CAD monkey?
A tourist walked into a pet shop and was looking at the animals on display. While he was there, another customer walked in and said to the shopkeeper, “I’ll have an CAD monkey please.”
The shopkeeper nodded, went over to a cage at the side of the shop and took out a monkey. He fitted a collar and leash, handed it to the customer, saying, “That’ll be $5000.” The customer paid and walked out with his monkey.
Startled, the tourist went over to the shopkeeper and said, “That was a very expensive monkey. Most of them are only few hundred dollars. Why did that one cost so much?”
The Shopkeeper answered, “Ah, that monkey can draw in CAD – very fast, clear layouts, no mistakes, well worth the money.”
The tourist looked at a monkey in another cage. “That one’s even more expensive! $10,000! What does it do?”
“Oh, that one’s a Design monkey; it can design systems, layout projects, mark-up drawings, write specifications, some even calculate. All the really useful stuff,” said the shopkeeper.
The tourist looked around for a little longer and saw a third monkey in a cage of its own. The price tag around its neck read $50,000. He gasped to the shopkeeper, “That one costs more than all the others put together! What on earth does it do?”
The shopkeeper replied, “Well, I haven’t actually seen it do anything, but it says it’s an Engineer.”
Very Similarly, an Architecture firm has CAD monkeys, too. Some even specializes in 3D drawings.
They call them the draftsman, and the 3D artists (sounds better, ain’t it.)
First 2 days in East 9 Architects & Planners (www.E9AP.com), I can foresee what I’ll be facing (the computer monitor 24/7, literally speaking) if I end up being a draftsman after being Sent to Architecture School. Never, I’ll say, look down on CAD monkeys because they’re skilled in what they do. However, I wished not to be stuck in front of the screen the whole time doing the same thing over and over again for too long- but I understand it well, people are trained in this field, and they strive to get the job done. They’re earning their living.
“With architects, you have an image of someone above reproach and not damaged, the way lawyers and judges and even doctors have been,” says film historian Robert Osborne, the genial host of Turner Classic Movies. ‘There are very, very few professions that still have a ring of heroism about them, and architecture is one of the few that does. If an architect is portrayed going off the deep end, it’s always because they are so committed to what they’re doing and that’s an honorable thing.”
The Lawyers, The Architects
Something to brighten your day (:
There are two big conferences in Johannesburg, one for Architects and one for Lawyers. They are both being held in the same building downtown.
On the first day of the conference, two groups run into each other at the Gautrain station and chat while waiting in line to buy tickets into the city.
When they reach the counter, the three lawyers each buy tickets and watch as the three Architects buy only a single ticket. “How are three people going to travel on only one ticket?” asks a lawyer. “Watch and you’ll see,” answers an Architect.
They all board the train. The lawyers take their respective seats, but all three Architects cram into a restroom and close the door behind them. Shortly after the train has departed, the conductor comes around collecting tickets. He knocks on the restroom door and says, “Ticket, please.” The door opens just a crack and a single arm emerges with a ticket in hand. The conductor takes it and moves on. The lawyers saw this and agreed it was quite a clever idea.
After the conference, the lawyers (recognizing the Architects’ superior intellect) decide to copy the Architects on the return trip and save some money. When they get to the station, they buy a single ticket for the return trip.
To their astonishment, the Architects don’t buy a ticket at all. “How are you going to travel without a ticket?” says one perplexed lawyer. “Watch and you’ll see,” answers an Architect.
When they board the train the three lawyers cram into a restroom and the three Architects cram into another one nearby. The train departs. Shortly afterward, one of the Architects leaves his restroom and walks over to the restroom where the lawyers are hiding. He knocks on the door and says, “Ticket, please.”
Source: Design Mind
Primer 2 [Six Cubes]: Arthropoda
This is the second project and the first individual project for the 1st Year Architecture students of Singapore Polytechnic.
This project is primarily about designing spaces to evoke emotions, and connecting them to enable people to walk through them to form a total spatial experience.
Students are to design a hub that pays tribute to a great artist. We were ask to choose one painting from a gallery of paintings by two artists, Wassily Kandinsky and Piet Mondrian.
The hub will be a simple interactive centre of sorts, a showcase to the public, of some of the characteristics of the chosen artist and their work. Students are to do adequate research about them in depth, with regards to the chosen work and their philosophy and thinking behind their art.
