c o l l a b o

r a t i o n

r e p o r t

woodfordia

design

studio

sorrel atkinson

n8326401

The purpose of this report is to address the

collaboration methods that were used and

utilised during the process of designing a cabin

for the Woodford Folf Festival.

The brief was for a cabin design in which

performers or visitors to the Woodford Folk

Festival grounds can stay, in a comforting,

relaxing atmosphere. The cabin had to embrace

the ideals behind the Woodforde spirit and lore,

and adapt to the surrounding environment. Each

design team were compiled of a mix of design

disciplines; Architecture, Industrial, Interior

and Landscape Design. The four different

disciplines came together in order to create

this. This document outlines how each of the

design fields, and the team members themselves,

contributed to the final design outcome in terms

of their individual knowledge and their

collaboration methods.

Collaborating means individuals coming together in a group

or team in order to work together to create achieve a final

goal or outcome. When completing work in a collaboration

environment, discussion is had, ideas are shared, points

are proven, and points are disproven. There are different

stages when talking about collaboration, which makes

collaboration successful. The beginning, middle and end.

The beginning:

-planning, analysing

Individuals must be willing and able to adjourn together to

work towards an initial vision. If an individual is not,

this can negatively effective the collaborating efforts

that others may put forward. Someone like this only

contributes to the project and does not help the

collaboration effort. In the beginning, it is also evident

that different roles and ideals are brought forward from

each member. Plans are made, systems for communication are

developed and roles are established.

The middle:

-designing and building

At this stage, ideas are being processed and advanced while

others are being rejected. Individuals show their best

skills and correspond with others which enhance their

natural skill. A clear vision is stated, and tasks are

set. Each member has to uphold their individual tasks in

order to achieve the desired outcome. One person can be

left to do the work. Tasks have to be divided up to the

most qualified person who can also handle the

responsibility.

The end:

-deploying

This is where final decisions are made. Ideas from

individuals have been laid out; these ideas are then

collaborated with other ideas. Modifications are made and

Collaboration

In order to have a good, well rounded collaboration

method, the individuals have to show respect to

their co-works, maturity and a drive and passion to

achieve the final goal. Members have to communicate

well to each other, flexible with their own ideals,

show maturity, stick to time restraints but all

while having fun and an enjoyable experience.

In terms of collaborative design, design and

learning are social process, in which social

interactions that arise among participants promote

learning (Brezillon, 2002) It is difficult for

someone to develop and finalise a design without

the contribution or input of one or many. The

giving and taking of ideas helps an individual

expand on their ideas or even harden their original

i d e a s .

Teamm e n t a l i t y

When talking about individuals who are collaborating to-

wards a common goal, they can be either be defined as a

working group or a team.

Working Group: Individuals who gather to interact primarily

to share information or perspectives and to make decisions

to help each individual performance. There is no call for

mutual accountability. (JMcManus, 2006)

Team: People who gather together with complementary skills.

They are committed to a common purpose, goal and working

approach for which they hold themselves mutually account-

able. (McManus, 2006)

In terms of Gumnut Studios, a team mentality was upheld.

In order to have a successful team, one has to look at the

qualities that each team member exuberates. If the team is

well-balanced, and has a well skilled set of individuals,

the outcome that the team present will be highly effective.

A team works together to drive their passion and skills

towards a common goal.

Teamm e n t a l i t y A way of creating a team that works better to-

gether is to relate each member to Beldin’s Team Role Model. Dr. Meredith Beldin believes that

there are two distinctive roles that team members play.

The functional role: represents the functions that one has been hired to do. In terms of relat-

ing this to the Woodfordia project, disciplines were allocated to work with other disciplines as

each have different skills and functions they can implement.

The second role is,The team role: represents the personal attributes of an individual, which is formed by his person-

ality and learned behaviour. Again, relating this back to the Woodfordia project, this describes the different skills each team member has, not

just relating to their discipline but their life skills. Beldin belives that to achieve the best

balance within a team, there should be a leader, someone to stimulate ideas, someone who maintains

clarity and someone who makes things happen.

