PRV Site Study

Parahyangan Rumah Villa (PRV)

For this group project, we had to choose a site to study on, focusing on the important elements that the house has and explaining the materials used and the process on how the element is made from beginning to the end. For our site, my group choose to do my house in a village called Parahyangan Rumah Villa (PRV) in Bandung, Indonesia, because I knew i had photos of the whole process already from the beginning of the construction till the end which would be easier for me to the describe the main elements. The main important elements. that my group focused on were: structure, foundation, stairs, suspension and opening. 

The photos below shows my house in Bandung for our chosen site. 

                 

Each individual in my group had to focus on an element but because my group only consisted of me and another person, Darren Ho, we both decided to focus on two elements each. I decided to focus more on openings and suspension. I had plenty of photos to help me describe the process and also from the different technical drawings I got such as elevation, sectional drawings and plan views. I also decided to focus on these two elements because I wanted to know myself more information about my own house and how the openings and suspension works in my house and also I knew I would have to use internet to do research also so I wanted to know more information to gain more knowledge too. 

Openings

The first element I focused on were openings of windows and doors. Firstly the windows are made by making a hole in the wall from the bricks and having a wood lintel used to support the opening. The wood lintel is used to prevent the bricks from falling and keeping the required square shape for the window. Below pictures shows the process from brick wall to putting concrete. 

 

For the window, an aluminium window frame is used and is inserted into the opening in the wall which then they inserted a single paned (normal) glass for the window. For the windows, they can use wood also but aluminium for windows are a better choice because it is more durable, low maintenance, and has a good thermal performance as it can easily achieve heat loss through the windows by 60%. Therefore, this is why the windows are aluminium instead of wood because there are more benefits. The windows uses single paned (normal glass) which has pros and cons about it. It is a good thing that the windows used this glass because it is inexpensive; however it is a very poor insulator. Another material that could replace this is double-paned glass as it a better insulator but it is a bit more expensive.

The types of windows that the house has are awning and picture windows. Awning windows are used to get fresh air in and picture window are used to give appearance and provide natural sunlight in. The pictures below shows the windows with the window frames and glass in the opening. 

 

The same process is done with the openings for the doors. After this, the bricks around the opening for the window/door are then covered in concrete. The wood lintel is used to prevent the bricks from falling and keeping the required square shape for the door, main door and doors inside the house and also the garage door. There are four different types of doors in the house: bi-folding door for the garage, 4 panels sliding door for the door to the garden, double doors for the main door to enter the house and a hinge door for the other doors in the house. 

For the door, they used a wooden frame and inserted in the opening for the doors and then a piece of camphor wood is inserted with joints for the door. There are many advantages of using wooden frame for the doors than other materials. Advantages of using wood frames for the door includes: less maintenance, some likes the natural wood texture and appearance, latches and locks are easily installed, and it is also a natural insulator of heat. However, there are disadvantages of using wood for door such as it absorbs moisture which means it will rot, and also can get infected by termites. Therefore, other materials that are able to be used instead of wood frames for doors are uPVC or aluminium. uPVC is a good alternative as it has low maintenance, good insulator and low cost. Aluminium can also be used as it has an increased strength -strongest material out of the three, and also environmentally friendly.

Photos below shows the main door, garage door and terrace door after it has been finished constructed. 

Suspension 

The next element that I focused on were suspension -the roof and also the ceilings. In the beginning, I did struggle explaining the suspension because I did not know much information about suspension as much as I do about opening but through looking at the pictures and researching, it helped me understand the suspension in my house. 

There are two types of roof and from looking at my roof, my roof is pitched with the main structural component is a roof truss and the type of truss used is planer truss (2D). The truss of the roof is constructed by joining steel together onto the top and bottom chord and having truss web to support the bottom and top chord together. After, wooden panels are then put on top of the truss and the tiles are then hammered onto the wooden panels. 

The truss of the roof is made out of steel rather than wood and there are advantages of using a steel truss such as is that it is more lightweight, can be manufactured to exact standards and also no risk of insect infestation. However there are also disadvantages of using steel truss as that it is not energy efficient, and also moves more with temperature fluctuations which is dangerous. An alternative material you can use instead of steel is wood for the truss as it is more fire resistant. However it can collapse over time as wood can warp and also can rot and get infested by bugs. Both materials are good to use for roof truss but in my opinion, I think it is good that my house has steel truss. 

