Self-examination of Project 1

  When Joe said the word "human being" to me, my mind was empty. Before, I treated my design as the package design. Now, I realize and find the reason why I always feel my design is lack of love.

  "Love" is a corny word which appeared in most movies, songs and literary works. However, it is wonderful and moving. My professor Haibing, she loves a British poet whose name is Landor.

Dying Speech of an Old Philosopher

by W.S. Landor

I strove with none for none was worth my strife;

Nature I loved, and, next to nature, art

I warm'd both hands before the fire of life;

It sinks, and I am ready to depart.

  Think carefully about the space and humanistic care, I want to describe a condition. As a designer, if I want to design a kitchen, I should image my feeling, mood and mind when I cook at the kitchen. What do I want eat today? Is Mussel soup with Chinese watermelon OK ? How long does it take to heat the pot? Is the sink user-friendly? Where can I get the salt?

  This is the situation how "human being" affects our design.

  A2 boards, I did them terribly. I should have clear logic to do my boards and show my ideas, such as, technical details, materials, layout and flow line of people's behaviours.

  Post-production skills. PS and V-ray.

  Although I feel upset, finding these disadvantages and mistake is good for me. If I am perfect, why do I study here? Picking up the pieces and starting over.

Surrealism

  Today, I browsed a interesting website: http://www.thisiscolossal.com/ I found  stimulating NEWS of Unexpected Layers of Glass Added to Stones and Books.Born in Tokyo, Dusseldorf-based artist Ramon Todo creates beautiful textural juxtapositions using layers of glass in unexpected places. Starting with various stones, volcanic rock, fragments of the Berlin wall, and even books.
  This work has the contrast of new and old and materials. However, the combinations which breaks our logic are harmonious and new.
 

  Coincidently, I saw my professor's Weibo( Chinese Twitter) introduced a pioneer of surrealism, Meret Oppenheim who is a Swiss artist.

 

  This is her famous creation, Fur Breakfast.

 Look at these works, I am thinking, I can try something surrealistic in my kiosk. Generally speaking, the decoration of cafe is always warm. Designers like using wood as the main material. Now, I want to use reflective material. It is like the dark mirror. It will break the normal logic of people's perspectives of cafes. As for the colour, I choose navy and white, because they are simple and cool. 

  Some buildings or installation use the mirror:

  

How to Balance Creativity and Function?

  This week, Joe did not come. We met another man teacher who I did not know his name. He always said,just do it! I love his words which gives me the decisive brave and let me insist on my idea.

  He likes my first plan, I also like it. The inspiration of first plan comes from the CD box, and the concept of second plan is from the matchbox. The first one is more creative than second one, but there are some realistic and limited factors, for example, the difference in height of floor, the roof and the location of wheels. 

  original one: in this kiosk, there is an entrance in the central unit. In the left unit, there is bar table and chairs. The special family area is in the right unit. Left and right units can be opened in any angle and use wood floor to connect them.

 

  second one: thinking of the structure, this kiosk can be opened in 60 and 90°. Bar tables are in both side with chairs which are put in the square. Add the "drawer-style" roof.

  Sometimes, I am confuse. I know function is important, but interestingness and creativity also are important. Meeting function may be at the cost of interestingness.  Maybe it is based on what you are look for...... It is hard to get them all.

Architectures Finally Come Back to Essence

  We want to organise our process step by step, but it is usually in disorder. I think I need to think about my concept and structure again.
  Yesterday, I talked with my friend who majors in Architecture. He said, utopian design was funny and when you designed something, you needed to know the structure. We compared the Beijing Galaxy SOHO which was created by Zaha Hadid with the building of CCTV (Chinese call it big underpants).  He told me Zaha's work has a cool building envelop, but her structure is more reasonable and simple than the big underpants. Besides, the Bird's Nest Stadium that was designed by Weiwei Ai and HERZOG&DEMEURON  wastes a large number of steel.
  Every famous architecture has its lethal disadvantage. About the building, it depends on what are you looking for.
  Come back to my kiosk, I analyse various kinds of boxes again with models and case studies.

  Compared with these boxes, get my conclusion.

