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PROJECT 1

Preliminary Studies

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The design studio IV project 1 is a preliminary studies for the final project. Preliminary Studies is a preparatory assignment that focuses on investigating basic notions of the city, and learning from examples of community library around the world. This assignment aims to firstly introduce students to the basics in urban design and its relation to architecture, and secondly, studying and determining the programmatic function, societal role and spatial layout of a community library and architectural responses for urban infills.The Preliminary Studies comprises of three components: Site Documentation, Site Analysis, and Precedent Studies of Urban Infills and Community Library. The Site Documentation and Site Analysis will equip students with a firm understanding of the site they will be working with this semester, while the Precedent Studies will provide an insight into architectural responses for designing an urban infill community library.The outcome of the Preliminary Studies will include the production of site documentation materials (drawings and models in both digital and physical copy for further use), a comprehensive analysis of the site, and a detailed case study of a relevant urban infill and community library.​

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Project Details :

The study has to be done in two levels of complexity, namely, the macro and, with more focus to, micro contexts. Whilst the macro study is about the role and how the location fits into the city. In micro study the students are to make a comprehensive study on urban form, activity and movement-pattern. ‘Legibility Analysis’ (Bentley, et.al. 2013) which is a method through the exploration of Kevin Lynch’s Elements of legibility (Lynch, 1979) is employed here as a study method. The students are to establish possible opportunities (such as routes and attractions) to sustain and to offer legibility by the community library.

PROJECT 2

Community Library


The Design Studio IV project 2 calls for a design of a Community Library within an urban infill site.. The design of the building is to consist of appropriate architectural responses that address the aspects of the urban street context and user behavioural patterns as discerned and analysed in the preliminary studies.
Apart from developing a narrative on architectural strategy in response to the relevant questions pertaining to community and its context, the design should take into consideration a holistic application of structural, spatial, functional and environmental requirements to address the user needs for a community library. The design development of this project will include an introduction to the legislative restrictions that impact an architectural scheme, the integration of lighting and acoustic design, as well as the design exploration and detailing of the façade and building envelopes that is coherent with the architectural language of the overall design project.

The objectives of this final project includes:

  1. To take into consideration key aspects of urban design and context in relation to architecture.

  2. ​To develop an awareness and basic compliance to Design Codes and Statutory Requirements.

  3. To emphasize the importance of elevational context and composition in developing architectural design.

  4. To implement and explore the conceptual, schematic and design development phases in an architectural design project.

DRAWINGS

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