LING YUAN MING
ARCHITECTURE E-PORTFOLIO
THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM
(ARC61303/ARC2224)
Introduction
Subsequent to each thematic lecture, students are required to submit a synopsis in the form of reaction paper. Its aim is for the students to read a selected reading in relation to the theme that has been discussed in class for the week and submit a reaction paper of the text. There will be a total of 4 synopses. A reaction or response paper requires the writer to analyze a text, then develop commentary related to it. It requires thoughtful reading, research and writing. It should identify the key points highlighted in the text and then focus on your personal perspective on issues raised through the text. In addition to your personal perspective, you should identify experiences or insights that have shaped your perspective.
Learning Outcomes
1. Describe the theoretical issues related to design through study of architecture and urbanism and its related studies
2. Relate architectural theories to contemporary architecture and urban forms
Tasks
Each students is to prepare and submit reaction papers as synopsis of the given reading during
tutorial sessions. The reaction papers shall be formulated based on questions listed below:
- What issues or problems does the author address?
- What is the author's main point?
- What points or assumptions does the author make, and how does she back that up?
- What are strengths and weaknesses? Where are problems with the argument?
- How do the texts relate? (if multiple texts)
- How do these ideas connect to the overall ideas of the class/unit/etc?
SYNOPSIS/REACTION PAPER
Introduction
Students are required to present an in-depth and analytical research study on the designated topic. Students are to explore the image of a city based on Kevin Lynch’s most famous work, The Image of the City (1960). The project consisted of 2 parts; the first is to identify Lynch’s 5 elements; path, edges, districts, nodes and landmarks within a selected city and the second part is to produce an essay with a cognitive mapping of the city.
Objectives of Project
1. To provide critical perspectives on key issues within the contemporary discourse of architecture, through integration of case-studies and
theoretical studies
2. To enhance the understanding of the complexity of architecture and the ability to undertake independent research
Brief
This project comprises of 2 parts:
• PROJECT PART A: IDENTIFYING 5 ELEMENTS (20 MARKS)
• PROJECT PART B: AN ILLUSTRATED ESSAY WITH A COGNITIVE MAPPING OF SELECTED URBAN SPACES (40 MARKS)
Lynch's most famous work, The Image of the City (1960), is the result of a five-year study on how observers take in information of the city. Using three disparate American cities as examples (Boston, Jersey City and Los Angeles), Lynch reported that users understood their surroundings in consistent and predictable ways, forming mental maps with five elements:
- paths, the streets, sidewalks, trails, and other channels in which people travel;
- edges, perceived boundaries such as walls, buildings, and shorelines;
- districts, relatively large sections of the city distinguished by some identity or character;
- nodes, focal points, intersections or loci;
- landmarks, readily identifiable objects which serve as external reference points
Student is to select a city and identify the 5 elements in the city.
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PROJECT PART A: IDENTIFYING 5 ELEMENTS (20 MARKS)
Project : The Image of The City
FAMILY - WINDOW
Upon completion of this project, i am now able to analyse architecture and urban forms in relation to relevant architectural theories. I am also able to analyse and critique the relationship between architecture and its social, cultural and intellectual context. Not only thatm i can now produce, orally and in writing, a critical interpretation of architecture and urbanism in relation to relevant theories within the contemporary discourse of architecture
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PROJECT PART B: AN ILLUSTRATED ESSAY WITH A COGNITIVE MAPPING (40 marks)
Part b of the project requires students to create cognitive mapping of selected significant urban spaces in the city of KL to understand one’s perception and spatial behaviour in cities today. Using the cognitive map students are required to present a critical understanding of emerging contemporary urbanism in KL city spaces (in relations to Kevin Lynch notions of imageability and how it influences people’s perception of the city. Mapping should contain: human facets (memory, identity etc.), spatial and temporal dynamics (traffic, people’s paths, barriers, etc.), architecture (stairs, benches, trees, etc.), microstructures (texture, material).
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