Julie Seong talks the development of her design mentality, her favourite course undertaken in the BIA & the role research has played on her graduation scheme.

Describe your graduation project in 3 key words.
expose, active, modesty

How has your design mentality evolved over the past 4 years?
One of the biggest things I’ve learnt about design these last 4 years at the BIA is that, no one can teach you to be a good designer or to design at that fact. 4 years ago, I didn’t have much of a design mentality, I enjoyed and appreciated architecture and interiors only on a superficial level, never did I imagine at the start of this course that there was a design purpose in circulation or material choice or even the details of a door handle. To me, design itself is incredibly subjective, sensitive, raw and individualistic, the process to design begins differently every time and for everyone. Personally, I enjoy and appreciate research as a design beginning, I also like to know any and all obstacles or complications beforehand so that it doesn’t obstruct the design outcome later. I like to believe that now, I’ve evolved enough as a designer to know that I should never stop learning and to be always remain open minded. 

What is your favourite course you’ve studied in the BIA, and why?
So far, during my time in the BIA, my favourite course by far, has been ‘studio’ and many others in my cohort might agree that it’s been a course to hate and to love. ‘Studio’ has often deprived me from regular sleep patterns, given me ulcers, stress eat and of course, stress but without it, I wouldn’t have known how to pursue my passion for design in the built environment. The course gave each of us the motivation to innovate and develop our own design knowledge across everything related to architecture and interior, from fonts, materials, graphics even the spacing between presentation boards and so much more. 

What role did research have on your scheme?
As part of that design process, research is a significant beginning for me; it essentially plays a mould that gives a scheme context and purpose, so for mine, research was a significant stage to my proposal. I believe learning the context of your site gives you the best direction to what it should become particularly with an open ended criteria such as ours. Research allowed me to understand the unanswered complications and issues in the social and environmental welfare of the site area, the effects of gentrification and the history of the sight gave insight to its materiality and structural context. By learning about each of those aspects it ultimately led me to my proposal and my design scheme.