ASIAN ARCHITECTURE 1A: CONTEXTUAL ARCHITECTURE STUDY

This project is driven by Architectural Design Studio 4, as an approach to support students’ design through extensive research within the framework of Contextual Architecture in Asia. The Contextual Architecture framework focuses on students’ selection of building, with research objectives defined through in-depth literature review, leading to a well established case study paper structure and writing.Assessments involve oral presentation and a written paper of 2,000 words. The final topic of the paper should be evolved in discussion and consultation with the tutors and should be finalised by the fifth week of the course. Students will present the summary of the paper with images in class – which contains an outline of the paper covering issues and themes explored, as well as a bibliography.

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Work in a group of 6, students are required to identify a building in Asia in a sub-urban context which you intent to investigate through observation and readings on contemporary Contextual Architecture practices and issues in Asia.Based on the selected building, each member needs to conduct analysis on its Contextual Architecture elements which may include but not limited to: space organization and access hierarchy, sky line, compression and height, features related to the form of the building, building material and systems and visual making elements. The findings and analysis need to be compiled in an A2 visual presentation board. 

For this project, our group has chosen The Ningbo Historic Museum, by Wang Shu.