Hey guys So I am doing a architecture degree and these pop up all the time, I try avoid them as best I can but this time I can't. First off I hate hate when I am asked to come up with something conceptual I can't do it I just don't think like that at all. So anyways I have the context of a working windmill at Sneinton and a mathematician/Physicist figure. I have to come up with conceptual idea based on a theme. Confused as hell right now tutors don't seem to ever understand when I explicitly tell them I am not good at this. Any advice Thank you
Mathematician/Psychic? Or Mathematician/Physicist? Physicist seems to make more sense to me so i'll run with that idea. You've given very little context really. You say based on "a theme". Is this theme open to interpretation? Is it residential? Anyway I'm just going to brain-dump on this. I studied architecture by the way. Windmill - a dynamic structure, moving parts, mechanics. Would you reveal these? Would you frame them and draw attention to them? In some way. Mathematician - Think clean lines. Pure geometries - if you think that's whats appropriate. Or do the opposite as a jusxtaposition to those precoceived ideas. Remember, a conceptual design doesnt have to look like a building. It could be a few layouts of your basic ideas. Think materials and moods, include them in an abstract manner. Remember to relate it to the human scale. Words are ok. Flow diagrams of spaces/experiences. Sketches. Make it attractive. Get it laid out in a format you'd present. Minimise the work you'll need for portfolio in the future. Does any of that make any form of sense? For example, It's possible to go from something as abstract as this (some conceptual group work we carried out for the Final Project): To something like this (my final design work):
oops yeh meant Physicist, all the context I have myself is there a windmill and I have to base it around maths/Physicist figure. I have chosen Leonhards Euler work on rotation (Accelerometers) out of the choices. The example really help alot thanks for that, my intial thought was you don't straight away appreciate the technicality and power of a windmill before you get inside. I surpose in a simular way maths is like that. But will start brainstorming
The windmill and mathematician/physicist link is George Green I would assume, as he owned and worked in that windmill in Sneinton.
Were you expecting your tutors to go, "Oh OK.. if you're not good at it, you don't have to do it"? Being able to think conceptually is an essential skill for any designer. It will be part of the course because it's an essential skill. Why are you trying to avoid things you're not good at? I am a college lecturer, and my advice is force yourself to do this as often as possible whether you like it or not, as part of higher education learning is taking responsibility for your own learning, and being able to identify your own strengths and weaknesses is essential so you can do something about the weaknesses. If all you're going to do is play to your strengths all the time there are going to be great big holes in your education and the skills you'll need in your chosen career. Now.. I'm a photographer, not an architect, but surely an architect that can't think conceptually is forever destined to be designing people garages or something? I'm sure Frank Gehry was thinking conceptually when he designed the Guggenheim museum Force yourself to think differently. Don't just blithely accept that "You're no good at this". Stop thinking logically and just let your imagination run free a little. Think back to when you were a kid and you knew no limits because you didn't know what was possible or impossible. You just imagined what you wanted. You're studying to be a designer.. that requires conceptual thinking. I know that doesn't help you with your project, but you're being asked to do this for a reason. Start thinking of these projects as opportunities to address a weakness and becoming better at what you do.
Right I am really trying my best here guys but I have nothing but drawings that don't relate to the site or Leonard work on gyroscopes, really stuck here and tutor useless and just tells me he is confused about what I am doing. Any advice or links that explain how to go about creating concepts in architecture all google is giving me is web design at the mo.
So what have you actually drawn then if it relates to neither the site or the client??? If your tutor is confused about what you're doing then you've obviously not explained it, they aren't mind readers. You need justification and reason for everything you do (even if it is tenuous). Do you even understand what you're doing?
Nope not a clue what I am doing ! Basicly a gyroscope on some sort of stand in the clouds, its the only idea I had so just jotted it down hoping more would follow but that's all I got.
9 days to come up with a doodle. Good work.... Please tell me you're in your first year?! Sounds like you've got your head in the clouds. So you haven't thought about the spaces you're looking to create? The textures/materials you're thinking about using? Have you done any studies of the windmill itself or studies of gyroscopes? Made any notes? Done any research? ... have you even looked at what other people in your tutor group are doing and attempted to copy them? Or have you done nothing?
This is purely about an abstract concept, I have studied both the gyroscope and the site context to try and draw some comparisons between the two I have plenty of notes etc. I am coming up short on how to represent this all visually. Examples from others include a rainbow machine that covers the site, a cave like montage. http://dprbcn.wordpress.com/2009/10/15/perry-kulper-revisited/ Thats an example from the tutor on the kind of thing we should be producing, I am struggling to actually find a link between gyroscopes and site at an abstract (meaning) layer. So yes in short I have done alot of research but am struggling at the concept creating stage.