Iskandar and Jeff

Studio has gone by so fast. We are entering the final week before deadline, just having had a pinup yesterday. Iskandar, my partner from the UM studio, and I are going to finalize the plan and site layout and then dive into cost analysis and detailing. We really have to figure out exactly how our building would be constructed. We’re working off of a modular system and trying to make it simple. By next Monday we should get to that point that where we would know exactly how to construct a module ourselves. From there on, the idea is that the module is simple enough to repeat.


Working with a partner is really something different. Up until now, every studio has been on my own and every decision has been solely up to me. Working with Iskandar really forces me to keep an open mind and investigate ideas that I would have otherwise just passed over, especially if we have different opinions. I mean, if there was an idea that at first glance didn’t look good to me in past studios, I might just forget it and move on. With a partner, I’m really forced to consider ideas that at first may not seem fitting- really think about why I don’t like it, what good qualities it has, then step back and re-evaluate from a different perspective. It really pushes me to think differently.

Our scheme is based off ideas of diversity and variety. It goes against having a singular dominant space, building, or identity and provides a variety of spatial experiences for the kids. Classrooms are separated into various clusters, which bleed into primary unifying spaces- each cluster has its own quality.

It’s very exciting being able to design for such a real and helpful cause, it really motivates us to figure things out and make sure everything works. There’s a lot of work ahead of us this week though. We’ll see how it goes.

wendy and niloo

Wendy and I started the project talking about our goals, finally coming to a resolution: we decided to keep the buildings that they have and cherish so much, because they very important to them. Therefor our basic concept is rooted in simplicity and do-ability. We have committed ourselves to keeping the existing building's structure and simply adding onto it. The goal is to give them a framework which can then be infilled with any number of materials left up to the school's and village's discretion - hopefully giving them even further investment in the school buildings.

We've had a great time working together. Wendy invited me to stay over her house and meet her family. It has been a really nice experience to work with a partner and identify someone else's design strengths. We share a lot of similar design ideals - which makes the designing a lot easier. But it's our differences that make the project exciting. We're continuing to develop the design further, but very much looking forward to seeing the final product soon! --- niloo

#1

I, Bobby Lee (San Mateo, USA) was paired with University of Malay student Zuhali Zainon (Sungai Petani, Malaysia). Our
initial concept was to create some sort of structure that utilized moveable partitions so that the spaces could be transformed
according to the needs of the students. As we've progressed we have also designed a double-courtyard: one paved and one completely landscaped. Through thermal transfer cool air will be brought into the site naturally and creating a cool microclimate inside the school. This experience has been frustrating at times, but mostly rewarding thus far. It has been very interesting and sometimes tiring, to see and discuss the different architectural backgrounds we each have. Zuhali creates incredible renderings. Here's one:

Back for the now weekly post:

We've been very busy over at UM -- less than ten days before the final presentation! On Monday we had a crit with all of our professors, UM + USC. It went really well, and they pushed us all in different directions - hoping we would explore areas we had not yet. Some of us were told to make more models, some were told to explore larger structures, and some to study materials in more depth. We are all expected to have a full height detail drawing at 1:20 for our final review, which means a fairly in depth knowledge of the construction of our project. We are also expected to produce a budget, meaning we all must find creative and inexpensive structural solutions. Quite a new task for us since we are used to designing fictional projects! Definitely a useful exercise.

Thursday we had studio and desk crits with our various professors. We paused to crits to finally take a group photo on the steps of the Fakulti of Alam Bina (the Built Environment), so here's everyone!:


In addition, we at the blog are going to be trying something new over the next ten days. Each day we are going to have a different group blog about their project and the overall experience. Hopefully it will give some insight into what our studio culture is like. We'd love feedback! Let us know how it's going or if there are any questions. We'll be starting soon..

The Malaysian students presented all of their site analysis today (after visiting it this past weekend) which was WONderful because they answered our questions and did some impressive investigative work. It's too bad we can't post the powerpoint directly because it was good and super dense.
They looked into the exact process we have to go through in order to get the project built, as well as some cost guidelines.
More design constraints came to light (ahh!) as the school expressed the desire to keep the wet fields in front of the site; as it turns out these areas are used to cultivate rice which is then sold and the profit used for facility maintenance.

(click to see the diagrams enlarged)
The UM students answered all of our lingering questions and confirmed some of the suspicions we had. There is a general consensus that we will be designing the school for 2000 children in kindergarten to sixth grade with a split day -- so 1000 students in the morning from 7:30-11 and 1000 students in the afternoon from 1:30-5.

first pinup

We have been really busy over at UM!

Here are the aerial photos of our site, thanks to google earth:


and site plan we've created:

Today we had our first pinup in studio in order to discuss our concepts, site strategies, and intentions for dealing with mother nature and our limited resources.

We've all been looking to take cues from the traditional Khmer (Cambodian)/Thai/Malay house because it has dealt with the heat and cooling issues relevant to this climate for so many years. The students inside the classrooms were sweating (though not as much as we were!) and we'd like to eliminate their discomfort because air conditioning is neither the solution nor an option. But we're also finding out how we can use their typical, readily availabe materials creatively. Some of the discoveries thus far include casted coconut husk powder, smoked, and therefore hardened, bamboo, and aerated concrete.
We discussed whether the answer is several bar buildings, clusters of smaller buildings, one massive tent like structure, or some combination of these.
A definitive answer is eluding us for the time being (as it always is in the beginning).

Jeff's project is looking into clusters of classroom-sized units:




Rose is looking into taking advantage of the shade from the trees the children naturally gravitate towards:



And Jen and Goldy are trying to create the ever-elusive wind tunnel, using physical principles:




And it's only the beginning...

Our Malaysian teammates are in Cambodia right now and planning to visit the site on Saturday and share their findings with us on Monday morning. Once they've seen it for themselves we will be able to collaborate more fully and see where things are headed.

We'll keep you posted on the results as soon as they return!