Theories of Urbanism
This module offers a thematic inquiry into architectural and urban theory in the broader context of philosophical schools of thought and cultural and social conditions, which include modernism, postmodernism, phenomenology, semiotics and critical regionalism.
Through this module, we are to develop:-
Project 1: A case study to examine patterns of social activities in a city and identify ‘contact points. My group has been given the city of Luang Prabang of Laos.
Project 2: a written synopsis of a designated reading, and an in-depth and analytical research paper on the designated topic.
Project 1: Case Study
Referring to Jan Gehl's Life Between Building
This assignment is to identify ‘contact points' and to classify the varying degrees of contact intensity. In a group of 10, we were given the site of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Luang Prabang, in the country of Laos, and identifying our micro site by narrowing down to our focus to the street of Sisavangvong Road, where it is famous for backpackers to visit.
Presentation Boards
By referring to Jahn Gehl in the Life Between Buildings (1971), we are to understand and analyse the contact points to identify degree of intensity of the street of Sisavangvong Road. Our approach to this assignment is to first identify the all contact points and list the necessary activities, optional activities and social activities. Then, towards our analysis on the contact points that identifies the degrees of intensity and characteristics of the individual contact points.
Presentation Boards
Reflection
Through this assignment Project 1, I learnt about how contact points work and how can a place can attract people through place-making. Through research skills, and developing own research materials that justify owns' opinion through evidences from the book of Jan Gehl's Life Between Building, I learnt the theories that justify the urban context in a more in-depth research approach. It is interesting to find out how different streets work in Asian street and it differs from one street to another.
Comparative Essay
Project 1B: Comparative Essay
This assignment is to examine similarities and dissimilarities based on the patterns of social activities, types of ‘contact points’ and the varying degrees of contact intensity between the two Asian streets.
There are two Asian streets that I have been looking into which are: Sisavangvong Road, Luang Prabang, Laos and Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia.
Comparative analysis essay a commonly used type of writing assignment where students are require to critically analyze any two subjects, finding and pointing out their similarities and/or dissimilarities.
Through this assignment we are to compare both Asian streets and to analyse further on the similarities and dissimilarities.
Synopsis Writing
Through lectures conducted, we are to produce a reaction or response paper that requires analysis to a few readers, and develop commentary related to these readers. The key points are to be raised through the whole text, it should be based on our own perspective and experiences that we encounter through this synopsis writing.
The readers that I have read and wrote on an analysis are:
1. Le Corbusier, Towards A New Architecture ‘Architecture or Revolution’ (1985)
2. Robert Venturi, Complexity & Contradiction in Architecture (1966)
3. Juhani Pallasma, “The Geometry of Feeling A Look at Phenomenology of Architecture” (1996)
Reflection
This assignment taught me to be thorough on extracting details and discuss on the key points with clarity. As the readers are very persistent on their own writings, I were to extract the points that I find interesting and meaningful to discuss on this synopsis writing. The new learning on the urban contextual study also allow me to broaden my knowledge on theories that can be implied in the urban context.