CONCLUSION

Reflections on Superstudio sessions.

The final post for the March Super studio blog is a summary of my reflections on the important things I have learnt from the sessions that I have taken. Apart from BIM, the two workshops I was involved in were on Plaster and laser cutting. Being new to the university, the exposure to the different types of workshops that the university offered was very beneficial in familiarizing myself with different types of experimental and model making processes that I can utilize for my projects in the university and later in professional practice.

My experience in the plaster workshops made me realize that it is important to understand the materiality of plaster, in relation to the type of model I wanted to make. One of the mistakes that I made with plaster was that, I made a mould that was not suitable to cast a plaster model. When casting a plaster model, it is important to avoid undercuts as much as possible, and try to avoid absorbent materials such as wood for the formwork. Even though wood can still be used with the help of a release agent, it would save time and error if the formwork is made from a non-absorbent material. In addition, it is also important to be careful in making the plaster mix, as the consistency and ratio of the mix has an impact on the final outcome of the cast. In addition to its use in the university, making models using plaster casts assists in communicating certain characteristics of the design ideas to clients in the future.

My first workshop session was on plaster and the session demonstrated various laser cut formwork moulds, and that is when I decided that I would choose to explore laser cutting workshops, to make a mould for my plaster cast. The digital printing sessions introduced me to all the different types of 3d printing machines that they offered, including advantages and disadvantages of each one of them. I found it very useful as this would help me in deciding which type of printing I would work on depending on the material finishes, or the outcome I wanted to achieve in my future projects. Furthermore, using both laser cutting and 3d printing methods in model making is associated with proper time management in both preparation of files and in executing work. This is rather crucial while battling project deadlines in university projects and in real projects in professional practice. 

Lastly, my sessions on learning Revit was very effective as it was the first time using the software, and taught classes combined with Lynda tutorials really enabled me to achieve confidence in using Revit. In the past, I had considered Revit being complicated, as I have been more used to AutoCad. But I found that using Revit is more time saving, and it encouraged me to focus my attention on how different architectural elements worked, rather than drawing lines. These lessons have taken me a step ahead in using Revit to collaboratively work in the professional field. 

To conclude I would like to highlight that the mistakes and lessons I have learned during these sessions has encouraged me to experiment my designs using a variety of model making workshops in my future projects as well as in the professional field.