A Beautiful Lie

this is a song by 30 Seconds From Mars - a beautiful lie, a favourite song of mine la. i found this video recently. the reason i post this video is because inside this video, there's a part which talks about global warming thing, that the arctic ice is melting and it'll eventually causes danger to the lowlands and the whole world. you can see it at the beginning and the ending.

so i was thinking, even the celebrities care about the global warming, and we(in future) are playing even bigger role than them, is it enough with what we're doing now? i mean by designing environmental friendly, sustainability, etc etc kind of buildings..

and one interesting thing i'm thinking is, WHAT IF someday this world has completely taken over by the water? all the whatever architecture you call will be destroyed.. except some underwater buildings of course. so.. what i'm thinking is, should we start designing buildings which can survive the disaster now? what do you think?
(you might think this post is completely rubbish but i already started think about it since last sem's bicycle shed.. and actually it was one of my concept..)

London's Super Tower

After I posted the comment for the post below I went on to search again and lo and behold..
"A tower of unprecedented scale conceived not as a building so much as a vertical extrusion of the city - a new town in the sky complete with parks, public squares, schools and hospitals. At 1500 metres high (the average level of cloud cover), the tower would create a new and completely different scale to the existing city forming a separate layer superimposed above London's ancient and idiosyncratic street plan."

For more info : http://popularchitecture.com/supertower/

While we're at this, check out Taisei Corporation's X-Seed 4000!
Designed to be 4000m tall, with 800 floors that could accommodate up to 1 million inhabitants!

Ambitious, eh?

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2008 by Frank Gehry

The Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2008 will give London the first example of Frank Gehry’s spectacular architecture. The highly articulated structure – designed and engineered in collaboration with Arup – comprises large timber planks and multiple glass planes that soar and swoop at different angles to create a dramatic multi-dimensional space. Part-amphitheatre, part-promenade, these seemingly random elements will make a transformative place for reflection and relaxation by day, and discussion and performance by night.

The Serpentine Gallery Pavilion series, now entering its ninth year, is the world’s first and most ambitious architectural programme of its kind, and is one of the most anticipated events in the international design calendar.
Frank Gehry said: “The Pavilion is designed as a wooden timber structure that acts as an urban street running from the park to the existing Gallery. Inside the Pavilion, glass canopies are hung from the wooden structure to protect the interior from wind and rain and provide for shade during sunny days.

The Pavilion is much like an amphitheatre, designed to serve as a place for live events, music, performance, discussion and debate. As the visitor walks through the Pavilion they have access to terraced seating on both sides of the urban street. In addition to the terraced seating there are five elevated seating pods, which are accessed around the perimeter of the Pavilion. These pods serve as visual markers enclosing the street and can be used as stages, private viewing platforms and dining areas.”


Source: DeZeen

Want a piece of Calatrava's art ?

INTRODUCING the Chicago Spire





















Inspired by nature
Imagined by Calatrava

A collection of unique and extraordinary condominium residences.
A 150 storey, 2000 feet tall super luxury condominium in downtown Chicago.
Ranging from studio to four-bedroom apartments, gallery units, suites as well as a 10,203 sq ft duplex penthouse.
No two residences will be alike.





Starting from
US$ 800,000 to US$ 40 million






Interested ??
Ask your dad to buy lah !

WIT & LATERALITY

Now if this were a Studio 3 design project and you pinned up this solution on presentation day what grades would your tutors give you?

"Heroes"

Today, Ian asked me, who are my heroes in architecture. And i was like hmm, well i like buildings that are contemporary, clean cut, straight to the point and what i call "organized mess". So, who are my heroes? First that came out of my mouth was Norman Foster. Then, it was Tadao Ando. Then, i said MAD studio. And i definitely like SOM (they are going to build a tower probably taller than klcc opposite klcc). LOL.

So, who are your HEROES ?? why ?? or you can say who are your VILLAINS.. haha..

UM Studio2 - Cafe Gallery

Ian, Murphy here. Heres what i have for the time being. The details are not there yet but the it looks more or less like this. The basic form.

The main roofs are taken out to show the circulation. The fluid floor planes..

The last pic shows the facade's detail.

Comment yaa.

"WE R RUNNING OUT OF AIR"

modifying an icon

i believe everyone has seen this already somewhere out there...

but i just cant resist posting this up here to share and maybe u could share ur opinions too...

recently, sereno architects have submitted a proposal to extend the third floor of a very iconic structure in the world.........u guessed it.....the eiffel tower, they increase the floor space to accomodate the in coming tourist that flock like crazy to the city of love that so happen will stop by no matter what at the eiffel tower to see its splendid...

i find it very interesting and awkward at the same time, but more awkward than interesting...=)... i mean the eiffel has been and always will be the icon of par'rie or even the whole of fer'rance...haha, and changing the icon will be changing what is important to the original meaning of the structure itsf to its people and place, at least that was what we have been taugh, but would it be socially, historically, and architecturally wrong to change a structure's look for it to be able to catch up with times of the people ....i mean after all, that is what the most basic core of what architecture is about isnt it....to make the environment more hospitable for all people who live in it....?? whats ur point of view??






taken from www.worldarchitecturenews.com

p.s. im not weird.......just misunderstood!!!! sob...