The next thing I researched about was the ceiling. The suspension system for the interior of the house are plaster ceiling. It is also a concealed ceiling system and there are wall mounted furnitures such as cabinets in the bedrooms and also electrical fixtures such as lights, A/C and fan. How the ceiling is made from the ground floor of the house to make the second floor of the house is that first, it has plaster boards, then a wooden beam of the house, then wooden panels, concrete filled, steel, concrete filled again and then the marble tiles for the second floor are placed on top. For the plaster boards, reinforcing tape is used in the finishing stages of the plasterboard installation to bridge the gaps between sheets and to strengthen the joints. The reinforcing tape is also used to prevent cracks.




Advantages of using plasterboard for ceiling is that it is not expensive, and also does not harm the environment as no cement or plaster mixture is released to the environment. There are alternative materials however that can be used for the ceiling such as natural timber, concrete with no finish on top, or VJ (vertical joint) timber lining. All these materials are good to use for ceiling if you want appearance but I think plasterboard was a good option for the house as it is less cost effective.  


Reflection

Throughout this whole assignment, I have gained a lot more knowledge about suspension and also about openings of doors and windows. The research that I did myself and also looking at the photos of the house itself is what helped me gain more knowledge. I did struggle a bit here and there because I got a bit confused on some of the processes but with research, using my knowledge and looking at the photos, I figured it out. I enjoyed doing this assignment because I learnt more about the construction of a house and how it was built and also, I get to really understand how my own house was made and what other materials the constructer could have used instead! 

House Model Making

For this project, which lasted for a couple of weeks, we were in a group of 4 and we had to make a model of an apartment space. To help make the model, we were given a floor plan, 3D model of two sections of the house, and sectional elevation views; we had to make the model based on these drawings given to us. In the beginning from looking at all the drawings that we were given, I was very lost and had no idea where to even start making the house. Below shows the floor plan.

Step by step, we planned on what we were going to do. We started making the exterior walls first, what materials to use and sizes of the walls. After doing this, we then did the interior walls. We struggled already from this step because we weren't sure what were the thickness for the interior walls but we did come up with a thickness that worked. After doing this and we got the whole base of the house, we split up the work as a group and we all did different sections, some of us tackled the kitchen, bookshelf, furnitures, etc.

I did the bookshelf wall myself and I am very proud of how it turned out. Honestly, it was a struggle when doing the bookshelf and also took quite some time because I kept getting the measurements wrong and not making the shelves the different heights. However at the end, I did it and I am very proud of that bookshelf wall. I also helped make the furnitures and also gave my ideas to help fix problems that we encountered throughout the whole project.

At the end, we made a really great model that I think our whole group is very proud and happy about, I am definitely proud of it because we put a lot of work onto it. Photos below shows the final house we made.

              

              

              

              

I really enjoyed doing this project because I like making houses, designing them and also building using materials. I would love to do something like this again in the future during the course. I also learnt many different skills throughout the whole process that I will definitely bring forward for future projects.

Roman Jungle Arch Infographic Board

After our whole project was finished, as a group, we had to design an infographic board documenting the whole process in the making of our arch, improvements on our arch for next time and our group reflection. This last thing we did as a group did make our relationship with each other stronger as we discussed what to include on the board and also the layout. We then had to do a presentation on our board in front of the whole class; this also strengthened our group as we split the work and we all talked about different sections on our board.

Overall, the whole project was very fun as we got to design and play with materials and also improved my communicating skills, leadership skills and also improve my relationship with my group members.

Floor Plan

This class I learnt how to draw a floor plan. This is the first time I have drawn a floor plan before and I did struggle a bit in the beginning as it was a bit confusing since there were many things I had to consider and draw. However at the end, I did the floor plan drawing which I am actually very happy about because it looks like a floor plan that can easily be read.

I am also very happy that I got to learn how to draw a floor plan since it is very important to know how to draw it as an interior architecture student. One of the confusing parts about drawing the floor plan was remembering the symbols and drawing the symbols itself and putting it in the right place on the floor plan. However, after doing this assignment, I now know how to use these symbols properly.

Orthographic Projection

For this class, we learnt about orthographic projection and how to use this drawing technique and also do a work ourselves to practice. Before this class, I already knew how to do orthographic projection and the layout of it too. However after this class, it really did improve my skill on doing orthographic projection and now, I know how to use this drawing technique much more better and more confident also then before I learnt this in class.

