雖然我是在國際學校學習和長大的，但是從小到大我都被收到中國飲食文化的影響。在日常中，我也會跟我的父母一起去西餐廳吃飯，也會去中餐所以我都很熟悉中西的飲食文化。還有，我是從一個非常傳統的中國家庭長大的，所以對我來說，中國的講究也非常重要的。另外，無論我將來是在美國讀書校或者在住，我一定要知道中西方的飲食講究。

首先我會談談中西方烹飪的差別。中國文化跟西方文化在烹飪方面有好大的差別。中國人是用四種烹飪方法去煮菜：煎，煮， 炒和蒸。 比方說，白切雞，他們是用蒸的方法去煮的。這樣白切雞不但十分好吃，而非常香。另外，西方的人烹飪的方法比較簡單點，烹飪時他們會煎食物，燒烤或者食物上配合不同的沙拉。比方說煮牛排，西方人會用煎的方法去煮牛排的，他們會用比較簡單的方法去煮菜。這樣會把食物又好吃，又簡單。

人們會說 “天人合一”就表達中國人烹飪的方法，意思是說中國人煮菜時，他們會用香和味道去吃做食物。另外人們會說西方人 “以人為本” ，這表達這就代表他們煮菜的時候會用一些簡單的方法去煮菜。

先在我會談談，中西方的飲食相同。中西方都很注意他們的客人，所以客人來的時候，他們一定要把最漂亮餐具拿出來，這是因為他們非常尊重他們的客人，要給他們最好的。除了者意外，中西方都很尊重吃飯的禮貌，比方說吃的時候要說，往往會說 慢慢吃，或吃多點，這就是中西方的飲食相同。

總結，無論我將來在哪裏住或者在哪裏讀書，我也一定會記得我從小到大都是在個非纏傳統的中國家庭長大，我的父母也教我中國不同的飲食講究。所以無論我去哪裡，我也會記得中和西方的講究。

Written Reflection:

2) Explain who your design is for. Who makes up the particular community? (You may have to do some research or think back to Ms. Chan’s talk) 

Our design is for refugees and  new migrators who don’t have a home yet and they need a place to stay. When we talk about refugees we mean like people who come from other countries and they come here because they need a place to stay and they don’t have a lot to afford for themselves. In our community, we welcome a wide variety of people who migrate from other countries. For example, Africa, Nepal etc. The purpose of this place is to provide free facilities for the new migrators who don’t have the money to afford a living.Therefore, we made a model of a community center that we plan to make.

3) Explain what your design is inspired by. What ideas and inspirations helped shape your design? Use specific examples from your model to share.

We planned to make an apartment building with lots of unique features.  For example, we made a triangular pyramid glass balcony because we wanted it to be environmentally friendly. With a glass top, the refugees will get natural sunlight and as you can see above, the sunlight is going through the glass and people inside will feel warmth and heat.Lots of things inspired me but, I got the glass top idea by looking at different architectural buildings and balconies and because I wanted to create an “environmentally friendly” atmosphere. Another example is that we have a swimming pool. We did this because we want our community center to have free facilities and a green space to enjoy the mountains and the freedom.

4) Explain where you envision your design to be located (in Hong Kong) AND how that shaped your building design (Think back to Mr. Leung’s talk)

When we first planned the model, we chose Yuen Long to be the location. This is because there aren’t lots of high city buildings and there is more scenery. We think that our community center should be in a place where the refugees and migrates should have the feeling of “relaxation” and “freedom”. Therefore, we provided lots of facilities, including swimming pools, a playground and lots of grass  so it would show this kind of environment.

5) Explain why your building is relevant. What needs are you meeting and how are you doing that?

As mentioned before, our community center is to provide lots of different facilities to migrators who come to HK. We have a swimming pool, a place to rest on the grass, benches, a glass roof to see the view and some basic needs like a medical room, a TV area, and a place for education on the first floor. When some of the refugees come to HK, they might not have the rights to these basic facilities, therefore, we provided these facilities and we hope to keep the theme of “environmentally friendly”.

6) How are you addressing the need of beauty in your design? (How is your design contributing to making life more beautiful?)

I would say our building has addressed the idea of “beauty” because of several reasons. First of all, the location. Yuen Long is a place which is far from the city but there are some really beautiful scenery and a breathtaking view with mountains behind and in some places, you could even find farm animals. I think location is a really important element because this determines the entire mood and the entire atmosphere. Once again, our community center theme is being environmentally friendly, therefore, we made glass on the sides and the top roof so that there is natural energy. Next, we have lots of trees and green grass and this is beauty because nature itself is the beauty. Lastly, we provided a unique community center compared to other buildings because we wanted to make our community center outstanding and unique compared to other buildings in Yuen Long.

7) What design element are your most proud of?

I’m really satisfied with the model overall because we have developed the “environmentally friendly” building and a unique building. However, I’m most proud of the glass roof because it really allows natural sunlight to enter the building and it’s designed in a unique way. Normally, you would rarely see a glass rooftop in any places of HK. However, in our model, we wanted to make it outstanding and more unique compared to other community centers, therefore, we build a glass rooftop and this is one of the design elements that my partner and I are most proud of.

8) What design element needs further refinement and improvement?

I think that if we have more time to work on our model, I think developing the appearance of the building should be something that we should improve on. I think my partner and I did a really good job in creating the model. However, maybe we could add some more levels and maybe we could even paint the building so it would be more attractive. Another improvement is to fix the gate because it looks quite short right now and I think we could make it higher and firmer.

9) In your opinion, how important is architecture? Provide a definition of architecture and explain its relevance in your life and in our society.

I believe that architecture is very important because it’s the leading point to help both the world and economics to improve and to be better and the place we are living in right now. Architecture started from a long long time ago and till now, we continue to progress and we try to create different forms and shapes of buildings which could attract tourist to come visit this unique place. I would say architecture is a roller coaster. This is because it has been through many stages in its process where there are some things that have succeeded, lots and lots of new discoveries and failures that architects learn from. Architecture is almost everywhere and if you live in the city, architecture is everywhere. The places we sleep, eat, hangout with friends, shop, swim, play sport all need architecture and it’s just the matter of fact if that architecture’s apperance is different from others and how well it shows “beauty”. The architecture could show beauty by many different ways, the apperence, the location the facilities etc. Overall, I think that architecture is something extremely important and now to improve, architectures should think of better ways to build their buildings in a more environmentally friendly way and try to use more renewable energy.