Learning Styles

Pragmatist

They want to see if ideas, theories and techniques work in practice. They seek out new ideas and take the opportunity to try them in practice as soon as possible. They like to get on with things and act quickly and confidently. They take ideas away from courses, events, discussions and at the earliest opportunity experiment with them in practice. They want to get on with things, so are impatient with long winded discussions.

After taking part in the questionnaire, adding up my individual score and looking into the four different categories, overall I came out top as a Pragmatist closely followed by a reflector and joint Activist/ Theorist. I do agree that I learn best through taking part and seeing the processes put into practice. I also believe that the main attribute to my nature is the way I try to act quickly and confidently in most things I do and I greatly enjoy taking away the beneficial things from courses and discussions and coming up with ideas that I can then put into practice within my own course work. My weaker area or less engaged area would have to be my activist side. Although I would disagree with this slightly as I usually am up for trying new things and getting fully involved in new experiences, I do think the others take more of an important role in my life. Seeing as most types of my learning were scored closely together I do find other roles taking a more dominant approach in different situations and mixing between all four regularly.

A lot of people within our group found the categorising challenging because although we have spent a semester together it’s hard to work out what people’s styles are from brief encounters. The louder more involved people within our group where then stereotyped as being the activists whereby they take the role of acting first and then consider the consequences later. They are also enthusiastic about new things and involve themselves fully in new experiences. The quieter more reserved people for me were quite difficult to identify but after studying them more closely certain aspects of their personality labelled them: - reflectors, theorists or pragmatists.

After everyone came together and discussed what each person’s style was within our group, the dominant modes were equal between the reflectors and activists, with myself being the only pragmatists.

I think everyone can learn a lot from one another in a group that is very similar within their learning styles or very different, it’s just really what the individual takes away from it. People labelled as activists are used to jumping into things and I suppose taking control with in certain matters but these people especially in my group will have to work with others similar to them and learn to delegate different roles within a task, which may lead to certain individuals being left outside their own comfort zone. In order to complete jobs within a time scale these people will have to learn to work differently to obtain a better result and the same goes for others with similar learning styles. For me, being the only pragmatist I think being around people that are eager to learn and act straight away will encourage me to do the same in order to keep up and have a say in the final outcome. Thus also being the same for them.

Dissertation Proposal

Dissertation Proposal

We have produced a template for your dissertation proposal, a copy of which is reproduced below. The sections relate closely to the work you did in Level 2 where you investigated a topic by doing a literature search, and using primary research methods such as observations and experiments.

Submission deadline for the final proposal: 5 pm Wed 1 December 2010 - submit via email to your supervisor and to Safe Assignment on the VLE

Please download this form from the VLE.

Please save as a word.doc and change the title to your full name, e.g.: John Smith.doc - do not email the proposal without changing the file name.

Sample template

Student Name	Emma Thompson
Course	Interior & Environmental Design
Supervisor name	Mike Press
Email address	e.l.thompson@dundee.ac.uk
Date	30/11/10

Using the template

Enter your personal details in the box above. The email address will be used by your tutor and others to contact you. You must check this regularly for news on tutorial dates.

Read each heading carefully and type into the text box below.

Email your proposal to your supervisor and load it up on Safe Assignment of the VLE

Total word count: between 250-500 words (excluding bibliography).

Working title (max 25 words)

This should give an outline of your research topic. If appropriate use a title and a subtitle. You don’t have to be too specific at first and you don’t have to word it like a question - but you can if you want.

I want to look at Intervention into old public buildings and how important the interior adaption can be in helping create a positive effect all round and regenerate each building and the surrounding area. Also looking at how important it is to consider the benefits of reusing existing buildings not only on an environmental level but to preserve a sense of identity.

Summary (max 250 words)

Here you should indicate what you already know about the topic. You should already have done some reading around it. Summarise this reading with regards to the research topic and describe the research area.

Focusing on Intervention for this dissertation, I came across many areas linked with the word intervention and so to achieve a better understanding I looked into all. Intervention is the act of intervening in some way. When you relate this to art it becomes an interaction with a previously existing artwork, audience or venue/space. With regards to other areas the terms to come between two periods or points in time or to be involved in a situation as to then alter or hinder an action or development can also be used. All of these relate to this term when talking about the architecture of a building. By intervening on an existing building you are changing it in some way that creates a completely new form altogether, the way in which you interact with it and also the way time is represented from its creation to this present day. There are many areas to intervention but for me the book ‘Built On’ helps define probably the mot common separations. Engaging more with the built environment through complex contents or looking more so at the reuse and recycling side whereby transforming existing buildings to then create a completely new approach. What they all want to achieve is an exploration into new ways to adapt and create inventive and refreshing responses to all ready existing buildings and to show how great the change in the form can be. This can be done through adding on to a building, thus creating a new addition to the existing building that clearly defines the old and new. Even keeping the appearance of the existing building the same but the interior has gained a new purpose altogether. Or looking at how you can change the appearance of the existing built structure.

