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Community Service Initiative

PROJECT PROPOSAL

for School of Architecture, Building & Design (SABD)

In a group of 7, we are required to select a topic and work together as a team for architectural, cultural, and environmental enhancing activities in a selected site. The module act as a platform to allow students to be exposed to the real community living in real life condition. Our project category chosen is ENVIRONMENT ENHANCING, E² Project. This project is a collaborative community service project run by JCI and OCBC bank. This collaboration intends to materialize students' proposal that will benefit the local community. The proposed area by OCBC bank is in Kepong.

E-JOURNAL

WEEK 1 - Topic Selection

On the first day of class, we were given the module outline and briefing about the project. A discussion was carried out to decide on the topic for this assignment.We have chosen the topic: Environment Enhancing, E² Project.

The site chosen was in Metro Prima, Kepong. We did some research online and discussed about the issues and existing site conditions. Later on, we distributed our task and did more research about the site by ourselves.

WEEK 2 - Site Visit

We visited the proposed site on week 2. After delegating task, we separate into groups to carried out our site analysis to have better understanding of the site. Some of us measure the site, some observed and did SWOT analysis while some take photographs of the site for record and reference.

We also interviewed some of the residents who were hanging around the site to obtain more accurate information. After the interview, we concluded that there is a lack of proper resting/ seating area for the residents to utilize. Thus, we had our initial idea which is to propose a sitting spot for surrounding residents to use for resting and have social interaction.

WEEK 3 - Idea Development

We organized our data collection and compiled them together. Our data consists of climatic analysis, site issues, and SWOT analysis. Later on,we carried out meeting to brainstorm our ideas to solve issue identified on the site.

We have searched for some case studies to inspire us for better ideas. In the end, We have come out with an initial proposal which is a simple seating area along the roadside, right next to the football field. The urban furniture aims to create a resting spot by stacking large steps together. The seating area would serve as an extended space for people to have lunch or just casually siting down and chatting with their friends. We believe that The community will become closer to each other as they seem quite disconnected right now.

WEEK 4 - First Proposal Submission

This week would be the first submission of our proposed idea in Powerpoint presentation format. We were inspired by the previous case studies and tried to incorporate their qualities into our design. The final outcome was a street furniture which encourages more outdoor activities for the residents, brighter walkway which improves the safety of the neighbourhood, promoting cleanliness and last but not least encourage social interaction among residents.

In order to promote environmental friendly consciousness, we decided to go for wooden pallets as the material of our structure. The wooden pallets stack together, forming rows of seats. Light bulbs are installed under the wooden pallets which would light up at night and thus improve safety of the area. Users are encouraged to use the furniture flexibly, they can sit facing the football field to watch a football match or facing the opposite site to enjoy the view of the street life.

WEEK 5 - Site Visit 2

We received feedback from our tutor about the initial proposal. More site issues were pointed out and we began to question the appropriateness of our design on the chosen site. Issues found includes the shading of the site, practicality of installing light bulbs under the seating area as they would be exposed to harsh weather conditions without a shade. Besides that, it would be a problem for us to find a suitable electricity supply source.

After discussion, we decided to allocate out site on the football field which is right between two residential building blocks. The new proposed site provides sufficient shade from a row of trees and it safer as the field itself is protected by a boundary wall. Hence, we went to the site again for the second site analysis. on site, we discovered that it provides more opportunity for community engagement because of the strategic position of the field in between residential blocks. As the site issues remained unchanged, we were allowed to use back our same objective of proposed idea.

WEEK 6 - Refining the Idea

After the second site visit, we modified our initial design to suit new site. We concluded that the football field would serve as the main space for the surrounding residents to carry out activities such as, exercising, playing football, or having p.e.

The new design would provide a variety of functions in respond to the different activities being carried out on the football field. The refined design features stacking of different sizes of wooden pallets according to a grid pattern. The function of the new design includes seating area, picnic area and children playground.

WEEK 7 - Draft Submission

This week would be the draft submission of our e-poster. After finalizing the details of our design, we distributed work among ourselves. I was in charged with another group member to produce graphics and prepare text for site introduction. site issues, design intention and SWOT analysis. Later on, we compiled our work together to produce the poster.

WEEK 8 - Site Visit 3

We visited the site for the third time to collect feedback of the residents regarding our proposed design. We targeted residents from different walks of life, including, elderly, adults, workers, teachers, students and children to obtain everyone's opinion. We also recorded their feedback clips for our video production later on. We managed to collect some valuable opinions which would improve our design.

Some amendments includes separation of the furniture so that it would not look too bulky and put them further apart to allow a wider range of view. Besides that, we decided to add variation of colors on the wooden pallets to make our structure more attractive and also for maintenance purpose. Some costing considerations were taken into consideration as we have a budget limit of RM5000 for this project. We have visited paint supply stores to obtain the accurate pricing for our product. In the end,we summed up and estimated that the furniture would costs RM4362 in total.

WEEK 9 - Finalize Design

We finalized our design and start to prepare for the final A0 size presentation board. New renderings and architectural drawings were updated in our presentation board. There were slight adjustments on the layout of the board too.

WEEK 10 - Video Production

We planned and created a story board for our video. The video aims to address the site issue and deliver our proposed idea to improve the community.

Reflection

I enjoyed working with my group mates throughout the project. I think that the project is very meaningful as we get to improve the lives of the residents in Metro Prima, Kepong. The positive feedbacks from the residents also gave us faith in our proposed idea. I hope that our urban furniture would help in the social interaction among residents and create a better lifestyle for them.