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COMMUNITY SERVICE INITIATIVE 

In a group of 8, we are required to choose a project topic from a list which is given by the lecturer. 

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Learning Objectives

Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to:

  1. Develop relevant communication skills for collaborative work with community/society and/or to work in a career that will make contribution to society.

  2. Develop a holistic awareness of the variety of problems (e.g. the environment, poverty, social discrimination) that call for action; critically analyze how such problems should be approached and how to solve them scientifically.

  3. Apply information management skills and strengthen their lifelong academic learning.

  4. Develop in themselves a strong sense of social responsibility and be able to portray leadership

    qualities and being able to work effectively as a team.

E-Journal

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Week 1: Module outline and brief 

We were given module outline and project briefing on the first day of class. Project details such as project category and suggested activities for each category are further explained by the lecturer. In this project, we are required to form a group of 8 with the project selection based on the project categories given by the lecturer. 

Week 2: Confirmation of project selection 

My group had a short meeting before the class to gather each member’s opinion to decide which project category we would like to select. My group has come out with an agreement of choosing Environment Enhancing, E2 Project which is a collaborative community service project run by JCI and OCBC Bank. We are expected to produce a proposal which will bring benefits to the local community. A discussion with group mates was held in order to identify the problems and needs of the community based on our project selection. On the same week, we were having a workshop which a talk was given by JCI and OCBC Bank representatives. During the talk, the JCI representative had introduced us the concept of “SMART”, time and project management which I found that it is very useful in any project. 

Week 3: Workshop on Project Proposal 

On the third week, there was a workshop which a talk is given by Veritas Architects representatives. They were showing us the selected work from previous semester and further clarify the project requirement to us. After the workshop, we have a better understanding of what is expected for the proposal as the staffs explained the requirement and expectation clearly. According to the representatives of Veritas, they are expecting us to produce a design which is more towards architectural approach rather than creating a piece of furniture. The design might need to have the potential to expand in size in order to accommodate more users. 

Week 4: Site visit and confirmation of site

We visited Metro Prima in Kepong after the second workshop to choose a potential site in that area. We spent some times walking around to record the potential problems facing by the community and seek for a suitable site. I have suggested that the empty lawn behind a row of shophouses might be the potential site. Selection of site is based on the consideration of the high human flow of the site and strategic location where it is located opposite a kindergarten and near to apartment buildings. Observation is conducted to indicate the site issues. According to our observation, the parents who send their children to the opposite kindergarten may have no sitting area while waiting for their children. Moreover, the people who stay at the surrounding apartment have no casual space for interaction. We also observed that the people utilised this lawn as a shortcut to travel to the opposite restaurant and worker resting at the back lane of the shophouses.  The chosen site is lack of shading and proper sitting area for passersby. 

Poeple walking under the shade 

Using umbrella, lack of shading

Utilize as shortcut

Shop lot opposite selected site

Lack of seating and shaded area

Week 5: Design proposal production 

Site analysis is carried out for further design development. Our objective is to create a comfortable resting and contact point for the community to encourage interaction among the people. Based on the community needs, we decided to produce a proposal which is suitable for all generations of users. Suggested proposal includes capsule seats, community shelter and portable seating. The target users is the existing community, our main concern is to remain the publicness of the structure to increase the chance of the people to approach and use the proposed design. The final decision is to build a pod with proper shading devices. The targeted users can be classified into children, adults and elderlies. We proposed 3 disparate designs which provided different functions to fulfil the needs of every user group. 

Three different designs we proposed

Week 6: Refine idea and material

The initial idea is to create a cylindrical shape pod. Refinement of  the previous design is made by changing the form from cylindrical shape to hexagonal form to ease the connection for modularization. This is to ensure the possibility of connecting pod and enlarge the usable space in order to accommodate more users in the future. With the consideration of maintaining durability and sustainability of the structure, we decided to use bamboo and rope as the materials. We select bamboo to build the structure because of it is lightweight but has high strength to withstand great loads. The edgeless shape of bamboo also increase the safety of the structure. Tying rope becomes the seating area which can avoid rainwater accumulating in the seating area to increase the overall durability of the design. To increase the easiness of making this structure, we have decided to use drilled lashing joints and tight rope connection which most of the joints can be done manually without relying much on mechanical appliances. 

Week 7: E-poster submission 

An A0 poster is submitted to respective tutor with the showcase of design concept, objective and design drawings of this project. A meeting is held to further discuss the content of the board before distributing the work among us. My task is to produce the connection joint drawing and explain how the joints work and identification of the materials used. We have included all the related information such as site analysis, site issue, design diagrams, a set of drawing with proper measurement rendered perspective so that the assessors and interviewees can have a better understanding of our proposed design. Exploded axonometric drawing is also included to the presentation board to show the construction details of the structure. 

Week 8: Prototype making 

We had a face to face tutorial with Ms Ann and received some helpful comments and feedback of our proposed design. We had a long discussion to decide the of the scale of the structure and types of material used to build the structure and finally came out with a decision of producing a 1:2 prototype model to ensure the community have a better understanding of our proposed design. Due to the limited time we have and to save the budget, we decided to use water pipes which have similar characteristics of our proposed material, bamboo to build the prototype model. By doing the prototype model, now we see the problem of our design. We have made some changes to increase the stability of the whole structure. We also tried out different types of knot tying method. Thanks to our tutor, Ms Ann who gave us suggestion to add footings in order to increase the stability of the structure. With the construction of prototype model, we were able to evaluate the stability of the structure towards the lateral force easily. 

E-poster

Cut the pipe into wanted length

Mark the position of hole

Drilled the hole according to the marking

Assembling the seating

Footing making process

Testing different types of knot tying method

Typing rope for shading device

Typing rope for seating

Final model 

Week 9: Site visit and video recording 

We returned to the site and placed the prototype model at the site to get their comments and feedbacks of our proposed design. The public showed their interest towards our proposed design and tried to sit on it. The structure is stable enough to withstand the weight of the people sitting on it. According to the public’s feedback, they are fairly satisfied with the proposed design. Suggestion they gave is to slightly increase the size of the structure and we did explain to them this is a 1 to 2 scale prototype model. Working as a group, we divided jobs among ourselves, some were taking photos and video while some were interviewing the people to get their feedback. Photos and videos of the public reaction are recorded for video making. A short meeting is conducted among us to further discuss the video content and the detail of the video such as speed of the clips, background music and etcetera. We also made some improvement of the presentation board because we have slightly changed the initial design after having tutorial session with Ms Ann.  

Prototype model placed at the site

Deciding the placement of the model

Structure is strong enough

Reflection 

We are exposed to the real world circumstances through this project. As an architecture student, we often do designing which is visually appealing and make assumption on what the users need. Through this project, we have the opportunity to put ourselves in others’s shoes and come out with a design which is really bringing benefits to the community. Understanding of the clients really need is essential and can be done through interviewing, observing, surveying and critical interpretation. As a designer we should really put our egoism aside and really look into what the community needs and solve the problems they face and that is the key to produce a well thought design which satisfies the clients’ demand. Moreover, we also need to consider the workability and constructibility of the proposed design which leads to more consideration on the practicality rather than just the form and appearance of the structure. Perhaps, a good design is to solve the faced problems rather than giving visual impact to the users. Or else it will be just a beautiful shell with no or least function and is not fulfilling the physical needs of the people leading to the incoherence of functionality and appearance. 

Presentation board

Final video

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