As I mentioned during the final presentation, I see this class as more than just career training; it serves as a guide to a more meaningful and richer interaction with the world and the experiences around us. Throughout the entire course, by defamiliarizing the everyday, I felt like a child discovering joy and beauty in the smallest of things. My senses took the lead, and I allowed myself to rediscover the environment through different lenses.
For this reason, my collage reflects the sensation of playfulness that I carried with me into each activity. This playful mindset, thanks to Daniel, has proven invaluable in refreshing my perspective on design and architecture.
I would like to close by sharing a quote by Carl Jung that touches upon this idea:
“The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct.”
For this activity, I have chosen gutters as the focus of my analysis and re-imagining. Frequently, people tend to overlook the calming and pleasant properties of water features. In a city like Vancouver, there are ideal conditions to bring small projects to life that can uplift the community’s mood.
For the open gutter format, I have chosen to incorporate rotating pieces that emulate flowers or windmills. This not only adds an aesthetic touch but also serves the practical purpose of minimizing the impact of water on the soil, preventing any adverse effects on biodiversity caused by the force of the free fall.
As for the closed gutter format, I’ve opted to increase the amount of material used and make it transparent. This allows people sitting around to appreciate the movement of water through the pipe around the columns.
For the initial segment of this assignment, I opted to sample three foods and beverages I have not experienced before. This choice was made to ensure that my sensory recollection would remain unbiased by past memories. Subsequently, I categorized them based on five criteria: freshness, aroma, flavor, texture, and appearance.
In the second part of the assignment, I drew inspiration from the pipe system in my home, contemplating how I could leverage this funneling concept to decrease the consumption of sweet juice. The following images depict my thought process and a prototype featuring a rhino design.
During my visit to the Seafront, I had the opportunity to experience how smell can evoke memories and emotions in sudden and intense ways. For instance, the scent of saltwater immediately transported me back to my high school days in South Wales and to my daily walks along the coast.
I also observed the significance of scent combinations in creating a complete experience. An example of this was Stanley Park, where the blend of wet dirt, woody trees, and the gentle scent of moss worked together to establish a space for calmness and meditation.
At-home exercise:
For the at-home portion of the class, I chose to carry a notebook with me for an entire day to document the variations in smells and their corresponding perceptions, along with the memories and emotions they elicited. I then created a video illustrating the transmutation of these stimuli from one to another, forming what seemed like a cohesive experience.
I won’t provide a list of the notes I took, as I’d like you to discover what I experienced and how I connected them. However, I’ll offer the initial association to kickstart the process: Zen meditation and incense.
For this assignment, I chose to spend an entire afternoon with my friends at Carnarvon Park, aiming to identify the myriad sounds and stimuli that this space had to offer.
Upon disembarking from the bus, we immediately noticed that the entire field was covered with geese, presumably engaged in feeding or drinking water from the accumulated surface water in the soil.
Since the geese were a prominent source of ambient noise, we decided to move to the centre of the park. There, we laid out a blanket, and I blindfolded myself to focus solely on auditory stimuli. Armed with a piece of paper, I spent 15 minutes sketching dots to represent the locations where I perceived the geese’s squawking. My friends assisted me in maintaining the orientation of my hand on the map to ensure I stayed within the lines.
Next, we turned our attention to observing various modes of transportation passing through the area, including trucks, buses, cars, and airplanes. I documented the duration and intensity of each, creating a graph in the top-right corner for reference.
Simultaneously, I noted the rumbling of my stomach, drawing parallels between its sounds and those of a motorcycle. Additionally, a nearby woodpecker caught my attention, producing cyclic patterns of sound with each strike against the tree bark.
For my wind device project, I aimed to explore the interaction between air force and various types of wood. I opted for pine and cedar as my two material choices, cutting each into different sizes to observe how the wind would move them with varying degrees of ease, resulting in a variation in the produced sound.
To be entirely transparent, it remains inconclusive whether the different types of wood caused distinct sounds. However, I did observe a higher resonance in thinner pieces compared to thicker ones. When I played the recording with my eyes closed, the resulting sound evoked memories of wood burning in a bonfire, transporting me directly back to my trips in the mountains in the UK.
I have added a sketch of the way I could analyze the direction of the wind relative to the movement of the wood stick
For this exercise, I wanted to explore how my body engages with outdoor spaces through my beloved bike. While I’m accustomed to biking almost daily, I rarely notice changes in vibration, perception, and positions during the process, as it has become a highly habitual task.
Initially, I began by breaking down the process of mounting a bike and starting to balance until I was able to ride. It is surprising that objectively complicated activities can become almost automatic. It took me a while and a series of trials to discern the movements, changes in tension, and shifts in weight and balance required to ride my bike. I describe this process and the progressive annotations I made as I noticed the different steps.
Stage one and two
Stage three and evaluation of vibration as the main cue for movement
After thoroughly exploring the aforementioned process, I proceeded to embark on a long ride from UBC to Downtown, enabling me to evaluate various outdoor spaces. I realized that the primary cue I use to discern the type of terrain I am on is the vibration felt in my feet, seat, and handlebar.
