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The first step of the design process involves thinking about the big picture – the Overview. It’s where you define and state the problem you are trying to solve.
You’ll need to really understand the problem that exits before chasing after solutions. Does your school have any athletic facilities for outdoor sports now? Start by making notes about what’s working and what isn’t working with the existing design.
Next, write and post a statement about out who are the people that have the need for a new design? How long has this situation been a problem? Have others tried to solve this design problem before you? What was the result?
Then write and post a short, but clear, success statement. How will you know if you have a successful solution when you’re done? When you’re nearly finished with your design project, you can go back to this success statement to see if your design has met the criteria you first proposed.
Our group will be designing a Sport pavilion to replace the two gyms we currently have now. It will be located behind the school where teh track currently is. An indoor stadium will be put in its place of about two or three stories high. It will mainly provide for football and storage as well as various other spots along the way. Soccer, Tennis and Swimming sports will not be involved as they already have their own area.
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In the Collect Info step of the design process, you try to gather as much information as possible about your school's existing outdoor athletic facilities. You also want to learn as much as you can about the students and staff who will use it. You can't propose new solutions until you figure out and document what the existing problems are. That's what this step is for.
Try This
- Do a site visit of your school's existing outdoor athletic facilities and make notes, sketches, and take lots of photographs. Note conditions that are unsafe, unsecure, or that are less than ideal.
- Sit and study photographs of your site visit. Post images and comments of what you remember and note where you might change things and how.
- Interview your school's athletic director and least 4 student athletes from various sports and ask them what they like and dislike about the current outdoor facilities.
- Calculate the number of outdoor sports played at your school and the number of student athletes who play those sports. Consider how this information will affect your new athletic pavilion.
- Do an analysis at different times of the day, week, or school year and create a chart or diagram with average usage and high / low points.
- View an aerial photo of your school's existing athletic fields on Google maps. What are the existing overall dimensions? IMPORTANT! Post a screencapture of this aerial photo here so everyone can understand the relationship between your school building, the athletic fields, and the proposed site of your new pavilion. Describe the surrounding area.
- Draw a basic site plan sketch of the existing athletic fields and note existing structures such as the field, track, seating, storage, locker rooms, concession stands, and any fences. Include dimensions on your sketch so every can understand the size of the field. IMPORTANT! Post a copy of this existing site plan.
My work for the Collect Information step:
Summary
Our group collected info mainly through interviews with a panel of athletic directors to see what truely needed repairs and what they would have prefered to have built if the budget was available.Flickr.com © All rights reserved by kettlemoraine
In the Brainstorm Ideas step of the design process, you start to be inspired by new places and you put some early ideas down on paper that show what you've found in the Collect Info step.
Try This
- Go online and research other schools, universities, or public centers to determine good / bad examples of how athletic equipment and gear is stored and if anything is done to accommodate student athletes and the fans who use these outdoor facilities. What inspires you?
- Save copies of these images and post them in the slides for your project. Include a hyperlink to the photo in the caption, to credit the photographer.
- Gather all your notes from your interviews and post a summary of the results in the text box for your project.
- Make a list of all the unique spaces and features you plan to have in your athletic pavilion. Write this list of items in the text box for your project.
- Your athletic pavilion can include any types of spaces and features you feel are most important for your particular school, but here are a few suggestions:
+ locker or changing rooms for home and visiting teams
+ athletic equipment storage rooms
+ concession stand
+ trophy cases
+ water fountains
+ offices for athletic director or staff
+ bathrooms for fans
+ exercise or weight rooms
- Determine the best location for your new structure. Make side notes of where new elements may go or how you would change what is currently in place.
- Take note of unsafe conditions or conditions that do not make sense (For example, not enough storage for soccer equipment; no place for fans to buy popcorn at events; no place for athletes to change clothes or store belongings).
My work for the Brainstorm Ideas step:
Summary
We met in a group each day during first period and discussed ideas and voted on the most popular ones to determine a winner.Flickr.com © All rights reserved by davidb0229
In the Develop Solutions step, your rough ideas come together with drawings and models that can show others your solutions for a new athletic pavilion.
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- Use cardboard to create a 3D study model of early ideas. Or use create a rough digital study model of your ideas. These models don't need to show detail, just the overall size and massing for your athletic pavilion.
- Try out different ideas and save each “version”. You do not want to lose a good idea later! Other people viewing your project - other students around the country, your teacher, and mentors - want to see how your ideas have changed over time. This means that if you're working on your digital model, you’ll want to be sure to keep re-saving it with a new file name every few days as you work through the steps. If you're working on a physical model, take photos of it before working on it each day.
- Show your ideas to your teacher and peers for some feedback. You can also review your progress with the test group you may have interviewed and test whether your design would meet their needs or address their concerns. Learn from the feedback you receive and incorporate into your final design solution.
- Be sure to check out and make comments on other student design projects. Post a link to your project on your Facebook account.
- Do not leave work for the last minute! Going through a detailed design process requires time to gather information, develop ideas, and make improvements. This is difficult or impossible if you try to pull everything together a week before your project is due. Projects that are researched, developed, and well executed will always stand out!
My work for the Develop Solutions step:
You have not completed a previous step yet. Are you sure you
want to start a new step before you complete: Collect?
You can begin this step but you will still need to finish your other work. Start Develop
You can begin this step but you will still need to finish your other work. Start Develop
Flickr.com © All rights reserved by mastermindingmaven
The Final Design step of the design process is to create more finished drawings and models that illustrate your ideas to others. Remember, your explanation text, and the types of drawings, images, and models you share need to tell the whole story of your project to someone who may or may not have ever visited your school.
Try This
- Review your design and test it against your original sucess statement that you wrote for the Overview. Does it meet this criteria?
- Does your final design meet the expectations of the student athletes and athletic director that you interviewed? If not, you may need to go back to the drawing board and revise your design.
- Make a list of your ideas, sketches, and study models. For your final design you will want to write and post a short but effective paragraph of your process and the unique solutions you found developed. Tell us about your ideas.
- Your teacher (and architectural mentors, if you're working with any) will be looking for these things:
+ originality in your design
+ your ability to creatively solve the design challenge
+ the quality of images, sketches, drawings, and models you have uploaded in each of the five design process steps (Overview, Collect Info, Brainstorm Ideas, Develop Solutions, and Final Design).
+ how well you have written about and explained your thinking in each of the design process steps
My work for the Final Design step:
You have not completed a previous step yet. Are you sure you
want to start a new step before you complete: Collect?
You can begin this step but you will still need to finish your other work. Start Final
You can begin this step but you will still need to finish your other work. Start Final
Comments
I see that you have good summaries for each part but pictures would really help in understanding.
Cheyenne Garcia - Director of Energy and Sustainability
Miranda Marcussen Director of Community Relations
Yes as Cheyenne said, pictures would really improve and illustrate the points you are seeking to make. I hope you can upload soon so we all can help you. Though I hope you remember to have enough space to serve all the functions necessary for the athletic department.
You seem to have an end goal but your group does not appear to have anything on how that will be reached. Interior, exterior, anything would help.
Elite Innovative Solutions - Mitchell Zaborski