(Continued over)

Aims: Why are you doing this? (max 100 words)

These are a general statement on the intent or direction for the research – why are you doing this? Refer to theoretical aims and practical ones where relevant. For example: How might this improve your design practice? How does it contribute to the discourses within your discipline? Who else might benefit from your research? Is it aimed at an academic or a wider audience? What do you hope your research will achieve? State your aims concisely.

Investigate the importance of interior design within existing environments. A greater understanding of reusing buildings. Being more conscious as a designer, respectful to the environment. Working within existing environments creating different boundaries. Designers, architects, historians, tourists, the general public I’m sure would value some insight into the results /outcomes of intervention. Show how intervention can create a link between past and present.

Objectives: What will you produce? (max 100 words)

Objectives are the things you will produce in doing the dissertation, e.g. a review of the relevant literature, a collection and discussion of people’s experiences/opinions, an assessment of a debate or collection of work etc.

Like your aims, these will help your tutor (and you) assess your success. They may change over time but aims and objectives are useful to keep you focussed. Again be concise here – you may want to use bullet points.

Case studies looking into a comparison between two buildings maybe one an intervention and the other a normal build, perhaps looking into what each are like to experience. Discussion about views on historic buildings and whether or not they should be left to degrade into ruins or to be put to a new use, related more to sacred buildings. Discussion about whether intervention brings together the past and present.

Keywords (min 5 and max 10)

This should be a list of key terms that help us see if you are aware of where your research ‘sits’. For example, if you are writing on depictions of women in advertising your list might include ‘gender, feminism, representation, advertising, semiotics’. Keywords will help you when doing electronic searched for research materials.

Intervention, existing structures, old public buildings, regeneration, interior adaption, environmentally conscious, potential use, old and new.

Annotated Bibliography (min of 12 books, articles, websites)

Place here alphabetically a list of materials which you intent to use for you dissertation. Format these according to the Harvard Method!

Please make sure you have critically assessed these as being appropriate for your topic and write a short paragraph for each one summarising the content and its relevance to your research area.

