Review of FMP

REVIEW OF FINAL MAJOR PROJECT (FMP)

Student Name: Lucia Lanzalaco Pathway: 3D

Final Major Project Title: Placid Dynamics

You will need to submit this evaluation with your full project hand in 

1. Briefly describe the final outcome of your project and the progress you have made, and if applicable how it differs from your original Project Proposal:

The final outcome of my project are two identical viewing platforms/galleries, where people are able to gain access to an area that is normally off limits and there purely for visual purposes. Below these structures, seven small market stalls sit below and stay afloat on the dock. Each stall represents a different gentrified London borough. The stalls are open to sell different produce from local suppliers. At the back of all these structures, is another viewing platform but with a slightly different atmospheric feeling. An atmosphere where one may feel slightly trapped and excluded. This concept is slightly more complex than my project proposal, because there are much more underlying ideas and processes contained in my final piece in comparison to the proposal. I haven't exactly solved the question of 'do people want buildings to have an instant or long lasting impact on them?' However, I have kept a thread from my proposal weaved throughout my project, which is aiming to create a structure that could have the same effect as a painting or piece of music does on a person, both mentally and physically. As well as hoping to have created a structure that is a symbol of what architecture is now or could be.

2. What methods have you used to show how your learning has effected your project eg FMP Blog/ FMP Plan/ sketchbooks etc, and how has this helped with development of your work:

My sketchbook has aided me greatly in the process, as it is where one has a better connection within the design process because one is able to feel the motion of drawing and allow that to flow on to the paper. From my sketchbook, I was able to transfer my designs, not yet controlled to some extent by technology, onto software which sped up the making process to some extent. Having additional simple notepads did also develop my work further because I allowed myself to step away from the sketchbook that was design and research based, and I could solve design problems elsewhere. From this I could take the splitting and transfer that too the sketchbook. Blogging surprisingly developed my ideas further. As I carried on writing each blog post more ideas came to mind, but it was at these moments where I had to take a step back and refine ideas, rather than expand them. Gradually I managed to grasp that concept. Blogging also kept me on track with the process and not get confused with what stages I was at in developing my model.

3. List the targets met (from the original FMP Plan and any that were added later):

I have met my targets of reflecting on my blog weekly and documented the changes in my design process. I continued to check that my design was communicating a message to some extent. This is evident in my sketchbook where I have noted that I thought I was drifting from my project concept a great deal, and so I reflected back on my project proposal and tied my ideas back to my base theme. This also meets another target of wanting clarity and understanding in my concepts. I continued to question this, and questioned this among my peers, from this I got valuable feedback that fed into the process of my project.

4. Reflecting on your overall final major project, please discuss any developments which have contributed to the final outcome:

My trip to Rotterdam changed my outlook on how to approach design to some extent. The environment in the Netherlands influenced me to observe structures and spaces with more detail, simplicity and contradiction. So instead of taking in many complex details or concepts and forming them into more complex or extremely simplified ideas, I developed my ideas through taking a concept and relating it to a concept that is the opposite of the concept. For example, Rotterdam’s Markthal was an example of taking a simple stall and making it into a landmark location. I have taken this inspiration and made the middle dock into an area that is available to the public and not just there for visual purposes.

5. Please state what advice you received from others during your FMP, and discuss what you found particularly useful: you should refer to group reviews, one-to-one tutorials and feedback from evaluation groups

There were two peer reviews I valued feedback from. I was told to refine my ideas and process for ideas to communicate them more clearly and understandable. I adjusted my proposal for this and on the next review I had managed to refine my concept and the idea became stronger. This was vital feedback because as I went along with the design process I believed my concept was understandable, whereas it actually wasn’t.

6. Key points to take away – things to change about my approach (give at least 2) eg improve time management, what skills you have developed and how this will affect your future course/career and things to continue doing and to build on (give at least 2). What are you going to do next year? (NOTE – you may find it useful to refer to this document at the beginning of your next self managed project.)

Time management will need to be handled better, and I will do this by to not solely rely on technology when model making because there were too many errors that I stumbled across and weren’t always rectifiable immediately. Additionally, another change I could make in my approach is to use slightly more software in the beginning to possibly speed up the design process, since I spent quite a while in hand drawing.  I will continue to try and balance sketchbook work and written work better in the future on the architecture degree I will embark on. I will also continue to improve my hand making modelling skills as this is a key skill to have.