Bridge Projects- Integrative Studio II 2020
Bridge 1
Bridge 2
Bridge 3
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Bridge 4
Reflection
I’ve learned so much during this semester and it has been a great experience to do work through many stages of research and design with Jackson Heights. Though it was very hard to work with a same theme during most of the semester, after doing Bridge 4, it felt like it was all worth it. I’m very impressed in all I could learn about Jackson Heights during these months by doing the research in steps as we did. I really enjoyed reading the chapters of the design books in a way to complement what we were working on during the semester and how the assignments let us learn and practice different skills that we would be using in our big projects.
By starting with a group project about creating a space it gave us a start point in the work we would be doing during the semester, and by the time we had to do bridge 4 we were ready to take that task on all by ourselves. The fact that in the end, we were able to do the design of a space, the research, model, mood board, and drawings by ourselves really let us notice how much we learned during the class.
When I took the class I wasn’t very familiarized with the concept of constructed environments and how as designers we can alter someone’s perspective and experience of a space, and the Seminar did a great job at complementing what we learned in Studio with deeper thoughts about the social aspect of spaces and how people interact in them.
For me, the main thing I take from this experience is having done a bit of everything in the whole research and design process, because it was a very good introduction on how to study a place and a community to design something that could help them. Also, one of my favorite things has been doing 3D models, I always used to like making things when I was little but I had never done an actual model of a space or a product and I loved having the chance to practice that skill.
In the successes I had in this class I’m really proud of how the model in Bridge 4 turned out because it took so much thinking and practice to make it fold and fit into a space in the floor and I’m very happy that it actually worked even though I didn’t have the chance to use the materials I wanted to use and that I was able to finish everything and still be inspired with the current situation in the world. Also, I’m happy that I learned how to do 3D renderings to do one for bridge 4 because I had been wanting to learn how to do it for a very long time but I hadn’t had the chance to do so. It was hard to learn it by myself and at first very time-consuming, but I got the hang of it and was able to use it to my advantage.
In the failures, I would’ve liked to do bridge 3 differently. I was very stressed about getting home and the whole COVID situation and I let it affect my work, so I wish I could have handled it differently. Also, I would have liked to learn how to do 3d renderings sooner since it was hard for me to represent what I wanted to show in a drawing and I couldn’t do a real model. As a second failure, I think that I did a bad job at time management this semester. I was very used to working during the day, being efficient and productive, and actually sleeping during the night but when I got to Parsons it was very weird for me that everyone worked at night and slept very little and this past semester I got used to doing that as well and It was like a vicious circle that I couldn’t stop. I really want to get back to my old routine because it helped me work better under pressure while still having a healthy routine.
