Week 6

Industrial Charette 

Having two industrial designers, you would think would make for a very strong industrial charette.  However neither me or the other industrial student posses leader like qualities or particularly enjoy being in charge. So i think its fair to say we struggled a bit leading the group. It didn't feel comfortable or natural as the group had already clearly established a leader. At least with the two of  us we were able to help each other and do it together rather than alone. So this was quite reassuring, it would have been much more difficult to do alone. In the end I feel like we got some good results from the team. Although ARCH2 spent most of the group brainstorm session talking to another group. I think this may be due to him avoiding the ideas and drawing stage. I believe his weakness to be in the early on parts of design, perhaps he lacks creativity or imagination and is more comfortable in the technical detail side of things. This is understandable but it would have been appreciated if had at least tried or been involved in discussion. He had nothing to show by the end of the class and hadn't contributed to anything. Both of the industrial designers were out of their comfort zone in leading the group so i think it would have been fair for him to do the same and work with the rest of us.

Belbin's Team Role Model

Must be a balance of 

FUNCTIONAL ROLES

and

TEAM ROLES

(Reddy, 2012)

Using Belbin's team roles, this is my view of my team mates (Belbin, 2010). These are views gathered from week one up until the initial concept presentation. These perceptions may change between now and the final submission. 

There were some interesting points that emerged through using this model.

1. Our team leader posses the qualities of both The Coordinator and The Shaper. It is best that the leader has one of these traits, but it is not ideal to have both. This may prove to be as issue later down the track, but for the moment it hasn't caused any issues. The difference between these to qualities of a leader are that the co-ordinator has a very calm and confident approach while the shaper can be quite confronting and demanding. I think the co-ordinator type is a more likeable leader from the perspective of other team members however the shaper is likely to get better results through pushing team members to excel. 

2. The four main roles are filled which is excellent and one member who has the traits of numerous roles. 

ARC1- Leading

ARC2- Doing

INT- Socialising

IND1 - A mix 

IND2 - Thinking 

3. Through using the model ARC2 appears very much suited to the build and deploy, final stages of the process. This is entirely accurate. This is an obvious reflection of this particular member's skills and preferences. 

Week 5

This week we had the presentations of the results from the architecture charette results from the previous week.
It was a shock to arrive to class and were told it would be the interior designers who would present the work. I realise why they did this and it is a good idea to ensure the teams are actually working together. But I think the architecture presentations on a whole were a bit of a disaster because of this, but at least we knew for the next presentations. The interior designers at least had some basic general knowledge of sun paths and ventilation etc.


Landscape Charette

This was a bit daunting for us as a team as we did not have a landscape student. In the previous week we had arranged to all do a bit of research to bring along.
To begin the session we started with individual brainstorming time and then came together to share and discuss each others ideas. I quite like this approach as it enables you to explore and create ideas without any pressure of feelings of anyone judging. When sharing our ideas with each other it was a little disappointing that a few people hadn't come up with anything that they wanted to discuss or show. I think some people are still a little shy with the group, or perhaps this just isn't the way they work effectively.

Week 4

Architecture Charette
With 2 architecture students there was two leaders for this weeks activity.
There was definitely the more dominating architect. Over the previous weeks he had clearly established a leader role with the team. Not in a forceful way over everyone else but it gradually became that way over time. Arch1  has a very self assured confident personality which is necessary for a team leader. He is also very considerate of other members and consults and listens to everyone equally. I think he is a great person for the job.

It was beneficial to have two architects to direct the team. The architectural aspects of the project were things that as an Industrial student I had absolutely no knowledge in. Things like sun paths and orientation I don't think we could have done well without the architects experience. The foundation knowledge they have provides a good starting point for the project and things that have to be considered before any of the other disciplines have a fair idea of what they are working with.

I think the two architect students have their strengths and interests in different parts of the process. One ("team leader") I think is more interested in the conceptual experimental phase of the initial designing where as the other seems to have talents the further end stages. The more technical and visual aspects such as computer modelling and technologies. This is a very good thing I feel. As it will mean later down the track different people will be able to bring in their own skills and expertise that haven't been utilised previously in the project.

Week 3

Week 3 is the week of our first presentation as a team.

Over the week the team had communicated via the internet to organise and put together the powerpoint.  This system worked well for us and was a drama free experience. 

 The previous week we decided that although it was not necessary, every team member would have a turn speaking during the presentation. We decided on this because as it was a very early stage of our project and we weren't aware of each other's strengths and weaknesses it would be fair to just get everyone to present. We also agreed that with the whole team presenting, it would express more of a team effort rather than just leaving one person to handle it all by themselves. However, there was one team member who particularly did not feel comfortable or confident in speaking. As he was an architect student, the other architect understood this and agreed that it wan't his "forte". This was fine with the group, having one member sit out wasn't a huge issue, especially so early on. He assured us he would make it up to us later on when all the digital computer work was required, as this was more his field. 

Everyone did an equal amount for the presentation, however where we fell short was the visual appearance of our presentation. Our powerpoint was essentially pictures on top of a white background. I think the problem here was that yes everyone did their assigned tasks, however no one took the initiative to do a little bit of extra work to make the presentation coherent or visually attractive. This could be because no one could be bothered, everyone thought it looked fine, or maybe nobody wanted to potentially offend group members by changing the layout and altering other members work slightly. But we have learnt form this and is certainly an aspect we will make sure we address in the future. 

Week 1

In the first week of the "Design Collaboration" subject we organised projects and teams. I chose to do the project of the Early learning childhood centre for Lone Pine. I did this for a few reasons:

1. Lone Pine is in Fig Tree Pocket, so it is not only nearby for me but also an area I am interested in and have some knowledge about.

2. It seemed like one of the projects that were more evenly discipline based. It didn't seem to heavily architecturally or landscape based which was good. The project would be ideal for collaboration across disinclines where as some of the other projects on offer appeared to  be quite focus ed on one discipline and very lightly on some of the others.

3. There is a real client which will be very exciting to work with, almost like a real life project.

4. I think it will be a fun and enjoyable task, but in a challenging way. i have not done a child based project yet so this will be new and different for me. I think there is lots to learn form this particular project.

My group includes; 2 architects, one interior designer and two industrial designers. It's a bit disappointing to not have a landscape designer in the group, but hopefully it won't effect the team too much. Overall, I am happy with my new team. They seem to be a hardworking bunch with enthusiasm toward the project.