For those who havent read before.

this is a response to annie choi's letter. enjoy.

LION N DRAGON DANCE - LIK_1031

ground floor

1st floor

2nd floor

section

ian,tis is space tat i arrange so far,the form wil roughly look like the 1st pic.

space that i arrange is whn ppl cm in frm entrance,thy wil go to reception n get any info thy nd,thn juz go forward. my trade is lion n dragon dance,so,lion n dragon r always jumping n flying around,nvr stop in a place,so thr r no path way in my gallery,let visitor can feel free to walk around.generally ground floor is retail,reception n casher,1st floor is gallery n workshop. a public toilet wil b in ground floor also.

2nd floor would b my private plc!!storage,office,kitchen n a private toilet all in 2nd floor.
the performace area wil b the plc gather all the visitor together.
erm,i thk that is all.oh!!sry for not going cls on ytd(monday),coz c doc~well!after checking,doc said my right thummy is alright,stil can work very well!!thx god~Haha..

n again,sry for '部落根 英文(BROKEN ENG) ' ya.haha..anythg juz post a comment..thx..

For those who hvnt seen this b4

Click on each for a bigger version, but here it is for the hard of reading:

Once, a long time ago in the days of yore, I had a friend who was studying architecture to become, presumably, an architect.This friend introduced me to other friends, who were also studying architecture. Then these friends had other friends who were architects - real architects doing real architecture like designing luxury condos that look a lot like glass dildos. And these real architects knew other real architects and now the only people I know are architects. And they all design glass dildos that I will never work or live in and serve only to obstruct my view of New Jersey.
Do not get me wrong, architects. I like you as a person. I think you are nice, smell good most of the time, and I like your glasses. You have crazy hair, and if you are lucky, most of it is on your head. But I do not care about architecture. It is true. This is what I do care about:
* burritos* hedgehogs* coffee
As you can see, architecture is not on the list. I believe that architecture falls somewhere between toenail fungus and invasive colonoscopy in the list of things that interest me.
Perhaps if you didn’t talk about it so much, I would be more interested. When you point to a glass cylinder and say proudly, hey my office designed that, I giggle and say it looks like a bong. You turn your head in disgust and shame. You think, obviously she does not understand. What does she know? She is just a writer. She is no architect. She respects vowels, not glass cocks. And then you say now I am designing a lifestyle center, and I ask what is that, and you say it is a place that offers goods and services and retail opportunities and I say you mean like a mall and you say no. It is a lifestyle center. I say it sounds like a mall. I am from the Valley, bitch. I know malls.
Architects, I will not lie, you confuse me. You work sixty, eighty hours a week and yet you are always poor. Why aren’t you buying me a drink? Where is your bounty of riches? Maybe you spent it on merlot. Maybe you spent it on hookers and blow. I cannot be sure. It is a mystery. I will leave that to the scientists to figure out.
Architects love to discuss how much sleep they have gotten. One will say how he was at the studio until five in the morning, only to return again two hours later. Then another will say, oh that is nothing. I haven’t slept in a week. And then another will say, guess what, I have never slept ever. My dear architects, the measure of how hard you’ve worked and how much you’ve accomplished is not related to the number of hours you have not slept. Have you heard of Rem Koolhaas? He is a famous architect. I know this because you tell me he is a famous architect. I hear that Rem Koolhaas is always sleeping. He is, I presume, sleeping right now. And I hear he gets shit done. And I also hear that in a stunning move, he is making a building that looks not like a glass cock, but like a concrete vagina. When you sleep more, you get vagina. You can all take a lesson from Rem Koolhaas.
Life is hard for me, please understand. Architects are an important part of my existence. They call me at eleven at night and say they just got off work, am I hungry? Listen, it is practically midnight. I ate hours ago. So long ago that, in fact, I am hungry again. So yes, I will go. Then I will go and there will be other architects talking about AutoCAD shortcuts and something about electric panels and can you believe that is all I did today, what a drag. I look around the table at the poor, tired, and hungry, and think to myself, I have but only one bullet left in the gun. Who will I choose?
I have a friend who is a doctor. He gives me drugs. I enjoy them. I have a friend who is a lawyer. He helped me sue my landlord. My architect friends have given me nothing. No drugs, no medical advice, and they don’t know how to spell subpoena. One architect friend figured out that my apartment was one hundred and eighty seven square feet. That was nice. Thanks for that.
I suppose one could ask what someone like me brings to architects like yourselves. I bring cheer. I yell at architects when they start talking about architecture. I force them to discuss far more interesting topics, like turkey eggs. Why do we eat chicken eggs, but not turkey eggs? They are bigger. And people really like turkey. See? I am not afraid to ask the tough questions.
So, dear architects, I will stick around, for only a little while. I hope that one day some of you will become doctors and lawyers or will figure out my taxes. And we will laugh at the days when you spent the entire evening talking about some European you’ve never met who designed a building you will never see because you are too busy working on something that will never get built. But even if that day doesn’t arrive, give me a call anyway, I am free.
Yours truly,Annie Choi

