Heyyy :D

My name is Dakun Wang, a Chinese. Currently, I'm studying Architecture and Adaptive Reuse, which makes me so excited! Actually, this programme is my interdisciplinary learning experience after my bachelor. I graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts with a degree in home product design.

In addition to my extraordinary interest in architecture, I am so good at model-making. I have done some nice LEGO MOCs for rereading the real life. Of course, there are many prototypes for my projects as well. Beyond the study experience, I'm also a big fan of movies and Nintendo. That is why I chose this topic, I know the value of innocence and the endless possibilities it can bring.

Visiting Oswald Road Primary School

We had an exciting site visit with Helen, Christian and Laura. The trip started from Oswald Road, as we took a stroll through Longford Road, Manchester Road and back through Nicolas Road. We saw a lot of beautiful buildings around the campus like the Chorlton Library and the school’s new extension which morphed into the old building. It inspired on ideas about the project and how we can take it further. The visit pushed us to explore different ways in which we can deliver the modules to the children. Overall, an eventful day which brought a fresh perspective to our project.

Second meeting at Oswald Road Primary School!

We had a lovely conversation with Laura, Helen, and Christian about the activity details that we had finalised. We plan to divide the campus site into 3 parts to let the children design in different ways and stimulate the children's potential as much as possible, which the tutors thought was exciting. Besides, we also talked about the final display and where we could take the exhibition. Some materials and methods were advised as well.

It was a fantastic day with acknowledgement, which also inspired us to make greater efforts.

Day One!

It was lovely to get to know the students from BA and MLA, our newest additions. All of them were excited and full of energy! Today, we played many games for icebreakers and got to know each other a bit better. We all had a great time, and are excited to start the project!

In the afternoon, we introduced the brief and talked about the project and its execution. Finally, we planned our activities for the upcoming week and ended the day by sectioning the group according to their interests and abilities, ahead for tomorrow. Full steam ahead from now on!

Day Two!

We started by brushing up on a few architectural software programs, especially AutoCAD, SketchUp, and Rhino, and learned a bunch of shortcuts and commands to work efficiently over the action week to produce the planned outputs of our workshops.
The session was more engaging with the BA1, BA2, and MLA students, including a few games and activities on remembering the software commands that helped us figure out how to work on the upcoming workshop together with team coordination efficiently and maintain the rhythm throughout the week.

Day Three!

Started up day three by explaining the three workshops that have been planned for the schoolchildren to the BA1,2 and MLA students and brainstormed together to refine to make it the finest. Later, we sorted out the deliverables for the workshops that we planned and grouped ourselves into smaller clusters by knowing our strengths in 2D and 3D software. we were able to finish up the day as planned with the great support of all our teammates.

Day Four!

The day began smoothly and we had people working on elevations of the school in the 2D team and people working on the 3D digital models for the final output. Later, in the afternoon we set off to meet our collaborators with our whole teams and had a minor meeting in the school. After the meeting Helen, Christian, Hayley, and Laura. we stroll through the school and its neighborhood to collect the required data for the future workshop and end the day by briefing our teammates on our upcoming action plans.

Day Five!

Having a few days left out, we geared up our workflow and a group of us started trailing out a couple of 3d models for printing in B.12 by playing out with two different colors to make children understand their school and the context of the school better which helped them understand what the workshop is and where are they going to design as well. Also, the same group went ahead to laser cut the elevations for the workshops in B.15 while the other started to work on the presentations and required illustrations. We end the day with briefing for the next sessions.

Day Six!

Fixing up our trials and errors in 3D printing, 3D team printed most of the block models of the school. Parallelly the other team was cutting out the elevation mdf boards and organizing the pieces accordingly! Completing the presentations our illustrations team were pushing on rendering the site plans as well. Heading towards the final days of the action week, our team worked on various activities hard but with a lot of excitement.

Day Seven!

