Learning architecture and designing a bali villa

For the longest time, I was always known as the girl who carried around a sketchbook during class and even in public outings with my family. I have finished over eight sketchbooks within the span of fourth grade to eighth grade, illustrating my active imagination filled with ideas, interests, fantasies, and more in pen and paper. I loved the idea of creating unique people, objects, and places expressed through the limitless possibilities that pencils, paint, and markers could offer. Even outside my imagination and interest in visual arts, I still held an interest in other visual exploration activities, such as photography and travel. I recall the best aspects of travel to be exploring new destinations each with their respective unique atmospheres, culture, and environment. This intense passion for art, beauty, and exploration is all I have ever known since I played with crayons at age 3.

However, as I got older, I realized that I also held an interest in the less artistic fields such as natural and applied sciences. I found using my logical thinking skills to solve practical problems surprisingly enjoyable. While I did not excel in these scientific fields in my academic history, my interest in them continues to grow as I also continue to improve as a student. Alongside this growing interest in these scientific fields, I have also come to slowly lose interest in pure arts. I stopped bringing a sketchbook everywhere and invested more of my time into my social and academic life, causing me to somewhat neglect my artistic hobbies.

This has caused me a self-conflicting issue where I can’t recognize whether this hindrance in my artistic passion is due to a temporary loss of interest or a genuine unfulfillment in the idea of pursuing pure arts. This issue has greatly concerned me because it is an immensely surprising problem I had never anticipated I would encounter. Given my strong passion in the arts since a very young age, I had always believed that I would pursue it professionally in industries such as animation, graphic design, fine arts, and many others. However recently I have started to doubt my abilities and even my willingness to continue this pursuit, causing me to be at a loss for my future plans. In attempts to overcome this issue and finally learn what I would truly want to pursue, I decided to explore careers that incorporate both my artistic and scientific interests, which lead me to the field of architecture. After further research, I realized that architecture may be a great alternative to a field in pure arts as it allows me to utilize my artistic imagination by exploring cultures, designing houses, and using my own ideas but still allows me to apply scientific knowledge and use my logical thinking skills in the construction aspect.

After nearly a year of deciding to explore architecture as a possible future pursuit, my interest in the field has grown immensely. I found myself paying closer attention to and developing a deeper appreciation for building and interior design. I also believe that it would be much easier to get a job as an architect rather than an artist, allowing me to still pursue my passion in design and creativity as well as secure a reliable income. To add, architecture is a very valuable field as it produces shelter which is essential to human life. This would bring my work a sense of value and respect, naming another benefit from the field of architecture.

Product Goal

To determine whether or not architecture is truly suited and enjoyable to me, I decided to make my personal project product a building design. This will allow me to familiarize myself with the industry and its responsibilities as an occupation, allowing me to make a better informed choice regarding the suitability of architecture. I chose to design a modern Balinese villa because it is generally easier to execute as a beginner. The Balinese style would give me a guide on the building’s style, while a villa would be generally easier to create as it is a smaller building with limited rooms. It is also an opportunity to test my research, communication, and thinking skills considering that my learning goal is to learn about an industry that is still a new concept to me. In conclusion, this project is my opportunity to determine if a career in architecture is genuinely suited for me and can fulfill my passion for aesthetics and interest in logical problem-solving.

Reflection

During the process of creating my Personal Project product, I have come to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of my behavioral patterns in terms of learning and working. A few strengths that I discovered about my learning behavior is creativity, initiative, and a fast-learner. I realized that the stage of creating this building that I enjoyed most was the design aspect. Researching about the style, looking at different sources for inspiration, brainstorming and sketching designs on my notebook, and many more has made me realize that my strongest strength is creativity. From this knowledge, I will seek to find a career that allows me to express and utilize this creativity to ensure that I am satisfied with my work. A rather surprising skill that I have also discovered about my learning is that I am no longer afraid to take initiatives on my own. When I was younger, I was very quiet and often kept to myself because I was too afraid to do things on my own. However, from taking courses online to actively seeking architects to interview, I realized that being a risk-taker and taking my own initiatives for the benefit of my learning is something that I am now capable of. With this new knowledge about myself, I plan to apply it to future projects by actively taking initiative through participation, research, challenging myself, and many more as I am now more confident in myself and my abilities. Lastly, I also realized that I am a fast learner if I commit myself to it. I have always known that I struggle with commitment as I often start multiple projects but finish very few, but this project has taught me that I can learn anything efficiently if I chose to commit. From this, I learned that I should be more organized and strict with myself to normalize being committed to a project.

As for weaknesses, I discovered that I am disorganized, impatient, and inconsistent. Throughout the entire project, I realized that I always put minimal effort when it comes to organizing ideas, taking down notes, remembering dates and time, and many more. For example, I scheduled my interviews very late in the stage of my personal project because I often forgot to contact my interviewees, forcing me to finish my projects much later as the insights from my interviews were very important to my product. This has caused me great struggle as it became difficult for me to keep track of my progress and complete deadlines. This can be very dangerous for myself in future events, especially in the workplace, as my hard work would be ruined by a simple lazy report. Therefore, this project has taught me to be more organized and strict with myself whether it is creating a schedule, setting more deadlines, or even simply taking down more notes. To add, I have also discovered that I can be very inconsistent and impatient with projects. As I have stated previously, I often start multiple projects but very often finish little. This is due to the fact that I am unwilling to continue a project if I have simply lost interest or made one mistake. This causes an inefficient use of time and resources. For example, when I was first learning how to use the modeling program SketchUp, I was frustrated by not being able to use the tools correctly and I eventually gave up trying. I was only able to overcome this issue once I started the online course when the lessons were clear and simple, as I was then able to finally navigate the program. From this knowledge, I learned that if I feel unmotivated, I should make clear and easier plans for myself to give myself time to adjust to learning.

Product Evaluation

Although the building itself is functional, I think that there is room for improvement in terms of the layout. I like the design and layout for the bedroom and bathroom, however the rest of the rooms can still be improved. While the foyer is a good idea for a connecting/filler room, the incorporation of a foyer into my building seems to be an inefficient use of space. The kitchen/dining room is one of the most important places in a home, and yet its room in my building is smaller than the bathroom. While creating this product, I let my creative liberty take too much control and hence overwhelm the logical aspects of the product.

I believe that my 3D model is very derailed and has exceeded my expectations for this criteria. Before starting the project, I was concerned the building would be very bland and lifeless but my final product argues otherwise and proves that my learning is of good use. It is relevant to note that these details include smooth patterns, defined shapes, and suitable shades rather than blocky, full, intensely static-looking objects. From foundation designs to shampoo in the bathroom, this model has fulfilled my every want for details and further extending my vision for this building.

I believe that I was able to successfully incorporate Balinese culture/architectural style accurately into my building. This is largely thanks to my own personal opportunity to explore Bali myself during the semester break, allowing me to experience and study the style first-hand. More to the point, I mainly focused on balinese architecture for the basic structure of the house such as the foundation, roof, and walls. The rest of the features such as the layout and furniture are of the modern style. Despite using the modern style, I was still somehow able to incorporate Balinese culture by making the furniture and materials inspired by the culture.