RECORD

To record is to make a permanent or official note of evidences accumulated in an investigation that are intended for future use and it can be in forms of written or electronic such as databases in Excel or Access with archived CAD files. The recording method varies according to the complexity of a project. In preservation and restoration projects for instance, they require careful documentation of their work like investigation reports and notes which are then made into a permanent file record. Either planned or unplanned architecture reports will always be of value to future researchers or owners of the building. An architectural record system tends to contain description of the original structure and changes made over time, the results of all investigations, a record of current conditions or problems, of past repairs and treatments, and recommendations for current and future action. An effective records management system is critical to managing procedures consistently across an organization, minimizing possibilities of having different rules and procedures from department to department. Many architectural firms tend to keep documents for less than 7 years except for leases which require record-keeping for building area measurements to be accomplished differently than normal architectural project-file record keeping.

To make a record we need to create and identify unique information that are then stored and retrieved with authorized access to others as a form of secondary use. It should be renewed constantly every time something new has been proposed on the project. The most frequently used form of record in our group is email. Email allows individuals and groups to communicate with one another. Once we have established contact within ourselves, we can gather and share information as well as elicit reactions to on-going proposals through email rather than face-to-face meetings or repetitive telephone calls. Unlike telephone and face-to-face conversations, email conversations provide a built-in record of what is asked for and what information is received. Via continuous emailing we could find out about someone else’s progress towards achieving the same goal, as well as setting a timeframe for each one of our tasks. Having an accurate internal system of records management would avoid our work to be overlapped.

REFERENCE

http://architecture.about.com/library/bl-preservationbrief-investigate08.htm

http://www.standards.org.au/cat.asp?catid=44&contentid=310&News=1

http://www.buildingareameasurement.com/faq.htm#q30

http://www.caldeson.com/RIMOS/barry2.html

WK 3 - DISCIPLINE

A discipline refers to a system of rules of conduct or method of practice. In the architectural field, a disciplinary design team can develop designs that satisfy the needs and demands of all concerned. It was very difficult In the past when data were not exchangeable between different systems, but as buildings became more complex like the emergence of high rise and underground structures there became a need for establishing design teams so as to relief the burden of having just one person assigned to a project. Good teamwork in collaborative design produces good quality work as well as a having to generally reduce the cost. I seems therefore a good idea for stake holders to design the concept together from the start so that they can acknowledge their specialized knowledge into a project to prevent the design from starting on the wrong foot. A basic team consists of an architect, a structural advisor, an installation advisor and a cost advisor, all of which are experienced in practice.

The fabrication of our project requires a similar collaborative system, dividing roles amongst ourselves in order to achieve the best possible outcome. We had sessions discussing our areas of expertise and we were then able to assign one another with specific tasks. These sessions were held not only in group meeting but also by other communicative mediums that we have chosen, such as MSN and email, and as far as I know we are going to set up a forum later on. Even though sometimes we are not exactly sure of what to do but we can support and back up each other’s weaknesses with our own knowledge via these communicative mediums. As everyone’s not familiar with the new software (UT3) we might organize sometime to work it out together later. I took on the role to model the building in 3DMax not that I am good at it but its probably the only software I can use for now, and it would by all means reduce time and effort in going through tutorials of other software. We have divided the task into eleven streams, with everyone having a similar workload. The diagram below shows how we have divided the tasks.

REFERENCE

http://www.wordnet-online.com/discipline.shtml

d. Social Networks

DEINITION

A social network is a web-based service for communities of people who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others. Within this service there are tools to interact such as chat, messaging, email, video, voice chat, file sharing, blogging and discussion groups etc. It has assisted to revolutionize the way we communicate and share information with one another in today’s society through log-ons by millions of people on a regular basis as part of their everyday life. Popular social networks recently are My Space, Facebook, Friendster, Hi5, Xanga, Mixi and Cyword.

There are two broad categories of social networking services such as internal social networking (ISN – closed or private community) and external social networking (ESN – open/public, “invite only”), both of these can raise the feeling of community among people. Users can upload a picture of themselves and can often be "friends" with other users. In most of these services users have to confirm that they are friends before they are linked, having to be approved by a friend, or otherwise there are networking properties such as “favourites” that does not require approval from another. There are often privacy control features that enables users to pick who they want to view or who they want to be viewed or contacted.

