Does the following list, from one of the earlier pages, contain all the necessary items that I would need to be getting for my Architecture studies?

Basically, I would like to get myself prepared in advance... (I would be going for the March intake, and I would like to get everything PREPARED beforehand; I do not want to do everything on the LAST MINUTE!)



Regards.

This post has been edited by Benjamin911: Jan 8 2008, 10:00 PM

if going to the UK, u can get cheaper here. especially on 2nd hand/pre-owned books. somehow the culture in malaysia is to only own first hand books and never sell them. here in the UK, the culture is exactly the opposite. students hardly buy new books unless it has a certain value (first editions, comic books etc), couldnt find it elsewhere (rare, limited copies) or they wanna be the first to own/read it as soon as it was published (eg: latest harry potter books). here, amazon and ebay is ur friend.

in malaysia it's gonna be harder, although most of the books in the list is quite popular, and widely available in university libraries as well as prominent bookstores like MPH and times, or dedicated bookstores like basheer or kinokuniya.




on items:

- Portfolio to take A1 Sheets

this can be very, very cheap in malaysia. but to carry A1 sizes means u would need to put this through special/large luggages at the airport, and may cost more than buying them here.

- Modelling knife ( for cutting card or balsa )

not sure if u could carry them on board, or pass through customs when u land .

- Retractable 3m steel tape
- 300mm metric scale (1/200, 1/100, 1/50, 1/20, 1/5)
- 300mm adjustable square ( the bigger the better)
- Sheet of hardboard or similar as cutting board
- Pencil Clip
- Pencil and Ink rubber
- Erasing Shield

most of these stuffs are cheaper in malaysia. so better buy them here.

- Rotring sketching pen or similar
- Compass set (capable of taking pen attachment and beam attachment for large circle)
- Cluth pencil and sharpener
- USB pen Drive

the cost for these highly depends on the brand. some brands, especially european brands, are cheaper in the UK. if brand does not matter, then u can get them quite cheap in malaysia.

- Colour pencils and/or pastel
- Water-colour and marker pens
- Charcoal, compressed charcoal, white chalk
- Digital Camera with video capability
- Pocket calculator approved for University examinations, Casio FX83....

these are what i term as "buy it as u need it". low priority items, which u can buy later, or sometimes can buy from seniors who didnt use them.

- A3 white cartridge and A3 layout pad

papers are quite expensive here in the UK. it would be good if u could stock up on papers, but how the hell r u gonna bring 10kg of paper from malaysia? LOL.

- Laptop with at least Core2 duo, 1gb ram, 80gb harddisk, window xp/window vista

and finally, this depends on the deal u get. in malaysia, u get pretty cheap deals with OEM version of vista. which means u dont get office suites or any other softwares. here u get full version vista as well as educational version/licenses of most softwares u gonna use like autocad, photoshop and the likes. but if u're the "ahem" type user, then it wont matter laa

Hmmm...I really do not know what are the following items;

300mm metric scale (1/200, 1/100, 1/50, 1/20, 1/5)

300mm adjustable square ( the bigger the better)

Pencil Clip

Erasing Shield

Rotring sketching pen or similar (Why Rotring?)

Compass set (capable of taking pen attachment and beam attachment for large circle) [Beam attachment???]

Cluth pencil and sharpener (Cluth?!)

A3 white cartridge and A3 layout pad

Would you mind giving me some informations about them?

300mm metric scale (1/200, 1/100, 1/50, 1/20, 1/5)

a scale ruler is a triangular ruler that has multiple measurements on it, kinda like the toblerone chocolates. u know it? the numbers are the measurements for it, also written as 1:200, 1:100, 1:50, 1:20 and 1:5. it's a tool to draw in scale without actively converting the numbers in ur head. 300mm is the length of the ruler (30cm), which is quite standard.

300mm adjustable square ( the bigger the better)

adjustable set square is also another drafting tool made of clear polycarbonate, triangular in shape. if u've ever used geometry set during school, u'll notice a triangle shaped ruler, where one of the angle is 90degrees. although bigger size could allow u to draw/draft bigger drawings, it's not necessarily better. it is quite heavy and unwieldy, i personally prefer a slightly smaller square, about 200mm. but that's just my personal preference.

Pencil Clip

not quite sure what this is.