so wat do u think ?! architects-architects...

in a way, interesting !

(Ian this is the articles which i mentioned)

KOOLHAAS HOUSELIFE

Hey fellows, while u're frustrating in getting  design ideas...take a break and enjoy this architectural movie's trailers.  Through the clips, it blooms an unusual and unpredictable look at the spaces and structure of the building.

MR. IAN, SIR

Ok guys...I know y'all very well brunged up...with manners up to your eyebrows and all...but do you mind NOT calling me "Mr. Ian" or "Sir"? Not that I don't appreciate your regard--I really really do--or that I'm trying to be hip or young, or whatever, by asking you to drop the formalities...

1stly, "Mr Ian" is incorrect. (We're all trying to improve our English, right?) We don't say "Mr Issac" or "Mr Kelvin", right?

2ndly, you're creating barriers with the "Mr" and the "Sir". If you really must have a barrier (baffles me, why?) then it'd have to be "Mr Ng" ;(

3rdly, you have to take a firm definite step into the fellowship of contemporary learning. It's egalitarian (classless). I choose to use the word "fellowship" because that's how I would like it to be. Kill the classroom structure: Think of a group of friends having a good yumcha at a mamak and talking till..well..bandaraya comes around, or something. No body's anybody and every body's somebody, ok? (OMG! That was a clever line! Copyright (c) Ian Ng, ok?) You have to take that step because that's the prevailing system where you're heading---those White majority countries. Might as well practise now.

And at a psychological level, using expressions of hierarchy--"Mr", "Sir", et. all--slows down your thinking. Cut through all that and go direct. Confucius he say, "I die odi."

Deal or No Deal?

DECONSTRUCTIVISM & SIGNATURE STYLE

Akron Art Museum, Ohio by Coop Himmelblau

Sook Tin's post raises 2 main, and very interesting, issues which I've used in the title. You guys have already started the discussion, I'm just adding a few more angles here for you to come up with more opinions.

One of the problems with Decon is that while it is fascinating and exciting standing by itself (...wish somebody would build one in Malaysia) it doesn't always sit well in historical settings. It sometimes seems to want to shove the old out of the way, or patronise it by showing off greater (technological) muscle--see how one of the butterfly wings hovers over the old building.

The other morsel for thought is: Can you imagine an entire chunk of a city made up of decon buildings? What would it be like, living in that area? If the idea of decon is to shock, then can anyone stand the massive shock waves that must envelope the decon village? (See, even the traditional word "village" doesn't go well with "decon".) How many decon buildings can Penang take?

The other subject of signature style is fascinating...but it's as old as the hills. Or rather, the idea of styles as a generator of architecture is. It will always crop up when the genius of imagination grows old and tired and the convenience of the pattern book arises, like a free buffet after a 7-day fast. Most of you have the (correct) suspicion that it's not a master to be subject to. Quite.

Hey...let's hear more from you guys.

JVC Entertainment Centre by Coop Himmelblau

8.00 MeeKei
8.20 SunieL
8.40 eurico
9.00 Govin
9.20 jessmine
9.40 hui lih
10.00 Carey
10.20 Issac
10.40 sieutheng
11.00 Ei Ei
11.20 Frederick
11.40 HWA LIK
12.00 Kelvin

interior spaces

panoramic view

top view

Below is my words to Ian... (im not selfish lar~~ juz feel paiseh to show sometimes)haha

Ian, here comes my initial concept model which is a tai chi-stuff making traditional trade centre. I would like to ask some comment b4 I got into arranging int. spaces. The first idea comes from the urban surrounding of the penang which is quiet massive and most of them are the similar, shop-houses, rectangular shape, flat facades, nicely arrange. So my intention is to create another world inside an unapparent site. I “deconstruct” and distort it (whatever geometric forms can be seen on the street) to become into fragment, imperfect and uneven unusual shapes, for the exterior and the interior spaces as well.
In terms of site response, I would make a clearly and see through façade to the Cannon Square, Stage & Khoo’s temple- “public space” and enclose the façade which facing the resident – “private space”. I am going to demolish and replace the old wall which doesn’t carry any meaning. The wall (facing to khoo’s temple) is a part of the building and they are linked. The façade and wall of the building create a boundary line and actually act as a barrier.
This building itself doesn’t have a grand or welcoming entrance. In order to maintain the humbleness of the building, as you can see, there is a small little structure which is facing to the small route (entrance) in the courtyard. This is my main entrance links to the building through underground.
In terms of interior, they are composed of layers, spaces, and ramps which are actually interesting. And I am gonna make a 1 floor lower down in the middle part which goes to the zig –zag opening at the top (roof).
Any comment that can be offered here and will definitely be appreciated. Feel free to throw in any other random thoughts as well hehe! Thank you !

