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Assignment 1: Diagrammatic Abstraction
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This is our first project/exercise for the Design Studio II module, and it is a group project which we are required to study and analyse a given building from a famous architect, in groups of 6-8 people.
Our group is given the Dama zAmya, a villa in Phuket, Thailand by John Bulcock, Design Unit.
Thhe Dama zAmya is built in a secluded space where no other buildings existed in its surrounding but trees and hills. It is built with the concept to retrieve great views from a wide angle to the south and also the north, and thus its "V" shaped form. The view to the south included hilltops and greeneries, with huge, tall trees and the blue sky as a magnificent background. The view to the north opens up to the sea. As Dama zAmya is isolated and water/electrical supply would be quite inefficient to reach, it utilized wind and natural light to ventilate and brighten up the space.
The roof gardens not only provide life and greenery for the building to better blend in with its surrounding, but also acts as a rainwater collecting system as the rain that falls on the grass are flowed through hidden ducts beneath and expelled through spouts on the edge of the roof.
The spaces in Dama zAmya are mostly opened, or surrounded by glass to maximize vision outwards the space and to let the users to be able to fully enjoy the landscape and views even from inside the house.
While analyzing the building, we conclude our analysis into diagrams as the precedent studies of Dama zAmya. For the requirement stated in our project brief, we produced 10 analysis diagrams as well as 10 corresponding analysis models. They include : Circulation, Ventilation, Brightness, Addition and Subtraction, Site context, Spatial Hierarchy, etc.
To aid the analysis diagrams, a set of architectural drawings must be beautifully hand-drawn with the scale of 1:150. From them we produce our analysis diagrams and models, which are to be done within 8x8x8cm.
Perspective drawings are also necessary to aid with the visuals and atmosphere of the building interiors. We produced 4 perspective drawings, which are not to scale, of some of the significant spaces, eg: Living room, Kitchen and Bathroom.
Final Product
Reflection
In this project I had learnt how to systematically analyze buildings, to also interpret and understand their concept and design considerations. Not only that, but also in this project, we had to learn to make decisions on the importance of matters, and learn to prioritize them in sequence. In our case, we had actually produced more than 10 analytic diagrams, but according to requirements we had to know how to make our choice, to select the 10 of most relevance to our project.
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