Group Discussion

Dear All

Please check the site below and post your comment as group discussion

http://www.sustainablesites.org

A maximum bonus mark of (10) is allocated to students while participating in the discussion.

This will save you on the next assignment.

Best of Luck

Roshan Seebundhun, Architect

Assignment No 3

Students will submit their chosen site that best describes their brief as proposed in Assignment No 2. Of course further development on the brief would be required at a later stage. This assignment is a development whereby the student will be acquainted to site properties, orientation, plot usage and coverage, existing constraints, mitigation factors, sustainability, water efficiency, energy, materials and resources and existing environment characteristics, in order to develop their master plan further to a sustainable development.

Roshan Seebundhun, Architect

Sustainable Development - Assignment No 3

Sustainable development was defined by the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development in the 1987 Brundtland Report as “those paths of social, economic and political progress that meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” In 1993 – a year after the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro – the World Congress of Architects defined sustainability for the architectural fraternity as follows:

Sustainability means meeting our needs today without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

UIA/AIA World Congress of Architects, June 1993

A more recent – and broader – definition is the following of 1996:

The concept of sustainability relates to the maintenance and enhancement of environmental, social and economic resources, in order to meet the needs of current and future generations. The three components of sustainability are:
• Environmental sustainability – which requires that natural capital remains intact. This means that the source and sink functions of the environment should not be degraded. Therefore, the extraction of renewable resources should not exceed the rate at which they are renewed, and the absorptive capacity to the environment to assimilate wastes should not be exceeded. Furthermore, the extraction of non-renewable resources should be minimised and should not exceed agreed minimum strategic levels.
• Social sustainability – which requires that the cohesion of society and its ability to work towards common goals be maintained. Individual needs, such as those for health and well-being, nutrition, shelter, education and cultural expression should be met.
• Economic sustainability – which occurs when development, which moves towards social and environmental sustainability, is financially feasible.

Source: Gilbert, Stevenson, Girardet, Stren, 1996

Roshan Seebundhun, Architect

Proposed Site Plan - Free Size

Site Example on Google Earth

LATE SUBMISSION of Assignments

LATE SUBMISSION of Assignments
We reserve the right to assess an assignment at pass/fail if the assignment is submitted after the due date and no extension has been sought and granted. Subject to this right, as a general rule, the following policy applies where an assignment is submitted late and no extension has been sought and granted:
• One business day late: Two mark penalty deducted from student's result for the assignment or not more than 25%
• Up to five business days late: Five mark penalty deducted from student's result for the assignment or not more than 50%
• Up to 10 business days late: Assignment assessed pass/fail
• More than 10 business days late: Assignment not accepted
We shall inform students who have not submitted their assignment by the due date (and no extension has been sought and granted), requesting a response within five days. If there is no response from the student within five days, a fail grade is recorded when assessment for all students in the subject is being completed.
Extensions (where an extension has been sought and granted) and the research assignment is not handed in within the period of time allowed by the extension:
We reserved the right to assess an assignment at pass/fail if an extension has been sought and granted and the assignment is not submitted within the period of time allowed by the extension.
Subject to this right, as a general rule, the following policy applies where an extension has been sought and granted and the assignment is not submitted within the period of time allowed by the extension (the dates referred to below are the dates for the submission of the research assignment in accordance with the extension):

Building your City - Assignment no 2

Building your own city is a challenging exercise in order to understand the Building Codes, Regulations, Limitations, Town and Country Planning Guidelines.
The development of this study is continuity to decoding which will now enables the usage of different type of structures, elements and materials.
The aim is to provide students the necessary skills to develop a sustainable environment of their choice using the latest technology.

Example of decoding Architecture

http://www.cathedral.org.uk/historyheritage/introduction-decoding-the-architecture.aspx

Decoding Architecture - Assignment No 1

Assignment no 1
This assignment was set out for Technology 1 students in order to get acquainted with Building Materials, Specifications and Construction Methodology. Assignments received were relevant and the approach of decoding was mostly acceptable. This exercise has created a sense of observation of construction elements around the neighborhood, whether it is a chair, piece of furniture, house or commercial building.
The detailing was limited to first year students. In order to achieve a proper decoding more emphasis should be made in detailing. Decoding in the theoretical way may not be the only solution. We found that most students prefer the theoretical way. Detailing could also be in the form of blow up drawing to a scale of 1:10, 1:5 or even freehand sketch with good annotation. The idea was to have a sense of dimensioning and stability of proportion.
All the elements could also be presented in such way that the assignment in itself is a readymade project. Presentation of the assignment is very important. We found some good examples but unfortunately they were very rare. Graphical presentation and illustration was very limited and many students did not apply imagination in presenting the assignment.

Roshan Seebundhun, Architect

DQS