Urban Hub for SEPA

Our current project is to remodel (up-cycle) an existing warehouse which is located opposite Dundee United football club. The warehouse is to be turned into an innovative, dynamic but most importantly sustainable Urban Hub for SEPA ( Scottish Environmental Protection Agency) http://www.sepa.org.uk/.
We are free to do anything to the building as long as we stay within the supporting columns and of course for structural reasons because the building isn't new we have to keep the support frame for the roof. Other than that and the fact that we have to take UK public building regulations into consideration, there is no other boundaries.

 This is the warehouse on Tannadice Street :

At the start of this project we were split into groups of four in order to help each other research about : Eco, Green, Sustainable and Natural Design we then presented our findings to the rest of the class. I found this method really interesting and useful as when you research by yourself you tend to keep a lot of information to yourself when it is good to share things you find interesting with others and vice versa. Doing this you end up having a broader knowledge which helps you become more creative. I was amazed at how different every groups presentation was despite the fact that our topics were very similar.
 Here are some websites I came across during my research.

 Sustainability:
http://www.environmentteam.com/list/top-10-trends-in-green-building-industry-2010-by-jerry-yudelson/
http://www.consultfes.co.uk/?gclid=CJHy5fXSuaYCFVBO4QodFxouIQ
http://www.sustainablebuild.co.uk/ReclaimedMaterials.html
http://pinc.us/featured-work/ecco-eco-la/
http://www.sproutdesign.co.uk/what_is_sustainable_design.htm

Offices etc:
http://www.officesnapshots.com/
http://www.thecoolhunter.co.uk/offices
http://www.home-designing.com/2009/03/an-office-made-from-cardboard
 http://www.saracenoffice.com/fit-out/decoration


Designing offices for SEPA means that not only we need to provide the basic accommodation or zones that every other ordinary office would have but we also need to include research Labs and showers because part of the staffs job is to go out to sites if somebody reports something suspicious like polluted rivers and take samples so they need somewhere to get cleaned up and somewhere to analyze and test the samples. The Hub has to be able to accommodate 24 staff (workstations), 4 deputy Managers and a Chief Executive Officer. Having in mind that the offices have to be flexible in case of increase of staff I have decided that open plan work station are the best solution to that which means that the desk have to be flexible, detachable( if even attached to each other) allowing the number of spaces to increase easily too. In this building I will also be providing a waiting area ( by the reception), a cafeteria, 2 meeting rooms and WC's all of which will be on the ground floor making the areas easily accessed by visitors ( the public). On the top floor there will be the 24 open planned work stations, 4 managers offices, another set of WC's for staff, storage room, CEO office, and a quiet space/ Library where staff can chill out but also get information if they need it.

Quick sketches and some initial ideas:

Meeting room/Cafe

Library/Quiet space

managers office

meeting room

Partition/meeting room

Meeting rooms

1st floor/stations

This is a sketch of the exterior
and an idea of creating an interesting
facade by using wind turbines and incorporating
then into the design. Inspired by Alexander Pincus.

Ake Dil ( One Heart )

Ake Dil is what we named the chair we made for our furniture project! All four of us had been looking at curved shapes and furniture for inspiration as soon as we got the project brief so we decide to look at the female body because of the curves. After looking at the Kamasutra Temple ( Lakshman Temple)http://www.shunya.net/Pictures/NorthIndia/Khajuraho/Khajuraho.htm we noticed how the female and male figures were intersecting each other and you can hardly figure out the different parts of bodies because the sculptures are very complicated.  This was an ideal concept for our chair so we then came up with all different ideas and sketches , mostly curvy shapes but some also with both curves and straight lines ( representing the male body ). Having the title '' One Body, One Heart'' in mind we tried to bring both curves and boldness into our design combining both got really interesting as each one of us had different ideas.

After some more research and looking at other designers works and being inspired by many other pieces of furniture we came across Richard Deacon who was our main inspiration! http://www.richarddeacon.net/ . All of his sculptures consist of curves and a lot of them are continuous curvy shapes.
. 

