Collage 9 - Doorways

The various gardens that were visited utilized 2 very prominent designs for doorways and archways. The first being the more common rectangular form, and the second being that of the shape of a vase. Throughout the various gardens that were visited, these 2 shapes were most commonly used to lead people into larger areas such as the shrines and small enclosed buildings.
The collage utilizes these 2 main shapes in a way that it looks to draw the audience in using its frame within a frame. The lighting effect on the frames might confuse the viewer to think that it is just a cut out shape of the doorway, but is in fact an actual doorway itself. The sunlight and shadow effect created by the archways onto the floors also helps the collage to communicate its intended message.

Collage 8 - Windows (Part 2)

This collage is part of a continuation of my look at windows of gardens. My earlier attempt at capturing the form and design of windows used within these gardens highlighted the difficult shapes incorporated into the design of the windows. This second collage of windows looks at these windows in a more simplistic manner. The block motifs are still evidently similar to the first. But is increased in terms of size and is now fitted into a new shape. But the background behind the window is meant to have a more calming effect rather than the first collage, where the windows were viewed as something particularly vibrant and exciting. The view of the sun through the trees, and through the window emphasizes on the windows design as a whole object.

Collage 7 - Bridges

The theme for this collage was kept pretty simple, bridges. The entire collage revolves around the various forms of bridges found throughout the gardens that were visited, and how they all are able to relate each garden together. The bridges were mainly used as a form to cross moats or lakes within some of the bigger gardens, so I intended to show this by incorporating several design elements of the different bridges together. This was done to illustrate to the audience how similarly the bridges found in these gardens really are, not only in term of usage, but in terms of their design as well. As a product designer, I found that this collage also does show maybe how differently I myself viewed the gardens compared to my more architecturally driven peers. I would not necessarily refer to this as a disadvantage, but maybe a way to share a different perspective with the others.

Collage 6 - Calligraphy & Buildings

For this collage I intended to show the various ways that buildings in the gardens relate to each other in one way or another. Whether it be through the design of its roofs, or scaling nature and height of buildings, decorations found near the buildings or even the amount of Chinese calligraphy that I noticed are usually painted or written with a distinct shade of green.
I found it very interesting that the people had chosen to use this particular shade of green on a majority of signs, titles, descriptions, etc. It sort of gave all these gardens an element that united them, that showed that these gardens belonged together as a group.

Collage 5 - Path to the Shrine

This collage illustrates the surrounding areas of a particular shrine that I found particularly interesting. The centerpiece focused on a particular framed stone carved image of a famous figure. The surrounding areas of this particular area included a bamboo field and an enclosed building which housed 500 plus stone carvings of various other figures from that time.
The collage is meant to illustrate the walk leading up to this shrine, with elements of the various areas littered throughout the collage itself. The stone paved path is symbolized by the recurring design repeated throughout this section of the walking path. The entrance to the enclosed building is represented by a cutout of its archway.

Collage 4 - Horned Roofs

An interesting design feature of the shrines located within the gardens was the repetitive use of horned-style roof corners. I found that this was a recurring design feature throughout the several gardens that we visited earlier on during the trip.
For the collage I wished to illustrate the interaction between people as these shrines resembled areas where people would commune and meet each other. Silhouettes of people were carved out as well as drawn in to give the garden a sense belonging to people. These silhouettes also helped to keep a sense of scale between the two separate shrines from different gardens.

Collage 3 - Umbrellas Through a Garden

I felt this to be one of the better collages produced through the course. The flow of movement within the composition is kept intact with the use of the same umbrella through the collage. I intended on illustrating the garden as we visited it on the day, wet due to the rain. I felt that it was imperative that I kept the umbrella motif throughout the frames to show this. Having a willing participant to act as the centre piece of the collage also did help to show the journey of a person going through and viewing the various parts of the garden and its uniqueness.