Design Thesis Process Diagram – 2nd Edition

UPDATE on the Design Thesis Process Diagram:

I posted this earlier on June 9th 2009. Please note that with regards to the Question in the beginning, it is the same as the Hypothesis. And very closely after that the Objectives. Which people often quote as the Design Problem.

The bottom line is: If you are stuck and cannot actually say what is your Thesis, then you just need to identify the Design Problem / Statement. Its the same as the question/hypothesis/objectives… Don’t get confused.

I write these things in my blog to explore what Design Thesis is. It is meant to be helpful and not to confuse.

So if you are stuck now – State your Design Problem / Statement.

If your Design Problem / Statement lack issues or just one thing only at a superficial level, you are in trouble. You really have got to sit down and really think hard. Go back to all the comments and criticism and really find out what is it that is lacking. There is still time left to create a viable thesis for the 5th year level. If only you just take time to think properly…

I was having a discussion with some of the students yesterday, when I realised the “question” needed to be stressed again and again, as the students were mumbling more about the “what” and the “how to”.

The “what” and the “how to” is more to do with the “hypothesis” and is further down the design thesis road. You need to know where the starting point is if not you go down the “merry path of no where” and that would be wasting your time, so back to the “question” which has to be the right question as you will need to answer it further down the road when you finally summarise all that you had gathered and start with the concept.

If you look at this diagram and the co-relation with semester’s duration of time, this is the optimum or predicted time to be taken along the road.

So there have been cases where the time taken was really long to get to the concept.

We want to avoid that, but if it happens and you are pulling your hair being static and motionless suddenly in the course of the journey, take a look at the diagram and see where you are. Perhaps you may need to retrace your steps even right back to the “question”.

So when we say “process”, we really mean a step-by-step journey rather than a jump or a leap to the unknown. Well, sometimes the process do feel like a leaping off a cliff but its more a feeling of dread doing something you have never done before rather than the process itself.

Design Thesis Recollections 2008/09

Today I presented a slide show that lasted about six minutes to the school. I showed snippets of slides taken during the studio sessions, albeit studio pin-up, interim crits and studio inputs.

I started with saying:

When I was asked one year earlier about the Design Thesis – whether sustainability and conservation is incorporated into the 5th year design thesis project, I was hesitant to answer. After a year, I could confirm now that every facet of sustainability and conservation is being explored in the studio. For sustainability, issues were drawn out from ethics, environmental sustainability, economic viability and social justice. For conservation, building and urban rehabilitation and adaptive re-use.

Design thesis allows you to explore, examine and investigate something that you wanted to after all 4 years of study.

It followed this text: (from my other blog postings)

(Starts after first two slides)

The Truth of the Matter

Do you know what the real story is?

The real story about you, is that – You have got to KNOW yourself.

You have got to do anything in your life for your own sake.

If your lecturer says, “It’s a C!” It does not matter. What matters is that your own evaluation of yourself. If you think it’s an A, and not a C… guess what? It is an ‘A’. What matters is not what your lecturer thinks but what you think. Believe me, I am telling you the Truth about Life.

Life is about how YOU see it. Not about how your lecturer or anyone sees it, not even your parents.

This is not about not being grateful to your lecturers or your parents. No, it’s not about that. You are grateful and all that. It’s about “what really matters”. And that is what you think. And not what other people think.

The truth of the matter is – it does not matter what people think. The truth of the matter, is what you think is what truly matters!

(Pause for quote shown in slide)

People say you are not good enough, or that your work is not to par. Well, it’s all up to you to believe what people say.

To be honest, people have to do their jobs and are guided by some rules or beliefs or principles. It is up to you to believe them or not. It’s up to you whether you want to follow them, inside your heart.

Find your own way to evaluate yourself. Find your own truth and that’s what matters most.

In all honesty, that’s what really count, in your life. What you think and what you feel.

(Pause for quote shown in slide)

Let the Design Take You Away

The best designs are intuitive. Because everything that you need to design is inside of you. You just need to let it flow and channel it correctly.

Huat talked about the mind’s eye. He said, “Getting that evasive image in one’s mind’s eye and then executing it is what it’s really about”. In my opinion, that image comes after intense searching, like soul-searching for ideas. It is an exhaustive exercise, being thorough and testing all possibilities or considering all elements in order to find “the one image”. You don’t get it by forgetting it. You can only get it by persistence.