We realized that in order to achieve something similar we would have to learn how to steam bend and laminate wood. You can only learn these techniques by practicing so before we knew it we were in the workshop steam bending and doing things we never imagined we would be doing. But before you can do either of these, you have to make a jig which you will then use to bend the steamed wood over and hold the two with clamps. This is what it looks like when it is left in the jig to cool down and form a curve.

Steam bending is not an easy process as you have to work extremely fast and with care because if the wood cools down in the process of bending it round the jig it is most likely to snap, leaving you with a piece of timber you cannot use again which is a waste but also loss of time as you have to keep each piece of wood in the steamer for nearly 2 hours which only allowed us to bend one piece a day. We also had a limited amount of wood we could use so we couldn't really afford making mistakes.




Here is one of our initial tests (failure)
before we started making our chair :




After a lot of hard work and many little problems we managed to overcome we had our beautiful final outcome which we were all proud of and thankful of each other for our great team work and coordination because it is impossible to achieve something like this alone. Sometimes even all four of us weren't enough as each of us had there own job, e.g I was clamping the wood with Fawn while Duncan was forcing the wood round the jig with Malcolm ( our tutor) and Christina was making sure there were no snaps or gaps formed between the timber and jig.

Nearly done! (not)

Once all the components are made and finally put together you suddenly feel so relieved and happy it's finally over although there is still a lot to do..... We also changed our design slightly because our initialy design had a back support decorated with Hindu designs which we used the laser cutter to etch it on then laminated strips of ply together in order to curve it. When the chair was put together we decided to keep it simple is it were already a very dynamic shape and we felt like the decoration took the beauty of the structure away. We didn't feel like it was incomplete and we actually made it in such way that you can attach the back piece if you want to.
Here are some images of it being made and being tried on the chair :

Sanding the final piece down and making it look smooth took ages and it got very messy at one point but it was worth all the work. After it has been sanded down it needs to be waxed so that the wood keeps in good condition and doesn't rot.

Below are our presentation sheets and our finished chair. :-)

Research

Development/ Sketches

Making/ In spaces

CAD drawings/Photos

Set up and ready to present our final design:

Photos of Ake Dil chair by Fawn Russell, Yasemin Memis, Duncan Perkins and Christina Davis :

Assignment 4: Interviews -But not as we know them!

Unlike assignment 3, this time we had to interact with people and interview them. In order to avoid interviewing strangers this time, we didn’t have to visit any site, we were asked to interview friends of friends that we didn’t know too well and mostly importantly they didn’t know us. We had to choose between 10 topics, the topic I chose was -How have students’ dress sense changed since they left home? I find this subject interesting and having already written about myself in a previous blog I felt this was a chance to develop it further and research about it. 

Once I had chosen my topic, I mind mapped the questions and areas I wanted to cover during my interviews, and also some other subjects to talk about soon as the interview had to be semi- structured which means you can prepare questions beforehand but also turn your interview into a informal chat and talk more comfortably.

 

Mind Map

Part of this assignment was to use one of the Service Design Tools we read about during the last assignment and use it to interact with our interviewees. I met my interviewees in the library so couldn’t really take up a wall with our post its so instead, I wrote down my questions on a page of my note book and before we talk I asked them to answer very shortly on the post its. This tool is called the Affinity Diagram and it’s used to brainstorm ideas and facts and then once on board or in my case on a notebook page the notes can be analyzed further. http://www.servicedesigntools.org/tools/23

''Affinity Diagram''

 The questions I chose to ask were the following: 