Daykin, T. (2010) Closed church buildings re-open with new purposes, [online], Available: http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/hampshire/hi/people_and_places/religion_and_ethics/newsid_8700000/8700180.stm. [27 Nov 2010] This article talks about the restoration of closed churches around England. It shares people’s views on whether or not they should be left to decay or put to another use. Douglas, J. (2006) Building Adaption, 2nd edition, Burlington: Elsevier Ltd. The book talks about the additions made to improve on the 1st edition and focuses on adaptions to buildings. The format is similar to that of a textbook and it’s more for helping people learn about adapting buildings and the different forms within. This book would give me a better insight into the way conversions work. Duffy, K. (2009) Vienna Gasometers Converted to New Homes & Shops: Original Architectural Design Saves Viennese Gasometers, [online], Available: http://www.suite101.com/content/vienna-gasometers-converted-to-new-homes-shops-a168155. This article talks about the conversion of Gasometers into new homes and workplaces in Vienna and how they are trying to create a purpose for them rather than demolishing the buildings. Hayes, H. (2009) Sacred Destinations: Hagia Sophia, Istannul, [Online], Available: http://www.sacred-destinations.com/turkey/istanbul-hagia-sophia [28 Nov 2010]. This article looks into the conversion of the Hagia Sophia from a Byzantine church, to a former Ottoman mosque to now a Museum. It’s a good example of a sacred building showing the successful transformations. Kincaid, D. (2002) Adapting buildings for changing uses: Guidelines for change of use refurbishment, London: Spon Press. Most of the research for this book was taken from the University College of London. They looked into use adaptions within greater London about the mid 1990’s where by solving one of the biggest problems with housing shortage they converted a large amount of offices, reusing existing space. This book came about by investigating aspects of the built environment that has never been highlighted before. The aim of writing this book was more for analysing the current practice going on in the uk at present and showing different ways they have approached the implementation and decision making within the property industry. This has great relevance in highlighting how this approach to reusing existing buildings is due to the lack of space and how this process goes about within the uk. Klanten, R and Feiress L. (ed.) (2009) Built-on converted architecture and transformed buildings, Berlin: Gestalten. This book is a collection of works from around the world demonstrating transformed buildings and the way they came about to undertake their new purpose. This book gives us many different examples of large-scale renovations that have been turned into hotels, working spaces and even housing solutions. It shows the creative structures produced that demonstrates the changes between the past, the present and the future. The book gives great examples of conversions, using space cleverly and demonstrating the unusual but creative interior uses. Lai, W. (2006) China Converted spaces, Singapore: Page One Publishing Private Ltd. This book looks at the conversion of old industrial buildings focusing on specifically in China and looking at how these conversions are transformed into something unique. Through looking into industrial buildings giving examples both in text and images of their transformation into a used building. This shows the relevance towards the interior adaption. Majumdar, M. (ed.) (2001) Energy-Efficient buildings in India, New Delhi: Tata Energy Research Institute and Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources. This book looks into 41 different projects giving detailed insights into different contexts as well as the benefits and techniques used within energy efficient buildings. The insight into the way India goes about this shows a different side to energy efficient buildings. McGowan, M. (2008) Design Intervention: Revolutionizing Sacred Space (volume 1), United States: Plainjoe Studios. This book refers to god and intervention, while also referring to the old testament. It explains how churches are buildings that are effective in using their stories from the bible to share to everyone the story of god. It gives an interesting take on churches and hold religion responsible for the design interventions. Musee d’Orsay (2006) From station to museum, [Online], Available: http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/collections/history-of-the-museum/from-station-to-museum.html [28 Nov 2010]. This website explains everything you could want to know about the conversion of the railway station to the museum situated in France. It’s a good representation of an intervention on an old public building. Stone, S. and Brooker, G. (2004) Rereadings: Interior architecture and the design principles of remodelling existing buildings, London: RIBA Enterprises Ltd. This book was broken down into four chapters, analysis, strategy, tactics and case studies. In each breakdown there is a case study for each chapter and another sub-heading that then looks into works relating to each specific topic. It looks at the association between the old and new and an insight into why certain decisions were made within specific designs. It also helps us to understand the process and understanding that designers and architects make. It gives great examples of work and an insight into the process, which is very informative. Thompson, K, E. (1977) Recycling Buildings: Renovations, Remodelings, Restorations and Reuses, United States of America: McGraw-Hill, Inc. This book looks into using existing structures rather than creating new ones and preserving the buildings heritage by looking into restoring historic sites and structures. It documents the creative ways that architects have given, once again life to buildings left to age. I feel this book has great relevance to what I’m interested in. By preserving the buildings heritage I feel is what a change in the interior purpose does and highlights to people how simple and also visually attractive it is to combine the old and new.

Dissertation Topic

My group once again came together to help one another discuss and further develop their topic, chosen specifically for their dissertations. Some of us decided to stick with the subject we used to create our wikipedia page and others went for a completely different approach. We all gathered in the usual graphics room and talked about the topics we all were interested in.

As you can see this was all our mind maps put together, demonstrating the outcome of our session.

Below is a close up of my individual mind map coverage of Fair Trade. As i found the last assignment to be of interest i decided to carry on from what i had already discovered and further develop this as a dissertation topic.

RSA Project: Modern Age

Recently we were given a project to come up with a design response towards the RSA Modern Age competition. The brief is to design a domestic product or living environment for older people that surpasses conventional expectations. We were given four weeks at the start of our third year to dedicate to this project and get to grips with what we were being asked to do.

Modern Age is based on the elderly and how they are seen within society. We had to create a response that either helps a person growing older in the home they made and know or design something for a purpose built home for the elderly that evokes the qualities of a lived-in home. From my own research and investigations i realised how important it is for society to accommodate for the elderly and treat them as equals and not as a burden. This also brought me on to the area of housing accommodation and from this it was very clear that the elderly want to be able to keep their independence at all costs and therefore want to stay in their own homes as long as they can. From this i came up with my 'Staying Put' concept.

Knowing this, i knew i then wanted to design something that could help them do this and so gave me great inspiration to do so. Seeing as it was for elderly people, i purely wanted to base my design on just growing old in itself as there are issues you have to deal with as your body ages. The main example of this is balance and so i took this forward to to create an idea that helps with this problem.

As you can see i developed an idea of a support bar that would help them move throughout their home. As it is still early stages i have yet to determine what the final outcome of the product will be but it will hopefully tackle the problem of the elderly staying in their home and help with their balance.

Mind Map

This is my finished mind map showing the breakdown of my chosen topic, Fair Trade. This brainstorming session definitely helped me gets to grips with Fair Trade and explore aspects of the topic that at first were not so obvious.

I think, therefore I blog!!

It’s the start of a new year and the start of my third at Duncan of Jordanstone, which can only mean one thing… back to blogging.

