Beyond the fundamental - 4

Today, I have only been working on my portfolio. The whole day I have been trying to improve my sheets in preparation for my interview. I asked John to look through my sheets, to see what might be missing, need changes or improvements. He pointed out that I need the project title for each sheet, this way it makes it clearer for the viewer. Also, I should read through what I have written due to a few grammar errors. For the Sustainable future project, he said there was too much text as it takes up a lot of space, making the images smaller to see. 

Furthermore, I should line up my images, instead of placing them in a messy order. He did like the way I order my images for the project Individualisation, how all the images are laid out in line with titles, which appear simple and clear for the viewer. Also, he liked the way I laid out the images for the The Three R’s project, where there is an exception to lay out the images messily as he said it looks right, and fits with the concept. 

In addition, for my interview the university requested for an A4 size portfolio, so an issue with this would be either the images or the text or both are too small to see. John suggested that I should try printing my sheets in normal A4 paper in black and white colour to see how my sheets look in A4. This will be something I will consider doing after I have finish improving my sheets.

Beyond the fundamental - 3

Due to my upcoming interview, I have not been able to fully concentrate on working on this current project. I feel that I have not managed my time well enough, as I have not done much in research and developing ideas. 

Both Will and Anna came to talk to me about the current project. Will suggested to me how my summerhouse can open up and close up depending on the situation, such as opening up when you stargaze or close up when it is raining. He also showed me a few designers work like Kiosk by Make Architects. A folded aluminium shell that can open and close like a paper fan. I really like that concept of opening and closing up. I mentioned to him about my worries that my designs for the summerhouse might be much smaller than what I was initially told, which is 8mx5m. He gave a suggestion that my I could have a deck for my summerhouse that measures 8x5m with a few summerhouses sitting on top. 

Anna gave a suggestion of designing a summerhouse to live in, but have a roof where you can go and sit, and stargaze. I also talked to Anna about my upcoming interview and the troubles I have had with using Adobe Photoshop. She suggested I should use Adobe InDesign , that I should teach myself to use it as she said it is easier to use compare to Photoshop.

Beyond the fundamental - 2

I had a chat with Anna about the current project. I told her what I have done since the last time I spoke to her, where she suggested that I should go to stores that sell summer houses. I have e-mailed stores like Tesco direct, Homebase and B&Q to ask whether they display summer houses in stores. I got replies from Tesco direct, which they say they don’t have any displays. On the other hand, B&Q said they do and the nearest store for me would be in Greenwich. Anna suggested that it might not be worth going to those stores and directed me to other methods of research, such as the Box of Broadcasts. It is a website which we can access to watch TV programmes, films and clips. I also listened to her advice from Thursday when she mentioned about asking people around me whether they have a summer house, but only one person I know said they have relative who owns a summer house in Kent. She was willing to ask her relative to take photographs of their summer house for me.

I went onto the Box of Broadcasts to search for videos that relates to summer houses. I found a TV programme called Tommy’s Fix Your House for Free. The episode showed the presenter and his team demolished a timbered frame garage to a summer house. I watched the whole episode, and discovered how much things needs to be considered to built just a summer house that is use for relaxation.

Beyond the fundamental - 1

Today was not much of a practical day. It was more of just doing researches. I went to the library to look for books to do with summer house, but there was none. I also tried checking for garden sheds, which is similar to a summer house but there weren’t any either. I asked the librarian and she suggested I should try looking at house designs books. I took out from the library House Design (2005), Daab Design book, which consists of entirely images and just little texts and captions. The house designs in the book are all very big scale, which does not match with my 8x5m summer house. However, I was more focusing on looking at the materials it was made from and the different shapes and forms of the exterior of the houses.

John came over to talk to us as a group. So we can all give feedback to each other. When it was my turn, we first established what a summer house is and the function of it. The suggestions were a place to relax, for views and it has little furniture’s. He suggested that I should research into summer houses that are similar size to the measurement that I was given (8mx5m). He also said that the book I borrowed is not going to help me much, since the houses are all very big scale.