Project o1 >> Community Service Initiative
E-Journal
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Introduction
The objective of the project is to expose students to the real-community living in real-life situation. The students are to work together as a team for architectural, culture, and environmental enhancing activities in the communities of different socio-economic status and social groups.
Week 01 – The Journey Started
In a group of 8 led by Jia Yi who is the leader in the group, we had taken two site options approached by Jia Yi: one is a community library opposite an adjacent street from a primary school in Kajang which needed some help on designing the landscape and second site which is in the school compound of SJK(C) Yu Hua which needed a designated reading corner for the children at the guard house of the school. After the two brief visit, we collected opinion from every group member and made up the decision to proceed our community service initiative project on SJK(C) Yu Hua reading corner due to the needs of the school are more prominent compare to the community library.
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Week 02 – Permission from the School
Before conducting the second site visit, we had our brainstorming sessions as a team to came out an initial idea for the reading corner. The initial idea was to create an interactive reading corner with seating area for the children to have a comfortable corner to read while waiting for their parents to arrive. The Initial ideas and proposal together with a rough 3D model of the design was presented to the teacher at SJK(C) Yu Hua which was also Jia Yi mother to request permission for the execution of our project in the school compound and to request and find sponsorship for the material require for our design.
Week 03 – First Site Visit
The second site visit were conducted to observe the situation of the school and issues of the existing reading corner. The most prominent of the site issue were the limited seating area for the children to read. Children can be seen standing around the reading area reading or sitting on the floor. Another interesting observation is that most of the student have their own sets of chess in their bag as after school leisure but they do not have a proper place to play, groups and groups of children can be seen sitting in the middle of the walkway disturbing the circulation flow.
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Next, Interviewed were made with the parents and students about their needs and desires regarding the reading corner. Discussion regarding the practicability and sustainability of our design with the people in charge of this project were done. Proper measurement and existing OKU circulation were measure and considered to better tackle their needs and the context.
Week 04- Finding Sponsorship
Group discussion were made after having our first tutorial session feedback from our tutor, Ms Ann regarding our initial idea. The design were further refine to suit the context as our initial design as our has not taking the OKU pathway seriously and had block the circulation of their. So, set back were made from the OKU pathway to allow their circulation. The second issue is that the movable chair were inconvenient for the children as the wooden panel seating were too heavy for children to move around. So, roller were added to the design.
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After refining our design, proposal were submitted of our first idea to the authority of the school for their feedback. And, we had successfully found sponsors from the one of the student’s parents who were interested in this project and willing to provide us materials. The material were mainly timber and wooden panel. Further discussion regarding the quantity needed were to further discuss after finalizing our design.
Initial Design
Refined Design
Finalize Design
Week 05- Proposal Submission
This week we were require to submit our proposal for our design which state the objectives, site consideration and problem, the community needs and the finalize design as a solution of the above.
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As to manage our time better and efficiency of work progress, we had meet up to discussed and came up with time table plans and work delegation among ourselves after considering everyone’s strength before executing the project. I were given the responsibility to collect all working progress evidence in the form of photo and video taking to ensure we had enough footage and information for the board and video editing. Next we also discuss about the approximate quantity of material we needed and to make contact with the sponsorship to prepared sufficient material before planning our next site visit.
Week 06 - Commence of Product Execution
Few days before making our trip to the site, we communicate with our sponsorship to ensure that the materials are sufficient so that we will have a fruitful progress.
For the first day of our execution, we fixed the component dimensions for each product of our reading corner including the platform, rack and seating. This is to double check whether the material provided are enough before assembling them and to have a more systematic and progress to avoid confusion.
Week 07& 08 – Execution Stage
On the second day of our execution, some started to assemble the component into product, where some were to continue preparing the components of each product. Video were taken for each construction progress.
Week 09 – Commence of Execution
This is the last week for our site visit, the main task is to finish up all the final assemble of each component into the reading corner site boundary. At the same time, we met with the children for the first time during the weekdays and we can clearly see how the condition and human density is. This week I get the chance to interact with diverse of children there. They are easily approachable as their curiosity brings them toward us, sincerely asking us about the reading corner and some were eagerly utilizing the space, and some even approach us to offer help.
At the same time, we conduct a satisfaction survey regarding the reading corner for the parents and children. All parties were highly satisfied with the reading corner, we recorded video on their reactions and feedback, which would then go on to be featured in the video.
Week 10 – Board and Video
After finishing constructing the reading corner and sufficient video footage were taken, we have then commenced on the creation of the presentation board and video editing to better explain our design and our progress of construction. Below were the video and board that we completed.
Week 11 – Conclusion
As we had a limited time to commence the project with all the overlapping submission for other subject, planning ahead of time does really matters and communication with our groupmates and the community play an important role as miscommunication may end up in delay to project execution timeframe.
Design what you what and what they need are pretty much different, and learning and understanding their need and provide what they need and enhance their lifestyle is what really matters in this project. And for my opinion, I think that overall our group dis a great job in designing and engaging with the community during this project.
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The overall feedback from the parents and children were positive and they are happy to see changes in their school compound. Seeing children happily utilizing the space for learning and playing, I felt a sense of satisfaction as all the hard work seems to be appreciated. The smile on their face were the motivation for us to do better.
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The material used for our design were all timber and it does contribute to the environment
