Interpretation of CRA for this project

SCRIPT
Following criteria are to evaluate your ability to strategically communicate an architectural proposal through a creative as well as logically and realistically constructed series of events in the form of a factitious story.

1.     REALITY (12.5%): Have relevant contexts you can observe today been studied and well incorporated into your Architecture Fiction? Has the development been documented appropriately in your blog and outcomes been presented well in the final presentation/submission?
Description: It is important that your story is based on contexts that we are in today and assumptions you make are realistic and believable based on what you can observe today. Imagine yourself in your scenario and how you would be living in your version of the future. Please remember that you are to develop and present Architecture fiction, not Science fiction.

My project looks into the rise of immigration and refugees over the next ten years. It is based on conservative figures of growth of 200% by 2022 from the UNHCR as well as Australia’s current refugee intake and my optimistic view of it increasing it’s levels to be one of the top humanitarian countries by 2022. This would make our intake around 1000% of our current figures. I believe this is a particularly realistic future and I my design is based on the need to raise cultural empathy and tolerance in our society by counteracting the negative media we are bombarded with in our mainstream culture by both major news providers and politicians.
·       Based on trends crossing a wide field of study, including media, politics, political science, and cultural studies.
·       Shown effectively through the video presentation in an abstracted way of many stories from many people.

2.     CREATIVITY (12.5%): Have background contexts extracted from your team's scenario developed in Project One been refined and developed into a unique and imaginative plot for your Architecture Fiction? Have the development been documented appropriately in your Blog and outcomes been communicated well in your presentation/submission? Description: You are to develop a unique story to present your architectural entity deeply embedded in near future contexts. Your imagination and creativity therefore is critical to show your proposal is relevant and communicate important aspects of your proposal successfully. The story has to be developed and presented through methods of your choice such as a series of captured scenes, storyboard and/or a movie.

 Looking back on our teams first project, I think my fiction has pursued one of the key foundations of how we pass on knowledge and the power of storytelling. While I have taken another direction (looking at cultural cohabitation) with my storyline, the design shares parallels with our concept of having access to a broad range of opinions and developing our own conclusions and thoughts; not just being fed information and accepting it, but critically analysing it and evaluating whether it changes who we are or not. The choice of a movie in the format of still images with spoken word is representative of the program I am designing. It will be the same way these stories will be told and by doing so, will provide an example of the power of this medium.
·       This project has taken idea of the passage of knowledge and brought it in a new direction.
·       Means of this storytelling has been successfully communicated in movie.
·       Strong continuation of the theme of independent thought from project 1 shown in discovery based learning panel.

STAGE 
Following criteria are to evaluate your ability to design an architectural entity that works. Your architectural entity can be considered as the main stage for your Architecture Fiction. Your story should be constructed so that it best describes the most important aspects of your proposal as well as your proposal should be a response to the future contexts that you are to communicate in your story.

 1.     PURPOSE (15%): Has the purpose of your proposed architectural entity been defined in response to needs and desires of future citizens? Is the design response appropriate? Has the development been well documented in your blog? Have outcomes been communicated well in your final presentation/submission?Description: Why should your proposal be realised? How does it offer meaningful spaces and services for future citizens if realised? It is imperative that your proposed architectural entity provides effective solutions and opportunities for future citizens in your scenario.

 While this doesn’t provide a service as such for future citizens, it is aimed at bettering the society we live in through dealing with a possible major future problem of cultural intolerance in a highly culturally mixed environment. It is also aimed at stopping the assimilation of cultures to one big mega culture and to preserve cultural identity for future generations. I do not believe this is a be all and end all solution to the problem, however, I believe it will have the same or greater effect than a single building can produce if compared in that way. Really effective architecture is when a whole network of different buildings form connections and relationships such as a city would. Applications are no different, they require a greater number of individual designs to all be working towards one goal in order to effect real change on society.
·       Project is based on an essential need the society lacks, which must be dealt with.
·       Is a simple and yet effective system
·       Not only does it provide storytelling, but cultural placemaking and a cultural history.
·       It provides immigrant and refugees with a chance to speak up for their plight, where the traditional media is responding negatively.

