Monday 17 March 2008

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....


3 comments:

lik_1031 said...

jinno,can u pls post the dimension of triangle site.thx.

ian ng said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
ian ng said...

Well..check that out!! Pretty, pretty interesting finds! (Wanna job as my research assistant? Haha..)

This does change things a bit. (I'm gonna post most of my thots here to free my time tmr for those sites I've spent relatively less time on..like Adrian's site and Fort Cornwallis and the Church grounds..if there are any takers.)

These findings (though superficial) further consolidate my conviction that

1. The "site" may--no, must--be interpreted in many ways. (a)It's the area defined by the edge of the triangle, the legal boundary, which you can find in the land title. (b)It's the space enclosed by the building mass/elevations: the public space. (c) It's the atmosphere described by the history of the triangle.

No prize for guessing which of the 3 definitions will give you the most spectacular and surreal architecture. No prize for realising that you need an outcome from "both-and", and not "either-or". All three consciousnesses have to be conglomerated---oops, I mean melded into a mass---for form making. (Form is in fact not a useful word here as it tends to encourage the design of monuments. What you need to imagine is the feeling thing you get, which film captures so well. [Anybody seen Empire of the Sun? I think it was Spielberg's] Try to orchestrate a sensory experience that takes us out of the present for the moments we move about in this space. You'll have to use to max effect all those "facts" from the past that Jinno, and no doubt some of you others, have unearthed.

2. You need to decide for yourself whether you build on the legal triangle at all. You'd probably have realised by now that your 3 tutors do not necessarily agree on this point. And I'm sure you know who holds which view. It really won't help if you base your decision on the conviction of any tutor. You will have to form your own conviction and be prepared to defend it to the end. We'll respect you for that. It's battle time on this one, guys!

3. Notwithstanding point 2, even if you do not build structures on the legal site, you would still need to compose your design so that the triangle is "central to your design" either literally or metaphorically, or both. (Are you confused yet?)

4. From Jinno's pics it looks to me that something needs to be built on the carpark--to complete the enclosure of the public space, like the Khoo Kongsi issue. And it would be nice to rehabilitate the--whatsit?--factory thingey directly across the triangle from the carpark. And the unhappy mistress attached to the cinema needs a makeover. These are the needs of this civic space. How much you can do with a small building programme is the challenge in front of you. Sure beats building monuments to your ego, donit? I hope you are excited about this (new) area of contemporary contextual restoration. And it doesn't have to be retro.

5. All said, don't forget the function of this visitor centre. It's not a film set. It's got to work as a visitor centre. If it does, then nobody can argue you down. You will have a captive audience for all those wonderful things that architecture is meant to conjure up, the stuff you're really after.