Reflections on Lecture 1

Lecture 1 enabled me to get a better understanding of what was required for the semester ahead. Yasu emphasised the need to keep exploring, to try something different and experiment with my ideas/ designs.  The need to always question myself about what I think the contemporary and future roles of architects should be, will help to stimulate growth in my future career. I agree that Architects are not just drafters anymore and that the Architect’s role is currently changing.  I believe they are becoming more of an overseer of work in which they co-ordinate the many consultants to the point that project management has become a central role for current Architects.  I find that currently Architects are out-source a lot of specific tasks to consultants such as; structural engineers. Perhaps this out-sourcing will continue into the future which may result in Architects out-sourcing all drafting works to a new ‘drafting profession’ and become purely project management focused.  In this instance, this could ultimately lead to the demise of the profession.  Especially in a drained financial climate where people are avoiding the ‘middle man’ to cut costs, perhaps Architects may become the next casualty in this war to maintain profit? If this is the case, then action must be made now to ensure our profession is still needed in the future.

This lecture also explained the important connection that every architectural proposition should have with its context, (see diagram below).

 

A key quote from lecture that resonated with me showed the need to constanly look ahead;

“Envisioning, rather than simply responding to what you see today, is essential to be able to prepare and respond to future needs (Santo 2012).”

Architecture is like a play which has a plot (scenario), stage (context) with characters and scenes (how users utilise spaces).  This analogy also connects with my earlier thoughts about the definition of ‘Architectural Fiction’ and reiterates the direction of focus for the semester.  To which we are required to design and architectural entity that provides critical scenes and responds to my future scenario. This proposal will be then presented as Architectural Fiction.

For the first assignment (Project One: Future Scenarios and Architectural Opportunities) we, in groups of four,  must define the context of our site, identify certain issues and identify certain strategies in response to possible scenarios. These will in turn, lead into Project Two.

Considering future scenarios should always show a relation between four main topics to be believable (see diagram below);

Theme Groups:

There will be four site options to choose from within four differenct site contexts. I can select one site which I will eventually need to propose a future Architecture entity for. The site options exist within the following Theme groups;

·         Urban Theme – CBD

·         Suburban Theme – Paddington

·         Regional Theme – Woodford

·         Virtual Theme – The World.

At this stage I would like to look into the Regional Site as I have not had an opportunity to design projects in regional areas before and am interested in the specific brief for this site. However, I will have to wait till the end of next week (Wk 2) to place a selection for my first and second site preferences.

 As Project One mainly consists of master planning my group’s future scenario/s within a specific site, Project Two will allow me as an individual, to lead straight into designing an entity and presenting it through its Architectural Fictitious scenario.