Project Description:
The Sine City project was a project based around the San Marcos Creek Specific Plan. The San Marcos Creek Specific Plan was a plan that was picked up by the San Marcos City Council in 2007. The whole point of the San Marcos Specific Plan was to make strides toward giving the city of San Marcos a downtown area. The plan outlines planning framework for future growth and redevelopment of the 214-acre area along the San Marcos Creek. Our Sine City project focused on the mathematical concepts that would be needed in the San Marcos Creek Specific Plan, such as trigonometry. For the end result of the project, my group and I created 3D models of our buildings that we had designed using Adobe Illustrator while still meeting zoning requirements for the parcel of land that we were given . We had also created a site plan for our parcel of land using Adobe Illustrator. At the end of this project we were required to have a few products, those products were a site plan, elevation views, a floor plan, 3D model of buildings, an interactive, as well as a binder documenting the process throughout the project.
Process:
The process throughout this entire project has definitely been an amazing experience. Before the start of this project I never really knew how important mathematics was because I believed that the only time you would have to use mathematics was when working with money. However after this project that has changed. For this project we had done a lot, it started off with a walking field trip where we had gone walking to our parcel of land with a measuring tape, inclinometer, and our notebooks. The day we went to visit our parcel of land was the first day we were all introduced to this, it was what kicked off this project the point of visiting our parcel of land and getting our measurements was to get an idea of what surveying land and urban planning is as well as the mathematics that goes into those. After a visit to our parcel of land we then researched the zoning requirements for that parcel based off of the requirements that the San Marcos Specific Plan had for that parcel. After extensive research, each group member created there own site plan as well as their own elevation views. We then came back to one another and discussed about our designs and we then came up with a final design that we all liked and that was the design that we eventually created into our 3D models. However, before we created our final 3D model we had to take the Sun Path Diagram into consideration because we don't want the sun just beaming through the windows all day long. Throughout this project, the most challenging part was using trigonometry to create our buildings and after this project I now know that there is actually a lot of trigonometry in architecture. After all that, we eventually got to the fun part of the project which was to create an interactive piece. The interactive piece that my group and I created was a Minecraft rendering of our building and parcel of land, we also did a interactive with Legos that allowed people to build a house while still following certain guidelines.
The Sine City project was a project based around the San Marcos Creek Specific Plan. The San Marcos Creek Specific Plan was a plan that was picked up by the San Marcos City Council in 2007. The whole point of the San Marcos Specific Plan was to make strides toward giving the city of San Marcos a downtown area. The plan outlines planning framework for future growth and redevelopment of the 214-acre area along the San Marcos Creek. Our Sine City project focused on the mathematical concepts that would be needed in the San Marcos Creek Specific Plan, such as trigonometry. For the end result of the project, my group and I created 3D models of our buildings that we had designed using Adobe Illustrator while still meeting zoning requirements for the parcel of land that we were given . We had also created a site plan for our parcel of land using Adobe Illustrator. At the end of this project we were required to have a few products, those products were a site plan, elevation views, a floor plan, 3D model of buildings, an interactive, as well as a binder documenting the process throughout the project.
Process:
The process throughout this entire project has definitely been an amazing experience. Before the start of this project I never really knew how important mathematics was because I believed that the only time you would have to use mathematics was when working with money. However after this project that has changed. For this project we had done a lot, it started off with a walking field trip where we had gone walking to our parcel of land with a measuring tape, inclinometer, and our notebooks. The day we went to visit our parcel of land was the first day we were all introduced to this, it was what kicked off this project the point of visiting our parcel of land and getting our measurements was to get an idea of what surveying land and urban planning is as well as the mathematics that goes into those. After a visit to our parcel of land we then researched the zoning requirements for that parcel based off of the requirements that the San Marcos Specific Plan had for that parcel. After extensive research, each group member created there own site plan as well as their own elevation views. We then came back to one another and discussed about our designs and we then came up with a final design that we all liked and that was the design that we eventually created into our 3D models. However, before we created our final 3D model we had to take the Sun Path Diagram into consideration because we don't want the sun just beaming through the windows all day long. Throughout this project, the most challenging part was using trigonometry to create our buildings and after this project I now know that there is actually a lot of trigonometry in architecture. After all that, we eventually got to the fun part of the project which was to create an interactive piece. The interactive piece that my group and I created was a Minecraft rendering of our building and parcel of land, we also did a interactive with Legos that allowed people to build a house while still following certain guidelines.