       1.  How would you describe your style?

       2.  Has your dress sense changed since you came to University?

       3.  What subject are you studying?

       4.   Do you feel like you have changed more than your style? (more or less confident etc.)

       5.   Do you know who influences you? (course mates, flat mates, sports palls etc.)

       6.   Do you feel like you have influenced anybody? ( is anybody copying your style?)

       7.   Do you shop in the same stores as before you came to University?

       8.   Could you describe your dress sense before you come to University?

       9.   How do you feel like when you are back home with your old friends?

     10.   Have they noticed the difference, if yes what did they comment on?

•  My first interviewee is in second year of Fine arts, when we met I gave her the questions and she answered very shortly and informally (some consisted of just one word), we then looked at each post-it and discussed her answers together which gave her the opportunity to analyze them further and explain them. She described her style as being vintage on the post it and I wanted to know more about it, it turns out she goes for the 60's look, very pretty, delicate (doll-like) style with big bows in her hair and knee high socks which reminded me a lot of Topshop's display window. So we then talked about where she shops since she has been in Dundee University and were did she shop before.. She admitted that most of her clothes are from Topshop and Zara and that she never used to shop much in them stores when she was back home and at school. She also explained that in her small town in Orkney, there wasn't much pressure on what you were wearing because everybody is relaxed and not everybody follows the fashion trends apart from the snobbish girls at her school. Living in the countryside, she wasn't really bothered about her looks and would wear casual clothes when not at school. Her course mates have influenced her and I can understand that because she probably spends most of her time with them especially as she is studying Fine arts and I would imagine it is very time consuming and studio based. She said that she doesn't really feel like she doesn't fit in when she is back home because most of her old friends have also gone to University ans they have also changed slightly although she did say that the first time she went back to Orkney in first year for Christmas, she went back to wearing tracksuits because she spent a lot of time in the countryside and didn't bother worrying about what to wear when she woke up. I asked her if she feels different now when she goes back home and she said her new (Uni) style is properly adapted an that even when she is back home she likes dressing Vintage, on her post-it she also mentioned her cousin saying she looked a lot prettier and that she has changed since she has been  here. Although she was aware of her changes, she didn't know whether she like the fact that it was so noticeable but she accepted it as a compliment.  After talking to my first interviewee I feel like she was a really confident and easy going person before she came to University and now she feels like she has to wear whatever is in Topshop this season. As she is studying Fine art I would have expected the opposite, would have thought she would be more free and have her own dress sense according to her own taste but no and that is really confusing me because my second interviewee was exactly the opposite.   

• With my second interviewee we arranged to meet at the Cantina during lunch time which made it a lot more comfortable and casual. We went through the same method and then chatted about her answers. She is in her third year of Law and her home town is Glasgow. During this interview, I spotted a huge difference between her and my first interviewee and I knew from the start I would have very different answers, mostly because they had very different backgrounds which made it a lot more interesting to compare their styles. She described herself as being really sporty and most of the time she would come into uni wearing tracksuits because she goes to the gym nearly everyday after her classes and she also said that since she has been at University and is part of the Volleyball team she is a lot more aware about her health and being fit enough for the sport she really enjoys playing. She said that mostly her parents and close family have commented on her rapid style change because they still cant believe it after three years, although she said that everybody goes through phases in their lives and as a matter of fact she might be going through one just now and in a couple of months change her style completely. That made me realize that she is a very open minded girl and ready for any kind of changes. To be quite honest I would have expected to hear that from an art student rather than a Law student and actually would have thought that the subject students are studying would have had an impact on their dress sense, (e.g would have expected a Law student to dress smartly) but that isn't the case.  She explained to me that back in her home town in Glasgow, if it weren't for School Uniforms, she would have been stressed every single morning when she was getting ready to go to school because she used to hang around with the ''divas'' of the school and the most popular ones. She also said that a lot of times they would go shopping after school and she would buy very similar clothes to her friends rather than just go for what she felt comfortable with. Now at university she feels like she is dealing with a lot more mature people and has met a lot of people that don't care about what they wear because they have got their own character and style. Also being in a Volleyball team and mixing with people with all different backgrounds has help her a lot to come out of her shell and be more comfortable with who she really is and she doesn't have to pretend she is someone else anymore. She recons that she has influenced her flatmates a little and has actually got them coming to the gym with her too and she feels quite happy about that soon as she is encouraging them to lead a healthier life.

