Reflections

From the project, I learnt that architectural design is a challenging process. There is elimination and evaluation just to name a few of the many different aspects involved. I have learnt that hard work is needed and you should always do the best you can. Most importantly, you must not procrastinate as time is limited and building a mall is tough.

The experience was fun, though stressful and the time given was not really enough to put in the amount of detain wanted. I was having fun by the end of it all, but the ammount of pressure was too great.

It would have been a fun and excellent project without the stress, but that was mainly because most people didn't start till much later after it was given out.

Eco-mall

The purpose of the design of my eco mall is simple. Nowadays, with so many cars on the road and factories springing up everywhere, our carbon emission is sky-rocketing and global warming is a major problem. Malls are just another nicety that takes up lots of energy to sustain. I plan to change all that.

With eco-malls starting to be built everywhere, this mall will win the race and take eco-malls to a new level. It shall incorporate more recyclable parts and be partially sustaining. It shall also use natural vegetation to cool-down the building and minimize other costs for the first time. This will reduce the carbon emission of the mall and make malls not be just a nicety that takes up resources, but a meeting point and a beautiful place.

With my mall doing so well, I hope that other malls will follow in the footsteps and revolutionize the way we think and feel about malls.

What makes good Architectural Design

Award winning Designs

In my mind, good design is a design that is eco-friendly, looks nice and does what its supposed to do.

Eco-friendly

A building should be good for the environment because buildings use up energy and we are all moving into cities. This will cause there to be more buildings and less greenery, so buildings must be eco-friendly to accomodate this change.

Nice Look

Buildings must look nice to attract customers, so obviously having a nice interior and exterior is a must. This also ensures sanitary as dirty things will not look very nice.

Utility

A building must be able to do what its supposed to do and do that well. The building must also be easily navigable and have readily available help and instructions.

Comparison

The first mall is not very green but it has a nice look and good utility.

The second building is quite green and looks nice on the exterior, but since I could not find any pictures of the inside of this building, I do not know about its interior or its utility.

Multifunctional:

The design of the building should be able to accommodate more than 1 type of usage. It is important as a building in this time and age where land space is limited and thus any building or structure constructed requires it to be able to be used for more than single cause.

Easily Adaptable:

The structure or building designed must be easily adaptable to different types of usage. Similar to the point above, the building or structure should be able to convert itself with minor fuss to another use.

Sustainable:

The structure should be long-lasting without fear of the foundations collapsing on itself. The materials put into use for the construction of the building should be able to withstand intense use. Sustainability of the structure is probably the most important factor to take into account when designing a building. Without it being long-lasting, resources, time and money would be wasted for reconstruction and repairs.

Convenience for users:

Features such as parking lots, restaurants, and parks should be situated around the structure to ensure convenience, no matter the purpose of the structure. If it is not convenient for users to travel there and back, no one would frequent the building no matter the aesthetic appeal or service.

Criteria:
- Appealing to the eyes(It should not look very chunky, like a normal HDB flat, and should be special compared to them.)
- Creative(Shouldn't look like a building that has already been done before, and it should have some part where it would cause some "wow!" reaction.)
- Spacious(The interior of the building should be spacious, not look too cramped.)
- Not too squarish(It should be a little curvy, mainly less squarish, since nearly everything is blocky, like HDB flats.)
- Coherence(It should also be coherent to the surrounding buildings, not look very different from the other surrounding buildings.)

Example:

Group Members: Guang Jun, Grace, Cheng Ngee, Mayur, me

Sources:

http://www.europe-re.com/system/main.php?pageid=2526&articleid=14758&edpage=0&ct=1253198418

http://stephentravel.blogspot.com/2011/01/award-winning-mall-dubai.html

What is Architectural Design

Architectural design is defined as:
Architecture is that set of design artifacts, or descriptive representations, that are relevant for describing an object, such that it can be produced to requirements as well as maintained over the period of its useful life. (From here)

Concept that focuses on the components or elements of astructure or system and unifies them into a coherent andfunctional whole, according to a particular approach in achieving the objective(s) under the given constraints orlimitations. See also behavioral design. (From here)

the art or action of conceiving of and producing a plan or drawing for a building or such (From the mac dictionary with a minor edit)