Health and saftey

During the making of my final outcome, like many other students I also used the lazer cutter which is a very accurate machine when working with materials such as cardboard, acrylic, wood and many others. 

When using the lazer cutter, it is very important that we knew the basic health and safety rules so that it is safe for the users and the people around. Some of the protective equipment required to use the machine are goggles, gloves and an apron. You should also be aware of signs and instruction around the room which direct you on how to use the machine accurately. The prototyping room is also filled with many different types of machines so being aware of trip hazards other machines may cause or wires is also very important. 

This is a footage I have taken when my 7cm by 7cm cardboard squares where cut on the lazer cutting machine.I was very happy about the outcome of the squares as they where to the exact measurements as expected from a machine. The experience of using the lazer cutting machine was very safe because I followed the instructions on how to use it accurately and safely.

Pedro Dias

Tate Modern Visit

For the start of my new project, which is Joints and fittings, I went to the Tate modern gallery to find some inspiration for my final outcome. At the Tate, there was an exhibition of Abraham Cruzvillegas work which filled the whole of Turbine Hall. The work consists of wooden triangle plant pots which where scattered around the room creating a very intriguing pattern made of triangles.

I have chosen to blog these two images for the reason that they look the same but are very different. The image above was shot from an eye level, which illustrates the view one would have if they stood at that exact spot. What I like about this view is the way the triangle pots overlap over one another due to the change of ground level as you go to the end of turbine hall.

The second image, although taken from a similar angle, is more raised up compare to the first image, giving it more of a birds eye view.

This projects is about joining and fitting different materials together without using glue, and one thing I like about Abraham's work is the fact that he has used finger joints and dovetails to join the wood together which is what my project is about and also a technique of joining two materials together that I may take to my own work.

Pedro Dias

Speaking and listening review

This week, we have developed our portfolios which contains our best work. Before putting together my portfolio I did some research on Le Corbusier's digital portfolio just to get some inspiration and insight on how professional architects present their work.

After putting my portfolio together I then had to present it to the class so that I could receive some feed back on both my portfolio and presentation as a whole.

As positive feed back, it was said that my chosen images for my outcomes had good quality and striking photographs. The layout of my images was also done correctly and they like how each project where all on the same pages. Another thing that was very useful was my confidence in my outcomes and delivery when talking about the design processes.

On the other hand, some of my images where too small which made it hard for my peers to see. There were also work missing which could enhance the portfolio and show a larger variety of work. This can be accomplished if I include the passport project and the digital media project.

Pedro Dias

Le Corbusier Portfolio

Le Corbusier is a very famous Swiss architect who was born on 6 October 1887, he was also a painter but eventually concentrated more on architecture. I have chosen look at Le Corbusiers portfolio for inspiration because his style of design is very modern and advanced for his era which was around the 1930s. Some of his most successful designs such as La Villa Savoye is a very beautiful modern piece and almost looks like it was designed in the 21st century.

This portfolio is very eye-catching, compare to other portfolios I have seen before. The use of black on one page and black on the other makes it very visible and also shows a sense of contrast between the photograph of the final piece and the photograph of the design process or the development page.

The way the photographs are laid out makes the pages very clean to look at, the spacing at the top and bottom of the photographs look exactly the same which centres the photograph directly in the middle of the page. I also like the fact he has included the material/colours he gained from his experiment on one page and the final outcome on the other which shows where the final idea has come from. This is one of the techniques I will take from Le Corbusiers portfolio into my own.

During our Christmas break, the project brief was to come up with a creative solution that could change peoples opinion on climate change which will help them t be more conscious of things like recycling so that we wont have to use raw materials every time we produce new products. After visiting London Dust, an exhibition which was based on London in the 50's, I had many ideas to create a architecture piece using paper. Although this was my starting point, I then decided to use recycled cardboard instead.

I decided to use recycled cardboard instead because I wanted my piece to give recycled materials more importances rather than them just being seen as rubbish. By constructing a frame construction model it was my intention to show that architects can help in climate change by using recycled materials to create architecture models which is a very expensive and affective process to the climate  due to the amount of plastic used in creating these models. In my opinion, I believe the final piece could have been bigger in the sense that it would increase the number of frames which makes it more interesting to look at, but overall I believe the message is accurate to the brief.

Pedro Dias