Ian replies:

The strength of your scheme is that you appear to have solved ALL the problems of this rather difficult site. Make a list of what the design problems are and how you believe you have solved them. And let me check you. (Meaning, against what I know your jury will ask.)

One of the best things about your scheme is that you have not gone wild and built all over the place. It shows a great deal of control and discipline. And yet it is not a dull building by any means. You should now go into detailed design fully aware of how you have maintained this control and see if you can "stretch" the spatial and formal characteristics to get the maximum effect. For example the high part of your building---can it go a bit higher for a bigger wow! without getting offensive to the surrounding buildings, without blocking things like important views. Or the curved part---would it be more interesting, sexier, if it were just a little bit more curved.

It looks like you have enough spatial variety including inside and outside spaces (and possibly potential inside-outside spaces) and enough awareness of opaque and transparent surfaces. Presumably there will also be translucent surfaces, shiny surfaces, matt surfaces, surfaces layered with screens and stuff.

One thing you should put some serious thot to is the entrance mass of your building. You have pushed it against the separating wall, you have pushed it towards the gable elevation of Khoo Kongsi. Advantage: you have an entrance forecourt at the end of the lane. Disadvantage: you're blocking the beautiful gable elevation from the lane approach. (Maybe partly.) Why not win-win? If you pulled this mass towards the lane side, you will get an entrance nearer to the end of the lane. You also get an inner entrance courtyard flanked by your entrance mass and Khoo Kongsi, also a nice surprise on entering your front doors. You sacrifice the forecourt for this--but heck, a forecourt with the back lane on one side can't be too pretty.

You need to cut many sections now to help you plan the lines of your building. 1 long section and at least 3 cross sections, probably 4. The sections should be taken way into the surrounding buildings and spaces and right across the roads to the shophouses on the other side so that you can get your sight lines accurate. Sight lines meaning what you want to see, and from where, and for whom; what you want to block and for what effect, etc. Don't worry about the construction and materials yet--you still have some time--but you must get the internal planning and the sectional design spot-on first.

Hurry...if you start today you will be just on time...if you start tomorrow, you'll be too late... (My Add Maths teacher used to say that...may God rest her soul...if she's gone on.)

Ar.Ian A S Ng

Architect

Interior Designer

Educator

please give me some of ur valuable opinions~ thanks in advance!

big football matches showing on tv live now !!!!!!!! Vote For MANU !!

1(a)




1(b)

Wohh! First of all, thank you Ian for approving my request, and thank you Ian too for your effort & dedication made to start this blog as a platform for us to allow sparkles of real great ideas.

In response to Ian’s article: ‘BUILDING IN CONTEXT PT.1 - FALKESTRASSE’ on 10 March, I hereby would like to share my humble ideas about these buildings I (and you might) came across, hoping to get some responses, about their appropriateness of their architecture in response to their neighborhood context. I’ll make it as brief as bikini:-

1a.The Audi’s showroom a.k.a. “The Iceberg” in Tokyo by British Architect Benjamin Warner.

- The nickname of this building tells it all: it’s an iceberg which you will probably knock on it accidentally like the Titanic if you are slightly unaware. Personally, I think this building with its many edges is too loud compare to the tranquility of the street made up of buildings with 2-dimensional facades. I think it should be better if it is located at a road junction instead, like the Dancing Building shown(1b), where this 3-dimensional building can be admired thoroughly.

2. Proposal of the Spiral Extension to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London by Daniel Libeskind. (Marcus, in any case, still I love your beloved Jewish Museum! :) )

- Again, I think it’s an abrupt clash to the pedestrians-oriented city, because of the sharp & edgy corners being so near to the pedestrians and drivers. Imagine the insecurity you will feel while you are driving a small Kancil, and there’s this big truck at your north-east side at the next lane, creating eclipse and as if the edges of the truck is going to crush on your window.

- It looks like as if it has been chopped off fragmentally from a major building in a much bigger scale, e.g. scale of the Bilbao Museum for example. Guess it might look much greater and convincing, if it is in a larger scale, and is set back from the streets with a certain distance to the entrance, and is admired at a further distance.