(Starts after first two slides)

This is the core characteristic of a true designer. Engaging him/herself in this search. When the image comes into focus, things starts to make sense.

Do not give up the search for this “evasive image” as it tends to be elusive until you find it.

The perception of being intuitive is not the same as just relying on one’s instincts. It is not child’s play. One definition of intuitive is being insightful. To be insightful is to expand knowledge.

To be intuitive is the first step in being a good designer and to be able to originate and not merely rehashing other people’s images. It is working through a problem and finding an answer. Your own original answer.

(End)

Download ppt: Design Thesis 0809 Slides

Originality

We talked about being original and the idea that a thesis must have originality. We can start with a mundane and common topic, like a school or a gallery. But in order for it to be a thesis, two, three or four things must happen… questions must be asked, especially fundamental and deep questions to create the depth in engaging thought to the problem.

We talked of issues and the importance of extracting more and more issues of the problem. You see, when you have a topic, like a school, it is at the same time a “problem” or another words, a challenge and a task for you to complete. To complete what? To complete the new discovery.

Design thesis is a story. It is also a journey of discovery. So like any story and any journey you must start somewhere.

( I will add more later)

How the Design Thesis Affected Me

The greatest lesson that I learned after being involved with these 24 lives and their projects was that I should never take anything for granted.

Being intimately inter-woven into the whole tapestry of each of the individual student’s thought process, I felt like a ball of “fluff”! I mean the whole trip was immense and I feel like a small piece of fluff, left-over from the whole threading and knitting together of design. I felt humbled by it all.

Now I said earlier that the grades did not matter, but the learning was more important. People would say, it would be easy for me to say that because I am the tutor, but hey, I had been here before, doing a design thesis myself back then in North London Polytechnic in 1989-90. And it wasn’t easy either, although not as rigorous as what my students had been put through in the last year though. Regardless, I needed to state here that I feel so blessed that I was a part of it all.

This is my first experience as the studio coordinator and I was feeling that I sat on a roller-coaster ride in the last two weeks especially. I was praying for the best outcome possible. I mean, if its all up to me, I would not have felt that way, right? We had to defend the students’ thesis to the examiners, internal and external.

The ride was really wild. Bumpy and edge of the seat, hanging by dear life sort of a trip. I wanted so badly for everyone to fulfill their potential. I wanted so much for everyone to be proud of themselves.

Yes, I felt like a small and tiny insignificant thing to this immense and gigantic experience and still feel so. The design thesis experience was like orbiting space and feeling very tiny in comparison to the greatness of the universe. Yes, that kind of feeling of being truly blessed. You may think its weird that I say that, but I tell you, I might have thought I was in control, but in truth, I am the least in control of the destiny of the 24 lives.

I was swept away, even worst then the students, because at least they were doing the drawings and models, while I was just a mere “hitch-hiker” to this unbelievable trip.

24 projects, 24 lives

You don’t know really when you first get involved with the 24 projects, you are involving 24 lives.

All you know, as a studio master is that, hey, the special semester is coming and you have to prepare for it, the proformas, the course info., the programme and the schedule. And then you have the first session where everyone presents their two topics and the studio masters deliberate on them, etc, etc.

And fast forward 35 weeks plus plus later and here we are post design thesis stage and looking at graduation…

Every single individual that I have been blessed to meet and be involved with had their own unique destiny with their projects. Each project was conceived with their acceptance. They may have been cajoled and influenced into doing the topic but only with their own acceptance and embrace. It may not have been a tight embrace for some, but then again that would have been more to do with their willingness or unwillingness to be subjected to the design thesis process.

The design thesis process affected their lives. Some grew thin and emaciated. Some grew fatter and flabbier. Some had permanent frowns and furrows. While others had baggy eyes and tears wallowing indefinitely.

Yes, there is no doubt that the design thesis affected them all in their different ways.

24 projects and 24 lives.

It was different for each of them, because they had different reasons to do it. I would argue that the grade that they each received meant differently for each of them. Maybe for one person a B+ is a let down but for another a great achievement. But a grade is just something someone else gave to you. What is most important is that whether you had changed for the better or discovered something about yourself in the process. Your own grade of yourself is more important.

