WEEK 1

In this semester, Community Service Initiative (CSI) is being introduced to architecture semester 5 students as a MPU subject. This is a subject that teaching us community service involvement is important as volunteering teaches people of all ages and backgrounds compassion and understanding. It encourages students to learn by integrating theories with design practice. We were being revealed to the real community and required to work together as a team for architectural, culture and environmental enhancing activities in the communities of different social economic status and social groups. We formed a team of 8 including my course mates: Jack Too Mun Fai, Chow Hong Da, Lee Pui San, Tang Ze Zang, Foong Lih Wey, Eng Shi Yi and Tan Wei Zhen.

 

 

WEEK 2

The series of community services are offered in 4 categories/ themes and we were given the freedom to choose and execute the project in the best possible manner. Those 4 categories are:

1. Charitable Homes or Organization (CH)

2. Community Centre (CC)

3. Street Community (SS)

4. Environment Enhancing, E2 Project

Initially, our group decided to undertake the Environmental Enhancing, E2 Project which is an OCBC project, encouraged by the lecturers to show support on this new collaboration with Taylor’s University. The site is located at Metro Prima, Kepong. The freedom is given to us to build anything as long as it can benefit the community around Kepong. We scheduled out the project requirement, project timeline to discuss within the members and decided to design/build a furnitecture for the community of Kepong before the site visit. After visited the site, we had difficulty in deciding a good spot for our design, due to its large area and most of us are not familiar with the region.

Apart from our Community Service Initiative project, I attended a compulsory workshop on the 8th of April to give myself a better understanding and insight on how to conduct a more organized/results-driven charity activity. It was a useful workshop and I had learnt a lot from it.

 

 

WEEK 3

This week, we discussed among group members and decided to change our target client to an orphanage. We found an orphanage in Cheras, called “Rainbow Home”. We contacted the caretaker of the orphanage through text and knew about the orphanage really needed a bench for the children to sit at the porch area as the children always have fun there. After knowing the needs of our target client, we started off our first proposal with an initial idea, the FOLDIFURNI. I was taking charged of the initial proposal. We designed interactive foldable chairs that serve as a seating chair and storage box for their toys and items because we considered that the orphanage home would be lacking spaces for permanent bulky furniture. During the tutorial session, Mr Adib requested us to choose our materials wisely for FoldiFurni.

 

 

WEEK 4 &5

During week 4, we visited “Rainbow Home” for the first time and started off by having a tour around the home. After having a conversation with the caretakers and children, we knew that there is an empty spot in the front garden where the children will always have fun there. She suggested that we make a bench, to provide a sitting area and play area for the children when they are conducting outdoor activities as well as visitors outside. Based on the caretaker’s suggestion, we found out that there are other issues that needed to be addressed. Our initial designs for the children were very impractical and inefficient in the given site because the site is located outdoor; the whole place was drenched during raining. Furthermore, having lightweight furniture might be dangerous for the children as they might accidentally break it and hurt themselves. Therefore, a heavy, stable bench would be suitable for the children in “Rainbow Home”.

 

 

WEEK 6

During this week, we had a discussion among team members after the site visit to “Rainbow Home”, all of us found out that the previous design of foldable chairs is deemed inadequate due to fragile nature and lightweight. Therefore, we have decided to change our initial proposal design to an interactive bench, a bench that can be folded into a large deck for the children to play with. We began the design by understanding the age group of the children in the orphanage and proceed with the anthropometry of the children in order to determine the dimension of the bench. We used the tongue and groove system that was needed for the interactive platform to work properly. We had a common agreement that designing a simple mechanism for the bench can avoid unnecessary injuries happen when the children playing around the bench. We also did a material analysis and decided to use hard wood to build the bench.

 

 

WEEK 7

This week is considered as a submission week for our poster. Our leader, Jack assigned everyone one of us with different task for the preparation of the upcoming CSI poster submission. I was in charge of the site analysis and write up in this week. Jack and Lih Wey were busy with the 3D modeling of the interactive bench and the orthographic drawings. Hong Da and Pui San helped up with the diagrams, photoshop post-production and the compilation. We submitted the poster on time and had a discussion about the design, the budget of making a detailed scale model and more. The 3D model is edited further to guide us as a reference in making the scale physical model.

 

 

WEEK 8

In week 8, we finalized the refined design of the interactive bench and we proceed to construct a 1:5 scale physical model that we will use to propose to the “Rainbow Home” during the video shooting. We used PVC board to build the scale physical model due to its rigidity, structural strength and also the ease of cutting. We used the corrugated board to mimic the awning sheet of the roof. The 4 pieces of timber platform are connected using the hinges to allow direct interaction with the physical model.

 

 

WEEK 9

Week 9 is the final submission week for this CSI project. We revisited the site on the 8th of June with the 3D model, drawings and physical model to propose it to the entire orphanage. I was in charge of video shooting and Ze Zheng edited the video. Only 4 of us went for the interview; Jack, Pui San, Hong Da and I. The caretakers and children were happy with our design with positive feedbacks. The happy faces of the children made the hard work worth it. We decided to make an actual working model of the interactive bench, to be given to the orphanage as promised and hope that this furniture will encourage the children to have more healthy activities outdoors and have fun with it.