Echo 吴奕慧

Ba (Hons) Interior & Environment Design - 2020 Cohort

My Design Philosophy

My design inspiration is design green environmental protection ecological design that is more convenient for People's Daily life, which I will design to have rhythm.

Honours Project - Community Integration

Project Brief

Integration of aging community - Organic Modular Construction

  • Issues to be addressed : key sentence explaining issues addressed 

  • Potentials : Possible potentials in a key sentence 

  • Design scheme : Key design scheme 

  • Structural : Key concept 

  • The final goals : Project goals not just for this project but for further designs

Idea Generation & Design Process

Generation

Bond

Elements

Development

Generation

Bond

Elements

Development

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Generational understanding

This is based on the situation of the increasing work pressure of young people, through the classification of different generations and understanding the behavioral habits of different generations, the elderly can be accompanied and the young can be relaxed. It is also a "bond" that connects the community together.

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The concept of bond

From the concept of bond, many elements are derived, including DNA strand structure, topology structure, knot structure, series structure. The elements are abstracted into the most basic geometric form and utilized. The elements are transformed from abstract to concrete.

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The extension of elements

Through the extension of the elements on the element board, many interesting forms can be obtained, and different elements are "defined" according to the needs of different groups, and elements are reinterpreted from both abstract and concrete perspectives. The design method of modularization is obtained, the community planning method is obtained

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Design development 

In this part, the three-dimensional space to be used in the design is developed based on the elements obtained from the transformation of two-dimensional graphics, and the body is analyzed based on the structure and operation methods (topological structure, Boolean operation method, modularity) obtained in two-dimensional.

Step 1 of 4

Final Design Scheme

Simple subtilite clear to the point 

Simple exploitation of the project 

Final Design Proposal

This community is clearly next to the next community, but it is cut off by a wall. Therefore, my design target is to take this community as the divergence point, radiate the surrounding communities in a planned way, break the "walls" in the community (physical walls and walls in people's minds) 

General Views

It is hoped that the design can change the gap between generations , and at the same time, it is hoped that the community can become a place full of children's laughter. And through the organic architectural form, rich space, break the cold appearance of modern architecture, and awaken people

Video Portfolio

Show the beauty with picturesque video portfolios. It will help people experience every scene.

Context, Site analysis, Design Narratives and Concept

Get to know the thorough design development from the stages listed below.

Community Project - Participant’s Installation

Design Narrative

Students theme  Due to the existence of accompanying families in the local community, children and parents are under pressure from each other, and there is a lack of communication between neighbours and other social problems. This device reflects social problems and makes people pay attention to them. The design concept of stickiness is derived from the architectural texture produced by the elastic contrast of the broken red bricks on the wall of the original building. The adhesion of different forms of red bricks with red bricks forms a wall and cultural connection between the surrounding residents and the ancient lotus pond and other scenic spots. Due to the lack of communication between neighbours and other reasons, culture is separated from residents' lives. The square frame on the outside of the installation represents the oppressive feeling of the pressure frame at school and home, while the twisted and curved strips of cloth inside represent the students' attempts to escape stress, and the red circle is a place for them to breathe and communicate with each other.

Honours Project - Site Research and Representation

Part I: Research and Analysis

The site is located in Dongxin Street, Lianchi District, Baoding City, Hebei Province. The surrounding community group Yongzhong Road community is directly opposite the site. About 500m away from the site, there are ancient lotus pond and the General Inspector's Office scenic spot. To the west of the site, there is a commercial area of the Attorney-General's Department, which reserves space for the renovation of the site. Just 6m as the straight line to the east of the site is a commercial building. The linear distance of 200m is Baoding 17th Middle School. The population of the surrounding community is mainly the elderly and the floating population of the accompanying families who rent and study here.