• My third and last interviewee is a course mate of an ex-flatmate of mine and we met in the main library between his classes for a quick interview/chat. He is studying  Forensic science and as you can imagine we haven't got a lot in common but it was interesting to see if he had changed his style since he has been in Dundee University. This time I just went ahead and asked him the questions and discuss them as we went a long as I felt it might get a bit awkward and uncomfortable for him if I just sat there waiting for him to quickly answer on the little post-its. He explained that he hadn't really changed much although he had toned down a bit because he felt his style was a bit too extreme for his course as he had a very Gothic dress sense when he first came to Dundee whereas now he describes himself as being more casual/rock music person so he still has some of the elements he had in first year. He also said they his friends still have kept the Gothic style although only one of them has gone to University so they haven't really changed environment or friends. He said that he doesn't really shop as much now and when he does he only gets casual jeans or whatever he needs at the time whereas before he would buy a lot of belt and different accessories. He said that being at University and meeting a lot of different and open minded people has really helped him with his confidence and he is not as self-conscious  as he was when he was in Newcastle.
  

Looking back at all three interviewees and comparing there background, you can notice very big differences but the last two are very similar in some ways, as they both feel more comfortable and confident since being at University and feel less pressured and don't feel the need to impress anybody or make a statement. I think that comes down to the people you are going to meet and the experiences you are going to live throughout Uni life. It is all about what you feel comfortable, if you prefer making a difference by dressing weirdly then go ahead and do it but if you feel like you have to do it in order to impress others then think to yourself why do you need to impress others in order to feel good about yourself? 

After my conversation with the second interviewee, I couldn't stop thinking about what she mentioned about being happy she had to wear a school uniform to school because if she didn't have to she would be stressing herself out and wouldn't feel comfortable at school. I researched about school uniforms a little to find similar stories, incidents and what schools and parents think of uniforms and came up with a lot of pros and not many negative comments not even from students which I would have expected because a lot of my friends here in the UK think I'm lucky to not have been forced to wear uniforms as in Greece we don't.

Results from research:

Reduces Fighting and Violence:

Schools report that school uniforms decrease fighting and violence that arrise out of arguments over fashionable clothes. Children invariably tease those who do not have trendy clothes. Those who can't afford name brand clothes are often sensitive about their clothing. Schools struggling with gang problems report that school uniforms help ease tensions.

Distractions:

Many parents believe that students wearing school uniforms look nicer and that a school uniform policy ensures that children will come to school in appropriate clothing, avoiding distractions such as trends considered to be overly revealing. Some students have turned school into an unending fashion show. This distracts from learning, as some kids spend more time focused on their clothes than on homework.

Values:

School uniforms stress that individuality and self-expression are not determined by designer clothing or the latest fashion.

Low Cost:

School uniforms are a bargain. They are becoming far less expensive than many other clothes. Schools argue that school uniforms are economical, especially compared to designer clothing.Parents agree that school uniforms last longer because they are made for repeated wash and wear.They also can get used school uniforms at discount prices, or just use them as hand-me-downs between siblings.

School Spirit:

Some feel wearing a school uniform helps build school spirit.

Assignment 3C(2): Secondary Site!

