Day 3 Reflections - Isaac Lim

EQ1. What is architecture? Architecture is a form or a general shape that certain things of similar usage would have in common. For example, even though the ways the Notre Dame in Saigon and the General Post Office had their ceilings being held up were different, they both followed the same concept of having the supports being implanted into the ground and going up to the ceiling.

EQ2. What are the essential considerations when one architects a building/structure? Firstly, one needs to consider what the building would be used for, along with the amount of space needed for that use. Only after that is taken into consideration, then there would be more chances for designing. For example, the Notre Dame in Saigon had a Gothic design to it, making the lighting seem like the people are in heaven, and it fits the usage of a church, since they believe in heaven. However, the General Post Office had a lot of light coming into it, and should it have had the Gothic design, it would not fit the usage of a post office, thus defeating the purpose of the design.

Day 3 Reflection by Valery

EQ1. What is architecture?

Architecture is the designing of a building to fit its purpose and representation. An architect must be able to bring out the feel that the building is supposed to exude using what he has around him or from daily inspirations

EQ2. What are the essential considerations when one architects a building/ structure?

The considerations when one architects mainly consist of the location, function, the buildings purpose and what the buyer actually wants. The location and topography mainly affects the way the building is set into the ground; whether the soil is hard or soft and if soil erosions or earthquakes happen a lot; it all affects the architecture of the building. The function of the building also affects the way an architect may design the building. Take the Indian-Muslim mosque for example. The curves of the designs on the walls show the Indian culture infused into the Muslim culture.

Day 3 Reflections:Kenneth Han

Day 3 Reflections:

Today we visited various places of worship of different religions and it was interesting as we got to see the minor and major differences of each place and compare it.We visited the Nostradamus which is the replica of a church in France.The building was rather big and had high ceilings.We also visited a Islamic Mosque which we walked around for awhile looking at the structure.There were 2 others both the Hindu Temple and the Chinese Temple.

In the evening we went to the water puppet show and it lasted for 45 minutes.It was rather interesting with the puppets moving around the stage and although the story was conveyed in vietnamese it was easy to understand from the puppets movements.

Day 3 Reflections: Dylan Loo

EQ1: What is architecture?
Architecture is the design of a building, or a structure. It is what makes up the building and is the foundation of building it. It gives the building its character, its flavor, its theme and is what makes it unique.

EQ2: What are the essential considerations when one architects a building/structure?
One would be that the building fits the theme with the environment. This would ensure that the building does not look out of place. Another consideration would be the materials to be used for building the various parts of the building. This would help in giving the building its overall look and feel.
Another consideration would be the relevance and the importance of the various parts of the building in the overall theme of the building.

Day 3 Reflections - Bryan Sim

EQ1) What is architecture?

Architecture is the design and construction of an object, mainly buildings. Architecture designs can differ from time to time. Architects can also convey a deeper meaning through their architectures for a certain purpose of the building.

EQ2) What are the essential considerations when one architects a building/structure?

One would need to consider the types of materials used to build the building. For example, the French used high quality materials imported directly from Southern France to construct the replica of the Notre Dame. The materials must be strong enough to withstand the weight of the occupants and objects in the building, and the design of the building must be relevant to the purpose of the building, but at the same time, stable.

Day 3 Reflections by Claire

1. What is architecture?
Architecture is the art of designing buildings or other structures. Architecture makes use of the author's creativity and imagination to think of designs for a new structure.

2. What are the essential considerations when one architects a building or structure?
The essential considerations when one architects a building or structure are whether the design is appealing to the people visiting/living in the place. When the design is not appealing, people would not want to visit the place or stay there. Another consideration is that the design of the building must be able to fulfill the purpose and function of the building. Without that, there is no use for the building.

Day 3 Reflection - Tan Yu Tao

Q1 What is architecture?

Architecture is the design of a building and the function of it, it is the vision of the architect and what he visions the building will be. It is affected by the religion and the desired feel of the final building, it is also affected by the environment around it and if the designer wants to make it blend together.

