Art Portfolio: Reflection on the Project

Today, I finished my architecture bridge construction project, "The Flow of the Time", and will do a final reflection. I will discuss what went well, what was difficult, what I learned and what improvements and points I notice for the future.

At the start, my idea was to create a bridge with spheres that would have an ecosystem inside; I liked this idea. It was something unusual. I designed an impressive support system for it, and it was safe, sustainable, and incredible. I was falling in love with this design. I did a lot of sketches, a lot of mistakes were made, and a large amount of information was read and learned over these 10 weeks. Bridge construction is another world compared to building design. I needed to concentrate on absolutely different details compared to a house that should be comfortable for clients and follow their rules. A bridge should be, first of all, safe and sustainable, but to make it good, there are a lot of details that should be checked: comfort, resistance, technology, environmental conditions and demographics, sustainability, economy, and country law. All these aspects made it hard to do. It seems like I have got my design, but I checked a road law for bridges, and the road should be at least 6.5 meters and 0.4 meters for an emergency sidewalk. Because the road must be longer than I planned, I need to redo the pier's dimensions and construction, and such situations happen all the time. Also, such factors as wind, soil, water flow, temperature, and precipitation are important because the construction must be stable to these conditions. This was my first challenge; when I had the idea to create a bridge, I expected that it would be a small challenge. However, I do not count the average amount of knowledge that I should learn and be able to use. Within the practice, I started automatically analyzing what problem my sketches have and tried to improve these moments. The hardest part was piers; this was the most challenging part for the first 6 weeks. It was hard to find a construction of piers that would be strong enough for my sphere bridge design. The sphere will contain ground and plants, and the weight of one sphere will be near 300 kg. This is a lot, plus an actual bridge construction and active weight. But I managed to solve this problem and found a design that would be strong enough.

The next problem happened at the end of week 6. My bridge will be located in Ukraine, which is now in a state of war, and all information about any important infrastructure is private. I sent an official request to obtain the dimensions of the territory for the bridge. I also sent some documents that show that I'm an architecture student and prove my project idea. At week 6, I finally received a dimension, and they had different numbers than I expected. All the sketches that I had done before were useless. This was a hard time because I have 3 weeks left, and I should change absolutely everything. But I still had knowledge that I got through all these weeks. I created an incredible new sketch in 2 days. However, it looks a little bit different from what I did before. In bridge construction, a good sketch is 70% of the work. So, next, I started looking for dimensions according to Ukrainian law. Every part of the bridge has at least 5 regulation rules, and the number of safety rules is even bigger. After everything was checked, I started to create a construction architecture sketch. The photo of it is possible to see below.

Next, I started to create my 3D model. I like creating different models, so that was an exciting process. However, I did it a little bit bigger than I expected. Because of the details, small height, and long length, it was hard to do it smaller, and it will be harder. While I did my model, I had experience in the laser-cut and plastic workshop. This machine practice saved me a lot of time because all the plastic pieces were similar, and it was easier to connect them. However, I had some trouble with glue that did not want to stick to the plastic. I must go and find one that will stick to it. Also, the outcome looks nice and realistic compared to what I imagine will be in real life. The photo of the 3D model board is possible to see below.

After this was done, I started my architecture boards. This wasn't hard because I already had experience doing it. I also already had a picture of construction, so I added just text and a presentable look for it. I like the board's style; they look a little bit old. I chose this kind of background because while I did drawings, I used some old examples of how to create the drawings, and this aura and aesthetics stayed with me till the end of all work. This is a reason why I chose a portrait view; that's how most boards looked before. The name of the project is "The Flow of Time." That way, I also wanted to show the old rhyme designs and style. The photo of them is possible to see below.

While I did this project, I learned a lot of information about bridges and architecture overall. It was a challenging experience, but I'm inspired by bridge construction and want to continue to learn about them more. Also, I started to understand that my time management must be improved because after week 6, I absolutely stopped following my timeline and fell behind, and the last 2 weeks were hard. However, I improved my ability to write a blog in the end. I finally started using it as a diary for my thoughts, and this makes the process of writing easier. Also, my architecture sketching skills became much better than before, and my skills in creating a 3D model improved. Through this term, I learned a lot of new, interesting, and useful information. Some tasks were hard and challenging; some were fun, inspiring, and enjoyable. However, in the end, I understand that I'm doing something that I love because I love the outcome that I create at the end, even if it's not absolutely perfect.

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