The second part of this assignment was more broad, it involved going out to some of these places: Shopping Mall, Public Library, Coffee shop, Museums/ Galleries or other palces of our choice and observing peoples behaviors, unwritten rules, people using services etc.
I picked up my notebook and headed into town, went round the town observing then into Overgate shopping centre. It was a Wednesday morning, not too busy but enough to be able to observe people without looking like a weirdo, I was able to disguise myself by not taking any notes until I got myself a coffee outside the mall and wrote everything down, as much as I could remember at least. At that time of day there were a lot of elderly people, apart from the food section upstairs where it was full of students from school on their lunch break. It seemed like they go there everyday because I overheard a couple saying before hand what they were going to order and running in order to get there before it got completely packed. It was funny to see how after their lunch, it was mostly girls that went round the shops when the boys just kept on being boys and loud at Subway. While walking round a clothes store I happened to be walking behind a group of girls ( I wasn't stalking) so I followed them up the escalators when I caught all three looking in there reflections and fixing their hair, one of them realized I was looking and probably felt awkward, so she pretended to be looking at something really interesting and carried on talking to her friends. I weren't intending to follow them everywhere, so once I got to the top of the escalators I took my own way. It felt like I was doing a bit of Ethnography, without of course interacting with people or talking to them, I was simply observing and listening. Even in shops there are some rules you don't really realize until you want to try something on and you go to the changing rooms. You can't just walk in try it on and walk out again, there is something you do automatically, even if there isn't a sales assistant to give you a number, you don't just pick one and go ahead, you wait till somebody comes to ask you how many items you've got although they can see for themselves then give you a tag and u can finally try the clothing on!
After observing in the mall, I went for a coffee and sat down to think about what I had seen. As I was writing down my notes, I noticed a lot of people walk in in a rush and take a coffee out, I also saw one man buy a take away and try and ride his bicycle with one hand. I then started to think that their could be something cyclists could ask for with their coffee. Like sometimes when you buy more than one drink they ask you if you want a tray so it's easier to carry. Cyclist should probably have somewhere to put their drinks already on their bikes but for the odd couple, there should be a complete service. Something like a plastic cup with an attached clip that could easily and quickly be attached to the bicyscle and also be reusable. If are some doodling I done at the coffee shop...

  It probably wouldn't work but it's just an idea of a service coffee shops could provide!

Assignment 3C: Observe and Record!

HOUSE!!!!!!!!! ..... Unfortunately we never got to shout it out loud but I got really close to doing it and embarrassing myself and my friend Fawn. I was concentrating so hard to not miss a number and be as fast as I could when suddenly I saw a full house! I got over excited that it took me a moment to think what to shout out and thank God I didn't because my new unlucky number was there... RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE! I was gutted but so relieved I hadn't embarrassed myself!
hmmm... Maybe I should let you all know that the purpose of this assignment wasn't to go to Bingo and gamble, but it was to observe people, the environment they are used to and most importantly how we felt in their environment (territory). I had never been to a proper Bingo hall before, only to a cheesy bar in Kos where I live and I was playing amongst my mothers friends while there was a really funny guy calling out the numbers, I remember him saying: '' Two fat ladies..88..''. Ok, it's not that funny but at the time I was 9!
So, coming back to the assignment. For this part of it, we had to visit a primary site which was one of these: Bingo Hall, Football Match or the casino. As I had been to the other two, I chose the Bingo Hall, as did a couple of my friends. There were about 6 of us so when we got there we asked if we could get in for free because we were only going to observe and that wasn't a problem, although we had to become members first. It ended up being just me and Fawn because by the time we had filled in our booklets for the membership the rest had already gone through  and upstairs so we couldn't find them. At first, we stood up near some booths and shared our notes as we were observing the people in the Bingo Hall. I must admit that I didn't feel out of place or alienated because everybody was so into the game they didn't stare at us, until an elderly lady came stumbling next to me, pushed me over (not literally) and huffed and puffed, played one round then went and got herself a seat at one of the tables. Me and Fawn couldn't believe what had just happened, after that we felt nothing but embarrassment, especially when we got talking to the manager and he told us that a couple of regulars where asking him why are there strangers looking at them and taking notes. Everybody took the games really seriously and I was surprised because I thought of it as being joyful (probably thanks to my childhood experience). We noticed that the caller kept saying: ''If you need assistance one of our kind/ friendly staff will help you''. Elderly people were comforted and reassured at all times that there is someone there to help them although it didn't look like they needed any help at all. We were the dummies that needed assistance, they knew exactly what they were doing. Some were even multitasking as they were eating, chatting, drinking and playing more than one game at the same time. Every time somebody shouted out HOUSE you could hear their disappointment in their sighs.