 Architecture is what defines a building for what it is and how big the impact is on the viewer of the building,  it is an essential thing and a building is nothing without it.










Q2 What are the essential consideration when one architects a building?

The considerations are mainly the function, design, location and contrast. Function is actually what the buyer wants the building to do and is not really something the architect can control, but it is something that affects the final design.

Design is what the building will be seen as and is affected by many factors like religion and desired emotional effect on the viewer. Location is the surrounding and how the architect wants to do with it and play around with it to have the building blend in with it.

 Contrast is whether the architect wants the building to stand out or to blend in with the surroundings to have it be easily seen or to be hidden and be linked with the surrounding.

Day 3 Reflection by Jonathan

EQ1: Architecture is the applying of designs and ergonomics into buildings that will benefit the users or the surroundings. It is largely influenced by a certain topic design that the building is based on, such as the  HCMC Central Post Office being based on a gothic theme that gives a similar replica to how the architect envisions heaven. Also, it makes use of current day technology to help the environment such as natural ventilation to conserve energy.

EQ2: Some essential considerations when designing an architecture is taking the location of the building into consideration as the location will affect how a building will be viewed as, such as a futuristic building being built in a countryside village is a bad example. Also, the relevance of the function of the building is vital as if the building is having an irrelevant function in its surroundings, the design would seem inappropriate. The contrast of the design of the building should also be taken into consideration as a more outstanding architecture will be more eye catching and appear more pleasing to the eye.

Reflections Day 2- Jiajun

Essential Question 1

What is a system?

A system is a group of organisms and environmental factors interacting with each other. A system is usually self-sustainable, but sometimes human interferences may cause the system to fall apart.

Essential Question 2

How humans and environment are dependent on each other?

Humans are dependent on the environment because the environment provides humans with resources and food. The environment is dependent on humans because humans now have the ability to shape the environment, like how the environment shaped humans tens of thousands of years ago. Humans can negatively impact the environment through deforestation, excessive hunting/fishing. Humans can also help the environment through reforestation and environmental conservation.

Day 3 Reflections by JiaEn

What is architecture?

Architecture is giving physical form to visual imagination of a concept or story with inspiration. It is not only about building infrastructures, but putting also to instill style into other objects. There are many ways that a structure can be built and it greatly differs, affecting how the structure will look and reflect its purpose.

What are the essential considerations when one architects a building / structure?

It is important to consider the purpose of the structure and the supposed appropriate impression and image reflected of it. For example, the Cathedral Notre Dame of Vietnam uses gothic architecture, which makes the cathedral darker. The stained glass windows are the sources of light , also showing the essence of creation and complex beliefs, and the tall, long yet narrow interior is used to reflect the feeling that the people are in Heaven. It fits the purpose of the cathedral very well. The General Post Office also uses neoclassical architecture, like thecathedral, but is more well-lit and spacious-looking in comparison. This is because the purpose of the 2 buildings are different and it is important that the building reflects a suitable image.

Day 2 Reflections - Ying Liang

EQ1. What is a system?

A system is something where the living things live together. In a system, each organisms are affected by the other organisms behavior.

EQ2. How humans and the environment are dependent on each other.

Humans depend on the environment to get resources that are necessary for living be it food, shelter or water etc. Also organisms in the environment depends us on living too, example animals need our protection so that they does not go extinct due to excessive hunting and also plants take in the carbon dioxide we exhale for photosynthesis

Day 2 Reflections - Jamie

EQ1. What is a system?

A system is something in which a bunch of organisms/items would exist and interact with one another in.

EQ2. How humans and the environment are dependent on each other.

Humans rely on the environment to live as it is a source of food, water and oxygen that is needed for us to live. Also, humans’ actions are able to impact the environment both positively or negatively, for example, a positive example would be humans finding ways to conserve the environment (e.g. plant more trees and a negative example would be humans polluting the environment through its actions.