Teaching Basic Design in Architecture Exercises, Illustrations, Examples Clem ByesE SENSING AND MAPPING THE ENVIRONMENT ing an image of what we ee in our mind ti Subconscious, we ar constantly observing and gauging what we se, while simultaneously constructing an image of wit Wee Mind Th imageisa three dimensional ne with aninstnctivecharaberoutetoreacha given place. The former istherecognition eee woes wan tae while the later i an indirect act of thinking ina plan. Fr layman, drawing plan i sual a dificult jb excep y understandable, ‘irectionaldagramamake do’ ora ‘working’ plan is as wellas communicating an idea. Knowle. Foratchitets and designers in common thinking terms of plan and drawing it at tol for designing as wellas communicating ani " of wat exists, where it exists, location of buildings with especto one another ad the general boundary are necessary for imagining or awe pn, Another aspect of drawing 2 plan of given station isto record or document things, activites, but and natural environments and people Theis theses is tontaducevatiostypes of mapping, cording and dts collin sti, without becoming too technical and fastidious Mapp es done by alinear process of observing, recording, drawing, analysing, interpreting an presenting. Essentially, itis aquasi-survey and data collection), entirely visual and character driven. The mapping techniques can be further explored and made complex, however, conceptually they remain rather 1 and inthe spirit of reconnaissance. In this sense, for architects, itis an important tol to gather a visual sense ofa place, site ora building. 148,EXERCISE 25: MAPP] : MEASURING ING THE UNIVERSITY CAMPUS: BY PACE Group and individually Attempted ‘Measure draw the Campus (inthis case the CEPT Uni eithecampus with its Buildings, landocees cer on eets9) by Pacing, a group activity to culminate in appropriately scaled plans and sections raster infrastructural service, The drawings should be experimental in nature and differnt mediums apose “Trvonment adage UBS habit of cbeevng’ and not jar seeing. To make students aware ofthe dimensional aspects of ult Serer cae ang students an intuitive perception of dances between two buildings, their heights, spatial judgement of small reas and dimensions of sundry things lke plants, tees ee Tone mye sinus consider pacing nd foot neasremet at important ost form abil mental cogusace poe diy i “To initiate mapping by group reconnaissance and recording, flowed by the concrete task of converting the collected skewed drawings ints caledhand-dafted drawings. : aa . -Toequip the students to prepare different types of presentation drawings Suggested Duration Foursessions Saturday and ° should be used in addition tothe regular classes as continuity is important. —— ree ee resin ten ope nt ns foe eae ‘Solent nee ya ene eigen Tern mt ip ray rein of eu “Mtoceeng neg ompatse eget methine Teg ong at ces gh et Ea thane nd ieee eve mee empl i il ‘eet pegnciges as cataunaganaronen ns muscenen Me eign te ore rd emi td id sh — xin constant in all groups. le ope te 9+ Im adition o pace recording, each student should draw thee vews. After nshing the daily recoding, the eolected information shoul, - po clematis shold asec on a he on depute melo hed on es tongs for campe tr nfton ha epee Sue nba fons one mn chp ewes abd it dton bee ‘ehandmetecenaie pesesion fey of ied eng mel cloge ges nds imped ae efor mS Stet ta reine JOutcome| Observation ‘The freedom of being out in open in a tam itself was enjoyable for the stadent,I'wee on astonishing experience when the drawings were drawn sd ‘made by converting pace measurements into centimetres at& given se! © Sey melas by diferent groups. Students std noticing things and their relationship; the concep of distance, spread size, shadow pattern; slopes and services, et, came > serious activity of taking conscious cognizance of what one is oo" ‘ng understood types of tees, thei cr looking’ and ‘seeing, where, seeing + Famliarzation with differen environments ofthe campus intercon of sansnale sa dn cataraly understanding, spaceuse and such {important inthe training of architects and were leant better by consciously experiencing them. Task coordination asenseof the cove it eng aout the campus and preliminary familaiation wih other students were the by-products ofthe exercise and of the