-Maybe it will look nicer and not so crude to the pedestrians if the sizes of the segments which are bulking out are reduced in a much smaller scale to respond with the windows of the surrounding buildings? What do you think?

3. Aoyama Technical College in Tokyo by Makoto Sei Watanabe.

-Although some might think that the toy-like form and the silver, red and black reflective panels are a bit inappropriate, but I really love the great sense of humor conveyed from this building, especially from the little rascal on top of it . It’s as if telling a story: a puppy owner trying to pull his mischievous puppy away from trying to squat and poo on a public property in a park.

-In the city of Tokyo where people worship dogs, dogs are treated most equal to humans, and even Nintendo had joined the trend to organize a “Nintendo Fashion Show for Nintendogs”(note the rhyme), I think this form which looks like a puppy (but well it actually exemplifies a DUCK but I really do hope to assume it as a cute puppy )is definitely an eye candy for the Tokyo citizens, as it will arouse discussions and mutual affections towards this puppy, especially among the fellow female Tokyo citizens, as females (who are not in this field) usually would choose to pay more attention on other city details rather than architecture and cityscapes. It’s something to be applauded.

-A catchy quote from http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/jmurphy/Lombardifile/ARCHfile.04/urbanTOKYO/Aoyama.htm, “Furthermore, the irregular form of the animal makes it appears that it is still growing.”

-This building(“form” to be more accurate) being built on top of a building had somehow triggered some of my thoughts. Will there be a revolution of construction scene whereby construction sites are being lifted up, from plots of lands, to the roof of existing buildings as platforms for constructions? Especially in metropolitan cities where lands price are soaring higher and higher and demolition of existing buildings are impractical, unaffordable, and not moral?

New museums on top of existing condos? New clubs on top of existing schools? New shopping malls on top of residential houses? New churches on top of existing mosques? New DAP headquarter on top of existing BN headquarter? Hehe, no offense. Is it a sad scene or a challenging, exciting one?

I would like to end this with a quote from the book “Architecture Now!”:-

“According to the architects, Bruner/Cott’s design philosophy embodies contextually in its most comprehensive sense; design that is energized by the surrounding urban fabric and the historic, economic and social factors that CHARACTERIZED EACH PROJECT”. Do we, as students, have to have distinctive styles of design just like the way Zaha Hadid or Daniel Libeskind do? Or each of our designs are to be characterized by it’s own self project’s site context and neighbourhood language? Which is more important?

Thank you for lending your eyes. Above are merely my humble opinions, hopefully will get your honorable comments and judgments. Thank you.

Sook Tin

Attention to those interested in UK study!!

interested in UK study!? There is a exhibition in K.L convention centre...Act today i went there n it is nice!!Who ever wan go plss don't miss it bcs tmr is the last day....gogogo!!!

TOGETHER?

Just so there's no misunderstanding, pls know that this blog is open to participation by ALL Studio 3 students: It's not restricted to only Unit 5. I don't believe in exclusivity.

If you wish to post and comment pls send me an email: asng21@yahoo.com and I'll put you in.

You are free to post on any matter relating to your course, architecture & design, learning, life... You are of course free to post your schemes here for crits, not just from me but from your colleagues as well...and maybe from some of your seniors already in Melbourne (if they're not too drunk every night..haha...YJ r u reading this?) I can't see that you have anything to lose. And there is a silent code that we all be constructive in our crits.

My official input time are the 2 studio mornings each week. This blog is an "extra" facility that I initiated out of necessity. I feel it helps. I didn't make a grand announcement at the start of the semester as I'm not one for self-aggrandizement. But as things have developed I am enormously encouraged by your energy, enthusiasm and selflessness--hence this little announcement. The going's on here shouldn't be the privilege of the select few. So, you may want to tell your mates.

(The unit system, incidently, as I mentioned to Lester earlier, is, again, a child of necessity. While V & K and I are there for ALL students equally, there's still a need for each student to have one tutor to fall back on if he/she feels nobody wants him/her...haha. I wish I could take more than one unit, but time does not permit me that pleasure.)

Invitation Form needed

From Sook Tin:

Hi Ian, can u send a blog invitation mail to this chinsooktin@gmail.com account? i cant post or comment on your blog
TQ

Crit Time for 24/3

8.00 MeeKei
8.20
8.40
9.00 Govin
9.20 jessmine
9.40 hui lih
10.00 Carey
10.20 Issac
10.40 sieutheng
11.00 Ei Ei
11.20 Frederick
11.40 HWA LIK
12.00 Kelvin

BASIC TECHNIQUES of VERBAL PRESENTATION

South Island, New Zealand

...we will get there...Heaven knows how but we'll get there...we know we will...and the road will be muddy & cold..but we'll get there..
(song by Simon & Garfunkel)

Ok, I’ve just come back from a drama workshop with so many relevant pointers on our subject that I wished you guys were all there. I even half wondered if the facilitator might run a workshop for us at Taylor’s—you guys would have a riot! But anyways..