As well as Beldin’s Roles, when talking about teams and collaborating, De Bono’s Thinking Hats Theory can also be discussed in order to under-

standing another layer of collaborating team dy-namics. This theory is helps people be more pro-

ductive, focused and mindfully involved. Each role is identified with a coloured symbolic

“thinking hat.” By mentally wearing these “hats”, individuals can easily focus or redirect

thoughts, the conversation or the meeting. (De bono, 2009)

g u m n u ts t u d i o s

I am a team member of Gumnut Studios. We were composed

of two Architects, an Industrial Designer, an

Interior Designer and a Landscape Architect. We each

had our own skills that we brought forth throughout

the design process, as well as our understanding and

knowledge into the background of our disciplines.

During the process, each team member exhibited

different qualities that contributed to the working

dynamics of the team. The team came together to talk

about each of our individual skills in terms of

Beldin’s Roles. On top of that we also looked into De

Bono’s Hats. Outlined is a brief description on the

each team members.

s t u d i o s ANGUS SHAW: Angus was the industrial

designer of the group. He displayed

great skills that were gladly utilised

in Gumnut Studios. He has a high

attention to detail, conveyed

constructive criticism and was

dedicated to his beliefs.

When discussing Beldin’s Roles, the team

reasoned that Angus was the Completer

Finisher. He takes great care in

ensuring the small details of the design

were taken care of; details which others

may overlook.

SARAH VIZE: Sarah was a motivational

member of Gumnuts. She was very

practical and brought to the table many

ideas and different design

opportunities that could be deployed and

developed further.

Sarah was crowned the Monitor in terms

of Beldin’s Roles. She analysed each

situation and proposed alternative

options when she noticed something which

was astray. She was strategic and judged

accurately. According to De Bono’s Hats,

Sarah was defined as the Black Hat. She

saw the difficulties, weakness and

dangers and acted accordingly with logic

r e a s o n .

ELLY TITE: Elly was a very calming

member of the team. She had good

knowledge about not just her discipline,

but others as well. She presented her

ideas very well through the use of

drawings and sketches. She was and is

very organised when it came down to

finalising the design.

The Belbin Role that Elly was given was

that of the Team Worker. Elly is

co-operative, mild, perceptive and

diplomatic. She listened, built and

averted friction within the group. Elly

always has an optimistic viewpoint that

helps to see all the benefits of the

decision, and the value in it, which

makes her a perfect candidate for De

Bono’s yellow hat.

.

MATT CARLETON: No one completed set

tasks Gumnut Studios established at each

team meeting as well as Matt did. He

always showed up with the most work

completed and in high detail. He is very

dedicated to his work and gets the job

d o n e .

¬

In terms of Beldin’s Roles, the team

deduced that Matt was the Implementer.

Matt turned the ideas into practical

actions. He was disciplined, efficient

and dutiful. His positive qualities were

that he is very hard working and

self-disciplined. The team gave the

Blue thinking hat to Matt. This is the

process hat. Matt thought ahead about

what needed to be done, informed the

group and from then organised certain

s i t u a t i o n s .

Gumnut Studios

had a perfect

balance of

leading, doing, thinking and s o c i a l i s i n g .

We did not intend

for this to

happen, but we

were lucky it did.

”..the essential purpose of group practise is to

link and focus on the creative and critical facul

ties of every member of the team, not just about one

or two facets of the problem but upon every aspect

at every stage..” – Middleton (1967,91)

the disciplines

The dynamics of Gumnut Studio changed and prog-

ress as the project changed and progressed. At

the beginning of the project, during the initial

research stage the team were still new to each

other. We did not voice many of our own individu-

al opinions and just went with what was happen-

ing. The group managed to present something to

the criteria although not as well as what could

have been done. This is because we weren’t famil-

iar with each other yet. We didn’t know the

skills that each team member possessed, and how

we could efficiently utilise these skills.