  But, I also need to think about the realistic factors.

  I find that what I did before is not useful. The shape can be simplified or removed. The building finally comes back to its essence. I really experienced " the first thing is function." I am tried of these gaudy forms and shapes, maybe I can read some books about the minimalism.

  The sliding rail structure makes me remember the HK architect Zhiqiang Zhang. I studied his works before. He uses the sliding rail to expand his apartment which is only 32㎡. In his another famous work the "SUITCASE" at the foot of The Great Wall and product design, Treasure Box for Urban Nomads Back, also apply this method to optimise the interior space.

  You can watch the video about the smart apartment.

A Winding Path

  Recently, I began to understand "research". I think I made a mistake, because I had used the old way which I learned from the university to do my MA project.
  In here, teachers never deny us and they love to ask us questions which promote our to rethink profoundly. Maybe some questions look like simple, but they are thought-provoking. In the university, we usually showed our ideas to teachers. Sometimes, we changed our idea and we told teachers we changed it. The reaction of teachers was just listening to our new ideas. It seemed to come naturally. However, in the last design course, when a classmate said she gave up her old idea, Joe asked her "why did you give up this idea and use the new idea ?" Reginald also asked me to give him a reason of my design.
  ......
  It was rendered speechless, was not it?
  I realized that I cannot go freestyle and I cannot just depend on my feeling. This kind of methodology pushes me to think and rethink again and again.
  Research is a vital part of our studying. In another word, it is a core part. I know I should borrow some books from library and search information from the Internet and I have been doing that. But, I just felt I did not know the spirit of research, how to do it and why to do it. I was like a zombie.
  Thanks to Tira, he shared his studying experience with me. In order to design our kiosk, I found many and various types of boxes,such as cigarette box, matchbox, moon cake. Finally, I decided to use the concept of the CD box. Tira said, I should do research about comparing these different boxes and explaining why I choose the CD box.
  On Tuesday, Joe showed her research about a building. She tried to put the building in different environment and found some case studies about her assumption which can proof the possibility of her assumption. It enlightened me a lot. I think doing research is like seeking confirmation of a math question. First, I should come up with lots of ideas, compare them and obtain my initial conclusion. Then, draw on some case studies to proof and develop my conclusion. Finally, get my final conclusion. This progress is scrupulous and  needs divergent thinking.
  Therefore, I come back to my concept and do more research about all kinds of boxes. I find something which I did not find them before. I guess research has become more and more interesting.

Violet and Yellow

  These days, I thought a lot about the colours, materials and furniture about my kiosk. I love various combinations of diverse colours, materials and furniture.Different ways of combination gives people different feeling.

  First, I want to talk about the colour.
  My favorite contrast colours are red and green which are strong and pure. When I read the advertisement of Cartier(Their poster's colour was made of red and green), I realized that I love the assembly of red and green.

I cannot find the original poster, but I still remember the colours are like that. They are elegant.

  You know, the principle of matching colours is using contrast colours or adjacent colours. It can be proved in a large number of masterpieces! For example,

Henri Matisse"DANCE"

Henri Matisse"RED ROOM"

• Vincent Van Gogh "CROWS"

  I try to use the violet and yellow as my elements of the colour design, because the violet is charming and mysterious. About the yellow, it is the colour of wood which makes people feel comfortable and peaceful. With materials, it will be a stimulating combination! I took many photos about the violet and yellow.

  The Brazilian architect Brunete Fraccaroli designed the Japanses barbecue restaurant. Her colour has the feminine charm.

   Home design in Australia.

  I also find some in graphic design.

  WOW! I have to say there are so many choices! My mind is a little confused! When I moved my eyes from the screen, I saw......

  Yes!!! It is that kind of colour I want, is not it? Transparent violet and warm colour of kraft on the wall. It is a mixture---- mysterious, stable and peace.

Inspiration Comes From the Packaging Design

  About the kiosk, I think, in the beginning, my mind was a little affected by the Beth's container,because I wanted to design a different container. But, most important thing is why does the kiosk be a container?
  People usually follow the conventions and  the previous' footsteps, but I cannot agree with that. Normally, we eat noodles with bowls and use the cover to keep them warm. Actually, we also can put the noodles on cover and use the upside-down bowl to keep noodles warm. As for me, this is the design. Everything is free and everything should not have their definitions.