Erasing Shield

this is a small sheet of aluminum about the size of a credit card. it has perforations (holes) on it, which u use to erase a drawing. u know how erasers can be hard to use especially when u want to erase a delicate area? cover the stuff u want with the shield, and use the wholes to erase.

Rotring sketching pen or similar (Why Rotring?)

this is a unique pen designed for sketching. why rotring? bcoz they're the best brand for it, and i wouldnt recommend anything else.

Compass set (capable of taking pen attachment and beam attachment for large circle) [Beam attachment???]

assuming u already know what a compass is (not that thing that points north!), beam attachment is a tool that u can attach to ur compass that extends the length of ur compass to draw a circle bigger than the diameter of ur compass. u usually see this in any submarine/naval films on the navigation map .

Cluth pencil and sharpener (Cluth?!)

like mechanical pencils that uses a thin lead, clutch pencils use thicker leads. take a regular pencil, and strip of the wood part, leaving the lead. clutch pencils use that lead. its mechanism "clutches" (grips) the lead in place inside the pencil, and u can extend or retract the lead just like a normal mechanical pencil.

A3 white cartridge and A3 layout pad

kertas lukisan? yeah, that one. cartridge is the name of the thick paper u for painting during school days.

Oh, I see; now I got the meaning of the items! (Some of them I have seen, or even used before!)

I really appreciate your clear explanation, thanks.

Perhaps "Pencil Clip" still needs explanation though...

This post has been edited by Benjamin911: Jan 9 2008, 02:21 AM

You don't need to worry about that. Lots of architectural firms are lacking of human resources at the moment...and always will be.

Government gives government projects to Bumiputra companies...but that's just a small portion of the market. The private sector is where architecture fluorishes. It doesn't matter what skin you have, as long as you are good at design...then, you're going to make it good out here in Malaysia.

need help here!
school for 2nd day n the assignment is coming ady!
my lecturer ask us to sketch 2 scenes in my campus in an A3 paper,then write something on wad u have sketched on the paper. I have done sketch my thing but i still a bit blur about the word im going to write and i would like to hear some comments from u guys whether is good or bad...
oh ya, and give me some example of material of the building in my drawing, i dun really know the material name,but if can pls explain about the particular material...

really need help and this assignment have to hand up on friday!

this is wad i sketch,pls give some comment n help me out if can...thanks

the left is the front lobby of my campus,the right 1 the view from the 2nd floor of my campus,along the coridor..maybe its not clear but pls help @@

This post has been edited by mars16: Jan 9 2008, 07:14 PM


Attached thumbnail(s)

boy, u need to really sharpen those skills... and ur pencils too! . dont worry about using up ur pencils too quickly, in architecture u're meant to use a pencil for about 3-4 drawings only. so always keep ur pencils sharp, dont worry if it gets too short too quickly. and remember to firmly press the pencil on paper, not just glide like feather duster.

u lack control over ur lines, which we can see the bulu-bulu effects on ur every line. what u need to do is to redraw a strong line over each of those bulu-bulu lines and clearly define ur drawings.

u also need to work on ur perspective. u can browse back at about page 30++ there's a discussion we've had about perspectives. first, u must have a horizon to control the composition of ur drawing. then, in a single point perspective, each parallel lines will eventually converge to a point on the horizon. u already have a convergence at the right side of ur drawing - the corridors, so people will naturally look for a convergence on the same point from the left side of the drawing, which there isnt.

Hmmm...check up my previous post. I quoted it below. Buy those books

Can an architect do interior design?

yes. it's all in the first post of this thread.

mars16,

Were you allowed to snap a photo of the scene with your digital camera and then use that photo to sketch out the scene at home?

BTW mars16, are you also currently in the short semester (2 months)?

P.S., please keep us all well informed about your future assignments as well. (I would personally be trying out this sketching assignment too.)

This post has been edited by Benjamin911: Jan 9 2008, 09:27 PM

to Benjamin911,

well the lecturer juz encourage us to draw at the place u see the scene,but never said whether u can take the picture first n sketch at home.

i m the new student in semester 1 of diploma of architectural technology in taylors college...

thanks for the comment,i think i will redraw it...any more advice? erm..n giv some example of building material ....thanks in advance

This post has been edited by mars16: Jan 9 2008, 09:27 PM

Based on what I know;

Concrete, steel, polymer, plaster (Gypsum), glass, iron, bricks, plastic, wood, timber, polycarbonate, aluminum, titanium, cast iron, marble, ceramic, wrought iron, stainless steel, granite, slate, limestone, fiberglass, silica aerogel, chromium, alloys etc...(There might be more that I do not know.)