The second project the second project saw person-

alities within the group begin show, as well as

the skills each team member had. We started voic-

ing our own opinions on the project yet not want-

ing to tread on too many toes. We were becoming

more comfortable around each other.

The final stage of the design process saw us all

becoming comfortable around each other. We did

not mind voicing our own opinions over others’,

but in the end we utilised these ideas to put

forward a final decision. As result of this,

Gumnut Studios produced a project we were all

proud of.

The main ideals that the Industrial Designer brought to Gumnut

Studios was their understanding on functionality and

usability, while not forgetting the needs for the user. They

considered the adaptability of spaces, and the adaptability

of objects. This helped the group understand the spaces better

and the comfort for the user. The Industrial Designer gave us

a start, and the team pushed the ideas further together until

we resolved any issues that could be seen.

The Interior Designer played a big part in the designing

process. They helped visualise the end result of the design.

They did this by showing the group how a person would be

situated in a certain space, and how this would affect their

senses. They helped developed how a user of the cabin would

move from one situation to another and the transitions they

make partake in.

The Landscape Architect had a great emphasis on creating

functional outdoor spaces. They helped place an attachment to

the site through design interventions thought out the cabin

and its surrounds. This greatly helped the other disciplines

as the Landscaper showed how an outside space can be shaped,

moulded and designed in order for our central idea governing

the cabin to be shown.

The Architects focused on creating functional spaces that

enhanced the user’s wellbeing. They had emphasis on designing

a cabin with an economical and sustainable aspect in mind.

This was done with the choice of materials and construction

methods. The other members of Gumnut Studios benefited from

this as they saw clearly how the cabin was to be constructed

and how the spaces actively involved the user.

team dynamics

The dynamics of Gumnut Studio changed and prog-

ress as the project changed and progressed. At

the beginning of the project, during the initial

research stage the team were still new to each

other. We did not voice many of our own individu-

al opinions and just went with what was happen-

ing. The group managed to present something to

the criteria although not as well as what could

have been done. This is because we weren’t famil-

iar with each other yet. We didn’t know the

skills that each team member possessed, and how

we could efficiently utilise these skills.

The second project saw personalities within the

group begin show, as well as the skills each team

member had. We started voicing our own opinions

on the project yet not wanting to tread on too

many toes. We were becoming more comfortable

around each other.

The final stage of the design process saw us all

becoming comfortable around each other. We did

not mind voicing our own opinions over others’,

but in the end we utilised these ideas to put

forward a final decision. As result of this,

Gumnut Studios produced a project we were all

proud of.

Gumnut Studios saw many successes, as well as a few diffi-culties. The successes could easily be seen while the dif-ficulties were few and far between. Although, in the end, all difficulties were resolved by the team in a collabora-tion effort. The success the team had were how well we worked together as a group. We all showed respect to each other, while com-municating our ideas, thoughts and feelings. We built upon everyone’s individual ideas, while collaborating constantly to discuss ideas and process. An example of these processes we all would discuss an issue, delve on the design issue individually, and return back together. We would then ex-plain our ideas, discuss them, and vote on which direction should be taken. We then developed the idea further as a group and finalised the design as a team. Some difficulties that developed along the way were trivi-al. It was usually a matter of some members liking a de-signing a certain method over another, while the others were focused an alternative methods. But this was easily resolved by talking out each idea, examining the advantages and disadvantages and trial and error. Another issue was becoming stuck in the design phase for a while and not ven-turing out into the final design phase. We had too many design ideas and were trying to implement them with no suc-cess. This was resolved by stripping back the ideas and keeping it simple. We developed a clear direction we wanted to go in and moved forward from there.