2.     NAVIGATION (15%): Has specific uses of your proposed spaces been studied and the circulation within and/or access to the entity been studied and demonstrated? Is it evident in the design? Has the development been well documented and communicated in the blog and final presentation/submission?Description: How do people arrive at a space? How do they find the space? How do they move between spaces? Your proposal needs to address issues concerning how your design offers appropriate and meaningful access to and from your architectural entity and circulation within and between each space. It is very important that you constantly evaluate and re-evaluate your access and circulation strategies.

I believe my program is already highly relatable to architecture in this sense. I suppose the interaction with and navigation is more drawn into the interface the user is presented with when using this program. More importantly however, I believe my project is about placemaking and the importance of providing a virtual experience with a physical location in order to spark memories of that experience later in life, as well as having a physical connection with the storyteller through the location. The whole geotagging aspect of my design works off this basis.
·       Interface and storytelling has been designed with accessibility in mind. Applicable for all ages and level of literacy.
·       Design panel outlines methods of internal systems which allow user systems to be simplified.

3.     INTEGRITY (15%): Is a good level of structural and/or operational integrity and unity clearly visible in your design proposal? Are appropriate structures, details, materials and/or technologies used to construct your proposed spaces? Has the development been well documented in the blog and outcomes been demonstrated well in final presentation/submission?Description: Your must communicate your proposed spaces are realistic in terms of how they are constructed and maintained. It is important to demonstrate your design decisions are informed by clear understanding of physical and practical limitations and opportunities. You are required to demonstrate structural and operational integrity of your physical and/or virtual spaces/artefacts and show how they work and are maintained as an appropriate architectural entity.

While structural integrity isn’t very applicable in a virtual landscape, I believe that this criteria links to how my program is curated and maintained in order to achieve its outcome. I believe the systems I establish can be scrutinised in the same way the engineering of a building could.
·       Solid logic system that is a flow on from core project principles and aims.
·       Filtering of content dealt with effectively given aims of the project.

SCENES
Following criteria are to evaluate your ability to communicate the value and relevance of your architectural proposal. They can be best described as specific scenes in your Architecture Fiction. 

1.     PRESENCE & IDENTITY (15%): Has the presence and relevance of the proposed architectural entity and its identity in its location (site) been considered with strong understanding of what it should provide and be known for? Has the idea development been well documented in the blog and outcomes been well communicated in the final presentation/submission?Description: It is important that the physical and/or psychological presence of your proposed architecture is appropriate for the area/context and also signifies the reason and purpose of its existence. It therefore is very important to give specific consideration to how people identify and recognise your proposed architectural entity as a whole within the context of your site (whether it is physical or virtual).

This criterion relates to a whole section of my work linking the virtual experience of storytelling to a physical site and generating meaning and relevance to that space. As well as this though, This can be linked up to my design of a symbol and it’s use throughout the program. The symbol carries with it some psychological presence which will be used as physical markers at the site of a story (in the form of a tile). This will act as a trigger as well as establishing a sense of curiosity in those who don’t know about the program. I wanted this design to generate a want to discover and find more rather than feeding information. Through this I believe a stronger education can be taught and the symbology and ambiguous tile are key to establishing this.
·       Creates placemaking, drawing on a model of revisiting that experience when walking through that physical space again.
·      Symbolism used effectively as a tool of sparking curiosity, or as a reminder to the software.

2.     FIRST-PERSON EXPERIENCE (15%): Has the experience of users been considered and effectively presented from the perspectives of users? Has the investigation been documented in the Blog and presented well in the final presentation/submission?Description: It is imperative that you made your design decisions based on the requirements of people who experience and use the proposed spaces. You need to demonstrate not only generic appearances of spaces with people, but also construct scenarios to depict how specific people in specific needs and circumstances experience and utilise spaces you proposed.

What is relatable for me in this criterion is looking into the ease of use of uploading and downloading a story. This has to be simple to make it accessible to a large percent of the population, as well as being quick and convenient to do so. I believe also you could look at this as how one person may change their views on a culture or stereotype after hearing a story which really touched them.
·       Video shows how much thought has been given to the user experience. This format of storytelling is highly effective as displayed in movie.
·       Has been designed to be accessible to highest number of people, this issue is not subject to just one group.