Exhibition on the Design Thesis Studio – End of Year Work (Session 2008/09)

You are invited to view the Design Thesis Studio – End of Year Work (Session 2008/09) at the following time, dates and venue.

Time: 9 am – 4 pm

Date: Friday, 17th of April

Venue: Dewan Tunku Canselor, University of Malaya

The exhibition showcases 24 different Architectural Design Projects from the Design Thesis Studio / Final Year / Fifth Year students of the Bachelor of Architecture Course of the Faculty of Built Environment, University of Malaya’s 2008/09 Session.

The projects are listed as below:

1. Disaster Assistance & Rescue Training Centre

2. Kendiri: Servicemen Rehabilitation and Community Centre

3. Budget Airport Terminal

4. Tropical Monsoon Mall

5. ASEAN Islamic World Centre

6. Children Rehab Hospital

7. Dance Sport City

8. Chendering Fisherman’s Wharf

9. Book Park

10. Perodua Design and Brand Centre

11. Centre for Independent Arts

12. Mosque

13. Memorial Park in Bukit Seputeh

14. Eco-literacy School in FRIM

15. Penang Chinese Opera House

16. Bangsar Community Library

17. Malaysian Institute of Art

18. Cross-border Station

19. Mah Meri’s School in Kg. Sg. Bumbun, Pulau Carey

20. International Students Hostel

21. Revitalization of Pasar Seni

22. Reinventing the City’s Fire Station

23. Museum of Modern Art Kuala Lumpur (MoMA_KL)

24. The Revitalization of Malacca Old Fort

Spoon-feeding

Upon analysing and dissecting the work displayed yesterday by the Design Thesis Studio (2008/09), my colleague went up to me and asked me, “Nazy, think about it…have you been spoon-feeding the students?”

Then I had a think.

Spoon-feeding is like “babying” or “putting stuff with my own hands”, like force-feeding!

No, of course NOT!

You cannot spoon-feed maturity. I mean the students are mature. You use psychology man! You use means that are subtle. Sometimes you use the ‘whip’ but I did not have to use that much, in fact very little.

They were hungry to do well and it showed.

I am just happy that I did my job or my part of the bargain.

Belief

When you come to the last leg of your design thesis journey, what is there left but belief.

Believe in yourself that you will be able to do well at the end of the semester.

Believe in your ability to fight all odds and produce the work that is necessary to make you proud.

You are doing this for yourself and people that who sincerely wants you to do well, parents, family and friends.

Thesis Overview

My PhD thesis journey had crossed path with a another journey that I had been making as the Design Thesis coordinator. This process had occurred during the last two weeks.

When I presented for my PhD thesis viva, I decided in the first 10 minutes to do a Thesis Overview based on a mind-mapping technique. My supervisors were instrumental in advising me to rethink about how I would present for this first 10 minutes. During the mock viva session two days before the real one, they asked me questions regarding “why” I did this thesis; “what” I did; “how” I did it and so on. This really helped me to get a good start to the PhD viva exam. I presented well and had not waffled on indefinitely like I sometimes did. So that was that for my PhD thesis.

Last week during desk crit for the Design Thesis studio, I decided to use the same method with each of the students I sat with and I found out that it made them think clearer. I asked after we finished with each student whether things are made clearer now, and they said “yes” and many even thanked me. Wow! That was something.

Take a look at the pic. Sorry its in reverse. But do you get my drift?

You see, we first ask questions in the very beginning, mostly to ourselves what we want to do for our design thesis, but the most important question was “why” did we want to do that topic for our thesis?

This roughly works out the reasons for why we did what we did. And it is very important that we know this and explicitly describe these reasons. These are what is equivalent to a Research Question, which we need to answer at the end of the day.

The product or design that was or will be achieved at the end will need to answer these questions. So now you need to think “why” did you do this thesis?

And it will be clearer whether you have achieved what you had set out to do.

Then the rest of the task would be to do the best you can as a designer.

Design Development

I am closing my eyes. I want to imagine each of my students’ project.

Searching for the final image.

I want to imagine walking through the spaces and apreciating the architecture. I want to be able to touch the walls, sit at the cafe or verandah and breathe in the atmosphere. Then I would find the accessible toilet and see whether it works! Haha!

Well…I want to know everything.

Design development is like that. Searching, finding, exploring. Tweaking here and there. Refining and confirming.