THE BATTLE OF GRIDS: PREPARING FIRST YEAR STUDENTS FOR THEIR UPCOMING DESIGN STUDIES IN JORDAN

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THE BATTLE OF GRIDS PREPARING FIRST YEAR
STUDENTS FOR THEIR UPCOMING DESIGN STUDIES IN
JORDAN 

• Dr. Mohammad Ali Yaghan Arch. Rejan Ashour
• German Jordanian University
• Muqarnas for Design
• www.muqarnas.org

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Introduction

• Many basic design courses are still affected by
  the model proposed by the Bauhause during the
  last century
• Although time-based through computers is added in
  concept, still the use of computers in teaching
  design is usually postponed to second semester
  of the second year of education

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Introduction

• In Jordan, the high school design-and-art-educatio
  n (in most of the national-governmental schools)
  fails to prepare students with the minimum tools
  needed to join a design course.
• For some, and due to certain cultural
  backgrounds, visual art is not even considered as
  an acceptable subject when it deals with the
  human or the animated figures

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Introduction

• This situation, lead schools of architecture in
  Jordan to concentrate their first year curriculum
  on the basics of composition and on the manual
  skills of the students. CAAD education starts in
  the second year.
• This situation also requires the preparation of
  basic design course with projects that help
  overcoming these setbacks, and prepare the
  students for their upcoming design studies.

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Basic Design at GJU

• In Jordan the foundation course in the schools of
  architecture, and design in general, spans over
  two semesters.
• At the German Jordanian University (GJU) the
  courses are called Basic Design and
  Introduction to Architectural Design
  reflecting an emphasis on the architectural
  aspect of design.

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Basic Design at GJU

• A student should be able to represent physical
  objects, abstract concepts, and emotions in his
  designs. These abilities should be acquired
  through free-hand-, technical drawing-, and basic
  design- courses.
• The problems were categorized as the
  pre-education of students, the requirements of
  their upcoming education, and the coordination
  between basic design and concurrent subjects
  taught.

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Basic Design at GJU

• The structure of the two semesters was designed
  with these problems in mind.
• The first course concentrates on abstract
  conceptual design, the basics of composition, and
  the student ability to represent himself visually
  (2D 3D), while the second concentrates on
  understanding the human aspect and proportion,
  the ability to represent the designs in the
  proper architectural language, and finally to
  actually utilizing the abstract concepts in the
  first course in a simple architectural design.

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The Battle of Grids

• Out of their years of experience in teaching
  basic design, the current authors designed and
  developed a project that they believe it
  reorients the first year students towards the
  nature of design studies, empowers them with the
  required basic skills, and expose them to
  different aspects of design.
• It was implemented for two years on the students
  of the German Jordanian University.

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The Battle of Grids -method

• The objectives were defined as a result of
  situation.
• The physical outcome was visualized and divided
  into stages and the brief was formulated.
• A table of the intended acquired skills for each
  stage was created to help the educators achieve
  the objectives.
• The studio time involved open discussions with
  students and, lectures on the different aspects
  of design, and one to one tutoring for each
  student.
• Periodical discussions were conducted to evaluate
  the outcome of each stage, the preparation for
  the next, and the individual case of each student
  and his evolution.

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The Battle of Grids -Objectives

• Introducing the students to the following
  notions
• -The characteristics of shapes and their grids
• -Design is the result of an encounter of
  different aspects of the subject under
  consideration
• -Design and design-development should be
  according to a concept (in this case -abstract
  concepts).
• -Design is a process
• -Color can be used as a design tool to assert the
  concept and not for being beautiful
• Enhancing the following
• -The students understanding of the relation
  between 2D 3D
• -Their technical-drawing capabilities
• -Their model-making capabilities

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The Battle of Grids -Brief

• Stage I
• I-1 Draw the basic 2D shapes then design their
  distribution within a landscape rectangular paper
  (2872 cm -a standard size for later stages).
• I-2 Study the characteristics and the grids of
  these shape understand the logic of the shape.
• I-3 Come up with any phenomenon of importance to
  you and assign its past, present, and future to
  one of the shapes. The choice should be made
  according the characteristics of the shape as
  perceived to match the phenomenon era.
• I-4 According to the grid of each shape create a
  black and white design that represents the
  phenomenon at one of periods

