MSA Live 23

Name: Yining Zheng

BA: University of Nottingham Ningbo China

Atelier: CPU

Skills: SketchUp/ Photoshop/ Illustrator/ Indesign/ Rhino/ Grasshopper/ Vray

About: Throughout my studies, I have gained valuable skills in design, technical drawing, and project management. I have been fortunate to work on a range of projects, from residential homes to public buildings, and have gained experience in both traditional and contemporary design styles. Looking ahead, I am excited to continue to explore the field of architecture and the importance of sustainability and functionality in design.

Interest: Traveling/ Arts/ Food

Posted 11 Mar 2023 21:21

Name: Yanjun Liu

BA: Zhengzhou University of Light Industry

Atelier: Infra

Skills: Sketchup/ Photoshop/ Illustrator/ AutoCAD/ Lumion /Rhino /InDesign /Escape

About: I love historical buildings that hold the memory of a country. It is the source of our culture. A memory that is silent and untouched. I also like to study new building techniques, such as interactive design and assembly buildings.

Interest: Travel, photography, reading

Posted 11 Mar 2023 21:23

Name: Hariz Zahidi

BA: Manchester School of Architecture (PraXXis)

Atelier: Infrastructure Space

Skills: Sketchup / AutoCAD / Adobe Suite

About: I'm a Malaysian who believes design needs to be demystified, since people already make design choices everyday without realising. Seeing people gain a deeper understanding of the places they inhabit, so that they can transform it to their liking, is what excites me the most.

Interests: I love to cook.

Posted 11 Mar 2023 21:25

Name: Vidal Jackson

BA: Liverpool John Moores

Atelier: CIA

Skills: Sketching, Models, Auto-cad, Sketchup, Lumion and Photoshop

About Me: I am currently studying part time masters due to having a full time job. I work 4 days a week and attend university 1 day a week. This allows me to develop real life skills which I can use within my studies which is an important part of my development. I graduated from my undergraduate in 2018 and have been out in practice ever since in which I have completed a great range of projects from house extensions, student schemes, feasibility studies, competitions and community engagement works.

Interests: Podcasts, drawing, football and reading

Posted 11 Mar 2023 21:26

Name: Chenkai Shao

BA: Tongji Zhejiang College

Atelier: CPU

Skills: Vray/ Grasshopper/ Rhino/ Sketchup/ Photoshop/ Illustrator/ Auto CAD/ Procreate

About: I like to explore the narrative nature of architecture, like to explore the perfect combination of aesthetics and space. For each project, we will understand the project requirements, analyze the design ideas and put them into practice. I like to express my design ideas by means of drawing, model making and digital modeling.

Interest: I enjoy watching movies, traveling, photography and painting, which are all my inspiration sources.

Posted 11 Mar 2023 21:28

Name: Cosmin George Dobrea

BA: Oxford Brookes University

Atelier: CIA

Skills: Rhino, Adobe Suite, Sketchup, ArchiCAD, AutoCAD, Oil Painting, Sculpture

About: After graduating in 2020 I spent a year in practice working on various projects ranging from individual dwellings to the refurbishment of multiple buildings within a school campus. I am interested in architecture that has a strong narrative and is rooted in its physical and historical context. I seek to use my creative mindset to create spaces that are not only visually beautiful, but also functional and able to facilitate meaningful everyday living and improve wellbeing.

Interests: Passionate about digital and hand drawing, painting, sports, history and learning about international cultures.

Posted 11 Mar 2023 21:58

OUR COLLABORATOR: URBAN IMAGINARIUM

Simeon Shtebunaev is representing Urban Imaginarium, our main collaborator for this live project. He is a doctoral researcher and lecturer at Birmingham City University and was one of the principal investigators on the Climania board game project. Last year, Urban Imaginarium developed a board game called Climania, created by thirteen teenagers from Balsall Health, Birmingham working with two BCU staff and other external collaborators in a co-design process. The main purpose for making the game was to inform people of the role of the built environment in the climate emergency.

More information:
https://climaniathegame.com

OUR AIM:

For this MSA Live project we aim to develop an educational tool in game format, which can be any type of physical or digital tool in the form of a game. The goal is to create a short, snappy and fun game/tool which can be used by a wide variety of people to create conversations and inform communities about the importance of urban planning, retrofitting and climate change.

Posted 12 Mar 2023 20:44

We aim to develop an educational tool in game format, which can be any type of physical or digital tool in the form of a game. The goal is to create a short, snappy and fun game/tool which can be used by a wide variety of people to create conversations and inform communities about the importance of urban planning, retrofitting and climate change.

We are improving upon an existing game:

"CLIMANIA is a printable, free-to-play climate action board game that teaches you how the built environment has a major part in averting man-made environmental collapse, narrowing down specifically on two issues: Urban Planning and Retrofit.

"The co-design was led by thirteen young people (aged 14 - 18) from Balsall Heath, Birmingham, in partnership with two Birmingham City University (BCU) researchers and artists across nine workshops in two months, and in consultation with architects, town planners, and community members.

