place making: an urban language used to describe a waterfront/park/square.

i'm suppose to design one which is related to the chinese culture.

the reason for this place making? (i've decided to narrow it down to a park), to attract people to come into the future library(to be design in the 3rd project). i'm not loving the site that our lecturer has chosen for us, it's actually an unused land at the back alley. the place is dirty and unattractive, and hidden. but i'm treating it as a challenge, while squeezing the juice out of my brain trying to see what i can do to improve the quality of the space.

my inspiration?

the 5 elements, which includes fire, metal, earth, water, wood.

and i'm suppose to incorporate all these elements in the design, for example, square will represent metal, and water elements like fountain will represent water.

so far i'm trying to make all the elements blend in together, without them looking as if they would clash, or the whole design looking like a cut and paste design without any connections.

le sigh.

here's some picture for the inspirations.

{the traditional moon gate commonly seen in traditional chinese parks. i'm thinking of reinventing it into a modern form where youths nowadays could relate to}

{ the fu dogs. legends say that they'll come to life once the clock strikes 12 and guard the area that they are intended too. personally i'm thinking of putting a pair of this at the entrance to the park....}

{bonsai trees, i'm using this as the main landscape for the place instead of shrubs or trees}

{water elements. i've seen some other popular parks adding small fountains. i think it's a general wastage of water but human beings (kids especially) have the universal attraction towards it, so i'm adding some of this small little fountains, since it's part of the 5 elements, and water is just part of a way to cool a tropical climate where it's summer everyday..}

{interesting street lamps. i think it's extremely important that a park is properly lit during the night. otherwise it would be just creepy and dark....}

the submission dateline is on the coming monday (!! 3 A1 boards!!!! fyi i haven't started yet). will post the presentation boards soon.

xoxo! :)