Basic Design is Even LESS Frightening Now!

Starting a new university year is always daunting, but when it comes hand in hand with your FIRST design course, the prospect can be terrifying. Add to that the fact that basic design students (myself included) are starting this stage online and alone, and now you have a challenge none of us could have predicted.

But who needs to worry when SASA's got your back?

On the 27th of September 2020, we took it upon ourselves to conduct our annual Basic Design Workshop on MS Teams to make sure we are

all prepared for this new adventure. The workshop was intended to help us het familiar with the materials, model making techniques and programs we'll need to use to experiment with our ideas and concepts easily and without any complications.

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The workshop started with and introduction to the course and a short presentation of what to expect during the basic design course. We were shown examples of the linear and central organization assignments, mass and void cubes, and transforming your design into a building.

Next, a video by Social Media team member and third year student Joud Al-Saht showing us the different materials and tools that we were going to be using during the basic design course (and the rest of our architectural journey), before demonstrating the methods we can use in cutting, bending, and assembling our model. She showed us techniques that can be of great help to us when making our models, like scoring foam to allow it to bend, making patterns and several other cool hacks that you can find in the video below!

Then came the Sketchup stage of the tutorial which started out by a delightful skit performed by Youssif Al-Qadhu and Abdul Rahim Alyasin from the Events Team. Their skit introduced us to the program, gave us helpful tips, and provided us with examples of useful plugins we could use to improve our experience.

Following that was a SketchUp Tutorial demonstrated by one of our recent alumni Hala Sahall (don't forget to follow her on Instagram @hala.skp!). She showed us how to work on the cube assignment, using the different tools provided by the program to make the task so much easier.

We would like to thank all those that contributed to this event, it was incredibly informative and useful!

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You can find more tips and tricks here on the SketchUp Essentials channel on YouTube!

Don't forget to head over to our Instagram @SASA_Updates for more advice and laptop recommendations (to be found in the highlights)

Also, check out Joud Al-Sahts's Model Making Tutorial here! Alternatively, click here to view Hala Sahall's Sketchup Tutorial!