The Case Study Hoopla Part 1

I had enrolled myself in Design College, just following my intuition to see where it takes me and my major was Interior Design & Styling. Initially, I used to be scared of this college because it was a totally different world altogether. There were no books only presentations, projects, activities & discussions. I felt like an alien there, because it was totally different from the conventional education that I had received. One of the things I enjoyed the most during design school, which was a part of my core projects was visiting new sites for a 'case study'. It is mandatory, all over the world for architecture and interior design students to do the relevant case studies before starting a new project. So, before designing something, we got to do hand on study of a live project of a similar genre which helped us to understand the scope of our project better. We had to understand the design philosophy of the architect/designer, whose site we undertook for the study. By seeing the pros and cons of his/her design, we got a clear picture of what we are supposed to do in our design…. The fact that you have to explore so much, you have to get moving and understand 'spaces' from the perspective of a creator/designer, not just a regular person… it was a hell lot of learning. 

We had the "jury" pattern of learning, basically, design school jury is a process where we pin our sheets on the wall and explain what our project is all about. We also have a presentation along with the sheets, which we show on a projector screen.

This is me during our final semester jury

 

The people who are listening to the presentation are the students from the same batch (who have worked on the same project), the mentors (people who give grades) and if the stress was not enough there might be some outside guests (other designers/architectural celebrities). The jurors sitting there would give you feedback then and there, would put up questions whenever they don't understand a thing in your project or when they are curious to know more. Even your class fellows are allowed to put up questions if they are curious to know about something in your project. This type of process is actually followed in architecture schools around the world since long, but now, many known design schools are also adopting the jury process, finding it advantageous for the overall development of design students.

We used to get strong remarks from our jurors (class faculty mostly), after showing the final PowerPoint presentation and that goes something like this - "Did you really visit this place or you just took images from the internet?" or this "Where is the circulation diagram, zoning, dimensions of furniture...etc.?" and here comes the best "Were you serious about doing this case study in the first place?"😅. And hearing all this after having a sleepless night, waking up like a zombie and doing all that "jugaad"(the commonly used term by Indians which means hack) running here & there, asking for permissions, photos and research material for the work.

After the presentation drama ends, the seven of us would make a hoopla about everything, sitting at the canteen space during break time. Now I am sure that my friends and I would be sharing the same feelings looking back. When I look back, I just smile a lot thinking that how silly we behaved after every time we presented in class. We would start cribbing over the remarks we got, saying how unfair the faculty is being with us, discussing the faults in each other's work... the mulling over after every presentation is one of the best LMAO!! kind of moment for everyone. In fact, I feel I was the most sensitive. Most of my days in college, I’ve been a bundle of nerves. I would always remember what happened during class presentations- the expression on the faces of the jurors, what they said and how they said it and I took everything by heart. 

I remember how I was mourning on the phone while talking to my mother, right after giving my first ever presentation in front of people. Just because I couldn't do so well that day while other class fellows did, I thought as if I am the odd one out, not fit to be in the design college. And trust me, I really regret behaving as if I was a porcupine inside a balloon factory rather than being happy about the fact that I am gaining so much value from every project that we do. 

The first time was tough, at least for me. We had a hospitality project to start & had to do relevant case studies for that. Though it was meant to be a group project, I actually had to move alone for the case study and make the final presentation. It so happened, as usual, some ‘group politics’ was bound to happen during these group projects & then because I was too naïve to understand anything, I was left out many a times, on my own. I think group politics is a very relatable thing and many of you understand what I am saying. Yes, I did try to clear things up with my group partner, but what can you do if someone totally lacks empathy and understanding? So I took initiative and searched for a site, and finally found a newly opened café nearby, which looked attractive to me whenever I passed from that street. I got lucky in one aspect that the café owner was really cooperative. He allowed me to get in and click as many pictures as I needed. Not just that, he also gave me about half an hour for an interview. So, I was putting my questions about the decor, the concept, etc., & simultaneously making notes & he told me everything he knew. That way I completed my presentation and I was too confident that I’ve done some good work but Hey! No… that didn’t happen.