Overall, I am happy with my work that I produced for this assignment but I know that I can improve it much better such as caring more for small details and also using different line weights. I did not struggle as much doing this assignment because I have done this before but I could have cared more for small details to improve my work for next time.

I also learnt about the title block and adding borders for all of my assignment and that I have to have a title block and borders for each of my assignment that I submit for this class. I did two assignments for orthographic projection drawing.

3D Transformation - Model Making

The next part of the project was to make models that is inspired by our composed drawing and from our 2D abstraction. I had a total of 4 models by the end of this project, most of them I tried my best to not loose my keywords that I have chosen to take forward throughout the project. One other thing that we had to consider when we are doing our models is hierarchy; I had to make sure that there is a hierarchy shown in every model. For all the models, I used art card because it is the easiest material to play with and shape with.

The first model I had to do was just a composition of 6 boxes that is inspired by my 2D abstraction. This first model and composing the boxes was not that hard because I already knew, from looking at my 2D abstract, where and how I was going to compose the boxes. The photos below shows my 1st model. The hierarchy is the tall, centre rectangle that has other boxes surrounding it.



The 2nd model was using methods such as subtractive or additive transformation and I used subtractive transformation, meaning that I cut from the 6 boxes from my first model into a different shape. I made most of the shapes curved but still keeping the hierarchy and also making sure I am using my keywords into the model. The photos below shows my 2nd model, using subtractive transformation.



The 3rd model is another transformation of my previous model. For this model, we had to consider more things such as the context of our model and also whether our model is geometric or organic. I have chosen to do my model as geometric and the context I used were hanging and sunken -sunken shown from the top of the model looking down. I still have kept all of my keywords that I have used and also the hierarchy. This model I struggled a bit because I got really lost on how to transform the model from the previous one but at the end, I did do a model which I  am proud about. I used balsa wood and string to make my model hang above the ground.

For the 4th and final model, we had to transform again but this time only one context and also considering another context but the context is a situation based around our butterfly. I have chosen to do sunken as my only context and for my context situation, I did it based on a butterfly's cocoon and when the butterfly is getting out of the cocoon. Therefore the shape of the model itself is a bit like the shape of a cocoon. I have tried to keep the keywords for this model too. Furthermore, I also had to add opening to create space for my character to do activities and to enter and exit. This model I also struggle with coming up with ideas but I do like my model at the end, especially the different shapes it has, but I could have done better. 

                                          

                                   

After all this, we then had to do a visual progress on A3 paper, documenting this whole process throughout the project, including pictures of our models too. 

               

Keywords and 2D Abstraction

Following the previous assignment, this is a continuing project based on the butterfly that I have chosen. For this assignment, we had to think of keywords based around our insect, mine being a blue morpho butterfly. The keywords that we had to think about were tangible and intangible words, design language and formal organisation. In the beginning of the brief for this assignment, I was very confused on what we were suppose to do but I understood afterwards after more explanation from the lecturers.

Based on my butterfly, my keywords that I have chosen to bring forward further on in the project are: caring (intangible word), beautiful and bright(tangible word), busy as my design language and centralised for my formal organisation. After this, we had to compose a drawing that includes all these words that we have used. The photo below on the left corner shows the composed drawing of all the words combined.

After composing the drawing, we then made a 2D abstraction using plaster of our composed drawing, creating texture and making some parts coming out of the surface. I enjoyed doing this because I like painting and also using materials such as plaster to compose a drawing. Overall, I think I successfully made my 2D abstraction based on my composed drawing. I am also happy with my composed drawing overall because it contains all the keywords that I have chosen to do.

Carpet Factory Visit

This class we went to Paragon Carpet where we looked at the manufacture of carpet in the carpet factory. Throughout the factory visit, we had a tour guide that guided us and showed us around the factory on the manufacture of carpets, from step 1 to the last step of the manufacture. I found the whole visit very interesting because I have never been to a carpet factory before and finally learnt how carpets were actually made.

One of the things that I found interesting was the place the tour guide brought us too where they make the different colours for the carpet. I loved how they showed us how they actually made the different colours for the carpet. I was very interested in the fact that there are actually many steps on making carpet, some processes using machines and computer and some processes are labour.

After the tour around the factory, we were brought into another room where they gave a small presentation about carpet and give us more information. From the presentation that the tour guide gave us, I learnt a lot more information such as that there are different types of piles for carpet I did not know about and also about carpet underlay that now I know what the function is and benefits of it.