COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, DESIGN, ART AND TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE & PHYSICAL PLANNING

YEAR 3, ARC 3101, SEMESTER I - 2016/2017
DESIGN PORTFOLIO
PROJECT 2, DESIGN BRIEF

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS: PASSING A2101 & 2201

TUTORS: Arch. Dr. Assumpta Nnaggenda-Musana

Arch. Dr. Kenneth Ssemwogerere

COURSE CODE: A3101

PROJECT TITLE: SPACE AS MACHINE

LOCATION: GATSBY WORKSHOP AREA, MAKERERE UNIVERSITY

PROJECT DURATION: 6 WEEKS

1.0 PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Investigating Production
To make is to understand. This brief thus requires the student to investigate a making process
and design a building to accomodate it. The design should successfully address Space as
Machnine and not the Building as Machine according to Le Corbusier.

“If we think of form and function in a machine, then it is clear that a description of the form
would be a state description of a system of differentiated parts that make up the machine, and
a description of function would be a dynamic description of how the parts move in a co-
ordinated way to impel and process some material. Conceptually, we might say a machine
has three aspects: what it is, how it works, and what it does to something else”. However “...
leaving aside the building’s mechanical plant, buildings designed for one set of activities are
often easily adapted for others. Second, the parts of buildings [do not] move. There is only a
state description of them. Third, people, the hypothetical processed material, do move, but
not under any impulse from the buildings”.

“Buildings are thus probabilistic space machines, able to absorb as well as generate social
information through their configuration. In a very restricted sense then, we can say that
buildings are machine-like, in that they are physical systems which through their spatial
properties produce well-defined functional outcomes. But we would not understand this
restricted truth unless we had first understood that, in their essential nature and dynamics,
buildings are ...” not “ ... machine[s] ... they are probabilistic space machines ... .1 (Hillier,
305:2007).

1
Hillier B. (2007): Space is the Machine. London: University of Cambridge.

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2.0 THE TASK AT HAND
Students mut logically choose the material/object for production. The building has to
accommodate all that is required in the specific 'making' process and also house a ’front of
shop’ for the final product. The focus of this project is to explore production, and understand
the timeline of production in relation to layout and the relationship of public and private
space in a commercial building. The student must also show a true understanding of the
requirements of the user through brief analysis. Each student should:

- Carry out initial site investigation.

- Research their production material/object.
- Use model making and drawings as a development tool to investigate their ideas.
- Undertake practical investigation into their chosen product.
- Become the baker, cabinet maker, launderer, ceramicist, tailor, florist, et cetera.

2.0 EVALUATION CRITERIA OF STUDENTS' WORK

The following will be the major evaluation criteria for successful designs at the end of the
Project. All students are expected to STRICTLY keep reviewing these criteria as they
progress through their project designs throughout the semester.

i. The unique approach with which a student has embarked on the Project. This
is in line with the Department's objective of making students explore their
unique creative abilities as a way of demonstrating their individuality;
ii. Proof that the Student understands the various processes of the end product
that can be used creatively for the daily use of the 'Campusers' and others.
iii. The end product that the student will have has conceived.;
iv. The systematic process crafted by a student through which the raw material
could be taken until they form the final product; and
v. The creative documentation of this process into proper Architectural drawings
that can be used to convince any potential investor to invest in the project.

Students are required to:

 Demonstrate an in-depth understanding of architectural design and the related
regulatory framework;
 Show a critical appreciation of the theories and principles of environmental and
sustainable technologies; and
 Exhibit highly developed graphic and modelling techniques.

3.0 PROPOSED DRAFT PROJECT PROGRAM

In order to allow and avail all students a chance to work at a pace that will permit maximum
creativity on the main project the following will be the mile stones:
i. One week after Project 1 Submit all data collected about the site and product.
ii. Three weeks after Project 1 Completion of Product and Process design.
iii. Five weeks after Project 1 Start on the Documentation process
iv. Seven weeks after Project 1 Presentation of FINAL DRAWINGS on six (6) A1
sheets strictly.

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