MDES Exhibition

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EXHIBITION DESIGN BRIEF

Brief from Client

• Design an exhibition to showcase the works of graduating students of UNSW, Master of Design course in Singapore

• The works are from Design Studio Project module

• These will be both 2d and 3d works

• There will be big and small projects so there should be a way to make them equally significant

• There should be criteria for guidelines

• The exhibition also can be stuff that represents the course

• Think of some quality that can bring different design practices together

• Can be something for Singapore community and of something Asian

• There should be a Grand opening

• Select a suitable venue

Refining the brief further

Selecting a venue

After much thought, there are 3 nominees for the venue, Atrium at Orchard, Raffles city and Mita building. Below are some of the facts and shots of the 3 venues.

Atrium at Orchard

• Atrium at Orchard is at the corridor of Orchard Road and Dhoby Ghaut and it is located besides Plaza Singapura.

• There are 2 office Towers – 10 stories and six stories high.

• There are also 2 bus stops serving 15 routes located outside shopping mall.
• 280 lots from Plaza Singapura making a total of 560 carpark lots available for visitors to the exhibition, exclusive of other nearby parking lots available

• The exhibition will be able to tap from the commuters as well as shoppers and office workers in the vicinity.

Raffles City

• Raffles City Shopping Centre is located in the heart of the city.

• More than 50,000 shoppers pass through the shopping centre daily.

• The shopping centre houses more than 100 specialty stores

• 76% of our shoppers are between 20 to 40 years old and 49% shoppers are males and 51% are females High personal income of more than S$2,000 and high household income of more than S$5,000

• The average time spent at Raffles City Shopping Centre is 2 hours.

• Ample car parking facilities are available in the 3-level basement providing more than 1,000 lots.

Mita Building

• Quality of the space:  good ambience and location.  Excellent exposure for design and arts related events by virtue of its adjacency with the Ministry of the Information and the Arts.

• Cost:  $300 / day for the rental of exhibition space only. Provision of air-con from 9 am to 6 pm on weekdays is included in the rental.Extra charges for the provision of air-con for weekends. Other charges like microphone, amplifier, additional lighting will be furnished later.
• Dates available: From 25^th Jan to 18^th Feb 2004 and March 2004 onwards are available.  Exhibition space is fully booked from Aug 2003 to Dec 2003.

Chosen Venue: Mita Building

CONSULTATION

CONCEPT DESIGN

Theme: PRO.cess

Process definition by Longman dictionary of contemporary English is

A connected set of actions, operations, or events that are performed in order to reach a particular result.

For designers, process illustrates the flows of thought and actions needed to develop a design. It involves conceptual studies and is a method for solving intellectual questions or problems not physical ones.

The graduates of Master of design course are very familiar with design process, may it be during their master degree course, other courses or in their work place. Design Process is inevitably an essential procedure that every designer has to go through in developing a design. It is like eating and drinking, without it you would not be able to move on with your design.

It is because of these reasons the theme PRO.cess is suitable for the exhibition. Process is important in Master design course, sometimes even more important than the end product. How do we design? Where do we get the concepts? What inspire us? How we think? How we solve problems? We do research, like object identity, ecology and human factors. All these are part of Design Process that is linked to our end design.

Through this exhibition, the beauty of design process is being appreciated. When we appreciate, we know things better and so we can design and manage design better.

The exhibition also shows the student understands towards design process through their works. The inspirations, the sketches, the models, and the final product. Design Process also shows that we do not simply copy in designing. Since this will be the first showcase of graduating students’ work from UNSW in Singapore, we feel that we have to really emphasize on this, to create first good impression and to set a certain standard for UNSW graduates.

The theme is written as “PRO.cess”. This is to give an emphasis on the word “PRO” as part of the word Process. “Pro” is an informal short term for “Professional who is defined as a person who has great experience and high standards of behaviour, skill and qualities. A Master (or master degree holder) is definitely a Pro. “PRO.cess” points out that Process and Pro is interconnected, they are related. Thus, to be a Pro in Design, one has to practice and appreciate Design Process.

Font: Hand written

Colour scheme: Red and white

Material: Wood and fabric

DESIGN DEVELOPMENT

Design Process:

From the beginning, we knew we wanted something Asian. Besides the fact that the exhibition is to be held in Singapore or that the client has stated that he would prefer something Asian, we very much supported the idea as it is what we are, our identity. Thus we decided to look on Asian cultures and art form.

Origami played a huge influence in the design of this exhibition. It is a Japanese art that has been passed down for generations, enjoyed by people young and old. It is also something that is rich in Asian culture.

Models instead of drawings were used from the very beginning of the design process. Manual work was done by cutting and folding a square-shaped twirl design. The shape is then pulled out of the square area to produce a pop up geometric model.

We played around with this model. Design process normally starts with a brief that is given to the designer. In this stage, the process is normally constant and the pattern is usually uniform. Which means, everyone do the same things, analyze the brief, find inspirations, goes to library, etc. They way they think and act are much alike and this is represented in the model through the more constant and repetitive structures in the beginning as you enter the exhibition through the front gates. As each individual designer finds his/her own styles and preferences, way of thinking, and way of doing things, they take bigger step, more complex, more variety and more wild. Thus the structures at the middle and toward the end are more complex and wild too. At the end, the designers are aiming for the same thing, a result, a progress or even a success which is represented by ascending structure.

Graphic:

Mita building is a colourful building both exterior and interior. Thus to hold an exhibition, careful considerations on the colour palatte should be done. In this instance, only two shades of colour, red and white are chosen to tone the already colourful building so that people would not be confused and help them focus at the exhibition.The red colour also define the shape of the structures, making them look grand

The logo of the exhibition is taken from the origin of our theme the diamond-shaped pattern of the pop-up geometry origami.

The front portion of the structure consistings of many constant stands are for tvs that will

Screen continuous students reel and works and even interview. These stands are quiet low for easy viewing and are arranged in orderly manner as if they welcome the audiences from the main gates into the exhibition.

In the middle portion of the structure, there is a reception and info counter

**Click to enlarge images