Day 1-5 YouTube link, please see below.
Day 1-2: Bamboo Pod 3 build
Day 1-5 YouTube link, please see below.
Architectural Design 3: Live Schedule
| W/C | TOPIC SUMMARY | WED PM (2:30-3:30PM) LECTURE | WED PM (3:30-5:05pm) | FRIDAY PM (2:30-6:05pm) | |
| 06/09/2021 | WEEK 1 | Introduction and typology of library | Lecture 1: Introduction to the module | Design precedents analysis | Design precedents presentation on Miro |
| 13/09/2021 | WEEK 2 | Site options | Lecture 2: Site information and analysis Urban analysis | Working on two site options (tutorial) | Guest Lecture: Chris Hardie |
| Tutorial re two sites | |||||
| 20/09/2021 | WEEK 3 | Final design brief | Chosen site presentation and Design brief tutorial | Final design brief presentation, followed by tutorial | |
| 27/09/2021 | WEEK 4 | Conceptual design | Concept development tutorial | Holiday (no class), make up class on October 6th (Sunday) | |
| 04/10/2021 | WEEK 5 | Conceptual design | (Recorded) Lecture 3: Circular Economy in Architecture | Concept development tutorial (holiday but class as per usual) | Concept design presentation and tutorial |
| 11/10/2021 | WEEK 6 | Design development | Lecture 4: Sketches | Design development: tutorial | Lecture 5: drawing workshop, followed by design development: tutorial |
| 18/10/2021 | WEEK 7 | Spatial quality | Model making and design development: tutorial | ||
Welcome to Architectural Design 3
See you soon!
Double coco batik soap, our second batik soap
Special thanks to Jessica Laksono.
You can also view this article in our official WeChat account:
For English : https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/8sAsMI0waEr7qDeeGka9tw
For Chinese : https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/7euR_0OsXWETzKj5OgzY8Q
ABOUT KALA
KALA was founded by Mia and Elza Tedjosaputro, in May 2020. KALA provides high quality stylish home decor and accessories that highlight a few simple attainable changes towards an eco-friendly lifestyle. There is always an Indonesian touch ensuring we empower our craftsmen and promote Indonesian culture and craftsmanship. KALA’s specific design language is the use of natural materials and artisanal, with a sense of play of texture and product functionality. We are based in Indonesia and China.
Bamboo craftsmanship
I made a quick 2 minutes video (taken by my phone, handheld without a gimbal) about the village and the design library:
Batik Patterns on Handmade Soap
Special thanks to Jessica Laksono.
You can also view this article in our official WeChat account:
For English : https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/3hAmoB0Ftj6wTznwjiAo8g
For Chinese : https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Aq0XcM5_yfwFiWHh5C7SSw
ABOUT KALA
KALA was founded by Mia and Elza Tedjosaputro, in May 2020. KALA provides high quality stylish home decor and accessories that highlight a few simple attainable changes towards an eco-friendly lifestyle. There is always an Indonesian touch ensuring we empower our craftsmen and promote Indonesian culture and craftsmanship. KALA’s specific design language is the use of natural materials and artisanal, with a sense of play of texture and product functionality. We are based in Indonesia and China.
Day 2: Bamboo Pod 3 Prototype
Day 2: Bamboo Pod 3 Prototype build at Mr Box, Ningbo.
30 June 2021
Day 1 (click here) started with retrieving the 16 mini sized arcs (with the wrong sized bamboo battens which were sent from the mountains yesterday- what a palaver). We are working on a 1:2 scale bamboo model. We noticed some off shaped ones so we re-measured them all. Plan had to change slightly accommodating the wrong size of bamboo battens as the hoops are mostly floppy!
We put up the temporary support: The centre column and three guy lines. We considered putting the 1:2 structure in between the existing planters so we can guy them up with additional guy on the concrete grill. This particular exercise is useful for the real size build, most definitely we will also need a temporary structure.
The bigger the diameter of the hoops, these non supported ones (from about #13 onwards) got really floppy and tended to twist. The team decided to proceed and added horizontal supports once all 16 hoops were in place.
The first layer of horizontal supports were up, then we continued with the next layers. In total we had 5 layers and the more we put the horizontal elements, the more stable the structure was. We removed the guy lines before adding the 5th layer, which was not planned. The joy of physical model making!
Then it was the acid test whether the structure will be self-supporting despite the wrong dimensions. We also learnt that probably 50mm would have been too wide for 1:2 scale, so not all mistakes went unreflected on. 20-25mm wide would have been a better size as the main structural system for this play tent for kids 🙂
Generally Matt and I are really happy with these two days. It was planned for three days, but some of the students had emergencies so we decided to start on Tuesday instead. The light rain on Tuesday morning presented a challenge, especially for Nancy whose flowing summer dress got wet every time she crouched down- which was a lot- but at least it kept things cool. It got quite hot in the afternoon. I enjoyed the experience as well, and knowing this project does not stop here gives me something to look forward too as a lecturer.
A few things we want to address for the final build are: the joints (zip ties are amazing for this kind of purpose but we rely too much on them: a more sustainable option such as hemp could be the better option), the floor ideally needs to have a base, and the possibility to be flat packed with stretchy horizontal joints so they can be a movable pod would all be good adjustments.
Our keen makers: Romance, Patricia, Francy, Serena, Nancy (Jianan Wang) and Joy (Qiaoyi Zeng)
Facilitators: Dr. Mia Tedjosaputro and Matt Wallwork
Thank you also goes to Neal (Fan Zeran), Wang Yin, Chenchu and Mr Box for making it possible.