  Before I decided my concept, I tried different types. I love James Turrell's work‘skyspace’very much. So, maybe the kiosk can have this kind of meditation space.

  The KazuyoSejima's work enlighted me to create the kiosk with open space. But, how about the bad weather? The UK's weather is changeable!

KazuyoSejima designed this public area

  Thanks to Victoria who introduced some very useful designing websites to us, I decided to find some inspiration from other fields. Then, I treated my kiosk as a box, my design will be the packaging design. What should I do is opening my box. I searched different types of boxes, such as, cigarette box and cake box.

  Finally, the CD box enlightened me.

http://www.dezeen.com/2009/04/29/competiton-five-copies-of-designing-sustainable-packaging-to-be-won/

  I like this idea very much, because it is a flexible kiosk with open space in good weather or closed space in bad weather. Due this kind of open way, the kiosk was not keep its common shape. When it is open, people can drink coffee outside and enjoy the sunshine. Besides, the problem of where can baby carriages be put is solved. In the bad weather, such as rainy day, people can seat in the closed kiosk. 

  There are 3 units of my kiosk. Kitchen is in the central place, two sides are cafes.

  Teacher gave me some pieces of advice and next tasks:
1.When it is closed, how to expand the interior space and maximize the space？
2.When it is open,the outside space can be the kiosk's yard.
3.the shape of chairs in yard. How to store these chairs?
4.What will you offer (food and drinks)?
5.To do the food and drinks, what machines will you need?
6.How to fix wheels?
7.Electric,light,etc.

Location of My Kiosk

  As the heart of Nottingham, Old Market Square is the largest public area in city. Thousands of people flow into and out of this square every day.Some people pass straight through whereas others regard it as a meeting,eating,playing and seating place. Many bus or tram stations and shops around the square.
  The map of the square (from Google):

  Through the photos I took,I build the model of the square's terrain. This square has some slopes which is convenient for the old and the disabled. People prefer to have rest around the pink area.
  

  

  Different perspective:

  Then, I marked the flat area by blue dotted lines and divided the square into 5 parts(A, B, C, D and E). Every part has its own character.

A: 1.It is next to the biggest resting place, which means many people may want to buy some food and drink from the nearby cafe. 2.It is next to the fountain, and most children prefer to play the water.For parents, they can seat in the nearby cafe and watch their children.Besides, there are also many people choose the fountain as a resting place. 3.And there is a long slope which is convenient for the disabled and  parents who push baby carriages. 4.It is not very crowded,therefore; it is safe for children.

B: a large number of people, particularly the shoppers, enter square through this place. Sometimes, it is over-crowded.

C: walkers usually go through this entrance, then they go across the road.

D: it is next to the fountain, resting place and tram or bus stations.It means there is a plenty of flow of people. It is busy and may have the potential chaos which is not safe for the children.

E(central area，bright blue): normally, almost stalls gather in that place. This crowded place is not convenient for the parents who pushing the baby carriages.

  Think about the children's nature, safe, other kinds of customers and location of entrances, I decided to put my kiosk in the A.

Brainstorm of Old Market Square

  Talk about the Old Market Square, there are so many things coming into my mind. I still remember that day when I first met the square in August. It was really a busy and vigorous place with a plenty of stalls which sold the food, crafts and clothes. Besides, some stalls and facilities were born for children. Overall, brainstorm will be a good idea.

  Based on the brainstorm, I analyse the shops, transportation, people's behaviour and their mind about this area.

              

  Due to the flow of people, I think maybe the takeout food will be popular. Some people can take the coffee, ice-cream or bread to go shopping, some can bring the food to wait the bus or tram. So, my kiosk may be designed in this way.

  Apart from the ‘takeout food’idea, I also have another idea. Via my observation and experience of Goose Fair Festival, I believe the ‘Nottingham Loves Festival’is a nice chance for children to go out and play and for many people to enjoy the family time. Thus, my kiosk's main customers may be family with children.