Natural And Man-Made Structures

This week, we need to submit:
Black and white sketch of natural structure (eg. plants, animals, structures that animal builds, existed due to Earth formation and weathering).
Coloured man-made structure (eg. bus station, car porch, covered pathway, waqf)

Since those structures are needed to be found in USM campus, I had a walking discover trip with my friends. We walked around the campus and had a lot of fun instead of feeling stress of the studio projects.

Draft for Mandela's Gold

In progress

Create tones and shadows

Final product with description

Strelitzia reginae is a monocotyledonous flowering plant indigenous to South Africa. 

Common names include Strelitzia, Crane Flower or Bird of Paradise.

There is a yellow flowered cultivar of this plant known as Mandela's Gold, which I sketched for this project.

Its leaves are evergreen and arranged in two ranks, making a fan-shaped crown. The flowers stand above the foliage at the tips of long stalks. 

The hard, beak-like sheath from which the flower emerges is termed the spathe.

This is placed perpendicular to the stem, which gives it the appearance of a bird's head and beak.

It was interesting to see that flowers appear like a bird.

Same goes to architecture and designs.

Not forgetting the gorgeous design of Beijing National Stadium (commonly known as Bird Nest) that catch the attention of the world during 2008 Summer Olympics.

We observe and get inspirations from the nature and apply it to our designs.

Strelitzia reginae is slow-growing and will not bloom until three to five years have passed since germination (though it can exceptionally flower at two years). 

It flowers only when properly established and division of the plant may affect flowering patterns. The flowers are, however, quite long-lasting once they appear.

It reminds me that we need to keep working no matter how hard it is. We may not succeed in short time, but as we determine and keep working on it, we will get the sweet fruits. To be success in life, we need to put in a lot of efforts.

[Luck Is Given By God To Whom Has Made A Sincere Effort ] 

Sketch in progress

Coloured waqf

I chose a waqf for the man-made structure project.

It is a roofed building, built for the travelers to rest. 

It carries the characteristic of traditional Malay architecture, shown by the stilts and raised platform.

The design is suitable for hot and humid tropical climate.

We should appreciate the traditional Malay architecture as it contains the culture and artistic values. 

By using traditional forms are recognizable and communicate substantive content, the architecture becomes intelligible to the people of a particular place. 

As such, people are able to communicate through their architecture who they are and what they value both to themselves for their own edification, to future generations and to others.

-End of chapter-