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The Battle of Grids -Brief

• Stage II
• Define the most dominant design, its grid must
  spread over the space come into contact with the
  other two grids

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The Battle of Grids -Brief

• Stage III
• As in our real life a battle between the dominant
  grid and other two will arise and all will be
  affected, design these effects

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The Battle of Grids -Brief

• Stage VI
• Redesign the black and white designs to match
  with the new overall gird

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The Battle of Grids -Brief

• Stage V
• Assign a color for each era of the design and
  make transitions between the colors

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The Battle of Grids -Brief

• Stage VI
• Try to read this two dimensional design as a
  representation of a three-dimensional design and
  create the resulting from

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The Battle of Grids - Materials and media

• The project was implemented on white card board
  with pencil and water color.
• The final submission all stages were mounted to
  the wall in a vertical sequence. That was the
  first time the student would encounter his
  project as a whole. A new understanding of the
  project was envisioned (even to educators). All
  students projects were mounted horizontally
  beside each other which enrich even more the
  overall understanding of the project.

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The Battle of Grids - Duration

• The projects spanned over eight weeks covering
  half the length of the course.

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The Battle of Grids Intended acquired skills
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The Battle of Grids - Outcomes

• The project along with the efforts of all
  educators and students produced highly acceptable
  results that were commended by all external
  examiners. The subjects they chosen to represent
  were very interesting and varied widely such as
  womens rights, pollution, status of religion,
  racism to name just few.

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The Battle of Grids - Outcomes
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The Battle of Grids - Outcomes
The students showed developed skills in later
projects. Some of them even made direct similar
approaches in later design courses and achieved
quality results.
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The Battle of Grids - Evaluation

• To evaluate the project and its role in students
  total education a survey was conducted. It
  included students who participated in the project
  and the educators.

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Students Questionnaire
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Regarding the conceptual design, the students
think that they can put a concept in visual form
(Q1 1.6), and that they should develop their
designs in all stages according to a basic
concept (Q2 1.5) with aspects of color and form
following that concept (Q13 1.7). On the
analytical side the students see that now they
appreciate designs according to their concepts
(Q3 1.6), and that they have basis for
criticizing designs (Q4 1.9 and Q111.8). They
perceive design as a multifaceted task to be
handled in a parallel manner (Q121.7). They are
also confident in their ability to analyze
two-dimensional shapes and deduct their
properties (Q101.8). For the manual skills the
students state that they benefited from the
project (Q5 1.6 for drafting, Q8 1.7 for model
making, Q6 2 for coloring). Most of them are new
for such skills (Q9 1.6 for first serious model
making, and Q7 2.1 for first serious
coloring) For the 3D visualization issue the
students believe that this project helped them
doing just that (Q14 2 for the ability to so,
Q15 2 for acquiring the ability from this
project, and Q16 3.3 for having this ability
before). Finally, the students think the timing
and the coordination with other subjects is good
(Q17 2), but they did not think strongly that
they used their capabilities in later projects
(Q18 2.6).
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Educators Questionnaire
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Regarding the conceptual design, the educators
see the project helps teaching the student to
represent a concept in visual form (Q11.3) and
develop the design in all stages according to the
starting concept (Q21). The educators are more
enthusiastic towards this aspect. On the
analytical side the educators think that the
project helps students to appreciate designs
according to their concepts (Q31.8) enable them
to criticize according to solid basis (Q41.8).
The projects effect on the students ability to
analyze 2D shapes and find their properties is
highly affirmed (Q81). On the 3rd dimension
visualization aspect the educators highly ranked
the project (Q91.3). On the synchronization
issue the project was also highly ranked
(Q101.5). In general the two questionnaires
resulted in close outcomes. The project is
perceived as a good start for the first year
students. Some modifications and enhancements can
be added to all aspects in general and to the
coloring skills and to linking the project with
later design tasks.
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Thank you