Project development [2]

Health and safety - how a nice project becomes an ugly one..

/Before/

/After/

To my great disappointment and frustration the construction week project did not pass health and safety and, as well, did not meet (unrealistic, in my opinion) expectations of the client. I found it really difficult to understand why it happened the way it happened when the client saw the drawings and a models before picking the design and final drawings and a model before we even started. It has been a good lesson, I suppose, about the importance of communication and that it has to be idiot proof. Sorry if anyone involved in this project reads it, but it's the truth.

The construction week seemed to go very well. Everyone was impressed, or at least they said so, with our work. Headmaster and Sophia (the environmental tutor) were very excited about the new structure coming up, Roland was impressed by the result we managed to achieve in only 5 days. It all seemed to have gone very well.

Soon after I have received a letter from Roland saying that there were issues raised by Sophia about the safety of the project. Health and safety inspectors were invited and of course - it failed.

It was rather funny to listen to what those guys have come up with.. The beams that are sticking out are encouraging kids to swing (when they can't even reach them.. hm..), the log wall is encouraging kids to climb (hell yeah, they are kids.. they climb everywhere.. and that wall is only about a meter high anyway..)..

So, what we had to do was cut back those beams and take part of the wall off. Basically, take the elements that were making it great away..

I hate the project now and think it's ruined, but oh well..

Sophia also mentioned she wants to "modify" it in the spring. What she wants to do is to lift the roof about a meter up (unrealistic without knocking the whole structure down). It's funny that when we were talking about her expectations, she specifically said, the height doesn't matter as long as kids can get in. Well, she has changed her mind. If she said that at the beginning a lot of money and hassle could have been saved..

It's very disappointing, but honestly, I don't really care anymore. Maybe it's better they knock it down than keep the way it is now..

Prefab drawings

Axo

Sequence of construction

Components

Mat-ability

Project development [so far..]

I thought I'll put some images of how the project has been developing so far as I will now be moving in a slightly different direction than before. The way I was doing things just doesn't seem to work and even though it is quite interesting, it doesn't excite me anymore..

This model, in my opinion, was quite successful and not too far from what I have seen my project becoming at a time. The only issue was the scale. From this point on the project didn't go as well..

I will, therefore, return to this model and rethink it. What I really like about it is that it's continuous. As a group we are looking at an idea of continuous city, so it should work well..

I don't see this attempt (below) as a very successful one, however, it has helped me to come up with different ideas. It is not unsuccessful, because Robert doesn't like it and the way it's made, but because I have lost one of the ideas that is very important - continuity. I think it's just becoming a very conventional scheme..

patterns [interpretation]

I have tried to analyze the pattern and the possibilities it has by interpreting the different colours as solids/void (white - void, black and grey solids/ white, grey - solid, black - void/ etc.) as well as using different techniques to build a model.

One of the techniques was folding. I folded some of the elements from the pattern that were supposed to be 'solid'. I liked the lightness this technique created.

Another technique - layering. The result looked very building - like which was surprising as other models of the pattern looked more like cities rather than buildings so far..

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Graduation and.. 'exploring' London

It's only been a week of doing pretty much nothing architectural, but it feels like months.. I don't know if anyone is interested in what I was doing last week, but I'll still brag about it here. Well, it's more right to say I'll admit to my shameful behaviour than brag.
So, I was a tourist last week. I hate tourists and the way they disrupt the lives of normal people trying to walk by one or another so considered places of interest. They gather in big groups, take pictures, stop in the middle of the pavement causing others to crash into them, or just walk slowly blocking the way and annoying people who are in a rush..

Not willingly I became one of them last week as I was showing London to my parents. They've come to visit me and attend my graduation. A silly thing when you think about it.. I'm still/already studying and I am graduating in the middle of it. It's a strange system, but oh well..

So, shame on me for not doing much work this week, but I'm doing my best to catch up this weekend and will post some images of my work tonight.

In the meantime, here are some pics from this week:

patterns [from 2D to 3D]

patterns [yet again]

Step1. Analyzing a patternStep2. Drawing lines going through the centres of smaller squares.Step3. Aligning bigger squares so that smaller ones are in the center.Step4. Removing all the grid lines and little squares.

patterns [model making]