Project 1a
Preliminary Studies
Preliminary Studies is a preparatory assignment that focuses on investigating basic notions of the city and learning from precedents.
The Preliminary Studies comprises three components: Site Documentation, Site Analysis, and Precedent Studies of Urban Blocks and Community Centre for Creative City.The outcome of the Preliminary Studies will include the production of site documentation materials, a comprehensive analysis of the site towards a sense of place, and a detailed case study of a relevant urban block and precedents.
​
​
​
Urban Study: Macro + Micro
Macro: The role and how the location fits into the city. In micro-study, the students are to Micro: A study on urban form, activity, and movement pattern, utilizing the study method of ‘Legibility Analysis’ (Bentley et al. 2013), a method to explore Kevin Lynch’s Elements of legibility (Lynch, 1979).
In addition to the Lynchian elements, an urban theory is selected as a base for key concepts and ideas:
​
1. MORPHOLOGICAL: Built-Form Typologies and Morphology, Figure/Ground Mapping (Roger Trancik)
​
2. SOCIAL: Patterns of Movement, Human Behaviour, Street Culture (Gehl’s Contact Point)
3. FUNCTIONAL: Land Use Diagram and Building Types (Functionalism by J.Lang)
​
4. TEMPORAL: Time-Lapse Mapping (What time is this space by Lynch) (SELECTED)
​
5. VISUAL: Serial Vision (Gordon Cullen’s)
Project Outcome
Reflection
The first touch into the realm of urban design has been nothing short of interesting. To work in an existing urban fabric, and one as dense as Medan Pasar, has a sense of reality to it. It gives me a hint of how urban design is like in real life, how many aspects that need to be considered when designing an urban block.