereby visitors feel that they themselves are entering the water to discover the beauty of the marine life on display," the team said.

At night period, a sliding roof would cover the circular space "like a shell protecting a pearl" and create a planetarium for people to watch. The site would be enclosed by a boardwalk that wraps around the aquarium to connect both sides. Meanwhile, a sloped beachfront would enclose a parking area and you could see the panoramic view of Manhattan skyline form a public space.

"Our project creates a dynamic system that interacts with its surroundings, offering multiple ways to experience the water world," said Lissoni's team.

Dan Howarth. (2016). Piero Lissoni wins design competition with waterfront aquarium in New York. Available: https://www.dezeen.com/2016/05/05/piero-lissoni-wins-competition-waterfront-aquarium-new-york-arch-out-loud/. Last accessed 3rd Jan 2017.

Unknown. (2016). Open Design Competition: NYC Aquarium & Public Waterfront. Available: http://www.archdaily.com/780156/open-design-competition-nyc-aquarium-and-public-waterfront. Last accessed 15th Jan 2017.

Juliana Neira. (2016). piero lissoni's NYC aquarium winning proposal offers multiple ways to experience water. Available: http://www.designboom.com/architecture/piero-lissoni-team-wins-nyc-aquarium-public-waterfront-competition-05-05-2016/. Last accessed 15th Jan 2017.

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Session4: Speculative design1

#1

Imagines A Mixed-Use Building Wrapped Around the Arc de Triomphe

Patterlini Benoit is a French architect and he has imagined a mix-use building wrapped around the half of Arc de Triomohe in Pairs. The monument was complete in 1836 and it is meant to memory the great victory of the French armies under Napleon. It is one of the most iconic and visited landmarks all over the world. However, Benoit provide a proposal to divide the arch with an enormous mirrored surface, which visually competing the monument from one perspective and giving new functions from another.

This new proposal is combined series of stacked glass boxes, bracketed around the monument and connected through a glass elevator. The boxes will have each independent structure, so they could float around the monument without any compromises. Each of them will have different functions, such as a museum, an art gallery, a panoramic restaurant, and a cafe-style lounge. I believe it will become a fantastic place for tourists and locals to interact and enjoy as a part of their daily life.

At the same time, the remaining half of the monument will remain origin state, with the large mirrored surface visually completing the structure. On the one hand, it reserve the meaning of the Arch and also give it another purpose to exist in France. On the other hand, it leveled up the quality of the locals to have a better experience living here.

As a interior spatial student, I believe it is very important to live in the moment and think about future at the same time. It connect to the lifestyle that people would use in the next decades, so it should be pay more attention to speculative design. Personally, I quite like this proposal, it gives various possibilities to what would happen to the modern landmarks, to make it more than just a tourism site. It gives much more meaning when it participating in your daily life.

Patrick Lynch. (2016). This Speculative Project Imagines A Mixed-Use Building Wrapped Around the Arc de Triomphe. Available: http://www.archdaily.com/792338/this-speculative-project-imagines-a-mixed-use-building-wrapped-around-the-arc-de-triomphe. Last accessed 3rd Jan 2017.

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Session6: Sustainable design workshop

This is a traditional Vietnamese vintage jacket. It is mostly made in cotton, and the top layer is waxed. There are embellishments on the sleeves may come from other products. 

There are also some partial stitches and wovens as well. This has been hand-made and possibly owned by someone rich and had high status in society, they wore them while they attend celebrations or festivals.

This is a natural product, which has no energy or water use.

Also, the waxed cotton keeps you warm and keeps the wind out. This cloth has been worn too much and may not stored it well so its tear up a bit.

REDESIGN THE PRODUCT

1.The name of this product is “MIN ZU FENG”BAG, which means traditional culture in China. We thought it would be fit to the theme. 

2.We believe this product could be proper recycling and also partially up cycling when its life come to an end.

3.This new product looks like the picture above. It won't be too large since the material of the original jacket is not enough. The decoration could also made into the stripe that across the body. It would be perfect to made into a shoulder bag.

