Reflection

I have learnt the fundamentals of architectural design, as well as apply my knowledge learnt from last year about ergonomics into this project, which required the basis of our new design to be on the user's needs. Also, I have learnt that time management is an extremely important factor when dealing with full-fledged projects like this, when at the same time juggling with my other subjects' work.
Throughout this entire process of first learning about the basics and definitions of architectural design, I encountered quite a number of difficulties with regards to the usage of Sketchup as well as InDesign. When coming up with the initial design for the cafe, I had not thought through about the difficulties and consequences of picking complicated designs which I would have to create myself, or import from the store.
It was only until after many drafts that the final decision was made, and the final product was not the best that it could be, even though I had time to revise the design.
For the most part, the learning experience was rather enjoyable, though the lessons spent on learning photoshop was not really useful for me.

Renovation of KTPH Pond Area Cafe

i) A brief write up of what is the purpose of the building and the concept behind the design.

The purpose of the renovation of this cafe is to promote an eco-friendly image of the hospital. The concept behind the interior design is to give designated areas for specific customers as well as small corners with information about the environment to create a conducive as well as informative ambience for the customers, such as the working staff who will work on projects and the groups of visitors who come into the cafe to relax. This design will seamlessly allow the cafe to accommodate these different and diverse group of people and yet provide them with the perfect environment for their purposes.

Design of A Recreation Centre

Location: Open Space across SST

Structure: Recreation Centre

Guiding Questions

> Who is the target audience?

• Residents around the area. (Families; including the children and elderly)
• 5-6 blocks of 18-20 stories approx. 1440 people.

> What are the needs of the users?

• Exercise (Gym, Yoga/Pilates, Gaming Centre, Reading Lounge[cafe with wi-fi], Mini-Butterfly park[indoor], Sauna/Spa)
• Elderly-friendly facilities 
• Areas for training and recreation (Courts for ball games)
• Food outlets
• Lockers(to safe-keep belongings)

> How do you think you can attract people to the recreation centre? 

• Facilities to cater to the needs of the residents
• Hub for leisure within a few minutes’ walk

>> What are the factors of consideration?

• Accessibility (carparks)

> How would you make use of the space to build the recreation centre and why?

Considering the flow of audience, the recreation centre will be located beside an expressway, which will be able to receive the large consumer rate. To be able to enter the recreational centre, there will be a road constructed from Clementi Ave 4, and link to the entrance of the building. 

The recreation centre would take a semi-dome shape, and would go for width instead of height. The carpark would be in the basement, and would mostly be reserved for the employees. 

The facilities would be placed accordingly to the needs of the people, for example the elderly-friendly and disabled-friendly facilities would be placed mainly on the first floor instead of the second, so as to make it more convenient and safer for them.

Exterior Design: Dome Shaped with a Butterfly Nature Garden on TOP. Materials are more eco-friendly, using natural light as lighting for the garden. The sides have a rainbow themed design to be more comfortable and the bright colors would be more appealing to children. The entrance would have solar panels arranged in a unique form at the top and having the in-out feeling to be more unique. Frosted glass would be used as well. 

Interior Design: The facilities catering to the elderly would be placed on the first floor, and the furnishing of the structure would give off a relaxing and comfortable ambience. 

Layout of Floors: The butterfly nature garden would be placed on the top floor, whereas the courts and lockers would be placed in the second floor.(Top floor meaning the roof)

The food outlets as well as the sauna plus spa would be located on the first floor, to make it convenient for the elderly.

What makes a good Architectural Design?

• Multifunctional
• Easily Adaptable
• Sustainable
• Convenience for users

Multifunctional:

The design of the building should be able to accommodate more than 1 type of usage. It is important as a building in this time and age where land space is limited and thus any building or structure constructed requires it to be able to be used for more than single cause.

Easily Adaptable:

The structure or building designed must be easily adaptable to different types of usage. Similar to the point above, the building or structure should be able to convert itself with minor fuss to another use.

Sustainable:

The structure should be long-lasting without fear of the foundations collapsing on itself. The materials put into use for the construction of the building should be able to withstand intense use. Sustainability of the structure is probably the most important factor to take into account when designing a building. Without it being long-lasting, resources, time and money would be wasted for reconstruction and repairs. 

Convenience for users:

Features such as parking lots, restaurants, and parks should be situated around the structure to ensure convenience, no matter the purpose of the structure. If it is not convenient for users to travel there and back, no one would frequent the building no matter the aesthetic appeal or service. 

What is Architectural Design?

[1]Architecture is that set of design artifacts, or descriptive representations, that are relevant for describing an object, such that it can be produced to requirements as well as maintained over the period of its useful life.

[2]An architecture is the set of significant decisions about the organization of a software system, the selection of the structural elements and their interfaces by which the system is composed, together with their behavior as specified in the collaborations among those elements, the composition of these structural and behavioral elements into progressively larger subsystems, and the architectural style that guides this organization---these elements and their interfaces, their collaborations, and their composition.

[3]The software architecture of a program or computing system is the structure or structures of the system, which comprise software elements, the externally visible properties of those elements, and the relationships among them.

[1] Zachman, J.A., Enterprise Architecture: the Issue of the Century, Zachman International, 1996; http://mega.ist.utl.pt/~ic-atsi/TheIssueOfTheCentury.pdf

[2] Booch, Rumbaugh, and Jacobson: The Unified Modeling Language User Guide, Addison-Wesley, 1999.

[3] Bass, L., Clements, P., and Kazman, R. Software Architecture in Practice. Second Edition, Addison Wesley, 2003.