Reflective Observation Report (MORUS)

  • The first thing that immediately caught my eyes was the toy-liked decorations on the fences of the community garden. To me, turning old used wastes into such amusing childish artworks is absolutely creative, and the idea of reusing stands out as well.

  • Inside of the garden, we then saw more installations that help to recycle or to reduce energy/sources waste. For instance, a tube on the top of a little pavilion can collect rain and transit it to some special containers under the pavilion, which can restore the water and use it for plant irrigation.
  • Even though the garden is run by the community, the two chickens seemed more like the actual masters of this place. You can tell that they’ve been nicely taken care of just from their shining beautiful feathers and the fats they’ve gained.

  • The composting system in the garden is very well and carefully designed. It proves to us that having a sustainable system doesn’t mean you need to put lots of money for advanced machines to support it. With your intelligence and some simple equipment, you can still manage to keep the system nice and sustainable.

        

        

 

  • The beehives in the garden are also standing out particularly. Bees are well-known to help plants reproduce so having not only plants but also bees in the garden does make it more like a self-supported ecosystem.

  • We then went to the rooftop of an old building, which was reconstructed by the community people and had now turned into a successful sample for reclaiming aged urban space. One of the most important parts of this sustainable system is the solar panels which can generate electricity by absorbing sun’s rays. By using this technology, the building accomplishes both saving energy/money and keeping power-independence.

  • I ignored this enclosure at first because I thought it had nothing special but served normal functions. However, later then I got to know how essential this normal-looking space is. It helps the heats in the building going out, which is very crucial because it prevents overheating and promotes air convection.

  • Another thing that I found very interesting and smart was these straws-weaved chairs. I especially appreciate the idea of recycling and reusing materials creatively. These chiars are easily made but still have their own uniqueness. It was a pitty that I didn’t give them a try to see if they are comfortable and strong enough to sit on.

        

 

Bridge 1: Research and Analysis

General Process Diagram

  1. Women in ancient China used to bind their feet because it was common sense that women only look pretty with small feet and they could not find husbands if they don’t do that.

2. Foot binding gave so much damage to their feet that they could barely walk in the outside world but stay at home and do house works. These women’s lives were very much controlled by their husbands and were more like belongings to them.

3. The very first thumbnails draft that I made for the shoes. The main idea of the project is Female Restriction, combining with pain and torture.

4. I first used wires to construct the main frame of the shoes. At first I was planning on using both wires and needles but then had to give up needles because they were very hard to be accurately placed.

5. I cut and painted cardboards to make the bottoms of the shoes. The bottoms were not in the original plan but later got added in in order to amplify the exaggeration.

6. I attached the bottoms with the shoes together with some special black threads. The shoes are sizes smaller than my partner’s actual shoe size deliberately so that she could feel the intensity and pain more clearly.

7. Final Work

Time Map Draft

Draft 1 : fullsizerender-4

I had this idea of using circles and triangles to record my thirst and hunger in one day, I chose a Thursday which I was free all day and documented my feelings, then I made this first draft of my Time Map. The main critique that Wendy gave me was this is too abstract and should add more personal emotions and feelings in it.

 

Draft 2: fullsizerender

This time I added more personal feelings into it, including using words, emojis to directly depicted my emotions; also showing my different levels of demands by using different colors. The critique that I’ve received is that the title is too big and straight forward, the directions between each circle/triangle and the layout need more work.

 

Draft 3: fullsizerender-5

My third version of Time Map, which I showed it in class, this time I made the map easier to read and marked out the start&end. However Wendy pointed out that to make the start&end stand out is not just to make them BIG, but in other more sophisticated ways.