Our first week back was packed full of course work and no doubt will continue through out this busy year. Design studies introduced us to an interesting approach to our new task. Mixing up the full year of design students, and separating everyone into several groups created a closer bond between the year. My little group of eight – a mix between girls and guys- all came together to discuss the task and to choose our own topics that we want to research further.

Fair Trade and Design appealed to me and seeing as issues relating to the environment are a big part of my course I thought the relation to this topic would be of great relevance and would hopefully give me some valuable knowledge I could use in other class projects. We all came together to brainstorm our individual topics in a small room in the graphics studio.

The session turned out to be a lot more successful than I had thought and I achieved a lot from listening to other students from different disciplines. My topic was broken down further and was a great help to me in understanding the ways in which fair trade effects design. From this I then took the information I had recovered and then created my very own mind map showing the breakdown of my topic. This was an interesting task as it highlighted a lot of issues that as a designer you have to take into consider whatever discipline you are in.

Images from our group brainstorming session.

Essay - Assignment 5

Social psychology of Identities

Semester one

For my reading and reviewing assignment in semester one we were asked to research a topic that we had come across while brainstorming. For this I looked into Social Psychology of Identities and how people’s identities can change due to a number of factors, mainly due to society. While investigating this area I discovered that environments have a lot to do with this and so looked into other people’s work that backed up this statement. From researching and reading into this theory I realized that this could also be easily connected with the design sector and by using this information wisely I could gather a vast amount of data that could help designers such as myself create design responses. From using the methods that I have developed throughout Semester 2 I will use this to further research this area and demonstrate how effective these methods are in helping me obtain a vast quantity of evidence to support my argument.

From looking into the work of Judith A Howard I was able to achieve a better understanding about Identities. She believes the main reason for people to change in different circumstances, is mainly due to society and the effects that it has on people within communities. It has evolved from the idea of who one is to how your possession and outside influences make you who you are today. I then looked into another writers work to do with this area on identities and his take on things. Goffman believes that identities also change due to society, but looks at other ways in which it is done. He mainly looks into environments and the main ways of segregating people in society. From brainstorming this topic I was able to use the research skills I have obtained throughout semester 2, and break down the ways in which I would go about investigating this. From taking this topic and researching into it further then the methods I have learned would help me go about this and would hopefully be of great use to back up my argument.

To prove that Goffman and Howards views are valid I could use each method to devise a set of results that would hopefully relate to what was said. Now if I was to start off my additional research through observing I would be able to then use this to take pictures and to think I questions relating to my observations, thus leading to experiments. From doing each research method I would achieve different outcomes and so it would help me determine what method I would use in future if I wanted certain results. To see how people are with different people or on they’re own or even participating in random activities. Again I was thinking target areas where you can see both. I thought if I was to sit and observe then start off close to home: university campus. I could look at libraries, the union, social gathering and all. The union shop the art building. People there dress a certain way, why? Maybe to fit in?

Again from brainstorming the idea of an experiment involving people I first thought about the surrounding environment and how I could prove this to be a factor of someone’s identity. I then thought about an actual space, thinking about the size and shape, is the space open so there’s no confinement. What else is present in the space? Maybe a seat or is it just an empty box with a door? From looking at all possible angles I considered, looking into the idea of a prison cell. The confined space each person is given, the set regimes, and matching outfits all take away a person’s individuality. Basing my experiment on this idea, I would use an empty room with maybe a window and door. Allowing people to enter this room for a total of 10 minutes and then observing their behavior for that full time. By doing this and comparing each person I should hopefully see some similarities between people, within this confined space. By standing, walking randomly, sitting at a corner or in the centre of the room, leaning against a wall or lying down, I might be able to conclude how relaxed or uncomfortable people feel when placed in an unknown location. I would look into behavior patterns and the meanings behind people actions to complete the experiment. Now to avoid problems that may arise I would test this theory first of all with one factor. The main factors I would consider would be length of time, adding objects, light and dark and architectural features such a windows. If it didn’t give me the results that I was looking for then I would maybe look into the idea of people locked away in a prison, as the experience is looking into real circumstances. Another but similar experiment might be to lock several strangers away in a house for several days. From doing this I could reinstate how closed environments effects certain people and how. I think the intense environment and different personalities will be the main cause of the problems. Does it make them more confrontational or does it bring them together? I would use this method to show how an environment effects the actions of someone and whether this creates a positive or negative situation for people.

From looking into this theory a lot more I could, just from researching and observing different situations expand on the topic itself. If I were to look at major factors such as wealth, education system, crime all would show different variations and the effects on which it would have on people. This again could be taken further especially looking into deprived areas of the world and seeing how their lifestyle contributes to the ways in which they interact with one another. As the topic itself is of vast quantity and could be looked at from many different angles the different methods would be of an advantage. I would however have to consider certain factors such as age and culture that will vary from person to person.

