Spatial organisation is a key consideration for architects in architectural design. The study and exploration of different spatial organization methods is important in design because it informs human occupation, behavior, and experience within architectural spaces. Writers such as Francis D.K. Ching labeled this as architectural ‘order’ whilst Alexander Purves called this ‘the formal patterns’.

Project 1 is an introductory project by which you are required to explore issues of spatial typologies and poetics through simple design exercises. Working in groups of 4-5 students, you are to propose 2 schemes for a Memorial themed ‘journey for the 5 senses’. You are required to design the Memorials in the form of semi-open architecture by using two contrasting spatial types of your choice. There is no specific site for this design work. The story of your Memorial should translate the narrative of events given by your tutor, and it should be informed by precedents studies.

Students were given 2 incidents that were currently affecting man kind as a whole and possess certain poetic qualities that we could derive from and create a memorial that pays tribute or remind user's about the incident. The approach towards the project varies among group of students whereby some chose to approach in a healing way but some opt to approach it by reminding users about the dark incidents and provide a sense of empathy therefore virtually and psychologically placing users in the incidents.

The first incident that was given to students were the Rohingya massacre from the Western Myanmmar, this incident focuses on the cold blooded and cruel acts against the Rohingyas and it depicts how human can treat its own kind in such a inhumane way based on their racial and cultural differences. 

The next incident was the Sabah Earthquake incident that shocked Malaysians whereby the natural phenomenon has taken Malaysians by surprise and has caused several casualties. But the incident has several controversies which circulates around the news.

Our approach to the two different incidents were the same, we opted to create a memorial that is highly dependent to its site context. The Rohingya memorial is located right at the border of Thailand and Malaysia to further emphasize its loss of direction and the poetic quality of being sandwiched by two countrys and external factors whereby the Earthquake memorial is located right in between of a cliff where it is wedged, this is to emphasize the misplaced phenomenon of the earthquake that happened in Sabah and the wedged memorial represents the shattered hearts and beliefs of the Sabahans.