myr o l e

I was one of the Architects for Gumnut Studios. I believe that I implemented knowledge not just from what I’ve learnt at university, but my knowledge and skills I have learnt during my life, into the design of the Woodfordia cabin. I was issued the Beldin Role of the Shaper. I was usually focused on the task at hand and had a keen drive for keeping the group on track and on topic. I helped other team members overcome issues and complications that arose in our design during multiple stages. I, along with the groups other Architect, brought forth ideas from sustainability, construction and structural methods, as well as designing the space in terms of enjoyment and delight. The group also gave me the Green De Bono Hat. This hat is explained in terms of creativity and innovation. I saw possibilities, alternatives, solutions and new ideas that could be explored during the design process. An issue that may have arose that I had too many ideas and could narrow my thinking down to one path. In terms of collaboration, I brought ideas to the table as well as discussions. These ideas included the creation of functional spaces, and sustainability. The team discussed these ideas further and developed them by talking about materials and construction methods.

Each team member of Gumnut Studios brought to

the group their knowledge and skills from

their individual discipline. These skills

immensely helped with the development of the

project.

The differences that could be easily seen when

comparing the disciplines were the knowledge

and thought process that members had over

others. This was obviously a result of the

ways of thinking, designing and teaching that

each team member has been taught in their

respective disciplinary classes. Some could

clearly see what was not working right, some

couldn’t. For example the Architect could

point out a structural element that would

work, or the Industrial Designer developed a

new way a product could be used or designed.

The similarities that could easily be seen

were the love and passion each member had

about design itself. We were all driven by the

constant designing and developing of ideas

while also fascinated about learning new

techniques not just covering their discipline

but others as well.

r o l e

projecto u t c o m e

I am proud of what Gumnut Studios produced in our final presentation. It could not have been done without the collaboration efforts of each of the team members. Everyone utilised their skills ef-fectively during this project, to their own bene-fit (by creating, enhancing, and developing their skills) as well as benefitting other individuals (developing others skills and introducing them to new skills.) We tackled the problems that arose, created solu-tions and were driven to the final design. With-out the collaboration efforts of each discipline, the final design would not be what it was. There are of course areas that still need to be worked on and developed in terms of collaborat-ing, such as finalising ideas, but overall, the collaboration efforts of the team could easily be seen during our presentations.

finalstatement

Design is not a closed mind thinking procedure. You develope your ideas and thinking processes with the help of others. It may be examining what other designers have done before you, or working with co-workers or friends to develop and push your ideas further.

For me, I work better and more productively in a collabora-tive environment. This class has broadened my learning techniques and design-ing skills. I’ve learnt about ways of collaborating, the dos, and the don’ts. I’ve established an understanding on how to construct, or develop a team I am a part of. Teams that fail to work as a collaborative unit, rarely accomplish g o a l s .

Attitudes and behaviours throw off the effectiveness of a group, and in turn, this affects the morale of the group, which results in impacting the satisfaction of the vision. In a team where there are undefined roles, lack of responsi-bility and lack of structure for the task at hand, contribute to the ineffective teamwork. (McQuerrey, 2013)

thanks to... I would like to thank my team, Gumnut Studios for this semster and for being a pleasant group to work with. I would also liek to thank the lectures and tutors.

References for the report:

Brezillon, P (2002). Individual and Team Contexts in a Design Process. Retrived from http://blackboard.qut.edu.au/courses/1/DEB601_13se2/content/ _ 4 9 7 5 0 5 6 _ 1 / 1 0 . 1 . 1 . 1 0 3 . 2 5 2 3 . p d f

McManus, J (2006). Leadership: Project and Human Capital Management. Publisher: Butterworth-HeinemannDe Bono, E (2009). Six Thinking Hats. Publisher: Penguin G r o u p

McQuerrey L (2013). Examples of Poor Teamwork. Retrieved f r o m : http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/examples-poor-teamwork-12 8 6 0 . h t m l