Today we wrapped up all preparations for the workshops. At B15, we finished the laser cutting of all building facades and the 3D printing of all the buildings which were to be used for the 1:500 site model. At the studio, half of the team worked on the presentations and illustrations required for the next day at the school. The main presentation and workshop prep were completed by the end of the day. The work for the final publication started off. We finished the day looking forward to tomorrow when we can finally reap the results of our work.

Day Eight!

Today was a pivotal day as we kicked off our one-and-a-half-day workshop at Oswald Road Primary School.

In the morning, we finalized our preparations and organized materials for the three groups: plan, elevation, and model. By the afternoon, we arrived at the school and were greeted by a lively and enthusiastic group of children.

Introducing our incredible team! This dynamic group is composed of students from various programs: MArch Year 1, MLA Year 1, MA Adaptive Reuse, and BA1 and BA2. Throughout the action plan week, this enthusiastic and hardworking team collaborated to prepare for the workshop.

Each member brought unique skills and perspectives, making our preparations both thorough and innovative. Their dedication and energy have been instrumental in setting the stage for a successful and engaging workshop. We couldn't be more excited to see the results of their efforts in action!

We excitedly introduced the workshop's theme and explained the agenda for today and tomorrow. After outlining the plans, we divided the children into groups and guided them to different areas of the school to sketch from three distinct locations.

After the presentation, we took the children around the school to observe and sketch the surrounding buildings.

The urban sketching workshop was a great success! Both the children and collaborators were fantastic, and the workshop started off on a high note!

Class 4A went on a walk to the historic junction at Longford Road

Class 4B went on a walk to the historic junction at Four Banks

Class 4C went on a walk to the historic shopping street of Wilbraham Road

The setting up

Starting up with great learning on architecture and having urban sketching and walking the previous day, we were all excited to start and set up things for the main workshops - 4A Plan it Poilts, 4B Model Masters & 4C Elevation Explorers.

Class 4A Plan-it Pilots workshop!

Plan-it Pilots revolved around redesigning a portion of the block containing buildings which are to be demolished. The task given to the children was to use various textures, colours and tools to reimagine the corner of their block and propose a design for the space if they were the architects.

The kids were excited to plan a new program for their block. They planned many activity oriented areas like ice rinks, water slides, skate parks and football pitches. Some also created museum spaces and moved from plans to facades.The kids shared their work in the last session and got to meet some practicing architects too!

Class 4B Model Masters workshop!

Model Masters revolves around designing the school's playground area. The task given to the children was to use various materials and textures to design play structures for their playground if they were incharge. The children were eager to start designing play structures and immediately formed a sense of ownership over their playground. Many designed their favourite ones to play on while others came up with new "Super-Structures" of their own. The first session was used to plan and design their components. The second was used to draft "approval drawings" for their structure. This pushed them to visualize in 2D after completing the 3D part. They showed off their creations in the last session to the whole class by explaining their model, its structure and the materials used. This was followed by a Q&A session with a few real-life architects.

Class 4C Elevation Explorers workshop!

Elevation Explorers revolved around rethinking the school's facade - both old and new. The task given to the children was to use the kit of parts given to them to redesign the exterior elevation of their school if they were the architects. The workshop was centered around the video game "Fortnite" to grab the kids' attention and draw parallels of building and protecting from the video game world to real world. They used many colorful tools to bring the school's facade to life and even integrated new functions into the facade. Many added trees and creatures to the wall, some drew grafitti on them and some even added bows to "make them prettier". The real-life architects came in for the final session followed by a game of "Pictionary", which was used as a tool to
introduce perception and communication.

The exhibition

At the end of the day, the outputs from all the workshops were showcased in a small exhibition which took place after school hours at Oswald Road. Parents who came in to pick up their children were invited in to take a look at the creative designs. Everyone were wowed by the amount of work done in a day and were appreciative about introducing a new world to their kids.

We concluded the day with a group photo with everyone from the team. This was an amazing experience and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us. Interacting with kids and inspiring them to create was super fun. Witnessing the manner in which young minds work was a refreshing aspect. Thanks to each and everyone who contributed to this workshop and a special thanks Laura and the teachers of Year 4 at Oswald Road for making this happen!