Criticising The Institute

This week we where given the task to criticise the institute of the Creative Arts,the institute has a lot of good qualities and offers a lot of courses such as spatial design, product design, graphic design, fine arts and much more.On the other hand the institute has a some bad aspects of which the institute doesn't have control on such as: Student influx which is massively increasing over the years, the problem with classes and timetable times and also parking is becoming a problem because if the growth of the institute. Having said that the institute has a lot of flaws that they could be fixed such as the need of fans or air conditioners or at least not obstruct the only air supply in the room with panels.
With the second year with the new system is being a bit more clear of how the system works as last year was a little bit shaky from everyones side as it was all new. Another thing that the institute could consider is employing new teachers as they seem to be getting tired and it will finally effect us students. Having a full day from 8 - 6:30 isn't easy on anyone..... The institute should also consider giving the Degree students a room where they can call theirs in order to finish as much work as they can during school hours as at the moment we waste a minimum of an hour just to find a place to stay out of campus as there is no space where we can work, I appreciate that the institute is small and doesn't have the space but a better wifi system and some benches in the garden or canteen area with some plugs wont break the bank and is very easy to do. I hope that the situation of space and student friendly places will get better. I appreciate  that its not easy to get funds and that its not easy but I'm re with some pressure and coverage we can get there faster.

contoversies in Spatial Design

   
    According to the Cambridge Dictionary a controversy is something "where a lot of disagreement or argument about something" most of the time this occurs because its very important or affect certain amount of people. In the design sector a lot of controversy is brought up as a lot of different opinions are out there. Some international controversies are:

- Sagrada Familia - Antonio Gaudi,




This building is very controversial due to the fact that the project is still incomplete. A lot of architects have tried putting their own footprint on this project, Even Le Corbusier was unsuccessful, this project is estimated to be done in 2026 to mark the century of Gaudi's death 144 years after it all began. 








- The Eiffel Tower - Gustave Eiffel,

As the Parisian novelist Guy De Maupassant said back in the 1880's " It's the only place in Paris where I can eat and not see that hideous tower." This tower has had its fair share of controversial criticism by Parisians, A lot of Anti Tower campaigns where taking place at the time, the tower was being criticised in the way where they where calling it names such as "Giant block smokestack" and " a tragic streetlamp" However since its opening back in 1889 the tower has seen over 250 million people.


-  Sydney Opera House - Jorn Utzon,

The initial design was rejected by the competition design committee. Finally the project was chosen and was granted 18 million AUD and was supposed to take 18 months to construct, but because the tower cranes had to be custom built  and Jorn being a perfectionist the progress was very slow. 10 years later the project was still not completed and the government seized the funds and stopped construction,Under new management the project continued with some changes, it was estimated to take nearly an extra 10 years to complete and ended up costing around 102 million AUD. The project was completed in 16 years and was opened back in 1999.




-   Al Wakrah Stadium - Zaha Hadid Architects,


This is one of Zaha Hadid's most controversial projects. This project is currently in progress and is one of 5 stadiums being built for 2026 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. A lot of criticism was given to the initial design but is now stuck in a controversy where the working condition for migrant workers involved in many of the projects of Qatar's World Cup. It is said to have reportedly take over 1,000 workers lives during the construction of the facilities, after a lot of criticism Hadid stated that :“It’s not my duty as an architect to look at it.” all this criticism didn't stop them and despite receiving criticism from government officials, critics and Architects the stadiums are still in construction. 




- Valletta City Gate Masterplan - Renzo Piano,


This is the most controversial subject in Malta at the moment the project which started back in 2011 cost approximately 80 million Euros. Although that didn't spark this big controversy, The real controversy started with the MODERN features in the gate which caused a lot of disagreement with the public. Mostly because the current gate doesn't resemble the Baroque Architecture which is featured in most parts of the city, even more controversy was brought up with the new parliament as a lot of people didn't agree with the "semi- complete look."But the biggest controversy was the new parliament where the citizen didn't think that the building supports the surrounding and also doesn't show all the historic and cultural representations. This is quite essential when you have a city with 320 monuments in an area of around 55 hectares, making it one of the most concentrated historic areas in the world as stated by UNESCO.  

References:

MacLeod, F. (2014, November 29). The 9 most controversial buildings of all time. Retrieved October 21, 2016, from http://www.archdaily.com/573271/the-9-most-controversial-buildings-of-all-time
The Controversial Renzo Piano City Gate - Part 1 | Choosemalta.Com Blog". Blog.choosemalta.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Oct. 2016.

Week 2 (Crisis)

This week we need to talk to about a crisis that happened to us and how we dealt with it. My incident goes back to two summers ago in august where work organised a sailing trip to Gozo with the advanced group of sailors, I was the head coach of this trip and a lot of pre planning and safety was needed, on the day going up to gozo was all plain sailing and the kids had a blast, we set up the camps and set a fire going to start cooking dinner. The night passed fine and the next morning we set off to go back to malta as the kids had a race to attend two days later, on the way down it was a typical summers day, the kids where on there way and by the time we got to cirkewwa the group started to separate. but the coaches separated as we had two ribs and the situation was under control until when we arrived to the fish farms out of St Pauls Bay and infront of us I saw this massive black cloud coming towards us which meant two things its either a hell load of rain or a big squal(storm).I radiod the other coaches and we took the decision to take the kids in to shelter in the nearest bay, but it was to late as the rain hit and 200m away from one of the boats a twister appears, the storm had hit us and it hit us badly and the number 1 rule when stuck in a storm is iff you can sail sail in to safety and iff you can't sail stay on the boat. whilst the storm we had two accidents which consisted in a boat loosing a mast and being picked up by a fishing trawler and later dropped off at the bay, and another student getting knocked out concussed and dropped was off and went straight to hospital with anther coach, after the storm we re grouped and checked that everything was ok and set back to sailing down to the club. we dealt with the situation by staying calm as we had experienced storms like these many times and told the kids not to get scared and sail to safety, other precautions we could have taken was prepare the sails just incase a storm hit but the way it all happened was totally unexpected. Also a 3 day forecast from more than one weather site would have been helpful. All in all i think I would take bit more precaution next time a trip is planned.      

WEEK 1 (Back To School)

With summer over the beginning of a new scholastic year means a big change in routine, It was abit difficult to getting back to school.The first day wasn't as bad as we only got two briefs handed to us, they both seemed very interesting and links a lot to what i would like to focus on in the future, our first brief was about Design Principles which i found very interesting, the assignment is based all year round and which will help us get  better final result. The other assignment is all about Residential Design which is played out on the span of a semester which we will be covering how to design a residential space, we were assigned a plot near the institute and located high containers, the aim of this assignment is that we create a residence for guest artists that visit the institute, the work load till now seems sufficient and hopefully i will manage everything ahead of schedule not like last year where everything was left till the last minute.the mood i started with this year was a good one as luckily the load was gradually placed on us as www didn't get all the assignments one day which gives me a better idea on planning my week and how to start working. the downside was that the school is still the same and the problem with space is still there as there isn't enough space where students can sit and talk..... the other downside is the fact that not all rooms have air-conditions or ones that work... but its understandable, the only understandable thing is why isn't there atlas one fan in the rooms which don't have air conditioners it was an unpleasant time when in one of these lectures as it was way to hot and also everyone was grumbling bout the heat. all in all it was a good week and i hope it would be a good scholastic year all together .