The fated day came and I still remember the happenstances. Two girls went before me & I was the third person to go. As I had already seen them present, their well structured presentation made our mentors really happy. But soon, their happiness faded away when I came to present my work. I started the introduction part by saying “this is a very small place located in Raja Park”, then with a not so pleasing expression, my faculty asked, “How big, how small?” & I froze at that moment of a rude awakening. Yes, it’s utterly stupid not to mention the total sq.ft area of your site, when you are a student of interior design. I had the privilege of interviewing the owner himself, but I just forgot to ask about the first and foremost thing – the area. Moving on, I realized that I’ve done so many blunders like not making the floor plan of the café, & that amazed my faculty really! For those of you, who are not of this background, I want to tell you that a floor plan is basically the drawing that shows you the layout of a property from above.

Floor plans are drawn to scale and will indicate the different zones, their sizes and length of walls and also they may show the furniture layout, the position of fixtures, appliances, etc. It is important to show these plans and layout so that everyone can see what is placed where and how the circulation happens around that space. Cut short…the functional analysis of the space was missing which is so important to cover, as our very first lectures in college taught us that design is not just about a pleasing appearance. It’s also about the problem- solving and need of the moment. So, yeah basically my presentation was lacking in some important research and I just showed some bad photos and some text to support those bad pictures.

TYPICAL FLOOR PLAN OF AN APARTMENT

My course coordinator found it monotonous and in between the ongoing presentation he said, “Is it over now?”. Yes, I know that’s kind of rude but the fact is - I was actually taking a lot of time. I made the most number of slides, over 20, and it wasn’t anything to be proud of. The number of slides never matter but the quality of work always does, and this being one of the precious lessons that I’ve learned in design school. At the onset of the hospitality project, our course coordinator said: “It should come out a like story” while referring to the case study presentation we had to do, left me wondering, what does this statement mean? In Part 2, this point will be clear☺

Brown Sugar Bakers & Cafe, Raja Park, Jaipur

My batch mate whose presentation was really appreciated is the epitome of a “smart worker”. I remember the faculty looking at us and saying “this is the perfect example of a case study, this is how it should be presented” & he just had a total of 6 slides in which he conveyed everything. His work was self-explanatory, no one struggled to understand his space. It didn’t take him much time to get his points across as he really summarized all the information in crisp and concise bullets. His text was supported by the necessary visuals like the floor plans, circulation diagrams, all things which matter in interior/architecture presentations. In fact, everyone had presented well, except me. With the information I had, it was possible to finish everything in about 10 slides, it wasn’t a large site to cover. It got over 20 because at that time, I didn’t know how to properly organize and summarize my research. Doing your first “group task” without a group is actually tough as no one is there to correct you when you are going wrong, but all in all it was a worthy learning experience for me.

The “jury pattern” of learning is just one method of the “active learning” process that we had in college. But what is active learning:According to Wikipedia -“Active learning is a form of learning in which teaching strives to involve students in the learning process more directly than in other methods”.

“Active learning is the opposite of passive learning; it is learner-centered, not teacher- centered & requires more than just listening, the active participation of each and every student is necessary aspect.”

The college was also having other methods like activity-based learning, technology-based and yeah, group work is also part of this process. Research has validated that active learning has promoted achievement levels of students. I’ve seen and felt the benefits myself like you develop collaborative skills (say yes to teamwork!), retention power increases, develop creative problem solving & critical thinking,  fear of public speaking or social awkwardness goes down (to a major extent), you learn from your mistakes but also learn from the shortcomings of other people.  And if someone got hit by those pungent remarks with a dash of dismayed expressions, we are also privileged to see a live telecast of his/her mockery, LOL!

So, it was a fun ride overall and I am going to share with you all that I've learned in the process and what you can takeaway from it in Part 2 of the series. Keep reading!!