Oral=spoken, not written; Verbal=concerned with words, oral. Hence we’re talking about presenting with the spoken word, and in our case in English.

This is such a vast and fascinating subject it actually requires a series of workshops. However for our immediate use we just need to start with a few things. We can advance when we’ve mastered the basics.

Whatever Jon, Issac, Jun Hao, Richard & Vidhya have shared pulsate with life. They come straight from the hearts of practitioners in the same arena. What thrills me most though is that while they are all aware that presentation skills can be acquired in the same way that you can learn to cook or parachute they are also acutely aware of the morale and moral side of things. We all need to be encouraged as we try. And somehow we have to give back to the community that bred us.

THE POWER OF THREE: Always remember that more than 2/3 of the average audience can only retain no more than 3 points of any presentation. And if you want to disseminate a lot of information tuck them under 3 main headings. Somehow, ppl remember triplets better.

Thus, as an example, Jinno’s scheme could have been remembered in his own mind as follows:

1. The historical importance of the triangle suggests that we do not clutter it with built forms.

2. An analysis of the surrounding buildings indicates that there are only a few places where we can build the visitor centre.

3. One of the best ways to display the products of my trade is to make use of the surrounding older buildings.

He could have then tucked in all the subset points as follows (this is only an example).

1. fragment the building mass; connect with tenuous, “lightweight” sky bridge; encourage activity on the triangle with audience view from sky bridge; etc.

2. build on the car park with the following accommodation; build on the “factory” with the following accommodation; relate grouping of accommodation to given program; describe the route through the building

3. display signboards on the facades of which building?; what visual experience will result?; the architectural language chosen for my building is….and because….;

You see, with 3 solid headings (which you must choose carefully) you can keep on tucking in good sub-points as you collect them from your crits, discussions, research, brainwaves, dreams, etc. And near the presentation day, place these points in order of priority according to significance. On the presentation day, play it by ear. Dish out according to your feel of the audience mentality.

Now, I know that demystified like that it all seems so dry and dull. Not so. Remember the Power of 3 is only a mental framework to help you hang your facts. Or, if you like, they are the trap for all your uncontrollable & factual pigeons which you will masterfully dish out to us the consumers according to our appetite. (I like mine roasted with honey, preferably from Kelantan.)

You can actually write out your whole presentation like an essay with that structure and half read half speak it. That’s ok for a basic presentation. But it would be better to memorize it. Otherwise use cue cards. (More on this later.)

But when you get more practiced in presentation, you can think of tweaking it into an ‘advanced’ format. You can jumble up the sequence of the numbering according to a ‘stream of consciousness’ tugging. This is advanced and requires a good command of the English language and a maturity that can sense and control the thought patterns of the audience.

And later when presentation has become a breeze you could even play cheekily with The Power of Three! Once I had to give a speech to the Rotary Club or something and, with no preparation, I went up and said, “I have just 3 points to make tonight. The 1st point is….(and I spoke a bit about that). My second point is…(and some more about that).” The audience listened enraptured. And as I smiled and spoke entertainingly I slowly realized to my horror that---OMG I don’t actually have a 3rd point!!! So, still smiling confidently I said, “And now for my final point…and my 3rd and final point is that my 1st point is the most important point!” And with that I sat down. The audience applauded loudly and with great laughter.

The POWER OF THREE is about organizing your content.

DELIVERY is the other indispensable discipline we all have to learn.

1. Stand up straight. Face the audience. Look them in the eye. Smile. Wait for the silence. No need to panic. They want you, not you want them. Start when you have their full attention. (Jin, you were bending over and looking at your drawings most of the time.)

2. Project your voice to the entire audience/room/hall. This usually means your voice must be loud enough for the guy at the back to hear clearly. Speak as if you were speaking to the guy at the back. Maintain this volume throughout your presentation. (Voice lessons available upon request.)

3. Your opening line is important. It can be an overview agenda statement, an anecdote, a statement of a preoccupation, an observation regarding the site or brief, etc. (We’ll discuss this at our tutorials.)

4. Go through you facts calmly point by point. Remember, you are in control. You have the story they want. If there’s an interruption or a question that seems to disrupt your flow, just say, “I take your point, I have a view on that but I’ll come back to it at the end of my short presentation.” Or something like that. And carry on. Never antagonize your audience, and esp. your jury...haha.

5. Close smartly and firmly and say thank you. (We’ll practice at our tutorials.)

6. Dress appropriately: Architectural presentations are essentially serious affairs. It’s ok to be lighthearted and humorous but the underpinning agenda is no laughing matter. We’re dealing with buildings which are usually proposals that involve huge investments by clients and society. In a college situation it’s ok to dress casually but smartly. Our dear friend, Jin, unfortunately and unintentionally exposed a large part of his underwear to the audience, which caused Jon and partners to be unusually excited. And this little commotion just accelerated the hilarity of the entire presentation. Remember, you want the audience to laugh with you, not at you.