4.Life circle: raw materials:cotton---manufacture:hand-made---use:bags,everyday use---end of life: recycling and up recycling

5.I think what’s interesting about this workshop is it makes me have more insight about textile design. Since I am the students from ISD, so I didn’s have much understanding in textile. This workshop gets me the opportunity to observe closely with the clothing. I believe this kind of cross-studio workshop could be very useful. What I found difficult about it is we had a cloth that we can’t really find any actual information about it. We can’t research it or learn more info about who made it and where was it made and when was it made. However, on the other hand, it gave us the space to imagine the possibilities about the entire life of this product.

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Session5: A visual diary about my material journey from the start of the day

1.From the beginning of the day, I open my eyes and turns on the light switch. The material is plastic and it is located at he upper right-hand of my bed.

2.Then I changed my pajama which is just next to my pillow. The materials are consist of 95% modal and 5% elastane.

3.Then I get up and pour myself a glass of water in this cup, which is made of ceramic.

4.After that, I went straight to the  bathroom to wash my face with 100% cotton towel.

5.Then, I brush my teeth with the electronic toothbrush. I also use the glass to contain the water in it. The toothbrush is made of rubber and metal.

6.After refreshing, I put on my glasses, and it is made of sheet material.

7.When I walk out of the bathroom, I touch the metal handle on the door. 

8.I come to my desk, and start to prepare for uni. The desk is made out of wood.

9.I plug my phone to the cable of charger, which is made of rubber and metal.

10.Before I left the room, I put sketchbooks into my bag, which is made of leather.

11.Before I get to the tube, I hold my oyster all the time. It is made of plastic.

A PREFERRED LIST OF MATERIALS:

I actually quite satisfied with all these materials. :)

[epfanyiren]

Session3: London idea store

I went to the idea store in Whitechapel in London, it locates in a chaotic and ugly-beautiful surroundings nearby. The appearance of the building is consist of  stripes of green and blue glass, which is inspired by the striped awnings of the same colors on the market stalls that crowd the pavement on Whitechapel High Street. The stripes also give a lift to the views out, colorising the brown townscape with the hues of grass and sky. 

The Idea Store concept have been cruel, a monument to trendy rebranding at the cost of true learning, or a intense attempt to sell Shakespeare. It potentially made worse by the fact that the new Whitechapel building replaces Whitechapel Library which recently closed, the perfect picture of high-minded ideals of learning and knowledge, and refuge for generations of free thinkers and writers. 

After you enter the front of the gate, you will see red plastic floor, which is made of recycled materials.

The new Idea Store sets itself apart from its surroundings and embraces them at the same time. It is clearly something special, a better world apart and a construction different from any other buildings nearby. However, it also means to bring the life of the street into it, through the escalator that lands straight on to the pavement, and through the use of both glamorous and workaday materials. 

I chose this project because it relates to my sustainable design, which also concerns about design for cyclability in TEN strategies. 

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Session2: Friday’s activity

From last Friday’s activity, I found out about info of my partner’s coat. It is from Sandro, which is a designer’s brand from paris. However, it is made in the factory in Mexico. Its cost around 500 pounds. She chose the item because of the color which is dark green. It is brand new and just bought from a month ago. This coat makes her feel comfortable and often wears it in autumn and winter. She didn’t really do anything to maintain it just leave it in woredore. Also, she is satisfied with the whole cloth has nothing want to change about it. She said she will keep wearing it and maybe someday will give it to charity.

I found about the designer in sandro, Evelyne Chetrite and her son Ilan. However hardly could find out who actually made it. 

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Session2: THE TEN strategies

I have chosen two strategies from the TEN, which is design for cyclability and also reduce to need to consume. I am looking at a project which is about a unique building used abandoned materials from a zero-waste japanses town. It is designed by Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP. 

The reason why I am interested in this project is that it is all used waste materials and present it in creative and insprational ways. The small Japanese town of Kamikatsu has achieved an 80% recycling rate and residents sort their waste into 34 categories. 

The Kamikazt Public House uses the zero waste concept in its design, particularly with its attractive eight-meter-tall window wall made from a series of windows reclaimed from abandoned houses nearby. The eight-meter-tall window wall and other openings bring in cool breezes in the summer, while a carbon-neutral radiation heater warms the structure in winter.