Located at the beachfront of Pasir Ris Park, the hub would be integrated into the existing natural site, park activities and context within the vicinity where the public can be then drawn into the hub’s experiential journey. Students are to visit the site and make an analysis on it to help determine the positioning of the hub.
Learning objectives:
• Understand and apply the principles & technique of freehand drawings and
sketches.
• Understand and apply the technique of 2D & 3D drawings
• Explore the use of hard models and manual sketches as tools in conceptualizing
design ideas
• Understand the fundamental technique and importance of design documentation
and reference.
• Understand lines as graphic elements for graphic composition
• Understand and explore primary element of shape and forms
• Understand and explore the notion of lines, rhythm, planes, frame, mass, horizontality,
verticality, texture in designing and composing spaces.
• Understand the element of Architecture
• Understand and appreciate form, space and composition
• Understand, explore and appreciate space in relation to anthropometrics, human,
environment and functional needs
• Fundamentals & importance of design process addressing concept, theme, briefs,
technology, culture, social and environmental issue
• Develop skills in site analysis
• Appreciate the relevance of Design Thinking and its Theoretical Mechanism
- Demonstrate skills in developing design generators and strategies from issues
and ideas from readings or other sources.
• Develop skills and ability to articulate their thoughts in written form
- Demonstrate skills in interpretative imagination and critical reading.
This involves translating the self-formulated brief to a spatial design that
conveys the life and achievements of the personality.
• Demonstrate an understanding to the integration of the basic components of
architecture – firmitas(stability), utilitas(functionality) and venustas(aesthetics).
• Understand the types of loading on a structure
• Understand the different elements of structure:
- Structure : loadbearing wall, column and beam
- Infill elements: floors, walls, stair and roof
• Understand the interfacing and integration of jointing in the elements of architecture.
• Understand the concepts & principles of ecology & the environment
• Understand the general principles of human comfort and ecological design in a
habitable space
• Identify the principles and concepts of day lighting
• Understand and apply the functions of PC based presentation application software to
produce architectural presentation for hard copy and digital presentations
Primer 1 [The Cubic]
Primer 1 is the very first project for the first year architecture students of Singapore Polytechnic. It is divided into 2 parts: part 1 and part 2. Part one focuses on an individual’s work while part two is a group work.
During the freshman orientation week, we freshies were introduced to our lecturers and personal tutors, as well as our classmates. We were then informed about the following week’s (induction week) activities, where we were required to meet in our groups at Dhoby Ghaut MRT station on Monday morning to finish a task at Mount Sophia Road located nearby. In our groups, we were given hand-outs and was required to finish an ‘amazing race’. Tasks specified were about observing architecture around Mount Sophia Road, doing some sketches, looking out for details, taking photos, identifying different aesthetics and functionality of the buildings.
For the rest of the week, in groups, we were required to make a collage out of the pictures taken during the race at Mount Sophia. And then from the entire collage, individually we were to choose a zoomed-in part of the collage that we found interesting, and have it printed out. Placing a tracing paper on top of the part of the collage, we traced out the prominent lines found on the collage and pasted the tracing paper onto a cardboard.
Using satay sticks and corrugated cardboard, we were to explore and bring out our creativity by transforming and interpreting the lines drawn on the tracing paper, into 3 dimensional forms/structures. Besides buildings models, we were also required to do a write up on every model on its form expression, spatial quality and structural stability.
[Part 1] Pictures of my models:
[Part 2- The Cubic]
Part II of this primer attempts to stimulate the senses of a person using an installation which your team will conceive, design and develop.
The experience with the natural surroundings would be the driving force which would eventually dictate the experiences of a person, who would use the installation as a place of relaxation so as to pause, reflect, feel and rejuvenate.
In groups, we were required to study our part 1 models, extract what we found interesting, and come up with a design for ‘The Cubic’.
“The CUBIC is a static, physical enclosure of certain dimensions which would be ergonomically crafted by your team to be located in the allocated green space on campus. This enclosure is a vehicle for one to experience nature and relax in the midst of natural surrounding environment.
It would enable the user to directly examine the relationship of his body with the natural environment. It would also enable us to use the selected senses to experiences the nature.
It would therefore be necessary to also consider anthropometry and ergonomics in the design of this “CUBIC” so as to achieve an optimal position to achieve its purposes.”
After weeks of discussions among members of the group and lecturers, brainstorming ideas, study and developing the design and experience, and we have it:
-the Final Model
D’ Ark Photo Montage
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