Day 1: Bamboo Pod 3 Prototype
Day 1: Bamboo Pod 3 Prototype build at Mr Box, Ningbo.
29 June 2021
The day started with the participants arriving from various parts of the city to participate in this extracurricular, unofficial project. Nancy and Joy- two preliminary year architecture students from the University of Nottingham- travelled with Matt (Academic English teacher at University of Nottingham Ningbo China) and Mia (part time lecturer in both universities, Ningbo University and Nottingham) and we met up with Francy, Patricia, and Romance (Ningbo University architecture students, in year 4) at Xin Yi Yuan tea house. The first order of business was to collect the bamboo from the new camping shop at Black Box café, who had kindly stored it since it was delivered early that morning.
The bamboo pod design was part of Digital Architecture 2021 module in Ningbo University for Year 4 architecture students, it is developed and facilitated by Dr. Mia Tedjosaputro. The parametric design was generated by Group 1 as part of their Assignment 1 group submission, using Rhino 3D and Grasshopper. The team members are: Romance, Patricia and Houda. Due to the fact that most architecture students from NBU are still abroad due to the pandemic, only a handful number of students are in Ningbo and some of them joined this workshop.
After brief introductions, including the café’s resident friendly cat, the 1:25 scale model making began. The students were spilt into two groups with a nice mix of Ningbo Uni and Nottingham students, so there was great collaboration between the two universities from the outset.
The students worked well to overcome the minor problems that inevitably appear during any construction project and overall this was a very valuable learning experience. This whole exercise is a prelude to a full-scale build of the structure in September. We only explore the main structural system which comprises of 16 hoops, testing out before we build the full scale of bamboo structure.
After lunch we started to build the 1:2 scale prototype. We had to deal with what appear to be a quite disastrous material sourcing. The 60 pieces of bamboo battens we requested was 50mm, and what came was 5mm wide. Structural system is affected, but we have to adapt and improvise. Quite a number of tools and materials are no longer necessary as they were prepared for the correct width.
Mr Box was incredibly accommodating for this project. Ningbo city itself is a great hive of creativity, and academic and artistic projects are really encouraged here. It is truly gratifying to be able to arrange a space for a project of this scale so easily, and to be so well supported throughout the whole project. It is immeasurably valuable for students to be able to have this kind of hands-on building experience, and for artists to have space to express themselves in a space where they will get public exposure, so the general public of Ningbo can also benefit. Here are a glimpse of Mr Box area:
Our heartfelt gratitude goes out to Mr Box, and to the Black Box café and Xin Yi Xuan tea house for being so flexible and making this whole rich experience possible. It was particularly valued by the Ningbo University students, as morale is a bit low at the moment- many of their cohort are in their home countries, unable to return to China due to Covid restrictions, and those who are here- the ones who have called Ningbo their home for the past four years- are few in number and studying online. This hands-on, face to face, practical extracurricular project was especially precious to them, so again- many thanks to Mr Box for facilitating this!
On another note, we had a couple of major catastrophes with materials, which goes a long way towards our future planning. Quite an intriguing exercise on prototyping stage, as there is no pressure to get the pod 100% up and perfect. Mistakes are expected, shall we say. Especially with a more manageable scale, 1:2. Day 2 tomorrow, bring it on!
Our keen makers: Romance, Patricia, Francy, Serena, Nancy (Jianan Wang) and Joy (Qiaoyi Zeng)
Facilitators: Dr. Mia Tedjosaputro and Matt Wallwork
Thank you also goes to Neal (Fan Zeran), Wang Yin, Chenchu and Mr Box for making it possible.
Painting with Parrot Jumping Sumo
A two days in between my marking exercise, painting with the jumping Parrot. The RC toy has been on the shelf for months and I envisaged him be my main actor of experimental paintings. First I had to attach a brush somehow. Velcro? Tie a brush perhaps? The first trial I re-used bread ties, but the brush flopped left and right (which created interesting effects) but soon realised this was not a long-term system.
YouTube link for the above video: https://youtu.be/1qkwDJhg2D4
Subsequently my handy husband came with a couple of different ideas (as he always does). The second trial he cobbled and re-used GoPro mounts we have an abundance of. It was too far back and too heavy, the moment of inertia was too great. We also looked at the possibility to add a toothbrush on Parrot’s ‘belly’ but was quickly discarded.
YouTube link for the above video: https://youtu.be/J9x9oo4CYuA
With the third system we placed the brush closer to the axis of rotation, and it mitigated the mentioned problem. Now the Parrot can do some pre-defined horizontal modes, but due to the canvas size, jumping is limited. I’ll get a bigger canvas (better still, a roll of canvas) and play with his jumping mode. Here is the final look of the scribble:
This is the final look and it encapsulates different movements Parrot made which I can demystify each one of them. Patterns were also generated from the predefined moves (‘metronome’, ‘slow shake’, ‘slalom’, etc). The strokes were generated not by the brush only, but also the wheels (they get really colourful) as well. It was a great exercise on working with limitations (the RC toy itself, the canvas size and brush size) and expecting the uncertainty with its playfulness.
The future fun exercises will involve getting a bigger canvas exploring effects which the Parrot can do when he jumps. Also different methods on dabbing the paint- on the brush, on canvas, on the wheels, or combination of them.