cassiewhakatinana-blog

[cassiewhakatinana-blog]

*REFLECTION*

I am proud of what I’ve deisgned and produced this semester. My reserach question was:

what can I, as a spatial designer and citizen contribute to my community, Houghton Valley. 

and I think I’ve achieved something towards that statement. There are a few things unfortunately I didn’t achieve that I hoped I would have this semester, such as: -In first semester, my research was grounded in learning more about Te Ao Māori. This was for the purpose of learning more about my country’s indigenous culture and broadening my Te Reo Māori vocabulary/understanding (as I do not have an Māori heritage myself). This did carry on in the second semester, I had my core te reo key words that I was always referring back to, and my te reo verbs. But looking at my final poster, there is barely any te reo used and I am dissapointed. -I produced most of my work digitally, which was good because I struggle digitally, I find it really frustrating so prefer to work in more of an analouge process. However, I did learn how to use Twinmotion in the mid-semster break, which is great. Oli also showed me how to use some great section/location tools in SketchUp and Revit.  -For my final exhibition presentation I’ve been beating myself up over the fact that it’s “just a poster” on it’s own. I noticed my peers used posters in combination with other things suchas model/books/videos. I’m not sure if this is me just comparing myself and my work to others or whether I think I could’ve taken my presentation further/done more? For example, it would have been a good learning experince producing a video as I haven’t done it before during my time at uni. 

[cassiewhakatinana-blog]

Spatial Exhibition

for the final exhibition I presented a 2 metre long poster with 5x renders, a 2m long section which referenced the historical context of Houghton Valley that I delved into in first semester, 2x journey maps and my subjectve piece of writing that I wrote in first semester and displayed in my research thesis.  It’s not pictured in these images sadly, but I added some collaging to the renders (after tossing this around for a few days!). I wanted to do something small to acknowledge the fact that I see myself as an artist more so than a designer. I played around with what kind of collaging and what level to do this to, and found that small hints of collaging on the renders was the righ level for me to feel satisfied with my exhibited work. In first semester collaging (using found-objects) was my primary form of thinking-through-making. It felt wrong to be presenting my work entirely digitally-made, when I knew that my work manifested really well in collage form. This was a small compromise that I am happy with. 

[cassiewhakatinana-blog]

Adding historical context to my section.

This was suggested in my presentation feedback. The history of the land is a crucial part of this project, so it is only right to include it on the final piece of work. I already have all the archival information from my first semester work, and the historical map I made. So now I just need to fact-check it and add a selected amount of information in chronological order to the section. I also need to reference the landfill underneath the valley as this is the piece of information that pulled me in to do this project in the first place! It also explains the seven terracing fields and topography of the land which frames my design 

[cassiewhakatinana-blog]

*subjective writing* 

This is something personal that I wrote in first semester and included it as the prelude to my research thesis. 

I’ve been noticing that my second semester work is a lot less personal and subjective than my first semster work. 

So I am including this on my exhibition poster,

as it takes me back to the beginning of this project and reminds me why I did it 

[cassiewhakatinana-blog]

title. 

“Sea to Summit” it refers to the journey of my site Houghton Valley, specifically as the space in between Houghton Bay beach and the Mount Albert summit. hand written, now I will photoshop 

[cassiewhakatinana-blog]

mapping on the final poster

I’m figuring out how to show my mapping research. 

Things to consider are:

foot traffic

vehivle traffic (cars and bus routes)

weather (I’m not sure how much this matters to this particular project?)

the creek (because hopefully one day it will re-surface)

the beach and summit at either end of the valley  In my presentation it as discussed whether to do muliple maps showing different information, or whether to cram it all onto one map. The opinions of my presentation group were mixed so I’m not sure what I will do yet 

[cassiewhakatinana-blog]

week 11 presenation feedback 

a list of things to do in the days before sending off final printing. This list is put together using my week 11 presentation feedback I had a list of things I specifically wanted feedback on, it was really good getting some fresh eyes on my work!

[cassiewhakatinana-blog]

feedback sheet from week 11 draft exhibition presentations 

[cassiewhakatinana-blog]

first draft of exhibition material presentation week 11

I test printed my 2000x910 poster with some renders, a section and map. The printing worked well and the images all have great resolution. (I didn’t get any photos of it hanging in the studio for the presentation today unfortunately, woops!)

[cassiewhakatinana-blog]

draft captions for presentation poster they communicate verbs that my design attempts to encourage, following with the verb in te reo 

[cassiewhakatinana-blog]

Some starting attempts at adding mixed media to my renders/mapping.  Did not like the outcome 

[cassiewhakatinana-blog]

This is my 2m long section of the seven terracing fields with some hill vegetation added. I went and took photographs of the hills alongside the fields from the road, I think it looks okay.  I asked my presentation group whether it would be beneficial to add some dark, textured imagery to the section cut (as it is the old landfill, after all. )They all said yes.  It was also suggested in my presentation feedback/ on my feedback sheet that the section looks a bit pointless, people asked what the point of the section was?  So I think I will add some information coming out of it. And I also need to add my designed structure to the section to show where it is in the valley 

[cassiewhakatinana-blog]

adding some texture to my plan.  it was said in my presentation feedback that  a plan would benefit my poster,  because I was having trouble communicating that there was a M/F bathroom within the built structure for the public to access 24/7.  I’m wondering whether to add more information to this, or whether it is better to keep it basic with labled areas and simple measurements 

[cassiewhakatinana-blog]

Planning out how to use all 2 metres of my poster. 

So far I have:5 x renders, large map and narrative captions underneath all the renders, and I large 2m long section at the bottom of the page. I’m yet to figure out how to do the section but hopefully I can track down Oli to help me 

[cassiewhakatinana-blog]

Oli helped me to make a section of Houghton Valley using Koordinates and Revit.  1:750 scale 

[cassiewhakatinana-blog]

Today I learnt how to use Twinmotion. I added some vegetations, cars, and lighting.  I did 32 renders with a range of interior/exterior, night/day, plan/perspecitve renders. I’m pretty stoked with how the renders turned out, especially compated to my Indigo ones. 

[cassiewhakatinana-blog]

some more sit images to use for rendering