Math Learning:
The main thing I had taken away from this project was learning what triangulation is, I learned what it was during our site analysis. I had learned that most often you have to use a tool called an inclinometer and basically it helps you get the unknown angles of an object and with the angles it allows you to get the heights and such. Something else that I learned was how to apply trigonometry to the Sun Path Diagram throughout this project. I had learned how to apply the sun path diagram in this project by using Polar and Cartesian coordinates. While using the Polar and Cartesian coordinates it allowed me to be able to figure out placements of windows as well as find out where the buildings should be placed and why it would be best to place it there.The difference between them is that Cartesian Coordinates are the Coordinates in which we would mark a point by how far along it is as well as how far up it is, on the other hand Polar Coordinates are a little different, the Polar Coordinates mark the point in which how far away and object is and what angle it is at. Applying trigonometry in the Sun Path Diagram had allowed us to figure out how long the window awnings should be in order to receive the minimum amount of sunlight during summer and the maximum amount of sunlight during the winter, those were two very important factors because as I stated above, we wanted to make sure that we didn't have the sun just beaming through our windows.
Reflection:
Throughout the duration of this project I learned a lot and I took a lot away from this project as well. I would have to say that for this project my biggest takeaway would have to be the Sun Path Diagram. When it comes to the Sun Path Diagram, I didn't really know anything about it and it looked very challenging at first nor did I believe that it was something that needed to be so heavily considered in architecture. Also, when I was first introduced to the Sun Path Diagram, I just thought that it was common sense nor did I understand how much math really went into it. The Sun Path Diagram has taught me a ton about Polar and Cartesian Coordinates as well triangulation and that would have to be my biggest takeaway. However, throughout this project there were still many challenges. The main challenges were being that we were all learning these mathematical skills during the project itself and that was hard because nobody really had knowledge about these topics and it was all new to us. Something else that was challenging would have to be that my group members were absent most days so I was having to complete a majority of the work alone and often I would find myself needing help when trying to grasp some of the mathematical concepts and they were not there to help me. Overall, the entire project was a huge success and I learned a ton from it.
Exhibition:
My experience at exhibition was quite fun, I found myself talking to a lot of guests about our project. My duty during the night of exhibition was to exhibit my groups interactive piece which was our "Lego Build It" interactive and there we had guests building Lego houses while still meeting certain zoning requirements so that they could have gotten an idea of what it is like to build a building with restrictions and requirements. However, there were also many challenges that were presented the night of exhibition. The biggest challenge was having to be able to explain our project in a way that the audience would understand it, most often we found the audience asking "What's that mean?" so we definitely had to do a lot of explaining which was difficult. Overall, the night of exhibition was very fun, we had guests building tons of there own little houses using Lego blocks and they all seemed very interested by it.
The main thing I had taken away from this project was learning what triangulation is, I learned what it was during our site analysis. I had learned that most often you have to use a tool called an inclinometer and basically it helps you get the unknown angles of an object and with the angles it allows you to get the heights and such. Something else that I learned was how to apply trigonometry to the Sun Path Diagram throughout this project. I had learned how to apply the sun path diagram in this project by using Polar and Cartesian coordinates. While using the Polar and Cartesian coordinates it allowed me to be able to figure out placements of windows as well as find out where the buildings should be placed and why it would be best to place it there.The difference between them is that Cartesian Coordinates are the Coordinates in which we would mark a point by how far along it is as well as how far up it is, on the other hand Polar Coordinates are a little different, the Polar Coordinates mark the point in which how far away and object is and what angle it is at. Applying trigonometry in the Sun Path Diagram had allowed us to figure out how long the window awnings should be in order to receive the minimum amount of sunlight during summer and the maximum amount of sunlight during the winter, those were two very important factors because as I stated above, we wanted to make sure that we didn't have the sun just beaming through our windows.
Reflection:
Throughout the duration of this project I learned a lot and I took a lot away from this project as well. I would have to say that for this project my biggest takeaway would have to be the Sun Path Diagram. When it comes to the Sun Path Diagram, I didn't really know anything about it and it looked very challenging at first nor did I believe that it was something that needed to be so heavily considered in architecture. Also, when I was first introduced to the Sun Path Diagram, I just thought that it was common sense nor did I understand how much math really went into it. The Sun Path Diagram has taught me a ton about Polar and Cartesian Coordinates as well triangulation and that would have to be my biggest takeaway. However, throughout this project there were still many challenges. The main challenges were being that we were all learning these mathematical skills during the project itself and that was hard because nobody really had knowledge about these topics and it was all new to us. Something else that was challenging would have to be that my group members were absent most days so I was having to complete a majority of the work alone and often I would find myself needing help when trying to grasp some of the mathematical concepts and they were not there to help me. Overall, the entire project was a huge success and I learned a ton from it.
Exhibition:
My experience at exhibition was quite fun, I found myself talking to a lot of guests about our project. My duty during the night of exhibition was to exhibit my groups interactive piece which was our "Lego Build It" interactive and there we had guests building Lego houses while still meeting certain zoning requirements so that they could have gotten an idea of what it is like to build a building with restrictions and requirements. However, there were also many challenges that were presented the night of exhibition. The biggest challenge was having to be able to explain our project in a way that the audience would understand it, most often we found the audience asking "What's that mean?" so we definitely had to do a lot of explaining which was difficult. Overall, the night of exhibition was very fun, we had guests building tons of there own little houses using Lego blocks and they all seemed very interested by it.