Hi guys,

We have noticed that there has not been much recent activity on the blogs. If you are interested in continuing the studio please contact us to make some arrangements for the rest of the semester. We are hoping to incorporate more frequent online live sessions to answer questions and exchange ideas, either individual or as class-wide meetings.

Below is part of a conversation we had with Danielle last night. I think her comments and questioning might be helpful if you are in a similar situation.

[10:06:27 AM] xu wang says: Danielle, do you want to directly get into your project, or you have some general questions for me and Jon

[10:06:55 AM] Danielle Haley LeFebvre says: No I think the project is my main concern, I think I am just stuck..

[10:07:33 AM] xu wang says: sure, I can give you couple suggestions to move it forward, and I believe Jon would have some suggestions as well

[10:08:20 AM] xu wang says: right? Jon

[10:08:42 AM] Danielle Haley LeFebvre says: Ok. I am finding it hard to develop my design ideas, because I think my design ideas are vague. I also think it hard to develop without a specific program in mind

[10:08:47 AM] jonathan.byers says: sure! that's what we're here for

[10:09:43 AM] xu wang says: first of all, there's a lot to do for this project, because it involves different levels of design

[10:09:57 AM] Danielle Haley LeFebvre says: ok

[10:10:14 AM] jonathan.byers says: it is difficult...i think typically in studio instructors often look for the idea to be generated from program or specific site

[10:10:47 AM] Danielle Haley LeFebvre says: yes

[10:11:27 AM] jonathan.byers says: but this studio is looking to develop a logic that can applied to these project specific peices (site, program) to generate the architecture

[10:12:12 AM] xu wang says: from the bottom up, 1. you may think about the materials, like what you did in your previous post; 2. to sketch and generating idea about the architecture based on the program and the site; 3. to generating a design system or a logic of defination from this process

[10:13:04 AM] xu wang says: seem to me, these 3 levels can go at the same time or one after the other, without a specific sequence

[10:13:18 AM] xu wang says: so there's nothing wrong as you talking about the material first

[10:13:18 AM] Danielle Haley LeFebvre says: ok

[10:14:02 AM] Danielle Haley LeFebvre says: oh ok, I thought i was jumping ahead, without actually solving the problem first

[10:14:32 AM] xu wang says: for the program, we defined them as commercial and retail, so it could be a restaurant, a cafe, or a fashion store

[10:15:53 AM] jonathan.byers says: right...it's not a linear process. each step informs the others so you can continually refine your approach

[10:16:05 AM] xu wang says: this is the point 2 I was listing, to be able to do this, there's some research need to be done for the retail architecture, you know, their best way of layouts (or you can say traditional way, they were tested to be the best efficiency for selling, but we can always try new things)

[10:16:57 AM] xu wang says: the frontage of the retail, the service path, how to organize the pedestrain and service circulation around it

[10:17:29 AM] xu wang says: when you start touching this topics, then you will have a lot specific questions regarding the site, that we can help to answer

[10:18:06 AM] jonathan.byers says: you can make some assumptions about the type and size of the retail based on the rough site information...and we can help with any additional information you need

[10:18:18 AM] Danielle Haley LeFebvre says: ok, thats where I can see spaces being defined. How certain materials enhance, define, certain spatial qualities of the retail space

[10:19:26 AM] xu wang says: but I agree that we can't try to do everything in such a short semester and also with the internet, so I would say, for this studio format, we will focus more on the conceptual aspect

[10:19:44 AM] Danielle Haley LeFebvre says: ok

[10:20:12 AM] xu wang says: otherwise, even for a samll retail like this (around 100000 sqft), you want to work with the retail and marketing consultant for real

[10:20:28 AM] xu wang says: to make it a serious design

[10:20:52 AM] Danielle Haley LeFebvre says: ok, makes sense

[10:21:24 AM] jonathan.byers says: haha, yes i think for the studio format you can make some informed assumptions on the program...or start hiring consultants

[10:21:49 AM] xu wang says: so, within the time frame and the effort we can offer in this class, like Jon said, we will focus on something, and make some assumptions for the rest

[10:22:04 AM] xu wang says: to be able to get what we want from this studio

[10:22:27 AM] Danielle Haley LeFebvre says: ok..lol

[10:23:01 AM] jonathan.byers says: based on our discussion today you can make a brief schedule to organize your time for the remainder of the semester

[10:23:28 AM] xu wang says: at the end, is how to define the system, as I said on the class blog before, we are not trying to just simply agree what Kuma said about negative architecture

[10:23:51 AM] xu wang says: because that's his opinion based on his experience and culture background,

[10:24:03 AM] Danielle Haley LeFebvre says: right

[10:24:06 AM] xu wang says: what we trying to learn from his is the way he set up this concept

[10:24:26 AM] xu wang says: but this level 3 is the most hard part

[10:25:05 AM] xu wang says: it requires lots of reaserch and discussion and organize your own thoughts, and make the abstract

[10:25:48 AM] Danielle Haley LeFebvre says: ok

[10:26:10 AM] xu wang says: this is the final goal we are shooting for, we will try our best, but if we can't get it, then at least we will have some nice progress and a interesting building design

[10:26:46 AM] Danielle Haley LeFebvre says: ok

[10:27:34 AM] xu wang says: we are not trying to get something that took Kuma dacades to get, but at least we go through this process, and this is a good experience to see how a design system or a theory system could be built

[10:28:35 AM] xu wang says: so, if you like, there's plenty to do at any of these 3 levels

[10:29:05 AM] jonathan.byers says: at the end of this process, hopefully we will have some good analysis, research, a simple theory with an architectural proof to describe it

[10:29:13 AM] Danielle Haley LeFebvre says: Yes, I think that answers alot of my questions, and I feel like i have something to develop now as well


hope to hear from you soon!

jb