This post has been edited by Benjamin911: Jan 9 2008, 09:44 PM

well, in practise, u shouldnt take pictures unless if the place is too uncomfortable to sit down and sketch. for example, too hot under the sun, it was raining and so on. if u have the time to spend, sit down and sketch on site. this is a good practice to allow ur brain to develop a sense of place. this is part of a thing we call experiential learning. sketching from a picture is the same with never been on site and just drawing from pictures. for example, a picture of the big ben in london or hagia sophia in spain - if u've never been there personally, those sketches do not carry meaning, hence defeats the whole purpose of the exercise.

sketching on site allows u to pick what's needed and what's not. u will tend to sketch stuff that is essential to the drawing, which ur brain will pick up and filter actively throughout the process. looking at a picture reference defeats the purpose, bcoz ur brain is presented with second-hand information, and worse, the information have been filtered and framed, which severely limits the expansion of vision of ur brain.

Sounds very logical...

Personally, I also feel very uncertain about my Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED AF-S DX VR mega-zoom lens when it is being used at the wide end; where it exhibits rather obvious barrel distortions. (Not something that Architecture would be calling out for.)

This post has been edited by Benjamin911: Jan 9 2008, 10:02 PM

Genius Loci...spirit of place. It's more than what it defines That's the only way to experience spaces, environment, atmosphere, people, etc.

Here are some drawings of mine which I did back in the year 2000; when I still did not have any idea about Architecture, nor even have Architecture in mind;

Those drawings are very old, and they have gone through much wear & tear; including a house shift! (Those drawings have also been in a box full of mechanical & electronic junks for decades, until I discovered & saved them during the shift!)

I would be interested to know what you think about those drawings. (Some portion of the drawings are slightly blurred out "optically" due to the shallow depth of field characteristic of digital SLR cameras; which I recently brought one.)













Regards.

BTW, I have ever attempted to imagine, plan, and design the interior of a massive futuristic/hi-tech research facility; however, the project was never completed...I could not go on any further after planning out and designing the main entrance area...(The thought of the imaginary facility's massive scale also made me decide to abundant the project because too much creativity, imagination, and planning was needed...to go beyond the main entrance area...)

This post has been edited by Benjamin911: Jan 10 2008, 04:54 AM

Does Civil Engineering relate to Architectures in any way?
I'm taking a Diploma in Civil Engineering in KLIUC and am in my 2nd semester currently.
I've always wanted to be an Architect.
Just wondering If there's any chance of me furthering my studies in Architecture

those are pretty good, especially since it's done without any proper training. u should get them properly scanned and kept digitally. believe me, u dont want to throw those away.

based on those drawings, it does seem that u have a good grasp over manipulating 3d shapes. believe me, teaching someone to draw a cone on top of a cylinder stacked on a box is NOT an easy task. it sounds so easy, but tell that to a person who've never drawn anything properly in his life. u also seem to have a good eye for scale. ur buildings look correct in size relative to other buildings as well as the roads. it's a good start. now u just need to start drawing in perspective, and perhaps lose the ruler .



on the 2nd issue - i guess it's the sheer scale of the design u're attempting. in design, u will ALWAYS start with something simple and within a small scale. for example, in UTM syllabus, u will start by designing ur own logo. at the end of the semester u'll be designing ur own room. u dont even design a building in 1st semester! referring back to the "research facility" u've attempted earlier, we only start doing that in 3rd year. one very wise master once taught me: "never jump the gun. the path is there for u to walk it."

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Added on January 11, 2008, 3:21 ami. yes. civil engineering is part of the built environment family, which architecture is also a part of.

ii. well, u could still continue for an architectural degree, ofcourse. i'm just not sure if ur civil eng diploma could be used to skip 1st year in any architecture course in IPTAs. means u might have to start fresh from 1st year (totalling 5 years). alternatively, u could apply to several UK universities that have started offering double major (combined) course of civil engineering + architecture. we have one here at university of sheffield. the degree is recognized and accredited by both malaysian and overseas board of professional for both fields.

This post has been edited by azarimy: Jan 11 2008, 03:21 AM