Goffman E. 1959. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York: Doubleday

Goffman E. 1963. Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall

Howard J.2000. Social Psychology of Identities. Annual Review of Sociology, Vol.26: 367-393

Orwell G.1983. Nineteen Eighty Four. Penguin

Juteopolis Project

Semester 2

If I were to complete this assignment once again, this time using primary and secondary researching then the outcome would be slightly different. Looking into researching the topic of jute, gives me a better understanding towards the proposed topic. From looking at the most recent researching method: Primary research, I will examine the benefits of this method in helping me device a design response. From studying old photographs from around the time of the production of jute for example, just like we ourselves studied photographs in assignment 1 from a certain date, I may have been able to determine what was taking place and come to some sort of conclusion. By looking at how the people themselves lived and what type of clothing they wore can help me create a picture of what their lifestyle must have been like. The little things to do with lifestyle, working environments, family can all be determined from studying the photographs and like my results from our own experience, they probably would have turned out to be pretty accurate. If this was the case I probably would have gathered a good amount of knowledge to design the exhibition space to fulfil exhibitors expectations of what it must have been like to have lived and worked in such a place.

Using the picture idea again, I could have used this to gather information that would have been of great use when designing this exhibition space. If I was to maybe carry out my own experiment where I selected a number of photographs from around the production area, the working environment, the evolution process of wool, to jute to flax and the machinery used and then gave them to people out with my course to study, they could have given me a different outlook. By using this gathered information wisely, the exhibition would have been one that was more than exhibitors had perceived, what with their lack of knowledge in this topic area. The simplistic views of those asked could also effect how detailed or basic the objects and information are on display. By using this theory in practice and adding another picture to the equation, this could result in a completely different response. The extra image could sway some people’s opinions of the actual “Jute” Industry and therefore a completely new approach to the full life scale exhibition. If I relate the image to the main production of jute in Dundee compared to an image of the production in Africa I think the African image would cause a greater response since the setting and context are severely different.

By observing people you can also gather enough source material to use as a form of research. Just like my own observations on the London underground this helped me experience the ways in which people go about certain things causing different effects. If I related this research method to the Juteopolis brief I could find out more about the way in which people move around and exhibit spaces. I would look at how people in groups or on their own enter and leave the space. I would also study what sections interest certain people, what age ranges seem more curious and enthralled, and what type of people like to study the objects and others the text. The ways in which people move around is equally important, as is any other method. More so for this project, this method I believe would probably become most successful. The observations made could help decide positioning and the orientation of objects within a space. The best possible layouts for socialising, looking at work, presenting the objects and access routes could come from this study.

Interviewing I thought would be the most effective since you, yourself are asking specific questions you want answered. However from participating in this myself there are many different ways of interviewing people, each with their own pros and cons. Avoiding closed questions means the data you receive will be more successful in finding out what you want to achieve from your questions. If I was to use this method, I would probably start off at a number of exhibitions asking people about what they see, how does this layout suit their tastes, does it help to show off the work, or does it take you on a set course taking away the unpredicted journey round the space. By asking them about the full experience they had from the moment they entered till they leave it can give you almost everything you need and would have bee a great help. If I was to then use this method to speak maybe to workers who previously worked in the mills and staff working at Verdent work to explain their experiences or stories.

Now if I were to look into Secondary Research and how I could have used these techniques to source data then the response would of course be different compared to the use of Primary research. When looking back into first semester the first method we looked into was summarising complex information and then presenting this in the form of a mind map. By using this form I was able to branch off into a more detailed description of the specific topic. Now If I were to relate this to the studio brief then the data would probably have been of vast quantity, a diverse amount of responses to the topic and new outlooks of the brief. I think the range of ideas would explore the topic well enough, that your final outcome of the exhibition space would be one that represents Juteopolis well, as all avenues would have been considered or explored.

Brainstorming itself helps to break down certain topics but can also help you make connections out with the area you are looking into. For our second assignment, into Secondary research we found that design can be linked to so many other disciplines. Using this principle, this task is will give you a vast amount of detailed research. This would have been useful when designing for the Juteopolis project and would have saved me a lot of time during the researching process. Discussing the project with other classmates may have obtained the same benefits. As well as the standard method of researching, cross search gave us the resources on hand to investigate our own chosen topics. This could have givens us all the research needed to obtain specific information.

With Thanks :

Verdent works - http://www.rrsdiscovery.com/index.php?pageID=130