To all 2nd year design students:

The hand in of the urban puzzle was not as bad as the marks might suggest, however, most of the work is unfinished. This is a re-appearing symptom and cannot continue. You have to use your time for the production of design more efficiently, this means that you cannot stay in the conceptual scribble phase for 2 weeks and spend 4 days on the design development. However, as you will work on this project in construction next semester and need a solid base, we decided the following:

It seems a lot of you need another crit. Please fix/ finish you drawings if you know what to do. See the general comments below.
All groups have to pin up on Thursday 30 April as groups of 10. You will get another crit and the possibility to re-hand in at the end of the semester when you have a mark of 45% and above. Students below 45% need to consult me. Deductions to be discussed.


General comments:

Context:
Most of you have not shown that you are building on a slope and a row house. This is something you indicate in your elevation and section

Planning:
Many staircases do not work.

Some of you do not have enough courtyard space (30-50% outside space).

Concept:
Very few of you have understood what a conceptual diagram is supposed to communicate.

Models:
Groups were asked to build a 1:500 model with context and all 10 houses in a row. Only one group has done that.

General model building quality has improved.

Project 4: Urban Puzzle

•Project: Urban Puzzle
•Format: Model 1:1000, 1:500, 1:100, 1:50, Drawings 1:500, 1:100, 1:50
•Medium: Model: Cardboard Drawing: Pencil, Ink
•Dates: Hand Out: MO06April, Crit: THU09,THU16, MO20
Hand In: THU23April
The task of this project is to design 1 row house within a group of 6 in Bertrams, Johannesburg.
The site is between 3 roads: Derby (north), Millbourne (south) and Viljoen (east).
Always 6 students will form a group and build a communal site model, scale 1:500. They will present their row of 6 houses together in the final presentation. The design of each unit is individual. However, a strict set of design codes has to be applied.Your target group are young families, single moms with children and grandmother and/or brother/sister, single men, low to middle income.The site is approximately 16.5 x 62 m, with a height difference of ca. 2.7 m between Derby and Millbourne Road.This means that each row house has approximately 16.5 x 6 m as site.
Site 1-6 will be determined at the day of hand out. Each group has to get council requirements for the site.
Material: basic structure: brick, concrete
Programme: 2 bathroom
1-2 extra WC
1 garage
1 workspace
3 bedrooms
1 kitchen
1 living room
1 laundry room/ space
Codes: 30-50% of each dwelling unit has to be void, e.g. patio, courtyard, private open space
storey height: 2,6m
building height: max 3 stories over ground
flat roof with outdoor space
all units ground access
one bedroom has to be able to be rentable space, needs its own access
Attention: carefully integrate possible winds, sun and rains into your spatial and material development
consider the building being built in stages
Process: concept/ idea, sketch design, design development, detailed design
Production: drawings
site plan 1:500,
concept design plans, sections, elevations 1:100,
design development plans, sections, elevations1:50,
3 perspectives – eye height
3 concept sketches/ diagrams
models
site model1:500 with context , one model/ 6 row houses
building mode1:100, white/ grey cardboard
final model 1:50 white/ grey cardboard
3 concept sketches/ diagrams

The project will be judged on
a) concept/ structure and space
b) spatial qualities of row house based on programme and context.
c) quality of spatial representation in model
d) quality of spatial representation in drawing
All submissions have to be pinned up before 10 o’clock in the studio on Thursday, 23 April 2009.
Late entries will not be accepted and be marked 0%.