For instance, riding on the road is smooth, and the vibration is almost unnoticeable, whereas riding on gravel or mountainous terrain is the complete opposite. This experiment also allowed me to comprehend how my body responds to vibration stimuli by adjusting my weight and position accordingly to be more efficient on certain terrains.
As an example, when riding on the beach, I tend to stand on the pedals so that I can control my balance more swiftly, given the reduced traction and increased resistance from the sand. On the other hand, when riding on asphalt, my full weight shifts toward the seat, and I incline my upper body to achieve greater speed.
I recorded a series of stimuli from one of the three locations we visited that day, primarily focusing on the tactile experience. However, I also attempted to extrapolate the perception of sounds using the same language of pattern and texture.
Near the Earth Sciences Building:
Top left: I observed the repetitive and equidistant nature of the wood pieces in the seating area.
Top right: I noted how the weight of my body felt on the cement areas, creating specific pressure points. Even within the full contact area, there were darker spots that identified where the weight of my body exerted additional force on the concrete.
Sitting in front of Orchard Commons:
Top middle: I experienced the waves of air coming from the wind and passing cars making sudden contact with my skin, progressively decreasing in intensity until they were replaced by a new stimulus.
Bottom middle: I registered the constant sound of skateboard wheels, followed by a sudden change caused by a jump or a trick. This cycle of constant and sudden repetition occurred multiple times.
On the grass mound:
Bottom right: I explored the multiple layers of materials by sticking my finger in the dirt. I could feel the grass initially, followed by organic matter and clay-like textures.
Bottom left: In areas with constant exposure to tactile stimuli, such as the hands, I perceived the feeling of gentle but sharp grass seedheads on my palms.
This is the result of my observations during the time where I could see the environment near the Earth Sciences Building
Top image: How I perceived going down the OC stairs while blindfolded
Bottom image: Quick sketch of people sitting on the steps in front of OC, comparing real scale vs perceived scale.
At-home exercise:
Collections of materials, textures, emotions, and temperature of my studio at McMillan
Series of textures and and pattern I found in the studio.
Sound recordings of my finger interacting with some of these materials and patterns.
Initial impressions of the garden outside the museum were significantly influenced by the noise emanating from the turbines atop the nearby buildings.
I observed Arman employing this technique, and I chose to adopt it for two reasons:
I was intrigued by the prospect of documenting the diverse natural elements present in the surroundings.
The use of charcoal enables the addition of noise and distortions to images, effectively capturing the impact of the turbine noises that colored my visit to the garden. This diversion shifted my focus away from the subject of biodiversity.
Upon entering the museum, I was disappointed to perceive, in my opinion, a lack of connection with natural elements. In the sketch above, I observed the arrangement of exhibitions in such an organized fashion that it almost resembled a solid wall. On the other hand, there were a couple of pictures that actually resembled nature. Collectively, it gave the impression of a cave, with the entrance serving as the sole source of natural light.
At-home exercises:
For this exercise, I found it interesting to map social interactions and expressions of gratitude in the dining hall at OC. Consequently, I devoted approximately two months to approaching people for brief conversations, inquiring about what they were grateful for in their lives here at UBC. The map displays the positions, times of the day, and linked comments gathered during this exploration.
These are the various thoughts people shared with me over the course of two months. As some individuals preferred not to have their names posted, I opted to embody some of their personalities by asking them to choose a font that represents them.
I could not attend class this day because I had a viral infection 😛
At home:
For this assignment, I’ve chosen to explore a space I’m responsible for and have frequently visited in recent months. I’m an RA at Totem Park, where my main role is to ensure the well-being of first-year residents and safeguard the facilities. This often involves using our senses to make educated guesses about what’s happening behind closed doors and whether any intervention is needed. This aspect of addressing unseen social dynamics is particularly intriguing.
Diagram 1: From my window, I’ve noticed an interesting pattern in how people move through the space. The arrangement of materials and the layout of hallways seem to dictate the flow of movement. People tend to follow the prescribed path rather than freely walking outside or alongside it.
Diagram 2: Totem Park is surrounded by a lush woodland with large trees scattered among the living areas. I imagine a network of communication and biochemical signaling among these trees as they interact with and respond to their environment.
Diagram 3: I’ve created this diagram to examine the proportion of users in relation to the built structures and natural elements in the surroundings.
Diagram 4: This is how it feels when people just follow the predefined paths outlined by the materials.
Diagram 5: As commented before I have to constantly be aware of a variety of signs when I am doing my rounds to ensure there is nothing out of common happening around. A lot of the times I have to rely on my smell, or the noise levels to find where disturbances are happening on the floor. To some extend, it is fun to play detective and try to see through the walls to maintain order and protect the first years.
Diagram 6: This diagram explores concepts related to water management and the potential placement of utilities. I’ve observed multiple holes in the grassy areas, often attributed to the Japanese beetle. This led me to ponder the existence of a complex subterranean colony operating beneath our notice as residents.
