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HANDS-ON ONLINE: HKU Landscape Media PDLA

by | Jul 11, 2020 | news, teaching

This seminar introduced students to essential digital and manual tools of design and representation in landscape architecture. Students explored techniques in material testing and digital fabrication as an iterative part of the design process with digital platforms and procedural tools as key elements of a cross-media approach to digital production.

Material experiments by TSANG Ka Lai Lilian, YEUNG Hei Marco, and Yu Xinke

The transition to pandemic-related online teaching in 2020 demanded ad-hoc adjustments to a course that previously depended on access to the university’s fabrication labs. Students were encouraged to set up ‘home fablabs’ with minimal means to manifest and facilitate learning through the immediate approach of crafting. The adapted course brief restricted material sourcing to supermarkets and neighborhood hardware shops asking to compose materials suitable for fabrication purposes. 

Shifting from material analysis to 3d printed prototyping and 1-to-1 fabrication, the course covered a variety of scales and modes. Three projects transformed the products of material observations into design methodologies and created an understanding of abstraction, rigor, and transformation through experimentation. The hands-on testing gave students a sensitivity to designing with a range of materials and relevant production processes. Students worked with a combination of digital and analog fabrication techniques; drawings, mock-ups, digital prototyping, and a 1:1 prototype to communicate and test their design.

Prototypes by CHEN Zhuoying, FUNG Ngo Ching Louisa, NG Tsz Ying Tiffany, LAW Pak Lun Parco, YEUNG Hei Marco, and Yu Xinke

The learnings from this seminar were shared in the conference ‘Online education: teaching in a time of change’ organized by Amps/Routledge and published in the conference proceedings.