Two other important factors are LANGUAGE and CONFIDENCE. But that will have to wait for another day. I need to sleep now.

[Please comment on and rate this article. Will be received with much thanks.]

Crit Time for 24/3

8.00 MeeKei
8.20
8.40
9.00
9.20 jessmine
9.40 hui lih
10.00 Carey
10.20 Issac
10.40 sieutheng
11.00 Ei Ei
11.20 Frederick
11.40 HWA LIK
12.00 Kelvin

wah...people....dun you know you can actually EDIT a post and repost it?

instead of having so many ' book ur crit time for 24/3 NOW! ' posts...

just at your dashboard, under 'manage' theres 'post'... click it and the list of current postings will appear...look for the post you wanna edit then click edit

add your name to the slot you wan..and repost...the post will be exactly the same, just that ur name will be added just as you have added...

TIME MARKERS

On this day, I wish upon my Muslim friends many blessings as they remember their Prophet's birth.

And to my Christian brothers and sisters, the following day, may there be unity and love among us, brought about by Jesus' blood and new body.

For we are so little reconciled to time that we are even astonished at it. "How he's grown!" we exclaim, "How time flies!" as though the universal form of our experience were again and again a novelty. It is as strange as if a fish were repeatedly surprised at the wetness of water. And that would be strange indeed; unless of course the fish were destined to become, one day, a land animal." (Lewis, C.S., Reflections on the Psalms. London: Fontana Books, 1967: 115.)

GHOST NEAR END NOW

ok ok..i'm just helping out the director...or there won't be any more parts coming in future..hehe. forwarding his email:
Hi folks,GHOST: Episode 8(Directed by Tony Pietra)on 8TV, 10:30pm, Sunday/March 23, 2008 Popiah Pictures' top-notch cliffhanger series is only a few episodes away from its grand finale. Witness the beginning of the end with Episode 8, heralded by yours truly and the show's fantastic cast & crew, on this coming Easter Sunday!Watch the trailer for Ghost: Episode 8 here:http://www.8tv.com.my/Shows/MainHighlight.aspx?MasterID=242&ShowID=261&MenuID=1&TemplateID=1&VideoID=7451#anchorVid
To catch up or recap with the previous episodes, you can stream/view all of them at these sites:http://www.8tv.com.my/Shows/EpHighlight.aspx?MasterID=242&ShowID=261&MenuID=2&SubMenuID=1&TemplateID=1&EpID=7535&VideoID=7442http://youtube.com/user/8tvghostEnjoy!Tony P.

CRIT SCHEDULE FOR MONDAY

Mr Ian mentioned that he would not be free on next tuesday (25/03/2008) so our session will be brought forward to monday (24/03/2008). start booking ur time!

*slots from 8am-12pm is only applicable to unit 5 students. however if anyone from other units wants to meet with ian can book ur slot before 8am or after 12pm :)

8.00
8.20
8.40
9.00
9.20
9.40
10.00
10.20
10.40 sieutheng
11.00
11.20
11.40
12.00

guys... help a tongue-stuck boy

as u could see this morning..... i totally stuck this morning while i was presenting my work.... oh god. miss v was right.... the more i talk, the more mistake i'd made bcoz i talk jus for the sake of talking.(thats y she always cut my words... hehe). i did organised my mind b4 i present but things jus throw out from my mouth everywhere when the time comes. i really like to share my opinion out but i failed every time due to the lack of vocabularies and at last stucked in the middle of it. sigh.....

mayb the presentation thing is seem a pice of cake for u guys but is not for me. so u guys, i need ur help for my poor presentation skill. jus comment everything to me eventho it's harsh. i can take that and indirectly others ppl will learn from it too. share everything u hv.....

10q so much for those who r helping me...oh no... us...

fumourous snydicate

firstly just to clearify somethings here,

a post was published in penang on saturday selling to you guys the pics and info "my boygang and i" and i qoute, took from the second site visit of the khoo kongsi site, the stage site, the wall site, the bridge site, the triangle site, and bits of miss v's site.....was just a joke......sorry for the confusion.

it may seemed real as some of u innocently looking people...haha...ask us for pics and is ready to pay...sorry for that, it was just a simple prank from silly us to you...

hopefully this clears things up a bit. so for anything u want from what we have mentioned minus the money, can come get pics or ask further info from me...jonathan of penang, bad boy lee sheng hao, fong yen jinno, lester xi yong chun ping, n benson architecture design....





secondly, i think it would be best if we introduce ourself here as we all use our errmmm.. "street names"...yup...that is all...i think...thank you for your time.

