This assignment is aligned with the Studio Design Project and aims to facilitate students in the technical studies and development of their design. It deals with the analysis and establishment of the structural and the envelope systems of the student’s design to ensure that the design has logical and workable construction systems. It also encourages students to think about construction as integral part of the design and not just an afterthought. Most of the times amateur designers tend to design their spaces without thinking about the construction aspects and later on have to change and redesign their schemes due to the designs were unbuildable. This assignment was designed with the intention to tackle this issue and to increase the technical competency of students.

Objectives:
1. To encourage analytical and critical study of the principles, practices and details of building technology in the student’s own design.
2. To encourage students to consider the construction aspects throughout the design process.
3. To adapt and implement the alternative construction systems into the students’ design.

Task:
A. Alternative Design Schemes
1. Conduct some precedent studies of recent, complex or unique construction systems that could be applied in the design. They should include the following:
i) The roof system
ii) TWO (2) facade systems
iii) The structural system including the floor system

2. Next, conduct a thorough study on all the systems to answer the following questions:
i) What is the type of construction system used?
ii) What is/are the material(s) used in the system?
iii) How is the system constructed? (i.e. detailing)
iv) What is/are the advantage(s) of the system?
v) What is/are the disadvantage(s) of the system?
vi) Why did you choose the system considering the advantages and disadvantages of it?

3. Then, using the similar systems as the ones in the case studies, produce TWO (2) alternatives of façade design schemes for the current studio design project. Each scheme should include only the front and the rear façades (in scale 1:100). The drawings can be created based on the students’ current progress in the studio.


B. Sectional Perspectives
Task 2 on the other hand is intended to facilitate students to develop practical construction solutions and detailing for their own design through the production of sectional perspective drawings of spaces. Students are required to produce detail sectional perspective drawing of TWO interesting spaces in their design; which consists of a space on the ground floor and a space on the top floor.
The sectional perspective of the room on the ground floor should show the connections between the foundations, ground floor slab, façade, structures and the upper floor slab. On the top floor the sectional perspective should highlight the connections between the floor slab, structures, façade, and the roof. The drawings should be produced in appropriate scale (between 1:50 to 1:30), clearly annotated and accompanied by dimensions.

Precedent studies and analysis are compiled in an A3 report