Assessment weighting and criteria

Hi All,

In the spirit of absolute transparency I would like to remind you of the weighting of each component of the first assessment and also share with you the feedback you'll get relative to certain marks ... we hope this will help you focus your efforts.

The brief says your conceptual model needs to be distinctive and significant.

Distinctiveness is weighted 70% while significance is weighted 30%. This means you should concentrate more on distinctiveness than significance.

So, in this context, what does it mean to be distinctive or significant?

Distinctiveness means what you've designed stands out, is imaginative, exciting, unusual, surprising or novel.

Significance means that what you've designed is meaningful, could change the way other designers think about a stair, could be influential, and is generally more pragmatic.

Distinctiveness and Significance can be demonstrated through several aspects of your design: its form, space, materiality, structure, light, shadow, etc.

Now, with those terms defined, what feedback will you get for each grade band:

Distinctiveness (70%)

Fail (0-45): The stairs do not demonstrate a distinctive approach to bringing the clients completed work into the showroom.

Pass (50 - 60): One aspect of the stairs demonstrates a distinctive approach to bringing the clients completed work into the showroom.

Credit (65 - 70): Several aspects of the stairs demonstrate a distinctive approach to bringing the clients completed work into the showroom.

Distinction (75 - 80): Several aspects of the stairs and the way they work together demonstrate a distinctive approach to bringing the clients completed work into the showroom.

High Distinction (85 - 100): Several aspects of the stairs the way they work together and the way the stair engages with the floor above and below demonstrate a distinctive approach to bringing the clients completed work into the showroom.

Significance (30%)

Fail (0-45): The stairs do not demonstrate a significant approach to bringing the clients completed work into the showroom.

Pass (50 - 60): One aspect of the stairs demonstrates a significant approach to bringing the clients completed work into the showroom.

Credit (65 - 70): Several aspects of the stairs demonstrate a significant approach to bringing the clients completed work into the showroom.

Distinction (75 - 80): Several aspects and the way they work together demonstrate a significant approach to bringing the clients completed work into the showroom.

High Distinction (85 - 100): Several components and the way they work together and the way the stair engages with the floor above and below demonstrate a significant approach to bringing the clients completed work into the showroom.

Regards, and best of luck for Sundays submission!

Russell

Task for this weeks studio

Hi All,

You'll find the task for this week is live on the course website ... see the links at the bottom of the page here.

There is also a PDF that includes many examples of stairs that you can be inspired by ... great viewing on the bus or train ... enjoy!

Captured from Instagram, A stair in a contemporary art space in Shangahai by Archi-Union.

See you Thursday in studio at 2pm.

Regards,

Russell

SketchUp Make download

Hi All,

Because Trimble, the owners of SketchUp, are pushing the browser based version of SketchUp there aren't supporting SketchUp Make any more.

However, the latest version SketchUp Make 2017 is still available for download here.

The key advantage it has over the free online version is that you can create custom materials, which we use in the course.

Another option is to purchase SketchUp Pro for educational use from the local Australian re-seller. It's only $71.50 which is pretty good value, and worth it for the solid modeling tools alone in my opinion. You can get that here.

Hope your sections are turning into great little buildings!

See you in studio on Thursday.

Regards

Russell

First Lecture and Past Student Work

Hi All,

You can now download the first lecture from the EXP1 brief page here: scroll down to the bottom.

There is also another link to a PDF of previous student work from EXP1 next to the link above.

Here are two examples from the student work PDF:

1. Remmy Dunn's Sketch Section

2. Remmy Dunn's completed project

3. Sen Yan's Sketch

4. Sen Yan's completed project

There are many more inspirational examples in the PDF mentioned above, definitely worth a look; and remember, they all started off where you are now!

Kind regards

Russell

Before the first class ...

Hi All,

Before the first class, follow the steps below...

Step 1: create a blog at http://www.blogger.com/

note: use your own name to name your blog, use “awesome inc.” as a default template…

Step 2: post three images ...

a: your best piece of creative work before coming to this course, think laterally if you have not done "conventional" art or design work

b: an image of a great piece of architecture

c: an original photograph of something beautiful

Step 3: write a paragraph under each of the images that tells us something interesting about them.

Step 4: find an image showing a creative work from each of the companies/designers below (they will be your clients in experiment 1) and describe it using a noun, verb and adjective; see below for examples.

note: be creative with your selection of words, this will help with the tasks ahead!

Some examples below, please choose your own!

Off-White https://www.off---white.com/en/AU: Noun, Verb, Adjective

BernabeiFreeman http://www.bernabeifreeman.com.au: Noun, Verb, Adjective

Auto Fabrica https://www.autofabrica.com/: Noun, Verb, Adjective

Step 5: purchase a 0.5mm black pen (artline or similar), and a squared cahier pocket moleskin notebook (you can get these from the unsw bookshop).

Step 6: if you would like to get ahead, download and install the latest version of the modelling software "sketchup" on your laptop.

See you at the first lecture on the 21st of Feb!

Russell

Welcome to ARCH1101

Hi All,

Welcome to the blog for ARCH1101, the first year architecture design studio.

Please back regularly as this will be the place for updates and additional information regarding the course. Feel free to leave comments below a post if you've got a question or would like to add something yourself.

We're all looking forward to another great year!

The first lecture is at 12, midday, on Thursday the 21st of February but until then, here's a short introductory video telling you a little about what to expect in the course:



Regards

Russell