Jenga 4.99: the Charrette

From my own experience of the charrette we had today in class, this exercise could only be described as organized chaos. I say this because, in general, our groups of six divided up into teams of two in order to tackle the three main groups of deliverables, while simultaneously cross communicating about the direction we would like for the project to go in. This exercise also helped to further my understanding of the idea that even during “production mode” design never stops, which has been an underlying theme in or studio this semester. In addition, I also found this exercise refreshing in the sense that it was nice to be able to design without the added pressure of having to make any final decisions. You had the freedom to follow your ideas wherever they took you.

I personally, with the assistance of Blakeni Walls from team Caravaggio and Brian Peck from team Interlocking, tackled the concept sketches of the spaces we brought to fruition. Although these drawings were very quick ink sketches, because materiality is one of the focuses of this next project, I thought it essential to add color to these in order to display our thoughts on the subject.

At the basic level of operation there were three processes that took place while working in these groups; the first being a collaborative sharing of initial ideas, the second a division of tasks, and third a continuous communication throughout the whole group as we worked on our different tasks. For the first hour of this exercise we worked with the members of team Caravaggio. We split up the work so that Dajana and Kara worked on the diagrams, Cassie and Sharon worked on the concept statement, and Blakeni and I worked on the concept sketches. During the last hour of the exercise we worked with team Interlocking. While collaborating with this group Kara worked on the concept statement, Cassie and Jamaan worked on the diagrams, and Brian and I worked on the concept sketches.

Judging from what was produced today in class I feel that team Evolution (Kara, Cassie, and I) had the most success in our collaboration with team Caravaggio. Between the two groups, our collaboration with them produced the most cohesive design in bringing our two design ideas together. On the contrary, I do think that if we were paired with team Interlocking this pairing has the potential to produce something interesting. Although I do feel that this teams style of working would lead to problems within the group. Unlike team Interlocking whos members do the majority of their work outside of studio, team Caravaggio does the majority of their work in studio allowing for the quick communication between group members which is essential to the success of a project.