I think even the theme and decor in the hall was design in such way, that makes the regulars feel comfortable as it was more likely to be their generation therefore their style and taste. It had a 60s feel to it, with the colorful and patterned carpet and blues chairs. Every time a game started, the lights would turn down, creating a cozy atmosphere. 

After observing as much as we could, me and Fawn were sitting at a sofa in the arcade part of the hall when the manager came over and asked us how we were getting on. We told him we thought it was amazing how seriously the players take it and he said they have it as a hobby, some of them have been going for 14 years and they sit at the same seat each time and sometimes showoff by multitasking and moving the markers without even looking. After a couple of minutes of chatting he suggested we should play a game in order to get the real feel of Bingo, so he went off to get us some free books which was really kind of him!
Before we did anything, I needed a drink but the bar was all the way across the hall, Fawn was absolutely terrified about the idea of walking though all the players and she thought we should wait till later but I insisted we went, only to have the bar lady say to me: ''You have to wait for this game to end before you get anything''. I'm sure we both turned bright red and sat down at the first seat we found while we got plenty of dirty looks. A couple of minutes later the game had ended and we were allowed to get a drink.

Finally, we got to play!!

Happyyyyy!!!

Look at that excitement!

 We weren't as happy all the way through the games, things got serious for us too!! In fact too serious we couldn't look anywhere apart from our sheets trying to keep up with all the numbers. We really wanted to win but at the some time were too embarrassed to shout out HOUSE loudly  if we did win, ignore the fact that we didn't even know what we had to shout out until we heard a couple of people calling it out. Half way through the game the manager came to us and we suddenly become the subjects of observation. He saw me struggling to find the numbers in time so he gave us a tip, on the table under my notebook there was a little screen where the numbers would come up 2 seconds before the speaker called out the lucky numbers so that gave u extra time to find them before the next number was called.

Walking out of the Bingo hall a had a totally different opinion with what I had in mind when I was entering. This was some serious stuff and I'm so glad we got to play and actually experience the feeling of alienation more intensely although towards the end we kind off got the hang of it. As you read, there is more to Bingo than you think, there are tricks, rules and behavior codes some of them are: silence, speed,attention and most importantly seriousness.The more familiar you get with an environment, system or even people around you, you feel a lot more comfortable.
 

Ethnography!

Ethnography is used across all different disciplines and fields like in education, anthropology, social work, psychology, usability and is very important in designing. Designers have to also be ethnographers and observe people’s needs, as they design for people and not for themselves. In order to understand a person’s needs, you have to do a bit of snooping like we did in our previous assignment. Other than snooping, you have to also interact with people, speak to them, listen to them, carry out researches and most importantly be broad with your research subjects and don’t just consider a certain group of people as being enough to understand people’s everyday actions, habits, behaviors and feelings. In order to design something useful, or actually you might even have to design a monument (sculpture) which is not useful at all but has to be appreciated by the public, you need to broaden your mind and try to think like other people and understand what they see as good design or what is appealing to them.

The same kind of methods are used at school too. Teachers observe their classes, get to learn their students, their behaviors, their weaknesses and strengths, their needs and after they have done all that they plan their teaching program. As strange as it sounds, ethnography is used in religion too. For example, a Priest has to engage with the public, talk to the people that go to Church but also to people that don’t see how they feel after Mass, their needs, their fears, their problems, and know that everything is modernized and the people have changed. The Church adapts to fit in with the way people live, behave and think nowadays, although beliefs and religion doesn’t change, people do. Priests use the same kind of methods to proclaim the love of Christ to those who think that there is no absolute truth. Ethnography goes all the way back to (Act 17) when Apostle Paul observed the people of Athens and he became concerned about their spiritual condition. After learning more about the Athenians and their idolatry and asking them questions in order to understand how they thought, he suitably illustrated and applied the message of the Gospel.

Now we can understand how relevant ethnography is for everyone, and use it in our daily lives to design, teach and a lot of other stuff that you wouldn’t even imagine it playing a very important role in.