Diary - Patterns

Making draft model is one way that architectural student do when they thinking about a new idea. It can be seen as a method of thinking pattern.
Some student choose to start with sketches, some would start with the feelings that they want to achieve, while some others might choose to start with model making in order to think in 3 dimentioning way. There is no right or wrong when we using different thinking pattern, but i will say mixing them or trying different patterns would sometimes open our mind and have a new perspective.


(special thanks to Anqing's model)

Diary - Knowledge

These are the reference books that we need to go throught quite often. Though architecture is not like other subjects, there are many solutions when there's a problem. How to design a better solution is what architectural student trying to learn. Architecture is not like Mathematics, there's no formula in books, we cannot find answer there, however, we can try to learn and analysis from looking at other architect's great buildings. Knowledge is undoubted the foundation of every subject, including architecture. But I have to say that knowledge is not just gained by reading books, life experiences is also important. (can not really show in the photos). We are learning every single second, and they are all become our knowledge that we can use when we need to design.

Diary - Morals (Mentor)

John was my high school teacher, he taught me a lot not only chemistry but also how to deal with the stress, the difficulties I have, the relationship between friends and other lots of things. I took the photo when he came to sydney 3 years ago. I remeber when I met him, I was in my last year in junior high school facing a final exam (which would decide which senior high school i would enter) in three months. I put a lot of pressure on myslef and aimed to get into the best high school. I worked almost 19 hrs everyday, and more like a machine at the end. I was so stressful at that time, the worst thing is I dont even notice. He came to me and talked to me, he tell me that I do not need to be that stressful, I have the ability to do that, just need to take it easy. I started to relax and my condition was getting even better. It sounds simple now, but at that time, definately not. I was almost in my own world, studying all the time, no one can stop me doing those paper works. But he did, not like other teachers, he acted more like a friend, listen to my ideas, analyse for me, and give me suggestions.

I do believe a mentor can change a lot. I can't imagine if he wasn't there, and I was keep doing works like that. Am I gonna be able to pass the final exam and finally enter my 'dream school'? I doubted. Or if I meet another person, would they notice that my condition is running to a wrong direction? This is a little story, what he did for me is much more than this, but I believe all he helped me reaching what I want.

He is those people who teach because they want to teach no because they need to teach

Diary - Change

Change, to me, is the key to open a new world.

For example, same design with different materials would provide a totally diffent feeling of the building. When design comes to the 'end' of first stage, which means the basic form is designed, we need to start thinking of materials. "Changing" provide the variety of possibilities. By changing materials, it opens lots of possibilities on the whole project.

Images are showing two walls, one is made from concrete and the other is made from stone. It can be simply tell that the feeling showed by those two walls are totally different, and based on that, all the details would be designed in different way to match the feelings. And that is why i was saying, 'changing is the key to a new world'. By changing the surface material, all the detail need to be reconsidered, or sometimes, by simply change one kind of element, student's work can become a master piece.

Diary - Leadership

Leadership has been described as the "process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task."

In my personal opinion, a good leader will bring lots of benifts to his group. In this case, a design tutor obviously become a leader when we doing design. The photo illustrates Stan (the man in the middle) was listening to a student's presentation. A good tutor will encourage student and open their mind. Rather than blaming, they tend to guiding. Stan wont blaming people, instead, he would trying to encourag thinking further or in different way. Sometimes, he would tell us to step back and start in a new way. To think about a same problem in different perspectives, his method always helps us finding more solutions and finally get the most suitable one. I always believe that a good leader would change a lot, atmosphere, relationship among staffs (students), and the final results.

Diary - Story

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=218909533470

I can not find any photos that can represent the life of architecture students. I remember I was trying to take photos for my photography elective showing how hard to be an architectural student. And I failed to do that topic since I can not tell the hardship through my lens. As an architectural student, I know we need to work 20hrs a day when the project is almost due. I know there's no way to finish the design earlier since there's always a better solution there, and keep changing and improving is happening all the time. When we meet each other, the question which is always be asked is "how long have you slept for last night?" But it just can not showed by taking photos. Everyone looks so "Normal" when they are in the photos. The link above is what I found in facebook showing the the story of archi-life.

Diary - Work

The photo was taken when I was doing my Summer course in Suzhou, China. We were living in a hotel and working on our assignments. The assignment is individually, however, all of us prefer to work as a group so that we can listen to others's suggestions and get some fresh ideas on our own work.

It can be show in the photo that the room is so messy. Well, I have to admit that it feels no that bad when you actually in there. It's like showing we are working hard, and we are getting there. All of these became worth when we finally saw our works.