SECTIONS TOMORROW

As I mentioned to Mao Yang just now, drawings of sections for tomorrow's pin up cannot be presented with your building standing alone in isolation. Your section has to cut across the streets or spaces to the adjacent buildings. The idea is to show scale and sight lines, how your building relates not only internally but to the existing context. Some outline elevations on your sections would help, so would some human figures, maybe vehicles, too.

You'd need at least 2 sections to illustrate your scheme.

too much of circulation = no good???

Ian, i came out with something new, will let u check tmr..

for the last crit, keith said the circulation of my design is "too much". >_<"
He said a normal building, circulation is more or less 25% and space takes about 65%. (is it true??? )
then, in my case, its the other way round, so he wants me to reduce the circulation and try to think of a new design..

But my intention still the same, to enliven the "deadly site', connection of both different races,(Chinese, Muslim & Indian) architecture, culture..

As i mentioned to you before, my trade is Chinese paper cutting, one solid piece of paper, and you cut small holes on it, it will becomes something fragile and see through and delicate, enliven the solid piece of paper, so its just like the site.

The site right now, there is this void between the Chinese architecture and Muslim/Indian architecture, can clearly see its different races architecture, so right now placing a building in the middle is basically cutting through the site, this is the delicate point of the site.

CRIT SCHEDULE TUE 18 MARCH

0800
0820 govin
0840 Euric
0900 HWA LIK
0920 jessmine
0940 sieutheng
1000 kelvin
1020 carey
1040 Issac
1100 pei ei
1120 hui lih
1140 MeeKei1200 Frederick

Sir, finally i can sign in....really 不好意思。。。打扰了。。。。halo...everybody... my english not very well...if i post anything..dun understand just ask....hihi,...

the triangle again

sorry guys... due to the strong demand and the shortage of the time (my working drawing...T_T), i am posting out the very rough dimension of the triangle n the abandoned factory. any question plz ask me 2ml ok. sorry for the inconvenience..... paise ne....
oh ya... i couldn't hv enuf time to measure the dimension of the car park but sheng hao alred got the plan from authority so don worry... he will distribute to all of u asap....thx sheng hao...

the triangle

hello guys.... there somes photos n comment i'd post out abt the triangle site... plz check it out to the tiltle- HERE COMES THE TRIANGLE.... THX

TRAMS @ THE TRIANGLE

We've been there, haven't we?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2IoRNfVyfo&feature=related

Now, some hardworking soul has to just dig up something about the original police station. And all old glory will be restored.

here comes the triangle....

the khoo ppl were always the most dedicate group to share everything they have. now is the triangle ppl turns!!!! there u r my fellow frens.

i jus came bac from penang for the 2nd site visit and i'd taken some photos and paranomic views from the site. some part is quite off but i'd try my best to join them up.

the 360 degrees view taken from the triangle

the paranomic view of jalan penang


the paranomic vie of the shophouses facing the triangle

view from the triangle to jalan chulia

view of jalan penang 1

view of jalan penang 2

view to the triangle from the shophouses

view to the triangle from the car park

the car park

besides, i am going to tell a bit of the history of the traingle. i don hv the chance to ask from the police station due to the time issue( sorry ian) and i jus got from the site itself. the explanation from monuments at the site is more than enuf i think. there are 3 diff history backgrounds on the site which are :

- the early electric tram or bus runway
- the execution platform
- the site of the history police station and
- the street of cow pens - early settlement of indian cow herders

tho only information that i could get was the time line of those happenings on the site. therefore i donno which comes first and which goes last. anyway.. i think those information will b enuf for u guys to understand how important and meaningful the triangle was. in addition, those stone curvy benches which extrude out from the site are the from of "buah pinang" from the concept of a peribahasa "bagai pinang dibelah dua" which mean something that cannot b separated. this would b a good concept to indicate in ur architectural design on that site i think.

in summation, the triangle shud not b touching so much bcoz the triangle itself is alred good enuf n also FULL of stories and historical backgrounds. but since that is our proposed site then i suggest to only build a light monument kind of "thing" at the site which related to ur trade. that "thing" can play with sunlight n shadow and to create shelter from the hot sun for the ppl who r using it such as tourists and tricylists since it is an uncovered wide open space. plus, ppl can see the "thing" not only from human eyes level but also bird eyes level( for ppl who r doing skybridge) as well. then the main o key building will b build either at the car park o abandoned factory o even both side because the carpark is seem to b not so far away from it. (refer the photo above)

thats my thinking in the moment, i need u guys to share ur opinion jus like the khoo's group. don b stingy my frens... hehe....

p/s:- sorry for the bad eng...hehe...typical chinese ma
- more photos r available with jinno. call 012-9850582 fro more detail.

10q....