REVOLUTION OF SOCIAL NETWORKS

Social networks has been studied for decades by sociologists as they tend to create ties between people in families, organizations and even towns or countries. The beginning of early internet enabled people to communicate and network with applications such as Usenet and bulletin board systems. With rapid technology during the mid 90s people could connect with one another in a more visually appealing and public way. First there was Classmates.com which allowed an online connection between classmates, closely followed by SixDegrees.com which offered a way to meet friends of friends. Soon after there was a dot.com bust in 2000 that eventually brought Friendster to be the leader in social networking sites. These applications all share a common feature of having“friends”of each user maintained, and having people to invite more friends via their connections. Even though there were eventually uncountable users on Friendster, the service was plaqued by various technical issues. Friendster then started to lose its popularity and people started moving over to new services such as MySpace and Xanga to which enabled not only a garnish look profile but also facilitated a customizable page of embedded music and video sharing. Facebook emerged as a rival to MySpace in the year of 2004 providing a close network for basically just college students, and later opening the site to all comers, letting people to create mini-applications or widgets for the site.

IMPACT

On a social level it has impacted the world with identity i.e. creating self profiles; e-learning; privacy and social capital with its free access. You can keep up with friends and families, share photos and videos, control privacy online, reconnect with old classmates, discuss interests and hobbies, plan parties and other events.

In the business application, social networks connect people at low costs which is then beneficial for businesses to expand their contact base, advertise via banners and text ads, as well as being a general relationship management tool for selling products and services. Global businesses can thus use social networks to communicate with contacts anywhere around the world.

With these imagined communities participants can certainly express who they are and locate themselves in a cultural level online. They are typically free to join, and once you become a member of the network you can have a homepage with funny/cool photo albums, some basic personal information and places where you can write about yourself. Message contents does not have to be real yet they serve to maintain contact or to have cheerful comment conversations that can be posted and read by other friends creating an online identity. What differentiates these social networks from other computer-mediated communication is this function to allow members to articulate and publicly display their relations to one another to traverse the network.

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COLLABORATIVE LEARNING

In terms of collaborative learning people become actively involved in the process and provide general awareness to shared knowledge of who is participating in the project or the community. This could mean knowledge of whether a certain person is available for interaction or not, and what kind of work he or she is doing at present. It also allows for informal and unplanned conversations between multiple number of people who share experiences or ideas in focused collaboration working simultaneously together on the same task. People who live far away from each other are able to do work together, or update members who were absent from group gatherings. Peers are oriented towards socialization and maintenance of personal relationships.

As a user of many of these services I find that.what Facebook and MySpace offer are ease of setup and use. Facebook's UI, it's fairly simple and straightforward to use and I think that's why I've managed to find so many more people on there than I ever did on Myspace. But sometimes these social networks can be saturating where it becomes reluctant to put time and energy to join yet one more site, create another profile and make even more “friends.” While these networks serve to connect people there’s only so many networks that each of us can join, and only so many that will become profitable businesses.

REFERENCES

1.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network

2.http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue11_12/boyd/index.html

danah boyd, social researcher

3.http://newsletter.alt.ac.uk/e_article000993849.cfm?x=b11,0,w.

Mike Thelwall, lecturer from University of Wolverhampton

4.http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2007/08/digging_deeperyour_guide_to_so_1.html

Mark Glaser: Journalist, Critic, Facilitator, New Media Expert

Week1 Task

Vail Grant Residence Silverlake, California

“Unbuilt” to my understanding relates to buildings that were not put into shape.
QUOTE “Any building will become old and dirty and be forgotten, but the unbuilt buildings will remain fresh in people's heart forever.” (Oia Coara)
The building I have chosen is an exciting yet economically built residential building by Pugh and Scarpa.

I have chosen this design because of its striking sculptural appearance that blends directly into its topography, fusing the natural with the artificial. The building is set back in height with spectacular views and its volume is created by a simple extrusion of a square that shapes into elongated boxes along its contours. The neatly sequenced planes allow the inhabitant to view from within as well as to become the object of his own observation. There's a sense of spiral movement going on beginning at a lower point closest to the street, which then travels up the hill and turns back towards the street and the lake, drawing some kind of beauty into the design. The entrance is set at 18-foot height and divides the building into its private and public domains. The private side tour begins with a space that flows from the children's room and the master room and ends with a full-height window. The transition to the public domain becomes obvious with a stand-alone guest bathroom in between.
The shape of the building itself I suppose would look fantastic in digital form and would definitely be fun to build.
Structurally it is constructed with recycled concrete insulated panels chosen for its insulating properties as well as for its sustainable factors that powers itself naturally. Built-in are solar panels, passive solar design strategies, geothermal cooling altogether improving thermal comfort, daylighting and natural
ventilation. Natural convection currents are created by its large windows allowing the sun to heat the interior concrete slabs.

REFERENCES
1.http://archrecord.construction.com/projects/portfolio/archives/0504unbuilt/vailGrantRes/overview.asp
2.http://www.pugh-scarpa.com/projects/vail.grant.residence
3.http://www.aia.org/aiarchitect/thisweek04/tw0102/0102pw_vail.htm