Part II: Site Representation

Narrative: 

The object of my site is the peeling red brick from the wall. Some of the red bricks have shown cracks and fallen over time. Through the experiment, the red brick is broken to produce different broken irregular particles and cracks, the random and orderly arrangement are compared, and the density, material, and texture are compared. The architectural texture produced by the contrast of loose and tight derives the design concept - viscosity. The adhesion of red bricks and red bricks in different forms forms a wall and the cultural connection between the surrounding residents and the ancient lotus pond and other scenic spots. The relationship between culture and residents be reconnected like the bonding relationship between cement and red brick, reflecting the communication and connection between people and nature, as well as between people and the history and culture of the ancient city. The texture representation represents the affinity of the relationship, and the relationship representation of the cement bond is used in the design to represent the material changes caused by wind when external forces are used. Design forms can be expressed through viscous tearing in architectural modelling, layout and other designs, reflecting communication and mutual influence. The contrast between the torn paper and the nature of the paper is dynamic, static, and rhythmic. It is like the interaction between the static community and the neglected natural landscape and the dynamics of human history through external factors.  

Honours Project

Theoretical Underpinning

Part I: Generation Z Social loneliness

"Statistics indicate that young people who frequently use social media tend to experience higher levels of loneliness compared to their less-connected peers."

The Digital Social Dynamics of Generation Z

The birth of Era Z is accompanied by the rapid development of the Internet, which has reduced offline face-to-face communication between people to a certain extent, and replaced it with more online communication. One of the resulting phenomena is the increase in the proportion of virtual social communication. Relying on social media platforms such as WeChat, perhaps the other person you communicate with is just a stranger you have never met. Another reason is that the majority of this generation are only children, and the lack of group life in childhood has led to an increase in the proportion of people living alone.
In the face of the era of rapid development, the people of Generation Z gradually live in their world, with less communication with people around them, perhaps not so much colour, with white tubes to indicate that they live in the era of rapid development, they are connected with each other, but more of their own upward development, lonely upward. The white undulating fabric of the base represents that they have a certain knowledge base, but the lack of communication colour, lonely white.

Part II:  Social stickiness in the baby boom  

"In the early days of the People's Republic of China, close-knit communities and strong collective values shaped the societal fabric, much like colourful strings intertwined in a complex yet vibrant rope."

Societal Evolution and Cultural Values in Early People's Republic of China

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, there was the first baby boom, and the new China just implemented the policy of encouraging children, showing the phenomenon of four to five children in a family. After the reform and opening up, the housing is mainly in the form of small earthen houses. So the neighbourhood is close. Welfare housing, unit housing, neighbourhood relations are colleagues, etc. The second is reflected in cultural values, because of the influence of society, people's ideas are still in the traditional sense of deference to authority, filial piety and respect for ancestors, and people's relationships are closely united and collectivism dominates.
The colourful strings are intricately like the baby boomers who grew up in families full of siblings and no shortage of company. In that era when society was just beginning to develop, like the incomplete newspaper at the bottom, people at that time had incomplete cognition of the world, culture and so on. They communicate with each other, like the rope in the picture, although there is a gap, they are still connected and work together.

Part III: The difference between Generation z and the baby boomers facing social loneliness

"For baby boomers, challenges in adapting to the digital world and changes in family structures contribute to loneliness, while Generation Z's isolation often stems from growing up as only children without adequate social skills development."

Contrasts in Social Loneliness: Baby Boomers and Generation Z

Generation z and baby boomers are now facing social loneliness for different reasons. With the growth of their age and the rapid development of society, people in the baby boomers have difficulty integrating into the Internet information environment due to the rapid development of the Internet. The ageing of the Internet has not been popularized, which makes them lack offline social interaction and a low sense of social participation.

Second, since the reform and opening up, the structure of the family environment has changed. The spatial mobility of the working population has been unprecedentedly active. With their children moving away for work, "drifter elderly" live in unfamiliar environments with too small a social circle and lack of social support. However, social loneliness in Era Z mostly comes from the individual level. The only child lacks intimate companionship from childhood and lacks the ability to deal with intimate relationships when they grow up.
The white lines and round balls in the upper right corner of the collage represent the lonely but neat people of the z era, who are alone and have no communication with each other. The colour circle with a closed loop in the lower left corner represents the baby boomers, who are sticky and grow up exploring and communicating in a society. But by the time of z, they are getting older and they are becoming lonely due to the influence of the Internet, children and so on. The white part is also slowly reflected in the colour part. Therefore, there is also the appearance of the white solitary element in the colour circle.

To Explore, Discover, & Regenerate