"'[Letting] young people co-create the ideas, focus, rules and name of the game' was central to this project's success, and nowhere is this more obvious than the fun that these young co-researchers had throughout its development."

Posted 13 Mar 2023 20:31

The project will focus on community-led retrofit to develop a snappy, engaging tool that communities can use to educate themselves about the challenges and benefits of retrofitting residences within the terrace typology.

This is aligned with the following UN Sustainable Development Goals:
3) Good Health & Well-being
11) Sustainable Cities and Communities
13) Climate Action

Posted 13 Mar 2023 20:31

Within our first action week, we will be researching retrofit within the UK, specifically its challenges and necessary negotiations, alongside talks from external professionals. This initial research will aid us with knowledge to design our engagement tool.

For the second week, we will be making and testing our game to a satisfactory level of resolution. By the end, we will have conducted one workshop to trial this game and receive immediate feedback on its effectiveness as an engagement tool.

Posted 13 Mar 2023 20:52

Day 1 kicked off with a great ice breaker game of Climania. We split up into 3 groups to play the game before coming back together to give the pros and cons of the game. In our 3 groups we then each developed our own concept to improve the game and move it forward. Each group presented their concepts and ideas before voting on the most favourable to move forward to the design stage!

Posted 10 May 2023 15:54

Day 2 started with a great informative online lecture by John Christophers, designer of the zero carbon house in Birmingham. A great tour of his house from concept to completion as well as some construction details and important elements to consider when retrofitting – FABRIC FIRST!
The seminar ended with a great Q&A which helped to kickstart our research element of the week. The afternoon was spent splitting off into two groups to research gaming mechanics and retrofitting before ending the day presented and concluding on our findings.

Posted 10 May 2023 15:54

DAY 3 - MORNING

The day started off with a morning catch up from the past few days. We then had the pleasure of meeting our collaborator who gave a very informative lecture on both game design and retrofitting.

Following this we had a brainstorming exercises to move our initial concept further ready to play in the afternoon.

Posted 11 May 2023 19:12

DAY 3 - AFTERNOON

The afternoon was spent splitting into 2no. groups to test 2no. variations of our initial concept. We then made several iterations throughout the afternoon testing them as we went along. To conclude on the day we all came back together and shared our views and opinions. We were able to then brainstorm a final iteration ready for the design tomorrow!

Posted 11 May 2023 19:25

DAY 4 - MORNING

The day started off with a morning catch up, expanding on yesterday’s work. We then had a meeting with our collaborator to present our new concept.
This was followed by a very informative seminar by Scott Mc Auley. A great talk on his amazing work in retrofitting and climate change along with some impressive case studies for our game.

Posted 12 May 2023 15:50

DAY 4 - AFTERNOON

The afternoon was spent working up our revised iteration. We took on board our seminar from this morning to help guide us with decisions to make.

We are all happy with the final iteration of the week moving onto Monday when we will test it our again in our teams of 3!

Posted 12 May 2023 15:52

DAY 5 - MORNING

In the morning we reviewed our work from the previous Friday and discussed refining the rules for the board games, after which we worked in groups to deepen the boards we had designed on Friday and ended up with two sets of board games ready for practical playtesting.

Posted 15 May 2023 19:19

DAY 5 - AFTERNOON

In the afternoon we did a practical test of the board game. After the game, our BA students gave feedback on the game and we finally selected a version for the next stage of the visual design.

We divided the BA students into groups to design different parts of the board game and produced some drafts, which we will continue to deepen tomorrow.

Posted 15 May 2023 19:41

DAY 6 - MORNING

For the simple board game prototype from the previous day, we carried out the drawing of the board game elements pattern.

For those who needed to use software for card design, we carried out a work shop on Adobe and our BA students were very active learners and created a unique style.

Posted 17 May 2023 14:16

DAY 6 - AFTERNOON

In the afternoon, we deepened our sketches for the game, we embellished our board and produced a visual sketch, and almost finished our logo design, and we will now continue to refine our board design

Posted 17 May 2023 14:17

DAY 7 - MORNING

We had a video meeting with Simeon in the morning. He gave positive feedback on our progress in the past few days and proposed improvement suggestions to us. We will further deepen our design according to the feedback of Simeon.

Posted 18 May 2023 10:03

DAY 7 - AFTERNOON

In the afternoon, we deepened the design of the previous day, and focused on the visual part of the board game and the design of the retrofit card and question card, and we have designed and completed the effect design of the park part in the board.

Posted 18 May 2023 10:04

DAY 8 - MORNING

After a final debrief and discussion with Simeon, we finalised the design of core game materials and companion resources such as case studies booklet and a trifold glossary which would be included in a complete game kit.

Posted 18 May 2023 23:52

DAY 8 - AFTERNOON

Making preparations for the final print, we refine the visual elements that give the game life and upholds the narrative we want to tell. Buzzing with excitement to see and touch the final product.

Posted 19 May 2023 14:29

DAY 9 - MORNING

We printed two full sets at professional quality and conducted one final playtest of 50 minutes. We are highly impressed by the quality of our output at the conclusion of our project.

Posted 19 May 2023 14:29