Week 3
Blog 4- Hitting a brick wall!
As part of my development, I began building my Sketchup model. Sketchup is a great resource for putting your designs into perspective, in particular the scale of the room and furniture. It allows you to understand your space. It has definitely been useful when it came to making decisions, for example, the width of cornice I wanted to choose, or the depth of the skirting boards. Also, ensuring that my kitchen and bathroom fittings are realistic and not too overbearing.
However, my bugbear with Sketchup is the inability to create realistic materials- it looks really ‘fake’. Yes, I could take it into a CGI Programme such as Lumion, but that is extremely time consuming during the development stage- if you aren’t actually certain on your final design. Another issue with Sketchup is that when it comes to adding great detail into the décor and furnishings, the programme becomes overwhelmed with the amount of data.
This is the first time that I have worked on a project that requires so much detail, from door handles and cushions to the structure of the building itself. I suppose at this point, you could say I began to panic as the colours and textures weren’t portrayed properly in the Sketchup. The mood boards that my client loved where not reflected in my Sketchup model.
Karim, my manager, taught me different methods of presenting my ideas (shown above). These architectural collaging methods may seem obvious to some, but for so long I have drilled into my own head that Sketchup is the only acceptable way to present final ideas to a client. In a way, I think this hurdle has been a wake up call. Photoshop and collaging are areas that I feel most confident in, yet I have avoided them as I didn’t think it looked as ‘professional and clean’ as a Sketchup model. I think in University, you can become quite comfortable in the way you work and follow this repetitive process without really thinking about it.
The reason I hit a brick wall, was because when Karim was looking over my Sketchup he found that the reason why the file was becoming so large and corrupt, was because I had actually been building it up incorrectly. When he was talking me through it, it became apparent that the file was really messy and I had been creating a lot more work for myself which wasn’t necessary. I was actually quite embarrassed that, at this stage of University, I was being pulled up for using Sketchup incorrectly. I hate to admit it, but the Sketchup basics, such as building components and downloading material correctly are the thing that have made this more difficult for me. Initially, I thought “3 days work down the drain” but in hindsight it is a positive because I will never forget the easy steps again or use Sketchup as my only presentation method. I think it has been reassuring knowing that my work will now be done properly, as well as saving myself so much more time. This has definitely made me realise the importance of work-based learning and how it can have a positive impact on your creative process.
As part of my work based learning, I thought it was important to pause and do some research into architects and designers who use architectural collages to present their designs. Although, it has put me behind schedule for this project, it will benefit my client and I.
The collage above is not finished, there is still a lot of work to be done. But it definitely reassures me that I am capable of creating a collage and has gave me a lot more confidence in trying something new.