This design fulfill the strategy of design for cyclability . Apparently, the building is filled with creative displays of reuses, including reclaimed tiles for the flooring, a bottle chandelier, and newspapers up cycled into wallpaper. The exterior is clad locally produced and reclaimed cedar boards colored with naturally derived persimmon tannin paint. This is also fit the strategy of reduce the need of consume, since most of  the materials are from nature, so that all can be recycled and meanwhile collect materials from the daily trash. It could help reduce the need to consume since there is no need to buy or make any new materials.

Lucy wang. (2016). Zero-waste Japanese town builds a unique building from abandoned materials. Available: http://inhabitat.com/zero-waste-japanese-town-builds-a-unique-building-from-abandoned-materials/. Last accessed 25th oct 2016.

[epfanyiren]

Session1: Sustainable project2

#2

Terraces Home / H&P Architects

Terraces home is a combination of Architecture and Agriculture, which called Agritecture, as a basis for sustainable development. 

The idea is to combine the accommodation space and cultivation space( terraced rice field) to create a home with blurry boundaries. It is consist of various elements, such as above and below, common and private. 

I believe agricultural cultivation helps bring city residents much closer to the nature by giving them unique experience of planting, taking good care and sharing self-harvested products from their own farmland plots with their neighbors. 

This house is a effective system to store the rainwater as a water tank, and use the rainwater to water the vegetation. With all these plants and vegetables at the front of the house, noises, dust, hot and rainy are minimized when passing vegetation skin. In a way they are helping each other live in the nature world. 

Terraces home exists as a constant reminder of the paddy rice civilization in a flat world context threatened by various types of pollution currently at an alarming level.  At the same time, they expected to promote the expansion of farmland plots in urban city with a view to securing food supplies for future life.

Unknown. (2016). Terraces Home / H&P Architects. Available: http://www.archdaily.com/798826/terraces-home-h-and-p-architects#_=_. Last accessed 3rd Jan 2017.  

Philip Stevens. (2016). H&P architects creates tiered home in vietnam with stepped back terraces. Available: http://www.designboom.com/architecture/hp-architects-terraces-home-vietnam-ha-tinh-city-11-04-2016/. Last accessed 15th Jan 2017.

[epfanyiren]

Session1: Sustainable project1

#1 

Erik Giudice Architecture: Sustainable Transit Station 

Erik Giudice Architecture made a proposal for a transit station at Södra Munksjön, in Jönköping, Sweden. The ides is inspired by matchsticks and it is about connecting the station with nature surroundings. This is meant to use light and a playful wooden canopy structure to create a portal, and there is a lake at the opposite. 

“Transparency and openness helps sunlight reach below the cover and onto the platforms and other areas, ensuring that all areas of the station have access to light with entrance areas on all sides, making the spaces above as well as below the viaduct feel safe and secure for all users.” - described by the architects.

This project is also called “living room in the forest”, since it is using a combination of wood and polycarbonate panels, the structure will provide partial shade, as well as views over the surrounding lakes and forests. 

“The use of wood and curbed, creates irregular surfaces helping to absorb and diffuse noise from the train and other traffic and adds to a more peaceful atmosphere, a place where people are invited to linger and relax”- said the architects.

However, this is not just concerns about materials, but also in its incorporation of nature. There are local trees such as ash, pine, and oak will be planted in areas of the station where the canopy dips down and is anchored into the streets. What’s more, the polycarbonate portions of the canopy will feature solar panels on the south side of the building, and rainwater will be harvested and reused in planted areas on site.

I am studying design and survive project in interior spatial studio, and I believe this project will benefit my practice. Since I am studying survival mode, everything need to based on the theme of environmental protection. We need to utilize the best advantage of nature materials and also save them being wasted. 

Sabrina Santos. (2016). Erik Giudice Architecture Releases Proposal for Sustainable Transit Station Inspired by Matchsticks. Available:http://www.archdaily.com/795601/erik-giudice-architecture-releases-proposal-for-sustainable-transit-station-inspired-by-matchsticks. Last accessed 18th Oct 2016.

Marco Rinaldi. (2016). WOODEN CANOPY FOR JÖNKÖPING STATION BY ERIK GIUDICE ARCHITECTURE. Available: http://aasarchitecture.com/2016/09/wooden-canopy-jonkoping-station-erik-giudice-architecure.html. Last accessed 15th Jan 2017.