informal urban practices

OBJECT SWAP( SLOW-PACED)

Jiazhen Ken Chen & IRENE

‘T.H’ Project group will work as small groups underneath the banner of a larger collective due to commitments and varying timetables.
Each member will undertake smaller stand alone projects that will collectively, when grouped side-by- side, contribute and relate to what is termed “T.H”……….

Key Phrases:
Communication; trial maze, observation.
Ephemeral; movement, Transient.
Stimulation of senses.
Momentum/ Transition.
Appropriation.
Emulation; Behaviour; Social Convention.
Viral Element; Growing/ spreading marketing practices.
Activation.
Relation-scapes.
Empowerment.
Hivemind.

‘T.H’ aims to:
1/ Members will use ‘T.H’ as a framework to expose public perception and social conventions.
2/ This will facilitate an experience for the user-participant to question urban social construct. With the stimulus provided we aim to harness the collective creativity that is born from individual speculation and interpretation.

Mediums/ Process to be undertaken;
Guerrilla advertising.
Culture Jamming (websites, blog, stickers, postering)
MX Classifieds.
Video, public performance.
Word-of-mouth.
Graffiti.
Subconscious objects.
Profile/ Branding.

Why am I doing the studio?

I was initially drawn to the studio for a few different reasons: the inter-school collaborative structure; the chance to investigate urban use and; an interest in cultural/social habits.

Motivations?

I came to interior design from a performance/acting background and so when I’m designing, I think I naturally tend to focus on the body and its relationship to space. How a body interacts, overlaps and connects with design. Designing for the body - user driven design.

I’m interested in the experience of space and reaction to space – mentally, physically, emotionally and culturally. How deeply does it affect our social experience, our state of mind, our choice of action? Can we influence this experience?

I also believe there is a performative aspect of life/everyday activities which is at its most heightened in public space – this could provide an ineteresting starting point when investigating urban use.

I’d like to gain…

A wider technical knowledge, quicker design visualization, a deeper understanding of social interaction in public space and a higher level of resolution in my design outcomes.

1) What is it you are interested in the informal urban practices studio?

I’m interested in interacting with different designers to experience different points of view, and opportunities to communicate with people of different age, gender, communities and culture.

2) What is your motivation?

I would like to promote positive human behavior using public spaces.  I aim to create new ideas for communication within a space to inspire change, create opportunities for people to participate and feel better about them self.  I am interested in experimenting with space for environmentally friendly activities, public health, and social networking.

3) What are you hoping to learn in the studio?

I would like to learn and understand how people react to public environments from various cultural perspectives and different design disciplines.

Interested in?

Learning from an interdisciplinary environment involving different opinions, definitions and outlooks towards informal urban spaces. I’m interested in analysing relationships between intended uses in urban spaces and how society acknowledges or ignores designer intent, and the consequences of such behavioural patterns and choices determining experiences within those urban spaces. Altering function, experience or the nature of a space and observing the after affects of such change. The perception of ownership of a public space and the limit of acceptable behaviours according to perceived rights. Broadening functional and behavioural uses within a limited urban space, investigating stereotypical modular trends and how to break out of stereotypical design cycles for predetermined urban spaces. The need for objects to determined uses or behaviour within a space and the possibilities of encouraging behaviour through other sensory perceptions. I’m also interested in tackling the concept of pathways, and why a large proportion of urban space is designated for ‘travel’ functions rather than evolving other bahaviour within pathway space.

Motivation?

I wished to study broader disciplines of design and to research concepts of universal design in relation to spatial design. I am intrigued to discover how other disciplines will tackle similar projects with diverse outcomes. I was motivated by the broad spectrum of this subject and the multiple possibilities to shape our own projects to a degree.

Want to learn?

To learn how to perceive informal urban spaces with a multitude of design possibilities, observing, interacting and experiencing social behaviour to promote diverse responses beneficial to society, as well as focusing towards universal design and social trends towards future urban spaces.

I’ve learnt space design in foundation course before.In that project, I need to get inspirations from fashion design and reflect to “space”. I like this kind “cross” course.I am curious to know what intrtior design student learing.In this studio, I am hoping to know what is relationship between interior design and industrial design or the interactive of people ,object and public space. How to manage lots people with a small space? Does city chang people’s life? I think this course will be interesting to find that way.

Why ‘informal urban practices’?

I was drawn to ‘informal’ as a studio because it seemed to be interesting in the way that it approached the realms of public and private space. I like the fact that there is going to be cross disciplinary talk and discussions because this can only help each person to assess there design and way of thought from many angles.

Motivation?

I’ve always been interested in how an environment can be shaped and changed into something that people can use and interact with in many ways. I like seeing shops set up in a way that it utilises all the space available archiving things that you wouldn’t have thought possible. Basically I like the idea of turning unused parts of melbourne into areas where people can gather.

What do you want out of this studio?

I’m hoping to gain an understanding of how other disciplines think during there creative process. I hope I can also gain a new way to approach how a space is used and interacted with. Also further my knowledge on how public and private space can be interwound.

The motivation behind me choosing this studio is because we get the chance to work with students in different disciplines of design, which i have not had a chance to do so far in my studies. What interests me more specifically about urban spaces is that although they may be designated for a certain activity they are always a hub for social interaction and other human interaction. My motivation/goals for this course are to create a level of work that i am happy with and proud of, and to improve on some specific skills relating to design.

I’m interested in the public realm. In my previous studio with Lynda and Caroline we built 1:1 scale interventions for the public, and I was really intrigued in the way the public responded to us. I always thought of public being unpredictable in nature, you might never know if they would respond to your design in the way you want them to or in a way that you wouldn’t expect them to. That’s what fascinates me. And the idea of activating unused spaces and drawing in the public. The things that I would really like to draw from this studio is communicating with professionals from different fields in design and the tactics and the mindset in which they apporoach design, which in turn would broaden my understanding of DESIGN.

Informal Urban Practices was appealing to me due to the cross – discipline of idustrial designers and interior designers. Interaction and communicating within groups as well as spaces and areas and the effects it has a persons emotions and feelings. Also the impacts of private versus public areas ie. making a public area private and vice versa. I would like to improve on my skills in various areas as well as achieving an outcome with the combination of the two disciplines and or groups.