exhibition Te dew spac of something was special swells dfcul task that wa accomplished for age area in the very fst semester of students cers Eh commendable. To records ive acre aes, to draw and to present itwasno mean ask the ass ara whole eased thin essa schoo ogee 150EXERCISE 26: MEASURING individually Attempted ‘odirectstudents tomap, recordand study the Sunday Market wi 7 stud drawings. [nhsuden shouldbe sited patchoceoesee a kstithpace measurements andrepreventhestuertroughsketches and drawings ‘The Sunday Market, locally known as Ravivaa ofthe Els Bridge inthe city of Akmedabad for |APPING THE SUNDAY MARKET BY PACE ri or Gujari, is a traditional weckly baraa that has been taking place in the same place on the eastern end over a couple of centuries. Historically, it used to take place on Fridays. This market offers Used or new 'temsobject as well s the most basic things. I is possible to furnish a poo family's ome in a day by shopping here. Used books, used garments, parts of ssachines and biyles all sors of tools, used furniture, curio items, old utensils, pets such a birds, fish and even goats, are only a few things sold here. Wilt sa Flea Market by nature, iis also utilitarian in nature where new products like cots, furniture, push-carts and storage drums ate also available. 'azoi, from it o-acre site on the edge of the Victoria Garden, it hasbeen shifted within the Sabarmati River Front Project and now stretches between Ellis ‘eidgeand Sardar Bridge, almost along the entire length. As 2 thatter of preparation, prior to the Sunday ofthe exercise, the site and surroundings should be ‘upemessured and appropriately drawn on a week day. Paspose To introduce students to Indian urbanity andthe complostes and characteristics of the environment, Additionally the exercise also aims to familiarize them with the intertlationship of the ety with the public open spaces and to expose them tthe ides of tempor] permanent nature of bazar. “To bring tothe for, the ideas about formality, informality, temporality, affordability, recycling and above al, the indian character of urban open spaces. + Tomake them cbeervant of the cues ofthe necessary informality in transitory wiban behavior. ‘Tomake them aware of socio-cultural inbuilt recyling ttude and process inthe urban context ‘To encourage them to develop the ability to judge dimensions andthe character ofa temporary markt ax well st equip them to prepare an appropriate presentation. ~Torecrd sing eolely human pacing to mep Suggested Duration Two to thee sessions, couple of Sundays can be used while regular work goes on during the weekday classes, Approach] Process Sh mene i ee of eo a 153ce measurement and «to commence the exercise, a plan ofthe ene site should be made without the temporary shops on weekday PY P the edges ofthe market shouldbe noted. pee _fheattemane sant aud erected and crcl se sections sou be taken, icudog some iMPrONPIS ooo Sess esi ath te shopkecpert, This is meant tobe a failarzatin process in an lft tobe accepted by the sbopkesPer pers slike ss _ owing Sunday, each stodent shouldbe ven an aren measusing approximately 25 paces by 20 paces fr reondinglnspPg Shennena ha a ge terpretatie latitude, such that ll areas put together will make the whole. Coordinating with co-student= on bios Fides ofa students individual mapping area should be made mandatory. caer tow or teta are tobe dea by each student, Consesueny, the as should do thorough recording ofl chosen ‘teas all ravings shouldbe presented using the medium of enc for assessment -Dienulons dheld be held onthe concepts order, chaos, and the eens of organization pertaining to commonly used objects by peopl in.cur tlture~inthecourseof the exercise at wells ona conluding note. Result] Outcome] Observation ‘This excise was an introduction tothe urban environment which forms a major preoccupation ofthe students of architecture. The process of guessing distances and dimensions are important in their training and were learnt better by consciously experiencing them. Their drawings brought about the ‘Gharecter ofthe mult-commodity-tvansient- market asa contributor tothe traditional Indian urbanty. Eventually, the drawings of all the students were pieced topether to arrive ata large composite map of the attempted aeajzoneof the Sunday Market and exhibited. 154