Continuing my hectic journey
The second semester is almost over, and thanks to the understanding I gathered from semester 1, I feel more at ease this time around when it comes to course design and blog writing. Though the process is full of obstacles and challenges much like travelling, we will meet many people and experience a variety of encounters. However, in the end, there are still plenty of benefits.
Different Stories
Although I had the experience of semester one, I was considerably busier when faced with the two design classes this semester, but this unpreparedness process led me to a different journey. Throughout this “journey,” the Housing Alternative project represented a fresh beginning for me, and I encountered numerous difficulties and challenges, including local building styles, materials, heights, and most importantly living mode. To accommodate the various users, a co-living housing plan (a sort of shared living) was proposed for the site. However, co-living was not fully understood by me, particularly after multiple design revisions. In fact, co-living includes several housing options, such as fully furnished studios, one & two-bedroom apartments, as well as a combination of shared space and services like gyms, communal kitchens, event spaces, and so on. Consideration of the diversity of persons living in a co-living property is also significant because it encourages the development of a diverse neighbourhood. This means that while planning this kind of development, it’s crucial to take into account not only the kinds of people who will use the building but also their spatial needs about these people. This applies to both the building’s interior and its exterior space, which must complement one another in ways like the building’s windows and the outdoor space. As a result, housing is now more than just about the building’s form, sustainability, and internal function; it also needs to take into account the building’s surrounding spatial environment because the building’s relationship to the public space is more important. This course was both instructive and enjoyable. I didn’t realize how much I learnt and gained insights until I started blogging.
The first Session of the site visit for the housing project – photo taken by Dan Yu
A fruitful ending
Upon reflection on the past two semesters, I found that blogging serves as both a record of the learning experience and a design tool. When working on design projects, I would frequently run into issues and a deficiency in design theories. This would prompt me to conduct research and analysis, which blogging helped me to summarise before going back to design, where I learned a lot in the process. My experience in design is still ongoing, and I may decide to document it later on via a blog.
