Planning

Planning is defined as the act of organising activities or tasks for a future date. Once a plan is made, it has to be maintained taking into account anything that may happen at future dates. In a group collaboration, planning requires determining the cost of the project, time for construction and does it meet the requirements of the client or brief. Plans should be reviewed periodically to make sure everything is on schedule and changed if needed.


In our specific UT3 Project, we have a time constraint, that is, our project due date. We have an outline or brief of what is to be designed so we can plan out what is to be done.

Planning as shown in the diagram above can be broken down into smaller parts such as design, selection, communication, monitor, information and analysis. All parts influence and affect the others down the track and its a constant repetition of these parts in an endless cycle until the final outcome is produced.

Information could be regarded as what needs to be done or required, analysis can be described as the breakdown of the information and an in-depth look into the problem, design would be looking into possible solutions to the problem, selection would be selecting the specific solution to use in the situation. Communication would require group collaboration between workmates and/or clients to discuss whether the chosen solution is the best solution to the problem and the final stage of monitoring would involve putting the plan into action and observing what the outcome is and gathering more information. The cycle then restarts and if the proposed solution was no satisfactory then the problem could be re-analysed and another solution could be planned out again.



References
Planning diagram
Wikipedia - Planning

Context

Why is context important in terms of the architectural examples?

Context plays an integral role of importance in architectural examples. For example, it can be seen in falling water where the surroundings make it feel as if the building belongs to the landscape. All contributing factors to context influence the architectural design and vice versa. They are reliant upon each other; a building cannot be designed without a context and context with no building is just a piece of land.

In our architectural model of the Market-rate housing in Brooklyn, the context plays a very important role in its design. It influences the style of design, the setting in time as well as the people that use the space. Our specific structure is set in the year 2000 in Green Point, Brooklyn. There has been an increase in rent in the area, thus people are leaving for cheaper areas, and those who cannot afford the increase of rent are forced to live on the streets becoming homeless. The increase of rent also leads to an increase of crime in the area and our setting has become that of a low class society living in the slums of Brooklyn.

In the example of Falling water by Frank Lloyd Wright, he shows us the importance of context in the design of his building. He blends the building into the context by using organic architecture. He does this by making the stream heard throughout the whole house, specified the walls be made with locally quarried stones and the use of cantilevered terraces which resemble the surrounding rock formations. Falling water is an excellent example of the importance of context and shows us how much the context can influence our design.

Hierarchy

Hierarchy can simply be defined as a ranking or order of things in a series (objects or people). These things all hold different levels of importance and are linked differently. Hierarchies occur in everyday situations such as in businesses, churches, army and politics. These hierarchies are commonly organised into a pyramidal structure with a single leader or boss at the top, which then branches into more people with lower ranks and eventually to the common society. There is also a flat Hierarchy layout known as heterarchy where decisions and choices are usually discussed with others and decided on together. In standard hierarchy, it is common for a heterarchy to take place between people of the same status or level.



In relation to our project architecture, our roles are determined and divided into specific tasks before commencing work. A typical pyramidal hierarchy structure would involve the allocation of work from the team leader to each individual. The leader would look at each persons strengths and weaknesses and then decide what they are to work on. In contrast, a heterarchy would generally involve people collaborating with each other and then deciding on what jobs to undertake.

In our specific project for our building of the Market-Rate housing in Brooklyn, New York, we often use a combination of both types of hierarchies. When we get our task from our leader (Russell) we analyse the problem and then decide together on who does what task. At other times we tell each other specifically what to do and work much like a pyramidal hierarchy structure.

References
Diagrams
Wikipedia - Hierarchy
Wikipedia - Social Hierarchy